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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Anyone whose DD or DS had a disastrous Oxbridge interview....

392 replies

Supermanspants · 07/12/2015 18:41

..... and managed to get an offer?
Hideous interview today. Grilled on a topic she hasn't even covered in her A level course and based purely on a 7 page academic article she only got half an hour before the interview.
She is so down about it all.

OP posts:
pickledonion2 · 12/01/2016 12:07

Other folks

LadyPeterWimsey · 12/01/2016 12:13

I am holding DS's letter but won't open it. As it happens I have to go to his school anyway at lunchtime so will pass it on to him then.

His interview went very badly indeed - not in a 'they pushed me very hard' kind of way but in a 'I really had nothing to say' way, so we are firmly expecting a 'no' and he is fairly reconciled to that.

Not that that stops me trying to see through the envelope with my X-Ray vision and squeezing to see if I think it counts as thick or thin... Hmm

pickledonion2 · 12/01/2016 12:20

Oh what torture lady I have come home on my lunch break thinking I might catch the post... but again won't open letter..... Ds is also expecting a no on the basis of a disastrous interview but still. ...
He still hasn't text me back...either he hasn't had email or its bad news.....

I actually think this is more stressful than waiting for my own uni offers many,many years ago!

Molio · 12/01/2016 12:20

You're made of stern stuff LadyPeter :) You can't see anything, even if you hold it up to a very bright light?

mummymeister · 12/01/2016 12:36

got the e mail at 9.30 whilst DC in an exam. Sad had to ring and give the bad news. absolutely gutted and not expecting this at all.

I work from home so have just gone down the road and had a shout at the fields and the cows to make myself feel better.

I have found the whole process torture. I just cant help thinking that unlike Oxford, Camb take a lot more foreign/paying students. in the waiting room there were 35 of us - only 4 from the UK.

having a few bad hours but will put my game face on for this evening and tell DC to just go and get A* to show the feckers what they have missed out on. and I have it all again in 2 and 4 years time. what joy!!

LadyPeterWimsey · 12/01/2016 12:41

Nothing, Molio!

Have just driven to DS's school for my meeting and handed letter to him to. He has disappeared off and is refusing to open it, with a big grin on his face, trying to torture me. To think I got stretch marks for that kid.

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 12/01/2016 12:46

according to the Student Room, some colleges used window envelopes which meant that you could just about see what it said. Otherwise steam it open and pritt stick the envelope back down not that I had been planning what to do if DD hadn't told me to open it

LadyPeterWimsey · 12/01/2016 12:48

He relented and opened it.

He got an offer!Grin

But it's very high. Sad

But he got an offer. Grin

pickledonion2 · 12/01/2016 12:52

mummymeister sorry it was bad news. Hope shouting at the cows helped.
lady yay, good news.

Ds is still ignoring my texts, the post hasn't come and now I back to work.......grrrr

MyVisionsComeFromSoup · 12/01/2016 12:53

congratulations and commiserations - focus now has to move to getting the grades (either to meet the offer, or to make a point Wink)

disquisitiones · 12/01/2016 12:55

I just cant help thinking that unlike Oxford, Camb take a lot more foreign/paying students.

I'm sorry for your disappointment, but this is not true.

Cambridge take around a quarter non-UK undergraduate students, but around half of those are from the EU. So only around 12-14% of undergraduate students are non-EU students, paying higher fees. This is comparable to Oxford and significantly lower than places such as LSE.

The success rate of applications to Cambridge is around 25% for home students (rising to close to 30% for students from the SE/London area) and only around 12% for international students. Singapore has one of the highest success rate amongst international applicants, due to their very high educational standards and similar school curricula, but even their success rate is only 20%.

I would also like to add that there is absolutely no reason for academics to admit international students over home students: offers are made by individual colleges, based entirely on academic considerations.

LadyPeterWimsey · 12/01/2016 12:58

Yes, commiserations to your DC.

I was them (many many years ago) and I remember how it felt.

I reapplied and got in, so there is still hope, but I remember the crushing disappointment.

briochereturns · 12/01/2016 12:58

Yay!! DD got a place for Maths in spite of a really good interview.very high offer though- in effect 3A*s + 1 at STEP2 & 3!!

disquisitiones · 12/01/2016 13:06

That's a pretty standard offer for maths... the non-trivial part being the STEP grades. Most people who get maths offers are looking at 4A*s, so asking for 3 usually allows for one A2 grade to drop.

marvik · 12/01/2016 15:00

I just cant help thinking that unlike Oxford, Camb take a lot more foreign/paying students. in the waiting room there were 35 of us - only 4 from the UK.

So who is 'foreign'? And just who is not?'. Unless everyone in the waiting room is talking about the country they have travelled from in order to get to the interview - or is waving passports - I am not sure on what basis you can decide who is - and who is not - not a UK resident.

CarrotsareNottheOnlyFruit · 12/01/2016 15:01

DS has been turned down and I have to admit I'm gutted, even though I knew it was highly likely, his grades were quite borderline.

I suspect (hope?) that I was more invested than him. But I feel quite tearful, despite having had anxieties about if it was really for him, all the way along.

Still at least I know we're not alone, presumably tehre is a silent majority who are not even looking at this thread, but in case you are - just wanted to offer a bit of company in the tissues corner Sad

pickledonion2 · 12/01/2016 15:01

I'm home. Letter is here. It is thickish. Ds won't let me open it and he hasn't had email yet. He won't be home till 5.30. Aaaaarrrgggghhh.

CarrotsareNottheOnlyFruit · 12/01/2016 15:05

Hey MummyMeister, chin up! S/he might have more fun somewhere else.

pickledonion2 · 12/01/2016 15:13

Ah carrots hope your ds takes it ok. At the end of the day I'm sure they'll all do great wherever they end up.

pickledonion2 · 12/01/2016 15:14

Ds will be home in 20 mins apparently.... tissues at the ready.....

Original poster
Supermanspants · 12/01/2016 15:27

Pooled then rejected.
Am so flipping relieved it is all over.
So so proud of her.
She seems really quite..... Um..... Non plussed and are I say it, relieved and is excitedly talking about her other offers. Seems more concerned and upset about her lovely friends who also got rejected.
Am now wondering if she actually wanted to go Hmm

OP posts:
LadyPeterWimsey · 12/01/2016 15:27

Commiserations, carrots, and fingers crossed, onions. (It's a bit like the veg aisle in here at the moment!)

mummymeister · 12/01/2016 15:34

marvik - it was the student ambassadors who started up the conversation asking everyone where they came from/ country of origin. they were shocked that there were so few from the UK. as was I. I did not ask to see everyones passport obviously but there was a lot of talk about visas.

I guess I am just angry that the obnoxious American kid who hasn't even done a levels and whose parents were awash with money/private tutors/first class travel might have got a place at a uni where my DC hasn't. although he would be paying more in fees than my DC as a net uk taxpayer it does somewhat stick in my throat that what we should actually be doing is offering our universities to our kids and only the excess places elsewhere. fully expect to get flamed for this but don't care today.

the university sector would do well to look at what has happened to football and the premier league/England team when you fail to put the time into growing your own.

12% overseas students is imo too many.

my chin is in not going to up for sometime thanks carrots just feeling for my DC who has not been dealt the easiest hand of cards.

Obs2016 · 12/01/2016 15:35

Niece had horrendous interview and hasn't been offered a place.
Why do Oxford do this?

mummymeister · 12/01/2016 16:06

Obs2016 because they can. I wish we had the system of no offers until after they had results. then kids could apply to the one that they wanted with their grades and personal statement and if they got rejected then move on to the next one.

it would give from the middle of August to the beginning of October to sort it out. surely this would be better all round.

the system seems to have been designed to be deliberately stressful at a time when they really don't need it.