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 think the fact that arguments flare so readily on Oxbridge threads show that they are a sensitive area and perhaps we should all be mindful of that and how we come across. People are right, this is a support thread and I remember the stress well from last year. I really valued kind words and supportive advice then.

User, I hope and suspect parents of kids who Oxbridge are mostly down to earth people. If they aren't, then I'm worried for dd. Best of luck for your ds. I hope he really enjoys his time at university. Youch at the book costs!

User you should join us on the Further Education Class of 18 threads, we have people heading off on to all different paths on them and we are lovely and supportive (I hope!)

btw. I went to various comprehensive schools, and then I guess what you'd call a middle ranking university. dd went to a comprehensive secondary school. We have a very ordinary 3 bed semi on an estate. So not really the profile you describe User.

I've never ever posted on a so-called 'lower rank' university thread, so I'm in the clear!

OhYouBadBadKitten when a poster says that their DC is adept at keeping her teachers happy with the bare minimum of work and I say well that's actually a good thing for Oxford, the only thing which inflames the thread is people criticising that comment and twisting it out of all recognition. You were one of those people, hence my suggestion that you read the words. It is actually a serious and valid point and not in any way out of place on an Oxbridge thread.

Ah yes I did drop aware Hingle. Thanks. Tutors are keenly aware of the problem.

I'm leaving this thread. If anyone has any questions or would like any support about applying to do maths at Cambridge, you are more than welcome to pm me. I'll do my best to help.

Mumsnet does not actually represent the universities of oxford and Cambridge. But it would be quite tragic if a thread mostly trying to be helpful ended up putting anyone off from applying.

My DD spent two days of her holiday (which in total is only a couple of weeks this summer because she's been working) helping on an access course run by her college. Because they really do want to widen access!

Even back in the Sebastian Flyte era... here's a story if you think Oxbridge 'isn't for the likes of us'. My grandfather started out as a farm labourer, hired in the market place, ended up working in a coke works in Yorkshire. His two sons both managed to get scholarships; first to grammar schools (this is all pre WWII) and then to universities- one Manchester, one Oxford. Education, access, and social mobility aren't an abstract concept in our family, this stuff matters!

Just a reminder that a Uni of Oxford Open Day takes place tomorrow - no need to register in advance to look around, but some sessions might be full.

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/visiting-and-outreach/open-days/september?wssl=1

No and thank goodness MN doesn't represent Oxford and Cambridge. There's some dodgy advice which regularly flies about year on year interspersed with some more sensible stuff, often from tutors. Same with the 11+ threads and grammar school threads. It was ever thus.

Errol yes my DC have almost all been involved with outreach during their time at Oxford. It's a real thing although one wouldn't know that from MN often.

Hopefully it's usually reasonably clear to readers of these sorts of threads who are speaking with authority (academics, especially admissions tutors) and the rest of us with varying experiences either directly or as parents. I'm contributing to a few HE threads at the moment because I've found some really helpful advice here in the past.

Hingle, that's good, DD runs 3/4 times a week so she'll appreciate having something other than streets to pound, so to speak. She absolutely loved the city btw.

Yes Errol not surprisingly the poorest advice, unsurprisingly, tends to come from those with only very limited experience, or sometimes none.

What is wrong with my English! Apologies. Doing four things at once, none of them well: not surprisingly

Sorry Kitten and others if I inadvertently put people off applying to Oxbridge. I should have perhaps made it clearer that make clearer that DS did not get into Cambridge. But he did get onto another demanding and challenging course, worked very hard in part because he loved his subject, and is now reading for a Phd at a department ranked in the world top 10. I would absolutely encourage kids to have a go. But equally to keep an open mind. It is not the end of the world if you dont get a place, Oxbridge does not have a monopoly of the best courses. Indeed if some of the mystique were taken away perhaps it might be easier to attract non traditional applicants.

One reason I post however is to counter the regular, at times rude, dismissal of London as a place to study. People seem concerned that kids from Hull dont try for Oxbridge. But for whatever reason MN does not seem concerned to consider that they could often get just as good an education at Imperial, LSE or UCL.

And user, I dont know if your blanket criticism of regular posters was meant to sound rude. Our DC are all different and different courses will be appropriate and challenging for different people. My niece has just started studying midwifery after working hard to complete an access course. Fantastic. It wont be easy and she will have to work hard. In the end her achievements will be just as earned and praiseworthy as DC who have achieved in areas that fit better with their own talents.

errol, my Fil was a miner who went to night school so that his dc had choices in life that were not available to him. He's sadly suffering from dementia but I wish he could appreciate what a difference that has made in just a generation.

It's still daunting though, this application malarkey.

I'm not sure I've seen dismissal of those London unis as places to study as such - the concerns I've seen are more to do with other aspects (cost, distance from home, etc etc).

Among DD and her cohort (north western) quite a lot seemed to select only from northern unis (including excellent ones such as Edinburgh and Manchester); others weren't so geographically bound but among them, some absolutely loved the idea of London as a place and others really didn't. Back in the day, imperial was one of my UCCA choices but when push came to shove I realised I simply didn't like the idea of living in London (though both of my brothers had, and loved it!) - DD had similar feelings.

Errol - you have not been around long enough! There was a long Imperial thread about three years ago where some utterly daft things were being said, based on what seemed to be little more than snobbery. Hence my habit of challenging things that, in my experience, are not right. London is not for everyone, but then not everyone at Oxford is happy. Fit is important.

Academic DC are very lucky to have a good choice of world ranking Universities. They should be encouraged to consider the various options and not rule out any because of hearsay. I would strongly recommend prospective students who think they would enjoy studying with top academics and a talented peer group, to aim as high as they can, and to try to overcome possible problems, including perceived Oxbridge snobbery, or London cost. (FWIW Imperial is very generous with bursaries, and our experience is that London, once everything is added up, is not a lot more expensive than Bristol.)

user "She will be better of at Lancaster, Newcastle or Glasgow with people who understand her and will appreciate how hard it has been and will be for her."

If I have posted clumsily I apologise unreservedly .

I shall try to clarify - let's hope it works - bit simplistic.

1. I don't believe anyone at any university gets a decent degree without putting in the hard yards
2. Oxford and Cambridge are not the only decent universities.
3. The idea of effortless brilliance is IMHO nonsense.
4. DS's circle of friends included those from all range of schools and 6th form colleges - state , grammar and private - from what he has told me no obvious correlation between up to A level education and degree classification ( I appreciate that is once they have the place - I am not qualified to talk about school outreach )
5. A 1st is nice but (DH included ) a first from Oxbridge is not the only passport to success - i.e. whatever success means to the individual
6. London is expensive , yes , but fabulous & indeed as I have said before DS accepted by Oxford - turned down by a very very good London university.He wasn't good enough / suitable for them. I don't think it entirely unreasonable on a thread about Oxbridge application people talk about Oxford and Cambridge but I would have thought it goes without saying they haven't cornered the market in being a good university.
7. My niece is just applying for a Criminology degree. She has thought long and hard about it . She would be bored to death by an Oxford History degree. We are all rooting for her , no snobbery about that here.

Hingle

Best wishes to her user

Some people doggedly stick to the notion that Oxbridge is full of floppy-haired Etonians and their ilk and places are secured by a nod and wink and a flash of tie. Even if both universities were 100% free school meal state schoolers and places awarded on a lottery basis, this image would persist.

I wouldn't be surprised if St Andrews and Durham are much more public schooley and no one ever complains about them.

Depressingly ds's Academy chain have cancelled any advice (budget cuts).

I know the deadline is much earlier so I'll get him to spread the word to the other kids.

It's still daunting though, this application malarkey.

Don't be daunted (or more to the point, let your DD be daunted). A bit of a challenge, maybe, but that's not necessarily a bad thing!

I would hope that all the potential Oxbridge applicants are indeed considering those London unis, and others good for the relevant subject. At the end of the day they need a set of 5 to be narrowed down to 2, the U.K. has way more than 5 good options for just about every subject.

Depressingly ds's Academy chain have cancelled any advice (budget cuts).

that's sad... and it's the unis who get blamed for their stats but they can't give offers to people who don't apply.

The main things they should look at are (IMO but may have missed something)

The UCAS website - it's got all the key dates
Unistats
Websites of the specific courses/unis they're interested in.
If Oxbridge, medicine, vet, they need to find out about the relevant aptitude tests

Hi everyone 🙋🏼

Can I join you?
My DS2 in year 12 now and we are looking to apply Oxbridge next year.
Is anyone applying to American universities?

Goodbyestranger what year did ds2 go to Oxford? Just curious because someone posted their daughter dropped a grade this year and they wouldn't take them. By the sound of things finances meant they couldn't resit their A levels which to me makes a bit of a mockery of the outreach programme,