Oxbridge applicants 2018

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I've hesitated before making this thread as I don't really like the whole making Oxbridge out as a special case when there are lots of amazing universities that are just as good for individual courses. However, it is a different application process with a lot happening by January should they get that far and irl I don't know anyone else's dc applying to talk to them about it. I expect most of us are in that situation. At the moment I rely on dd and the occasional foray into student room to learn what happens next.

So welcome all parents of Oxbridge candidates - a thread to chat over what's to come and to support if our kids find they have to steer in a different direction.

Application forms due in in a few weeks

Would like to keep this thread lively!
DS has just received his firstconditional offer, from Birmingham last Friday!
For the other three choices other than Oxfor (which are Imperial, Manchester and Sheffield), all required interviews before deciding on offers!
Fortunately all the interviews are now scheduled after this week so that DS can focus on the Oxford PAT for now!

itinerant did your DS apply to Warwick?

Hi Hubble25, no his other choices are Durham, York, LSE and Manchester. Just the offer from Manchester so far, plus a message from LSE saying they take about 8 weeks to review applicants. I take it you are waiting to hear from Warwick?

DD has tonsillitis
She’s really poorly with it, went straight to bed when she got home yesterday and hasn’t been able to move since.
She’s panicking about the exam on Thursday.
I’ve emailed school, but what do you think happens if a student is too unwell to take it on the day?

oh Lobster :( I’d get her to the gp pronto partly so she can feel better and partly because you may need medical evidence. What rotten timing. Then I’d phone the admissions department of the college she’s applying to and ask the just in case question. They must be used to it happening.

unwell candidates at interview stage might give some reassurance, but contact them!

Yes intinerant a bit worried as other applicants have heard and they applied after DS. Think PS might be the issue here.

Hope things get better Lobster.

Thankyou Kitten. Good thinking. I didn’t want to over react (not like me at all! ) and I’m hoping she’ll have recovered enough by Thursday. But you’re right, best to ask the questions and get things in place now, just in case.

Offer from York :)

Bit late in the day, but can I join please? Is anyone else having to return home early from a holiday for Thursday's tests? Half-term here in Wales, didn't even think about tests when we booked our holiday last year!

Yes apocalypse I didn't join DH and DD in Spain last week so that I could support DS in the build up by ferrying him to a tutor a couple of times.

We are definitely not in the loop here! No tutor for tests or advice/ help from school about tests. School has maybe 1 or 2 Oxbridge a year at most and it's a very large school. As it's the holidays we weren't even sure if the school would be open and DS would have to sit the test elsewhere, luckily it's open.

Which test is your DS sitiing Apocalypse?

The TSA test Hubble25.
Our holiday is fairly local whiteroseredrose. I'm staying on holiday with our younger child, my husband is taking DS for the test and then they are both returning for the end of the holiday.

York offer here too, for PPE. Is yours pleased Hubble? DS happy

Well Done on the York offers, great news.
Unlucky timing for your holiday Apocolypse, glad you don’t all have to leave early, and that you’ll be able to have a few more days after.
Half term was last week for us, I can imagine how annoying that must be!

No pre test tutoring here either, DD’s school sounds similar to your DS’s - I think there are 4 of them sitting the test, the (2000 cohort) school gets maybe 1 or 2 Oxbridge successes each year. They’re supportive but not terribly knowledgeable or pro active.

DD insists the LAT is not a test that can be prepared for anyway so I’m crossing my fingers that a tutor wouldn’t have helped kicks self for not looking into it!

Well done to those who have had offers - exciting!

No offers for DS yet; we're waiting to hear from Warwick, Durham, Bristol and Bath. Cambridge sent through a request for scans of DS's UMS marks in last summer's maths papers (he took three, two Maths and one Further Maths). He's not doing TMUA or MAT, so it's all quiet here.

Yes itinerant he is happy to have York offer although it is fifth on his list. :)

Apocalypse no tutoring here either just worked through past papers on website. Main thing is to kepp calm now.

My poor DS is getting stressed about the PAT and woke up this morning looking rough and announced he "felt weird". I let him have a day off school and he slept until 1200.

Your poor lad TimeTo. I hope he feels better today. It’s difficult when they put their hearts into something, and the extra hoops for Oxbridge do tend to encourage more emotional investment no matter how low key you try and keep things.

Thanks Kitten
Off to school today.

Good :) hopefully it will be easier to forget about it for a while if he is with his mates.

I feel for all of you with ill DCs. DD1 had a chest infection that just wouldn't shift. Coughed so hard during her only mock interview that she threw up and struggled through the ELAT. Got her onto the right antibiotic one week before she went up but still wheezed a fair bit and her room in College was cold. The interviewing tutors were really nice about it.