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 didn't realise that UCAS put a % rating on how much a PS matched others they compare it to until dd told me. Up to 15% similarities allowable.

Oh, yes, they run it through plagiarism software.

I know they check them but not that they would give them a score for the students to see.

Dd is happ enough though as hers scored a 0%.

That's fascinating DrM !- how do you find out that figure?

Dd2 said it showed up on track. I shall ask her where.

Strangerthings was it question 4 he got stuck on?
Dd1 said she got something ridiculous that she knows is wrong, and it unfortunately put her off for question 5 too, which is normally one she can do best.

She gave me the jitters when she phoned up to say she'd finished and could I come and get her (as she was doing both exams she wasn't sure how long she'd be as she didn't know how long they got between exams) and I asked how it went and she said "I'd rather not talk about it", which is totally unlike her, but when I turned up she looked really ill, and has been not brilliant since.

She was more positive afterwards, although she says she doesn't know how she's done. She was kicking herself on Thursday as she looked again and 4 and 5 and says they were easily doable, and she realised she'd missed a bit out on one of the other questions she could do. Oh well, time will tell.

Yes! Exactly that question!

The paper and solutions are now up on the MAT website but DS is not interested in looking at them (yet). I don't think he wants me to mention the MAT again ever!

Not looking at the paper is really wise. What's done is done. They don't get much notice for the interviews so it makes sense to look at preparing a little for those.

I only know about how maths works, but one really useful technique to practise is to sit down with a tricky problem theyve not seen before (try a maths olympiad problem) and a willing person to listen. They need to practise talking about solving the problem out loud - what do they observe about the problem, are there any approaches that could work, what do they think won't work.
It doesn't matter if they solve the problem or not, but being able to verbalise what they are doing is an important skill.

DD came down just after midnight last night in tears because she saw the marks scheme and reckons she probably won't get an interview and even if she does then she's got almost no chance.
Apparently they normally put the marking scheme out in January, so I'm not sure if this is better or not.
She's normally pretty accurate on her marks so unfortunately she's probably right.
It's frustrating for her as she wasn't well and did a couple of silly things and 4-5 marks would make a difference.

She's feeling a bit better today and we've been talking over her other options, all of which she likes.

It is hard when they've really set their heart on it. Luckily dd2 will be happy to even get an interview and maybe if she doesn't get an offer would feel less stressed about what grades she needs to get at A level.

That's great advice for the interview @OhYouBadBadKitten - i'll wait a bit before sharing it with him though - I don't think he wants to hear anything to do with Oxford for now.

@Witchend It's so hard seeing them feeling down about it. DS is putting together flat pack furniture today which is a welcome distraction for him!

@RedHelenB too!

Witchend, it's really hard both for them and for you as a parent, but she honestly mustn't despair. She won't know how others have done on it and besides it's seen holistically along with the rest of their application.

Just had a read through as I was in this position with DS last year but with the PAT. He came out very unhappy as he hadn't a clue with one question and seeing the mark scheme didn't help. However I think the pass mark isn't as high as you'd think and DC sitting the tests are used to getting most of the questions right. He got an interview and started at Oxford this year. So don't despair.

Wow, tbh I think that's really quite unfair of Oxford to put the mark scheme out straightaway - they must know people won't be able to resist going through it, and it is going to leave most people (I imagine) unsettled.

OYBBK is right as ever. Hope WitchendJr, RedHelen's dd and any others doing tests this week can put them behind them for the next couple of weeks.

Ds had an email from 'his" Cambridge college asking him to keep the 3rd and 4th Dec free, just in case. An odd little reminder that this is real.

Max how was your dd's driving test?

Oh, and I asked ds about the similarity thing, and he indulged me and looked - on the UCAS page where everything you put on the form is listed, it just says it at the bottom of the PS.

It was quite interesting having a look around and reading different universities policies about what to do if you trigger a similarity warning message - some are a LOT more blasé about it than others!

I am one whose DS took an aptitude test and chose to phone and ask how it went ( good advice he had there ) Because , Oxford , lovely , but other universities would have been good as well. As it happened it went nicely , but had it not it would have been good concentrating on other things. Interviews - well different , and he ( History) the main thing was he was actually interested in history and so once off syllabus he could talk sensibly, Although - he did come out of his first interview saying he thought he may have messed things up because in a conversation about French peasants in the C18th he talked about potatoes and iodine. He was downcast. But it ended up OK. One thing he thought was just treating it like a conversation , so , if you don't understand what they are asking , just ask them to ask again. ( Again this is history )

Good luck to all

Oh & when all DCs do get to their universities the plagiarism thing is important but there is some thing on the computer you can put theses / long essays / dissertations through and it tells you if it falls below the problem. Tell DCs to allow a day or so for getting this back. ( Sorry , too far ahead but just whilst I remembered )

Again all best wishes to all.

My ds was one of the ones who took the MAT last week. He felt he had not done as well as he had hoped. However, today he has texted me after checking the answers online and is much happier. One question where he thought he had misunderstood something at the beginning of the question, and therefore got the rest wrong, was not the case at all.

So now we just wait! He took the MAT for Imperial, not Oxford. Imperial offer interviews based on MAT performance so I would imagine that happens soon. He is also waiting to hear about interview from Cambridge. He too got one of those "hold these dates free" emails.

DD's work has now been submitted (two marked pieces and a further written piece about her subject'. She's had an email from Keble confirming receipt so now we wait I guess to hear one way or another, the deadline isn't until Friday in any event.

She's pretty 'chill' anyway as she's very happy with her second choice, who have offered an unconditional.

So it's a win, win either way and that's the way we are looking at it

Argh, missed a bracket!

). 

Expecting to post dd's submitted work off later. Will send Next day so we can be sure it arrives in time for deadline. Can't handle much more uncertainty!

Don't you upload yours LIZS? Dd was only allowed to submit via post in exceptional circumstances. It was all scanned to the college website and she had login details.

Fingers crossed for your DD it gets sent anyway. Not long in the scheme of things to wait to hear either way really.

Definitely post. Email only for overseas applicants apparently.

Dd submitted her work yesterday electronically (to St. John’s Oxford) and within 30mins had a personal e mail back from a lady saying that they’d received it. Interviews are 3rd dec if she gets one (🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻) so been told to expect to hear in a couple of weeks.

Bloody hell, DS is still writing his - teacher set him an essay question on Monday! Talk about cutting it fine.....