Oxbridge applications - tactics for possible second applications

[SeaRabbit]

DS is thinking of applying to Cambridge, and would apply again if he didn't get in first time round.

A friend's son applied to Oxford, & didn't get in, and she told me he couldn't apply again, as he'd already applied to his preferred non-Oxbridge courses, and you can't apply twice for the same course at the same university. However, she said each Oxforsd or Cambridge college is seen as a different institution for this test, so you can apply twice but to different colleges.

She told me the knowledgeable people at her DS's (very well-known, highly academic) school applied to any-old non-Oxbridge university first time round, plus Oxbridge, then if they don't get in, apply again after A levels to Oxbridge, plus their preferred non-Oxbridge courses.

DS tells me this is rubbish - that you can apply twice to anywhere - what does the MN panel say?

It is utter rubbish (and extremely unlikely to have actually been advised by any school).

You can apply twice to anywhere. It would be extremely unusual for a course to turn you down on a second application simply because you had refused their offer first time round.

You can also apply to the same Oxbridge college twice, if you want to. I'm not sure it makes much difference to your chance of success to apply for a different college the second time.

Yes that sounds like a very strange approach.

Cambridge ask students in their SAQ whether they would be happy to take a deferred offer in case their application is not successful for this cycle.

None of my students have said yes to that qn, but one did get the following feedback after her interview at Cambridge: the college really liked her and thought she was very strong. However, her command of English wasn't quite where they would have wanted her to be, and they therefore encourage her to apply again next year having spent a year perfecting her English.

So that's what she's going to do. The gap year was planned anyway, and her applications were all for deferred entry.

Given that she had such encouraging feedback from this one college, she will definitely be applying to the same one next year.