Oxbridge applicants 2018 part 2

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Hopefully this is in time!

Just arrived England safe and sound!
Will drive to Oxford this evening after picking DS up. Looked at the weather forecast and its worrying to me! Not onky cold! Possible snowing will make it really challenging for me to drive!

Apologies if I’ve missed this risotto, but do you have to drive? If you’re coming from London there are good trains from Paddington that take about an hour. Or there’s the Oxford tube, a bus service leaving every 15 minutes from Victoria that takes about 90 minutes. Could hat be less stressful?

Glad you arrived safely Risotto.
That's a good point about trains, would probably be alot easier?
I hope you and your DS have a wonderful weekend ahead of the interview madness!

Risotto weather forecast for Oxford predicts snow after midnight and overnight. The main roads/motorways will be fine as will Oxford itself. Where are you staying? If your ds is staying at a college that will be fine. Good gripping shoes/boots essential for all the cobbled courtyards if It's ICY. If you are a few miles outside Oxford it may be tricky getting from local roads to the main roads on Monday morning.

Yes, quite a lot of snow is possible for Oxford.

tabbytigger that is a very consoling post you've written . thanks for that.

Good luck to everyone this week. DD said it took her a week to recover. She's now so pleased to be able to give the prep a rest but has found an essay writing competition and arranged herself an audition for some amdram tomorrow.

What will be will be and she has an unconditional from KCL so yes Tigger is very wise.

Risotto, don't drive! Not just snow, but parking is awful, especially in the run up to Christmas, and the traffic system in the centre of the City is deliberately car-unfriendly. Also the first park and ride you get to (Thornhill) fills quickly and you could find yourself driving round the city looking for alternatives.

There are two coach services that leave from Victoria Coach station or the main road between that and the main station. Tickets purchased online can be very cheap. Allow plenty of time, especially if roads might be bad, but you will find it far less stressful, and you arrive at Cornmarket which is pretty central.

We used to stay just outside and taxi in but this might not be an option for risotto

Whitlandcarm you ask good questions, it’s so frustrating isn’t it. I didn’t read joint schools at oxford but perhaps the other subject might not be taught at the first choice college? Some subjects are less popular/take fewer students and are not taught at every college. In that situation the tutors from another college that DO offer it would take on the teaching of that particular part of the course, and so it would make sense for the applicant to be interviewed there. But we just can’t know really. I wish your son/daughter (sorry I missed that bit of info) well. I have lots of friends who were interviewed at other colleges then ended up at their first choice. Also I have friends who ended up getting a pooling offer (ox and cam) and were really happy in their given college and never gave their ‘first choice’ a second thought.

I hear you when you say it’s odd not to get a place when your grades are as good/better than other applicants. The problem is almost everyone applying will have top grades, and they simply can’t take everyone - on my course (English) they had 50 applicants for 7 places at my college. They interviewed about 35 and then chose their 7. I kept in touch with some of the unsuccessful applicants from my cohort. One in particular reapplied successfully to Cambridge the following year and now is a much thought-of journalist and novelist. She clearly would have been easily good enough to go to my college (and a lot more successful than me!!) but the tutors make their choice for whatever reason.

You really don’t know what they’re looking for, and often the process is so rigorous that if a candidate doesn’t get a place it’s not because they’re not bright enough, but can just be because their style of learning and certain “breed” of brilliance wouldn’t suit the institution.

This can be true, but in reality it is a numbers game - there aren't enough places for everybody and small differences will be used to decide who gets an offer and who doesn't, on the borders.

No selection procedure is perfect - many candidates rejected from Oxbridge would have flourished there. It's not that uncommon for a candidate rejected one year to reapply the next year, get in and then get a top first. (On the other hand, beware that re-applying the next year with top grades doesn't mean you will necessarily get a place.) Similarly, every year Oxbridge will receive applications for Masters/PhDs from Oxbridge rejects who have outperformed many Oxbridge students at undergraduate level.

An Oxbridge rejection should not be permitted to define your life - it is unhelpful to interpret it as being "worse" or "second best" than those who were accepted. There are many other world leading universities in the UK, and many other terrific opportunities.

thanks all for the passionate responses! im really moved!
I had rented the car and drove very safely to Tonbridge. Will drive to Oxford this evening and stay in an Airbnb at 10min drive / 30min walk from DS applied college.
I plan to do the recee to the two colleges tmr morning, and DS will stay in college tmr night before interview on Monday morning. So it’s very safe for him. I will drive from Airbnb place to the college on Monday morning alone, will reserve much buffer of time for finding parking slot. Alternatively I can stay in car while waiting for him.
Will leave Oxford on Tue, probably in the afternoon, for London.

Honestly Risotto leave the car at abnb and taxi or walk in. Parking is difficult and will cost more.

Risotto I'm too protective of my parking secrets in Oxford to post them but if you want to know where to park for a pretty walk to Catz with no problems of space, PM me :)

Risotto won't your DS stay in halls for two nights? As someone who has tried to drive around the unknown city of Oxford last week I would get a bus or taxi when you can. You probably won't be able to leave til late in the day on Tuesday?

Marmite, DS only needs to stay for one day/ 3 interviews as stated clearly in the email, they said no need to stay on after the 3rd one.

That's easier then. Much better than hanging around.

I’ve had another look, Oxford is very much in the firing line for tomorrow’s snow. It could get quite a lot.

oh my goodness! what an unforgettable experience for us!

Good luck to everybody interviewing over the coming week. Will be thinking of all the DC and their stressed mums.
Pleased your DD home safe and sound Lobster.

today’s weather warnings affecting Oxford. It will continue to affect Oxford all day and into tonight. It will probably continue to lie tomorrow and Tuesday could be very icy. After that it should warm a little.

Just had Snapchats from dd, it's very much still snowing in Oxford.

It’s a bit of a hazard having interview season at this time of year!

Report from the weather thread. Oxford buses are running fine at the moment, the council have been gritting. Hoping for a park and ride report soon.

news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9308000/9308643.stm

This is the weather DD3 interviewed in in December 2010. Oxford was blanketed with snow, and the main surrounding roads were treacherous. Our journey took nearly twice the usual time - 6 hours. The compensation was Oxford looking exquisite once we'd arrived :) The downside was that offer letters got stuck for days and days in the post (applicants were supposed to hear before Christmas still, in 2010).