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

DD went to a day conference at Cambridge for her subject (which was on a Saturday and cost about £10 .)

They stressed that what they wanted to see was aptitude for and commitment to the subject, rather than a stellar CV with non-subject related achievements. DD therefore included a single brief paragraph on her general UCAS statement about things like music, DofE etc but linked them back to the skills required for university (independence, perseverance etc) and devoted her SAQ to her subject related material.

The sorts of things she used to show that she had a broader interest in her subject beyond school were:
discussing 3 books which were all about the same topic, in particular looking at how historical method had changed in recent years;
subscribing to a magazine;
attending public lectures at a local university;
doing a free online short course with Futurelearn.com (she found one on a period of history she was interested in, offered by a RG university);
doing her 6th form work experience week in a local museum, where she worked on digitising archive material to make it more accessible for people researching family history.

Although Cambridge don't take EPQs into account for grades, the fact she was doing original historical research for hers gave her something to talk about in the interviews (she had spent a couple of days doing research in an archive) and it was one of the pieces of written work she chose to send in. There is no academic research at all in her area as far as she could determine (the only published material is autobiographical) so she was able to demonstrate how she could develop and research a thesis.

For the history entrance exam, she prepared for the critical thinking section by looking at past Oxford papers (it was the first year Cambridge did it) and worked her way through the exercises in critical thinking in the Palgrave text book: www.amazon.co.uk/Critical-Thinking-Skills-Effective-Reflection/dp/1137550503/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504370669&sr=8-1&keywords=palgrave+critical+thinking&tag=mumsnetforum-21

She also avoided the word 'passion' in both her PS and her SAQ!

My DS has a Cambridge offer for engineering for this year. If anyone wants to message me, I'm happy to try to help.

assuming things have not changed significantly since DS1 was applying a few years back the SAQ came direct from Cambridge via the email address submitted on the UCAS form. So worth reminding your DC to keep an eye on that email, and the spam / junk folder just in case.

Thanks all :) really useful advice here. Dimsie how did your dd fit that into her ps and saq?

dd is having to be really picky about what she puts into the ps, unless she leaves out all the vowels from her words, it just wouldn't fit in I don't know how they are supposed to balance it. She had advice from college about her PS but not the SAQ. She plans to talk about why Cambridge is the place for her in it, with evidence as to how their teaching style would suit her. Does that seem about right?

I'm impressed with personal statement dimsie. Good ideas kitten for saq (1st I've heard of it) it sounds more work.

DD and I have spent ages on PS as she keeps asking for an opinion. Sending it to 5 teachers now it's almost finished. They also saw 1st draft.

One teacher seen so far and says "impressive". I like it. I think it shows deep engagement with her 2 subjects in a range of contexts. But I'm sure many do. So it's a roll of the dice.

Thank you so much for advice.

Any Saq tips from any subject would be great jeanne.

I just asked DD how she fit it all in and she said, with difficulty. She reminded me that Cambridge told her they were only interested in academics, so her SAQ was purely subject and Cambridge, with an indication of why she'd enjoy supervisions (she wants to write weekly essays) and which papers had caught her imagination.

Most of her extra-curricular stuff was left out entirely - she only mentioned a couple of things which she felt demonstrated that she had the grit to do a degree. Anything subject related was squeezed in somehow!

(I went to Cambridge 30 years ago. I hand wrote my PS. I turned up for interview and did a 2 hour exam and then had a couple of nice chats with the Directors of Studies. That was it! They have to jump through so many more hoops these days and the application process is extremely full on, however for DD it's been worth it.)

Thanks Dimsie, that's really helpful of you. I've shown what you've said to dd.

If it helps, DS1 says that his Maths PS for Cambridge basically consisted of:

I really like Maths;
this is why I really like Maths;
I'm really good at Maths;
here are some examples of me being really good at Maths;
this is a bit of Maths I find interesting;
this is why I find this bit interesting;
this is some stuff I've done with the Maths I find interesting.

That was pretty much it, apparently.

TheCheese. Sounds perfect! That made me giggle.

That sounds spot on cheese.

We went to an Oxbridge evening at school and both admissions tutors said that they were looking for depth of interest in the subject rather than broader interests.

Mind you both said that it was 'just part of the picture'. We came away with the impression that PS is more for other universities than Oxbridge. They're more interested in eg PAT results, AS and GCSE results, and your thinking processes in an interview if you get one. DS said it was a similar message at the open days he went to at both Oxford and Cambridge.

It's tricky because other Universities said they wanted to know what makes you you. So include the extracurricular stuff. So our agony has been whether to focus on Oxford with PS or broaden it for elsewhere.

In the end he's picked a couple of extracurricular bits but related them back to initiative, seeing sides to an argument etc. Hope it's the right compromise!

My DD will be off to Cambridge to start her MEng at the end of the month - something we thought somewhat unlikely this time last year, but she decided 'nothing ventured nothing gained' and that whether she got an offer or not it would be a good experience. She didn't have a clean sweep of A* gcses - Bs in English lit&lang and German. Evidently that didn't matter.

She put a lot of work into her PS - similar to what the others have said, all about how she became interested in the subject (electronics gcse etc) and developed that (helping establish and run a robotics club for the younger kids, EPQ desiging a robot) with a bare mention of DofE in the context of determination or suchlike. We got the impression at other uni open days they were similarly not overly interested in extracurriculars unless they were subject relevant or demonstrated leadership, grit etc, and there wasn't room for anything else!

I didn't see her SAQ but I think she used it to explain why despite her PS being all about electronic eng (what she applied for elsewhere - southampton was her reserve and her only regret is she can't go there too!) that the Cambridge gen eng with later specialism would be even better.

I don't think she found the aptitude test stressful, actually quite fun. Being the first year camb had done them, there was only one sample paper. It was based on A level maths and physics content and no extra tutoring or prep was necessary or appropriate, beyond doing the sample.

Good luck to all your kids - its such an exciting time!

Good for your dd Errol, how exciting for her! Thank you for passing on her wisdom :)

I'd like to join too please if that's ok?
DD has decided to definitely apply to Oxford (Classics) She wasn't sure for a long time but went to a few subject days at different colleges and absolutely fell in love with the course and the university in general.

She has chosen her other 4; St Andrews (gulp - so far away! ), Durham, Bristol and Newcastle, in that order.
She seems to be fairly pragmatic about her chances - says it's a bit like the lottery, the only way to guarantee you won't win is to not buy a ticket!

She's still waiting for predicted grades, but they should be enough, based on AS/internal exam results.
Fingers crossed!
Personal statement is at 3rd or 4th draft stage but still needs a bit of whittling.
Head of 6th form has a copy to look at and she has a meeting with her on Monday to discuss it.
I think the school's deadline for application is in about 2 weeks!

HesMyLobster The lottery analogy is the exact thought process my DD had towards applying to Cambridge a few years ago. It helped her so much through the the quite nerve wracking process of application.

Good luck to your DD on her application.

OhBad, on the personal statement I would not write about why Cambridge if the right place for her etc. She should have a look on line about advice on the PS. They tend to want to know about you and that specific subject so she can show her knowledge and enthusiasm for it. My twin sons did not apply (they are both going to Bristol later this month) and I think they rightly thought they would not get in but I would certainly encourage people to try. My siblings went and had a very good time.

In my sons' school last yera the Oxbridge applicants were the first to submit their application as that is needed in early in about October I think and then the UCAS applictions for the others not applying to Oxbridge went in by about half term. I think it is probably better to get your 5 choices down there all at once to get it over with rather than adding some later which would unusual anyway. If you are Oxbridge material the next 4 tend to be not that hard to choose in the sense you will probably not be putting down places with very low entry grades.

Oldie she hasn't written that on her PS- don't want to put other unis off, but on the SAQ which is the cambridge additional information form solely for them.

3 of the choices were hard for dd because there are a lot of high entry maths courses. Still, the choices have been made now. College want oxbridge entry stuff done by early Oct as you say and everyone else early Dec.

Thanks for the advice :)

Welcome to the thread Lobster :) They really have to be on the ball over the summer don't they. It's no putting it off til this term and then thinking, of maybe I'll apply, unless you are a really organised fast thinker and you don't mind that half the open days seem to be after colleges want your forms in.

Dd has more or less finished PS. It is a bit daunting as she loves Durham but would rather go to oxbridge than other unis on her list. She wants to see how far she'll get along. Would be such an advantage ro go to cambridge and so much closer to us. However, at mo. She feels the potential extra workload scary and may not give her enough time to socialise.

Feel embarrased - how lucky to have possibility of oxbridge.

Hello, newbie here who would love to join. DS is keen to study physics, he has only just completed a first draft of his PS and I think it will need a lot of tweaking. Some PAT past papers have been done too...

We've been to a few open days, Durham, Birmingham and Manchester, and we have a couple more to do.

I'm not sure how clued up his school is on the whole Oxbridge process to be honest, so we're having to do lots of research ourselves. Very grateful for the wise words of Mumsnetters

Welcome Steph, yes we can all muddle through this together :) I expect it will be a thread that goes in fits and starts. Dd is practising Mat papers, she doesn't need them for Cambridge but Warwick give lower maths offers for Mat takers I think.

Your DD seems on it Kitten - that is good!

I've heard the school are giving DD a HAT test next week - she had to explain what that was and she expects to do an EMLAT - what is that anyone?

I do need to go to their web page and read about applying. I suppose I'm trying to be low key so DD doesn't feel the expectation pressure anymore that she already does.

Dropping back in again. The admissions tutor was really useful, thanks again for that Kitten. Dd worked really hard over the Summer, on return to school this week talked to her teacher who thinks she's a v strong candidate, they say she'll interview well and her predicteds are now on target, phew.

Other options seem to be St Andrews, Warwick, Exeter and she's not sure about no.5. Taking MFL does seem to bring lower offers and more interviews, St Andrews would be an insurance.

There's an extra incentive for her school to be supportive... It's a single sex boys grammar but went co-ed at sixth form and she's in the first cohort through. They obviously want the girls to successful, especially Oxbridge where appropriate.

Her PS deadline is the end of September, her tutor is talking her through it next week so we'll see how that goes. One of her best friends has just got into Cambridge to read MML so she's taking tips from him too.

voilets Sorry didn't notice what your dd wants to read. Dd will take the MLAT too, the papers online are very useful.

That's great Meladicta :) it sounds like she's in a really good position now with lots of support. We need more linguists - it seems to be a real shortage subject.

I don't know what an EMLAT is, or half the other acronyms!

I'd guess 'EMLAT' is actually MLAT - modern languages aptitude test - but it'd be pronounced 'emlat'?

The Cambridge pre-tests don't have neat acronyms, oxford has bagged PAT, HAT ... but there's a handy table www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/admissions-assessments/pre-interview

Just to add another into the mix - My dd will be doing the CLAT (Classics Language Aptitude Test) in November.
There's only one specimen paper available online to go through so she's struggling to know how else to prepare for it.