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

[Supermanspants]

..... 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.

Well, that's encouraging. We'll see what his feedback says.

Hard luck Rhoda. On Molio's sage advice DS asked for his HAT score and whilst it wasn't minutes it was the same morning or afternoon, so I'd also say he should ask for that now, aside from any other feedback. If those are both good I would say that my instinct is that History is a subject where another year of reading etc could make a difference. Also unlikely to get the grumpy women again .

That's tough luck Rhoda. My son didn't get in either. It has been a gut-wrenching disappointment for do who, perhaps predictably, has not faced failure before. If I dare admit this publicly, it was also hard for me to give up a dream I have long held to have a child at Oxford/Cambridge. But time heals all wounds and we are trying to make the best of it. Ds is delighting in finding negative reports about Oxford, and booking their teams on University Challenge. I know it is all an act to cover his disappointment but it provides some amusement too. Good luck to your ds whatever he decides to do, wherever he ends up.

Well I'm not sure it's possible to bank on that Hocus: DD2 had two decidedly grumpy women at Jesus and her old boyfriend had a similarly surly pair the year before that at Balliol. I'm wondering if this is the same pair, on tour....

Luckily ds is quite zen about the whole thing, and even suggested watching Endeavour yesterday evening, which shows he can't be that bitter! A friend whose dd failed to get into Oxford a couple of years ago said she was shaking with fury every time she saw the Lewis trailer. And many years ago a friend of mine didn't get on the John Lewis graduate training scheme, in spite of having had a Sat and holiday job there for years. Her mother was furious and vowed never to set foot in Trewins (back when John Lewises had names) ever again.

From an economic standpoint, a clearing house (which is what UCAS is) is efficient if it matches two parties who both want each other. The U.K. university application system is, by the standards I am familiar with, pretty efficient.

Ha ha, Molio ! In hindsight ds said the interview where one pair roared at him for mentioning an unapproved historian was far, far better than the third one where the "grumpy pair" asked closed questions and didn't seem to want to engage in any conversation at all. He said that that college was stone cold too and deserted.

Sorry for typos in last post. I hate MNing from a tablet! I meant ds , not do, and he is BOOING the Oxford teams, not booking them!

And commiserations to mummymeister's ds too. I know exactly how you feel. xx

Ha! One of the colleges ds was interviewed by was Balliol. But I doubt the same grumpy pair were interviewing for Physics. Anyway, ds rather liked Balliol. The other college to interview him was Pembroke and he really didn't want to be offered a place there as he didn't like it at all. I carefully avoided naming colleges before, but now that they have turned their backs on my boy, I don't care who knows.

Yes it crossed my mind that Lewis and Endeavour would be hard to watch but maybe not since they focus on the police, not the uni, and often make out the staff and students to be pompous prigs

I am now rather liking the thought that the most unrealistic thing about Inspector Morse etc is not that the murder rate in Oxford appears to be twice that of Caracas but that the staff are portrayed as pompous and not surly.

...and they seem to be able to park the jag wherever they want and go the wrong way on one-way streets. Drives DH nuts watching.

two got in: one very flamboyant public schoolboy and a rampant feminist

I believe the trouble started when they gave women the vote.

And if she does get in to Oxford she wil be working under that sort of pressure in one to one tutorials and in seminars for three years .
I haven't read the full thread but perhaps Oxbridge isn't for her?

ds just got his feedback:

He did very well in the HAT (table provided comparing with other students)

At interview he "could not talk in depth about the bearing of foreign politics on the leadership issue". True enough, according to ds. He knew nothing about it and had to admit it in the interview. I guess that was bad luck that "the grumpy pair" wanted to go in a direction that he didn't. The pair who shouted at him, otoh, fed back that the interview was "lively".

Given that his HAT was very good, if his A Levels are ok he might give it another go next time.

That's really reassuring for him for next time around Rhoda, if that's what he decides to do.

That does sound encouraging Rhoda- good luck to him for A levels and whatever he decides to do afterwards. Let's hope the grumpy pair on tour are at a different venue to him next time if he decides to give it another shot

In the meantime he's signed up for Sofa Studies, with rather good full board accommodation and no fees at all, and seems quite happy with his choice. I only hope the course doesn't last ten years...