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Higher education

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

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Original poster

Getting into Oxbridge

263 replies

PinkPeppers · 20/06/2017 13:57

Can someone explained to me what is needed to get into Oxford/Cambridge?
Dc1 is decided this is what he wants to aim for (good for him to aim high - I wont stop him from doing that). He is only in Y8 so plenty of time to change his mind too.

However, Im not british and I havent gone through the system so have little idea on how things are actually working.
In particular, im not sure about what is needed. Obviously very good A levels in your subjects (maths/science for dc1). But do you also need a very good GCSE and/or a high number of GCSE with a level 8/9 (A/A*)?
Does doing more GCSE than you have to making any difference?

I know that you need to be able to talk about your subject and be hapy to deal with questions where you didn't know the answer etc...
But what else can be playing in your favour? Ive read for example very conflicting advise of having the right sort of experience/voluntary work etc... (some saying its essential, some not).

Im well aware that he might never get there and might change his mind. But atm, this is the one thing that is helping him focus on his studies and the one thing that makes him want to do well (as well as he can do rather than coasting if that).
So any advice on what would help him and what would make a difference is welcome! and if he changes his mind, he will at least have learnt the power of focusing your mind on something you real;l'y care about

OP posts:

LadyinCement · 26/06/2017 09:25

I don't think it requires great resources to be interested in your subject. Libraries, anyone? Even the grimmest, most under-resourced library has something to read in it, and there's always the internet - which young people seem rather keen on...

I would be wary of someone who hadn't read a bit outside the curriculum. Frankly you can't be terribly keen on English or History if you've just stuck to the set books/course. How are you going to cope when you have to plough through/devour swathes of stuff if you've only read three books in two years?

I can see the point about trying to find raw talent, but if someone has not had the gumption or interest to probe any further into their subject, is this going to make for a successful student?

HolyGhost · 26/06/2017 10:04

That's true, Lady. In my case, I grew up in a house without books parents had left school at 12, and both had literacy problems, in that they could read, but far from fluently, and the idea of reading for pleasure was alien to them and as this before the era of cheap books, and pre-internet, and my school didn't have a library, I literally just had the resources of the crappy, under-resourced local library, which was largely, from what I remember, tomes about railway history and and large print Catherine Cookson. Virtually no modern fiction. What that did mean is that I read a huge amount of 19thc novels, including some incredibly unlikely ones.

Again, I think it's testament to the interviewers that they were clearly able to grasp this from my application, which would have been awful, because I had no idea how to do it and no advice, and to grasp at the interview that I was someone with abilities who simply had never had a chance to exercise them. I think my interview was literally the first time I had ever had a conversation about books in my life. I remember very little about it, because I was so nervous, mind you.

Lancelottie · 26/06/2017 10:37

Same here on the pronunciation! I spend my days reading things I can't pronounce. Hieratic, heuristic, apoptosis, cephalopods, ctenophora, ibuprofen OK I should probably sort out that one as DD keeps laughing at me

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 26/06/2017 10:37

Increasingly there will be students coming through who haven't had access to a library. The comprehensive my dcs would have had to go to if we hadn't moved house ditched its school library to make room for more computers (and yes they did throw out all the books) and increasingly neighbourhood libraries are being shut on the grounds that people can always just use city centre ones, which is no good if you're a way out and can't get there regularly...

Lancelottie · 26/06/2017 10:38

Our local librarian looked blankly at me when I asked for science books and suggested I 'try under S'.

Sounds like the same library, actually.

LadyinCement · 26/06/2017 11:28

In the nearest town I thought I'd try my luck with All Quiet on the Western Front. The "librarian" was not familiar with it, but searched it up and pronounced, "Oh, it's an old book. No, we don't have any of those !"

arsenicistheanswer · 27/06/2017 18:10

Are lots of people here going to the open days this week?

HesMyLobster · 27/06/2017 18:25

I was hoping to, but they clash with DD's internal exams, and as she has already been to a couple of course "taster" days there she has decided she doesn't need to go again.
So there goes my day out. So inconsiderate of her!

arsenicistheanswer · 27/06/2017 18:27

Ah, DD has been to one taster day there. She loved the people, but wasn't at all sure about the surroundings. So we're off to see as much as possible this week. I'm torn between really wanting her to go for it, and hoping she is able to handle it if she doesn't get in.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/06/2017 20:39

dd has done a couple of things at both unis without me. I feel bereft that I missed out on going to them. She loved them both, but preferred cambridge. Fortunately she also loves another university too, but I do worry about how she will feel if she doesn't get in. A lot of resilience work and talking about the positives of other places needed.
The hardest thing to manage will be other people's expectations.

goodbyestranger · 27/06/2017 21:24

arsenic no but I have DC helping out as students. Mine have always gone with friends, never with me.

Kitten why on earth should you feel you have to manage other people's expectations?! Possibly just advise them to STFU if things don't go according to plan....

itinerant · 27/06/2017 21:24

Hi, joining in late. Have just checked in to one of the colleges having dropped DS off at his room in St. John's in advance of open day tomorrow. Having never been to oxford before I am blown away by the sheer scale and drama of the buildings. DS just looks a bit stunned, but is already muttering about how amazing it is. Now to start managing expectations......

itinerant · 27/06/2017 21:25

(DS expectations, not anyone else's!)

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/06/2017 21:37

goodbyestranger, because everyone has been convinced that's where she will go for a long time and feel it's their place to tell her that. Which is unfair and ridiculous.

goodbyestranger · 27/06/2017 21:42

Kitten I have no sympathy with that. It's one thing to encourage, quite another to get for third parties to get so emotionally invested that they need their own expectations managed. They could quite easily make a rejection significantly worse, or even help precipitate one by making it into some great big thing that it shouldn't be. Could they take up a useful hobby? Volunteer?

goodbyestranger · 27/06/2017 21:43

to get

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/06/2017 21:45

I agree, it's really unfair of them. They make it sound like it's the be all and end all and it's not at all, there are many wonderful universities and very good students often choose other places for many reasons.
People are so good at giving unsolicited opinions without thought to consequences.

goodbyestranger · 27/06/2017 21:46

But has everyone in the family/ social group gone to Oxford or Cambridge? Is it a general expectation? It sounds rather odd, and massively pressurized.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/06/2017 21:55

no they haven't. It is odd and massively pressurised. I think if they stand out at maths perhaps it's one of those things that people hold in awe or something. Not quite sure how to put that into words.

HesMyLobster · 27/06/2017 21:59

Kitten I know exactly what you mean.

It doesn't help that dd announced, aged 10, that that's where she planned to go after reading a book set there and falling in love with the idea of it.

Now we have 3 sets of grandparents who all talk so matter of factly and with such confidence about "of course that's where she'll go" and "why are you looking at that university, mini lobster is going to Oxford".

For the record, mini lobster will be the first in the family to go to any university, so having not been through the application process at all before, I can almost forgive the numerous grandparents for their overconfidence, but I will have to start managing their expectations.
Luckily dd is far more realistic about the whole thing, and while she wants to have a go^^ at applying, she's treating it as a gamble on the side, while she seriously applied for the other (wonderful) universities that she likes.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/06/2017 22:00

anyway, I'll continue to be firm on the matter. I'm going to be flipping proud of her wherever she goes.

HesMyLobster · 27/06/2017 22:01

*applies not applied

Ditto Kitten!

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/06/2017 22:02

Good for your dd Lobster! She's got her head screwed on right. It's exactly that.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/06/2017 22:03

HesMyLobster · 27/06/2017 22:07

Bold fail

Thankyou Kitten. I think we have very similar DDs.

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