Oxbridge Applicants 2019

[evenstrangerthings]

The 2018 Oxbridge Applicants Thread was started at the end of August last year, but with many students now sitting internal school exams rather than public AS exams, many will have Year 12 results in hand and some will be starting to prepare for applications to Oxford or Cambridge University.

Let's support each other in supporting our kids through this process, which may involve extra exams, multi-day interviews and extra application statements.

Do feel free to join the thread, even if your DC is on the fence about making an Oxbridge application. It would also be great to hear from those who have been through the Oxbridge process before!

I'm happy to answer any questions about Cambridge based on my limited experience of one dc having been through most of the way through the experience.

Oxford alumnus here (Classics), I matriculated 16 years ago, and eager to chip in with whatever appropriate information I can muster.

goodbyestranger will be here soon to lend support and wisdom - she’s got lots of current experience of Oxford ins and outs.

Thanks! My DS is looking to apply to Oxford for Maths. Starter questions for 10 😏

@OhYouBadBadKitten - if I remember correctly, your DC applied to Cambridge for Maths? Why did they choose Cambridge over Oxford?

@HingleMcCringleberry Do the short academic terms with exams at the start of term make the holidays miserable, or is it a case that students are well guided through the academic term, so are able to have some free time in the holidays?

Please can I join in.
dd2 likely to make an application this autumn.
She was originally interested in the human science course at oxford but has become more interested in the anthropology/sociology/politics course at Cambridge.
Any thoughts on either of those and the relevant entrance exams gratefully received.
Her school does not have a strong Oxbridge prep/success history.

I think it's because she felt it has a better reputation for maths. STEP still feels like a slightly scary gamble because we are generally low risk takers but one she felt worth taking. It's better to try for the place that you really really want rather than settle for the safer option.

Welcome @olliepolly! Hopefully you'll get some replies about humanities here, but I would say the The Student Room usually has some useful threads about the Cambridge pre tests.

@OhYouBadBadKitten - I think DS will likely take the STEP in any case, as one of his other choices offers lower grades if the student can get a good STEP result. Let's see how his MAT prep goes 😏

If it's the place I'm thinking of a, a good MAT will also give him a lower offer.

evenstrangerthings I found the holidays fine - I was tested on what had happened the previous term, so you’re just consolidating what you did to make sure it has bedded in: basically last couple of days of holiday you pick your books back up, read your essays over and familiarise yourself with what you’ve covered. If you want to do more, of course you can, but certainly the first couple of terms you’re acclimatising to the onslaught of material and friend-making, so I found the holidays necessary to refresh myself. I still enjoyed them, no misery.

Think dd is going to apply for History after a quick look at a HAT sample paper. She hasn't got all A* at gcse so we shall see what hapoens,

Hingle - prescience :)

Happy to help with any queries if I can but the recent thread starters seem incredibly genned up before they start. I think it's helpful on these threads for a breadth of subject experience too. There seem to be a lot of mathematicians always amongst the MN body, and physicists.

RedHelenB three of my DC have read history at Oxford and there are an awful lot of applicants who get offers who aren't a straight run of A. In fact the HAT is the decider for interview, not the number of A.

That was poorly phrased. The two recent thread starters both have mathematician DC and what I meant was that lots of contributors across different disciplines is useful but I can't help with maths.

Can I join too, please? My DD is hoping to apply to study Biology at Oxford next year, predicted grades permitting. I hope to find useful advice and support in this thread.

Helen DS1 another history boy just graduated (Cam), he did not have lots of A*s at GCSE. Cambridge were / presumably still are (as no doubt are Oxford) keen on academic trajectory as well. DS1 was of course before A levels went back to linear, so his AS grades and high UMS in those may have then helped.

DS2 quite keen on applying, however more perhaps because that's where his big brother went, rather than it necessarily being the best fit for him. He will at least have his actual A level grades though.

there tend to be more Oxford than Cambridge people on these threads - and I probably wont be around for most of it either (child did medicine and still has friends at Cambridge, however I do also have relatives who went to the other place). However for several years a Cambridge tutor has showed up on TSR to answer questions and for most questions that will be far better than mumsnet. So I'll just direct to you to the alternative prospectus www.applytocambridge.com/ and here www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2467228

Cambridge is the place to go for maths but it's very hard to get in and once in you may be directed towards Computer Studies if you are not 2.1 material. The admission process selects on the basis of STEP and twice as many offers are made as there are places. Those who dont succeed often go to Warwick, which also has an excellent maths department. I have the greatest admiration for Cambridge mathmos but I'm not sure I'd want any child of mine going through it. You are pretty much guaranteed a job at the end but that's also true of, say, engineering at Imperial.

Oh I think MN can be quite useful for the off script stuff alreadytaken. My DC have barely looked at TSR and are rather dubious about it, or a lot of it (lots of bragging about grades and how well aptitude tests/ interviews went then a clear lack of correlation to offers). Did your DS stay at Cambridge for the clinical years? If he wasn't there for the clinical years then he might have a different take on his experience to those who stayed (I have a feeling he left, but can't remember with accuracy). DS1 also did medicine and graduated with all the other sixth year Oxford medics two days ago, in a really striking ceremony in the Sheldonian, lunch in college then a reception in the exam schools for all the medics and their families and friends, so a fabulous send off. Obviously some of the info in the official unofficial bumph is useful but so too is direct experience, which is where MN can actually be useful!

I would also recommend The Student Room, not so much for the threads where students compare grades etc but the ones that pop up at critical points in the application process where you have the opportunity to ask an admissions tutor questions.

www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5440032

My Dd didn't really go on them but I found them helpful and reassuring. With reference to Cambridge , they seemed to emphasise the holistic nature of their assessment, and didn't necessarily rule out an applicant due to a weakness in one part of the application. I am talking about humanities and social sciences here.

Things sometimes seem a bit more polarised on Mumsnet, but obviously it's a great place for emotional support and sometimes a bit of inside information.

Yes NeaterBonita I suppose it's worth bearing in mind that when official people eg college admin offices advise on TSR they do have to stick to the party line. Thus eg a particular college well known unofficially for insisting on a very high number of A at GCSE will give the impression that the application process is incredibly holistic when in fact they cull on A. The admin guys are very helpful for letting applicants know when interview invites are going out etc but arguably less so elsewhere.

Helen Just back from DS graduation ( History) . So probably rather feeling lovely about the whole thing - just today . Not sure a baker's dozen of GCSE's at A star is required. For admission I think a decent performance on the HAT counts - well certainly towards getting an interview which is a separate battle - ( and a more experienced poster than I am did advise , which is the case, you can phone and ask what you scored on the HAT - can't remember whether that was pre or post interview) . The one thing I would say is that there are commercial outfits who purport to prepare you for the HAT. DS's school specifically warned him off those. What is helpful is to familiarise yourself ( by which I mean DD ) with the format & the general sorts of things they are looking for. All freely available on the website.

I second that - don't use any of these enormously dubious outfits. None of mine ever did, nor did they get help from school - they just used the website. They also - along with Basilisk DS - got a high (well over 70) score (though Basilisk DS was even higher) and followed up - along with Basilisk DS - with firsts, which is why the faculty likes the HAT, properly used.

I'm also off to a History graduation on Friday. Hope you had a really lovely day Basilisk :) Well earned :)

Cambridge is the place to go for maths [...] and once in you may be directed towards Computer Studies if you are not 2.1 material.

An interesting assertion - not one that's currently being repeated by the maths or com sci staff talking about admissions. Where did you hear it?

Ds may apply to Cambridge for Com Sci - loved Manchester, but liked Cambridge more than he expected. First love is maths, but he's been set on computing for a couple of years now. Considering the CS with Maths option to delay saying goodbye to maths! Thinks STEP looks really interesting Found out at the recent open day that if you apply for CS+Maths but miss your STEP offer, then if everything else is good, you'll almost certainly be offered a place for straight Com Sci, which is nice.

Didn't like Oxford for computer science, very small intake (bone of contention within the university!), very theoretical, whilst Manchester and Cambridge seem much more focused on practice and employment.

Dd1 has a year to go at Oxford, and I went to Oxford about a million years ago too. Collections definitely do not ruin vacations! For a start, the vacations are ridiculously long (6 weeks at Christmas and Easter, and if my sums are right, 16 weeks in the summer), and the college exams at worst will get you a bollocking from your tutor, they don't affect anything else.

Thanks @HingleMcCringleberry and @AtiaoftheJulii for the reassurance about vacations and exams.

Oxford is now ahead of Cambridge in the subject league tables for Maths this year, although I would agree that Cambridge has a weightier reputation for the subject.

DS has (so far) chosen to try for Oxford rather than Cambridge, partly because hubby did his Maths Masters there and partly because he prefers the MAT to the STEP.

Great to see lots of historians here!

MAT is definitely a lot more straightforward than STEP

Joining in here. Have dc wanting to read Classics, most likely at Oxford. I went there for a different subject many years ago so am equally able/unable to advise!

My DD applied this year and was offered a place at Oxford for a science subject. Not sure her A-levels went well enough for her to meet the offer but happy to help if I can. Especially knowledgeable about colleges having seen virtually every one with my DD! Which proved useful when she got pooled as she had already visited and liked the place.

I have a DD also thinking of applying for the Classics ab initio course and am very short on knowledge on that one myself, so help welcomed! Older siblings (none of whom have done Classics) say a) definitely Oxford not Cambridge for Classics (but weren't sure why :)) and b) that the ab initio course is a brute - just incredibly hard because of the moving together after a fairly short time with people who've done Classics right the way through school.