Oxbridge applications 2019 (part two).

[Justanothermile]

New thread, I hope it's okay to start one.

Good luck today for those still waiting for interview news, which includes us.

Congratulations to those already with dates.

pandasandpeasgiven your DDs two subjects and with her chosen option being taught in so few colleges. being sent to a different college will simply mean that that's where the niche niche tutor is, I'd have thought. She may well be the only applicant!

Thank you Hingle and Goodbyestranger.

In case anyone is interested, there are 18 interviewees for 6 places at Trinity College, Oxford for Law.

Oxford wants to increase the number of Scottish students Aurea, which is all to your DS's good :) (Although he sounds as though he'll fly in anyhow).

That's interesting Aurea, that's generally better odds than DD's rather more niche subject at her chosen college over the last three years!

Continued good luck today folks.

Although they're competing university wide Justanothermile, and other colleges may well have many more applicants than Trinity. Both of my Law DDs had around five to six applicants per place at their colleges. Some colleges may have had more, some less. There will be movement later today when pooling happens.

I’m intrigued by pooling. My DS has been at Oxford since Monday, had two interviews and has one more on Friday, but that was set up on Tuesday before pooling could have started. He seems to think it’s not worth constantly checking the board as nothing has changed since Tuesday morning - but is there a stage when pooling starts so he should look more often? He’s applying for acourse not offered at many places.

Thanks all!

Another interesting snippet from Trinity, is that the interviews only lasted 15 minutes each. One was regarding a extract from a case they were given 20 minutes before the interview started and one was regarding an extract from a statute that was provided in the actual interview.

All totally academic - no mention of personal statement, etc.

Gettingthroughtheweek pooling varies between subjects but as you say, the Friday interview won't be a pooling interview. It is important to keep checking though. I know from one of my DDs when she was an interview helper at Magdalen that someone missed their pooling interview having not been selected by Magdalen itself, and thereby lost any chance at the pooled college. There's a definite limit to nannying, with the best will in the world.

stranger, do you know what happens at Oxford to the places where there are candidates that haven't met their grades on results day? Clearly they don't enter clearing, so do they just not fill their places and can take the financial hit?

errol was kind enough to answer re Cambridge.

Yes, I forget the pooling process. It's a lot to understand at times I'm finding.

Justanothermile it varies between candidates.

When results come through to the unis a few days before the Thursday release date to Y13s the colleges have a meeting to look at those who missed their grades and decide which, if any, they'll take. And that will be based on their scores pretty much, from the aptitude tests and interviews and general profile too to an extent. Then they'll notify UCAS accordingly so it will be on Track as usual.

This is the grrr bit though. There are definitely always candidates who get in from top indies having had their Ho6 make representations on their behalf, despite a 'No' through UCAS.

Oxford does slightly over offer though, so there's no financial pressure to accept where it doesn't want to, and the Open Offer system is flexible to allow plugging of holes which appear across the university.

One of DDs friends got a summer pool Cambridge maths place (at a different college) having got her A level grades but missed the STEP grade - I think she had a few days thinking she'd be going to her insurance choice before the pool offer came through. I guess it can't always be nailed down before results day because some might reject a pool offer etc. But that sort of detail is a long way off!

Re interviews and winter pooling ... the Cambridge process seems a lot more efficient but relatively impersonal!

Thank you for that clear explanation. It's so hard not to feel it's all an uphill struggle sometimes for us re the representations from the independents, but it is what it is I guess and that is unlikely to change for this intake anyway!

I’m honestly shocked that the old boys’ network still holds sway.

Pandas my DD had her first interview today and also overran to 45 min! She was the first one at 9 am. Not sure how to read this either but hope it is a positive thing She said it went ok and she really enjoyed it.

Puzzled it’s good your DD was enjoying hers! Mine was livid and feels unfairly treated... in the unlikely event she gets an offer and takes it up, if she encounters these two tutors again I imagine she’ll demand a reasonable explanation (or just be passive aggressive - which she said she could feel herself slipping into by the 45 minute mark).

Thank you goodbyestranger! It is in her weirder subject so that makes sense.

Pandas they may have simply enjoyed talking to her! I really do not think it is necessarily a bad thing! These interviews are supposed to mimic a tutorial, so I presume that might happen when a discussion flows. On another hand, it is also good as your DD would have a good idea if she enjoys this style of teaching or not.

DD has two more interviews -- one at a "normal" college and one at a permanent private hall. I'm being vague because I don't want to out her. Does anyone have any inside info about PPHs?

There's been a bit of a debate between us because she's having such a nice time she doesn't want to come home (!!). She says she can stay till tomorrow whether or not she has interviews; DH and I are saying she should come home today if she's released, and get on with all the work that has piled up before and during this interlude. AIBU?!

Well done to your Dd puzzled, I'm certainly no expert but I think it's surely a good thing that the interview ran on, I'd certainly be telling DD that, as that in truth would be my initial reaction. They are talking about their subject after all. The tutorial system might not suit all I guess, and at least the interview process would weed that out. When's her next one?

My initial reaction would be let her stay and enjoy it! Sorry. 😁

Puzzled I think it helped her realise she doesn’t enjoy the teaching style - she was really drained and cried at the end of it just because it made her feel so rubbish about herself (and she’s not a big crier - especially not about something like this, which she isn’t massively invested in). It sounds like your DD is suited to it! DD’s also realised from the week that keeping up her sport to a decent level will be pretty much impossible if she goes so is thinking it probably isn’t worth it. If she’d applied to Cambridge she’d have been able to but they didn’t offer quite the right course. If she goes to SOAS or Edinburgh she’ll definitely be able to, and it’d be manageable at Durham too, so one of them seems like the more obvious options really.

Thank you so much Justanothermile!
That was my initial reaction also, but we’ll see . She has her second one this afternoon at a different college, which she has a chance to research in a bit of detail and also likes. After this, she’ll be checking the board to see if she will be needed for a further one tomorrow. I’ll be collecting her. She is exhausted as she has not slept well at all for the past two nights in anticipation for today. Has your DD finished now?

pandasandpeas, I’m sorry your DD has not enjoyed things. Is she usually so... I’m trying not to use ‘highly strung’... coiled? Tense? To be livid after an interview has run on seems quite a heightened reaction. As is confronting the tutors ‘demanding’ an explanation. I’m not saying that would go down badly, but I’d be intrigued at how they’d handle the naked aggression (even if it is passive aggression!)

I ask because Oxbridge is quite a tense place, and everyone needs coping mechanisms to get through it, certainly in the beginning. And then after that, well, many of us have had interviews, or even meetings, that have dragged on interminably - that is a part of corporate life regrettably. Will she be demonstrably angry on those occasions too? It doesn’t sound much fun for her!

Ha! I posted about your previous post, not your most recent one. That sounds miserable. I’m sorry she didn’t enjoy the experience, and it sounds like with the sport as well, Oxford is not going to be a happy hunting ground. Who knows, Christmas here very soon, and then soon January and offers and rejections, maybe she’ll feel differently looking through a different lens.

Pandas I and my DD would both have seen a longer interview as very positive. She loved her discussions though and didn’t want to leave! I bet you DD gets an offer even though she isn’t that keen!

DrMadeline You know your daughter. If she feels more comfortable being with you the night before then that is what should happen. Oxford is different as it seems that there is a lot of socialising too over a longer stay, but in Cambridge it shouldn’t make any difference. As long as it’s really what she wants to do. My DD was offered accommodation the night before in Cambridge too, but she was quite nervous about it (despite having been with her college and stayed before). They stayed with family nearby which suited her best. DH was able to take her in in the morning, help keep her calm (she is very anxious) and stayed in the parents room until after both interviews.
There have been and will be plenty of other opportunities for independence. Good luck!