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!

Thanks for the messages about DD2's driving success.

She just heard that one of her best friends has an interview at Cambridge for Modern & Medieval Languages. Obviously DD2 is chuffed for her friend but now the anxious wait is getting to her. Friend did not sit any tests but had to send off some work, which was I think a little before the tests. DD had a maths test and did quite badly so is is a stressy strop about how crap her teacher is. I work in her school, so it's all a bit awkward.

@rememberatime - get your daughter to look up cyber security challenge uk - if she’s not already involved. They are an organisation funded by some very big names who aim to identify and redirect talent - to get bedroom hackers into the CS industry is one take but they do so much more.

They run online challenges throughout the year, from which people are invited to face-to-face events. Expenses are funded by the event sponsor, usually a defence or financial company, names like qinetic, Bank of England, gchq and many others are involved. At each face to face challenge, standout competitors are invited to the masterclass held in November. This is a 2-3 day immersive team challenge, again funded by sponsors. The first one my son did, it was something to do with a simulated biological threat, and part way through the second day there was an ‘emergency’, they were given minutes to clear their hotel rooms and delivered to central London to continue - lots of fun. Competitors are assessed on both their technical skills and ‘soft’ skills, the challenges stretch them but are fun too. At the end of the competition is the awards dinner, lots of rubbing shoulders with sponsors and exchanging contact details, and the prize winning teams and individuals are announced.

My son won thousands of pounds worth of professional courses, got an unconditional offer to study a masters at his top choice uni, and a work experience placement that led to him being given a job offer that both makes him very financially comfortable at uni, while building an impressive CV and great contacts and fits around his studies. He turned down a gchq sponsorship as he preferred to work. He has represented the uk twice now in the European team challenge - it’s so great for them to spend time with others who don’t glaze over when they start with the techie stuff.

Being involved with cyber challenge opened doors that my son didn’t even know were there.

Good that you have some clarity on the situation but agree it seems odd that not everyone has an acknowledgement...can’t figure that one at all!!

DD has an offer from Durham this evening. AAB - she’s very happy with this.

Great news Lumpy! Which course is that for?

Yay Lumpy!

Dd told me she was disheartened not to have heard anything from Cambridge yet and assumed it means her chances of being invited to interview are diminishing, This thread was a useful way of reassuring her that the invjtarionscwere only starting to go out.

Do they and I write to reject or dies that appear on track, I wonder.

Dd believes she will hear either way from the college.

DrMadelineMaxwell - tell your DD to get herself on the The Student Room - very active Cambridge 2019 thread. Interviews have only been sent out for subjects with no pre-tests and also for overseas candidates. Therefore bulk of interview applications not yet sent out, with many scheduled for next week. I believe they send out interview offers and declines at the same time. It also varies between courses and colleges in terms of timings. In other words, it's still early days - very best to your DD xx

@aurea that’s for Theology and Religion. 😊

College my son has applied to says everyone gets emailed.

Great news Lumpy! Another of DD2's friends has a Cambridge interview (at DD1's college). DD2 has not heard anything. We are trying to stay positive so thanks for the info about emails only starting to go out.

dd has heard of one interview invitation and one rejection so far. She has already been on TSR and her college seems to be one of the later ones to respond.

I'm assuming that, given the deadline for submission for work (3 pieces) was only the 10th and there will be a lot of applications, then it's a little early yet for DD to hear something. She didn't have tests to complete.

Brasenose College has posted provisional dates for sending out interviews invites for Oxford on The Student Room (can't share the link from The Student Room app - it's on the Official Oxford Applicant's 2019 thread and was posted 4 hours ago)

[QUOTE=BrasenoseAdm;80612732]UPDATE

Hello everyone! Below is a list of the subjects offered at Brasenose and our expectations about when we might be able to send out decisions.

[b]We cannot speak for subjects we don't offer or on behalf of other colleges, who may send out decisions at different times to us[/b]

Biochemistry - sent on Wed 14th Nov
Biology - sent on Wed 14th Nov
Chemistry - we are hoping either Thu 22nd or Fri 23rd Nov
Classical Archaeology and Ancient History - we are hoping either Wed 21st or Thu 22nd Nov
Classics, including Classics and English, and Classics and OS - we are hoping Wed 21st Nov
E+M - we are hoping Mon 26th Nov
Engineering - we don't have any information at this stage, although we would not expect decisions before Mon 26th Nov
English LL - we are hoping Thu 22nd or Fri 23rd Nov
Fine Art - sent on Tue 13th Nov
Geography - we are hoping Mon 26th Nov, but Fri 23rd Nov remains possible
History and all Joint Schools except with ML - we are hoping no later than Fri 23rd Nov, possibly earlier in the week
Law including Law with LSE - we are expecting to send these early next week, possibly Mon 19th or Tue 20th Nov. Today (Fri 16th) remains possible but we think it is unlikely
Maths, including with Phil and Stats - we are hoping Fri 23rd or Mon 26th Nov
Medicine - decisions are sent by the Medical School instead of the College, we think on or around Wed 28th Nov
All Modern Languages courses - we are hoping Mon 26th Nov, but Fri 23rd Nov remains possible
Physics, including with Phil - we are hoping Mon 26th or Tue 27th Nov
PPE - we are hoping Thu 22nd Nov
EP and PPL - we are hoping Wed 21st or Thu 22nd Nov

To repeat: [b]We cannot speak for subjects we don't offer or on behalf of other colleges, who may send out decisions at different times to us[/b]

Brasenose Admissions[/QUOTE]

SO HAPPY!

My DS has just received an interview invitation for law at Trinity College, Oxford.

All this from an unremarkable state school in north east Scotland!

Thank you evenstrangerthings, for that update from TSR.

Fabulous news Aurea, really pleased for your DS.

Well done to Aurea DS. He really doesn't need to do much preparation for the interview as he's overwhelmingly likely to be given a case to dissect or a concept to explore, rather than quizzing on things in his PS - although they might use his PS as an ice-breaker. I guess his main challenge will be to make the journey all the way down! Best of luck to him anyway.

Congratulations to your DS @Aurea! Great news!

Congrats to him Aurea!

Ds got an interview invitation today (Cambridge). He's happy but still thinks he prefers Manchester ...

Congratulations Atia and Aureas ds :)

I'll keep an eye on any tricky weather potential for interview season and report back.

Congrats on the interviews!!! @aurea & @AtiaoftheJulii

ds has also got an interview.

Oh this is exciting news all round! Well done all, really chuffed for all the dc concerned.