Oxbridge applicants 2018 part 2

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Hopefully this is in time!

Hubble25, don't write Oxford off just yet. The interviewers push until they break. The questioning gets progressively harder until the DCs run out of road. I'd be more worried if after 5 minutes, the interviewer switched to talking about the weather and looked at their watch.

No I would not dream of contacting anybody at Oxford about it. DS is the only one to decide on diagnosis now. Thank you for all your help and advice. Much appreciated.

Wonderfully put horsemadmom - DD has just finished her interviews after 2 days in Oxford (Biochem, so 1 each at 2 colleges) - she thought the first was 'tough' until the second one this morning --looking for crying with laughter emoticon- !

'Push until they break' sums up perfectly DD's experience (and indeed my own some 34 yrs ago). She came out quite disheartened initially, understandably. A couple of hours on, she has a better perspective on it. It really is a unique experience & I've told her all along that simply to come through the other side (regardless of outcome), is a positive she can draw on in the future.

Absolutely no questions around PS, just an onslaught of Biochem & Maths questions.

She couldn't have tried harder for this, now it's done & I shall be joining her for a glass of something tonight, to hell with it being a school day tomorrow!

Continued Good Luck to all still awaiting interviews, will be continuing to follow and support all xx

Hubble you really, really don't know. DD3 has adapted incredibly well to deafness (so much so that I didn't realise she was deaf until she mentioned it aged 12 - shocking I know). Her cleverness and the way she adapted masked it, even from me. She's resolutely refused to tick boxes and was incredibly upset after an apparently poor performance in her second Oxford interview for Law, and wasn't called to any pooling interview so was completely convinced she'd lost herself the place. In fact she was high (or top - forget which) on the college's list for offers. You absolutely wouldn't have guessed it from her account of the second interview and I definitely felt cross about not having given her the help she should have had from an early age. Your DS has got a very early PPE offerfrom Durham so he's clearly in the top band. You might very well be pleasantly surprised, as we were. I hope you will be.

So helpful to read of everyone’s interview experiences here, thank you. DS has been called to interview at Cambridge next Monday so we will be going up the night before. It sounds as if it can be a challenging experience so fingers crossed for him and all other DC!

Hubble, although I wouldn't want to fall into the trap of thinking any two people with high-functioning autism were the same, from my stepson, I can imagine that this kind of wiring could be a strength in terms of a philosophy interview.

Being logical, and paying close attention to the exact literal meaning of a question - querying anything that's not clear - can be real strengths. So can the ability to focus in depth on a particular topic

At the end of the day it's not an interview about who has the best interpersonal skills/who is the most humorous/who does the best small talk.

It's all about the subject and the extent to which tutors believe which few students out of the various people they interview will be most likely to be able to deal with a particularly intense high-level kind of teaching.

The level of support you have given me is really touching - you are all so unbelievably kind to take the trouble. I can't wait for DS to come home tomorrow so that I know he is okay. He is my youngest and only one at home so it is lonely here without him - gave me a taste of next October. Bit worried as have not drunk so much for a long time so am I doomed to be an alcoholic do you think?
Well done to all the interviewees today!

watch travel on friday snow warnings

Hey Hubble my DS is very flat today and still doesn’t know what’s happening tomorrow. I’m worrying that he won’t be on his best form for the next round of interviews. He’s getting irritated with me asking if he’s ok/what he’s up to/reminding me to check the notice board. At the same time he keeps sending messages expressing his frustrations. It’s very hard.
I can only echo what people above have said about not writing things off yet. But also be very proud of your DS and where he has got to and the offers he has had - as you know, DS has also applied to Durham PPE and not heard anything so doesn’t even have his second and third choices as consolation at the moment. I know it’s trite but also am a firm believer that it all works out in the end.

DD on her way home. very long day. Exam as expected. First interview 'sooo hard'. Second interview ' Hard but I really enjoyed it'.

Time to get on with A levels now and hope for a few more offers!

Good luck all.

Message for Hubble- my dd had an interview at Cambridge yesterday. She has a diagnosis of Aspergers which (after much debate) we put in her application. It did not sound when she came out as if the interviewers made allowances for her diagnosis and the interviews went very badly (she feels). She is tramatised now and wont talk about it but she is very sure she hasnt got in. Like Hubbles ds she has an early offer from Durham and will probably go there if she doesnt get into Cambridge which at present feels unlikely. So Hubble dont feel bad re diagnosis as we dont think it made much difference although I am sure if dd gets in Cambridge will offer lots of support for her Aspergers.

(I’m slightly worried about Mondaymornings snow potential for central england)

To Hubble and others ( and there are wiser and more informed posters than me on this thread ) I can tell you that when DS went to an Oxbridge Open day , the speaker ( an interviewer ) said an interviewee left the room looking very obviously dejected and they wanted, but couldn't , to tell her she had actually done very well in their opinion. So - just a backup view to support " you can't always tell" .

Hubble your DS has an offer from Durham for PPE..what a champ! this Cambridge process is so drawn out and full of unknowns. Enjoy having him home tomorrow.

My DS is hopefully settling down to a decent night’s sleep in Cambridge ahead of The Big Day tomorrow. I’m so proud that he has got to this point; whatever happens he, like all our DCs will be able to look themselves in the eye and know that they had a go.

DD had her interview at the second college. It was hard and not the best so we have a real mixed bag. One that was awful, one that was good and one that was mediocre. Just got to get through the singing tomorrow and wait to see if we are needed on Thursday. She managed to meet up with some friends that have interviews which was nice for her.

Just a note to DC with interviews for next week. Bring warm pjs and school work as there is a lot of waiting around between interviews.

LadyMac you are so right that they have done brilliantly to get this far.* My MIL commented in a text earlierabout the interviews, "it's quite intense" no shit Sherlock!*!

DD is still there in Oxford- she went down on Sunday, has had 2 interviews on Monday, another one at 10.30 at a different college today and has just been hanging round for the rest of the day waiting to see if she can go home. It got to 7pm and still no news on the JCR notice board and so she's decided to stay tonight as it is a 2 1/2 hr train journey home.
Today's interviewer at the college DD DIDN'T apply to has a reputation for making interviewees cry 😔 at least DD was pleased it wasn't her, despite her being quite unpleasant.....

I recall from ladt year that dd was interviewed by two academics and three dogs. St Hughes! Good job she likes dogs. Didn't get an offer though.

Well DS is back from his NatSci interview in Cambridge. He says it's hard to tell how well you've done, partly because you don't know how others have done compared. He did say at least they warned him on the most difficult question that they didn't expect him to know about it but wanted to see where he could go with it. He managed to start it off, follow the promptings and come up with some of the ideas at the end unprompted, so who knows?

It's interesting how Cambridge and Oxford's approaches to interviews is different, in length of time you are there, but also between subjects and colleges. DS had a 40 minute interview and that was it.

Good Luck to everyone interviewing this week and next. I'm glad it's done now and we can think about other things until after Christmas. Still waiting to hear though from Imperial and 2 others.

Just off the phone to DS, who is still waiting to hear if he gets another round of interviews tomorrow. Won’t find out until the morning. I think he’s struggling with hanging out with so many strangers - although he is good company he doesn’t find it easy to make small talk and has a very small group of friends. We’ve talked through how people are different and that it’s ok to not be the life and soul, and that for all the candidates who are getting on like a house on fire in the JCR, there are probably a fair few who have retired to their rooms like he has. I do hope he gets more interviews tomorrow (had x3 on Monday - one P, one one P and one E) and that his time hanging around today wasn’t a waste. Does anyone know if he will definitely be offered interviews at another college, given that he hasn’t been asked to go home today?

I asked my DD if she had made friends. She said it was a weird atmosphere as if they all knew it was a bit pointless forming bonds with people they may never see again. She made more friends at the choral scholarships earlier in the term but maybe because they were less stressed then.

DD had her first interview this afternoon.
Bit of a surprise as she wasn't expecting any until tomorrow!
She says it wasn't great. It was on language and mostly involved going through parts of the aptitude test.
She says they gave her some extra translations and she forgot to think out loud and explain her reasoning so she's kicking herself a bit for that.
She has enjoyed the college experience so far though - the food is amazing apparently, and she's spent time chatting to the other applicants and they all watched Love Actually in the JCR. She is in love with her room - it's huge! (She just showed me on FaceTime!) and has managed to figure out the heating controls!
She has 2 interviews tomorrow, one at 10am and one at 4pm.

*Itinerant^ I think they said they would let them know by 10am if they needed to stay.

Hubble you mean your DS has another 3?!