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.

The very best of luck to all for this week!

I have to admit I'm struggling with the whole process and finding it really difficult to get into perspective. DS has offers from four other unis including Durham and I know he would be really happy at any of them, though Durham will be his choice if not successful for Oxford. Since he sat the TSA I've been a bundle of nerves (though hopefully have managed to hide it from him) and interview week last week was highly stressful. Though he enjoyed the week he doesn't think he'll get an offer and he seems fairly sanguine about it. I wish I felt the same. I know I am over-invested and though I can rationalise it all - too few places for so many talented candidates, fantastic to have got to interview stage etc etc - I just can't seem to calm myself down and forget about it all until January. Managing to keep a lid on it in front of him, but please tell me I'm not the only one!

You are not the only one. I am staying silent around ds as he is fairly blasé about it all and not confident he will get an offer. However, inside all I want is for him to go there! And of course, the offer is not the final step. They have to actually get the grades (which for ds will include the impossible STEP) to get in. Ah well, only two more dss to go through this after him!!

Oh Tinseltrauma you will not be the only one. I am sure you know it is very difficult for candidates to judge their performance - was certainly true for my DS. Please believe me when I say that friends who did not get a place absolutely love the universities they are at to the point where my DS is a bit envious of them!! Try to put it out of your mind for Christmas - it will get easier to put in perspective soon. Oxford or Durham? What an amazing result either way. I do understand that it is the tangibility of the Oxbridge place which is frustrating at this time. Please be assured that whatever happens both you and your DS will be happy. It really is win/win as I came to realise.

I feel quite chilled about it all.

But he is my fourth child going through the system so I don't think I have the energy to stress any more. Also I know they end up doing just fine elsewhere.

Although ds doesn't get rid of STEP as one of his other offers requires it.

You're making me feel better already - thank you! The daft thing is, he is my fourth (though the first to try for Oxbridge), so I've done all the UCAS stuff before, and thought I would be fine. This is another level though. Thank goodness for the support of Mumsnet

Thanks Hubble, my username is very apt today...

Try not to worry folks. They all will have done their best and that is all we can ask - trite but true. Once the decisions are out and there's certainty either way, then I'm sure this process will feel less intense.

Dd has messaged. She's in the first year block, so to speak, or where they house the first years. The room looks perfectly fine from the picture she sent, kind of like all the halls of residence rooms I've seen on open days for the last two years, DD is happy anyway. Sharing a bathroom with one other. Food is perfectly edible she says, she wasn't expecting Michelin standards!

Interviews at 11.25 and 14.25. Apparently, there's a plethora of maths and computer science applicants, and she's got friendly with a few guys being interviewed these subjects and they seem really nice.

Good luck to you today Coleoptera. Things must be much harder for you with twins in the same process - twice the angst! Durham does seem to be a fantastic place , DS loved it at the open day. Fingers crossed for offers soon for you 💐

Good luck to all in interviews this week! Seems an age already since Dd Was there last week!

Good luck to all. Here, DD is straight back in to v v laidback mode. She has mocks this week and did a couple of hours' work at most over the weekend (ignoring looming deadline for long history coursework assignment). Big argument when she wanted to start watching something at 11 pm last night (with younger siblings too). Do all the DC on this thread go to bed at sensible times and manage to self-regulate?! Apparently I am "not normal" and a control freak because "everyone else" can watch stuff at any hour of the day or night, literally...

Do all the DC on this thread go to bed at sensible times and manage to self-regulate?!

Mine did (she had an early school bus) and as far as I can tell does the same during the week in termtime at Cambridge, where it's entirely normal for work to be seen as important in 'work/life balance'. She has mentioned some tendency to different behaviour in this regards between those with lots of 9am lectures/labs and others though.

Good luck to Justanothermile DD and Coleptera DT1. Still no acknowledgment from Durham?!

I'm another who is trying not to let DS see how much this matters to me. It matters because it is so important to him....
If he gets an offer, great. If not, he will be just fine anywhere else, and if he decides on a career in academia (somewhat unlikely), he can always try for Oxbridge as a post-grad.
I know a couple of kids who haven't got to the interview stage who are going to try again next year - that seems ridiculously stressful.

DS is there now. Two interviews today and another on Tuesday or Wednesday. Am pacing the floor, simply because I know how much it means to him. Might resort to watching the Brexit vote later - it's got to be less stressful than this !

So Dd has had her first interview. They are strictly running time, 20 minutes each. She says she really enjoyed the interview but really doesn't know how it went! No mention of PS or submitted work, but she was given artefacts to handle and discuss and a picture of a Roman building to consider! She could tell the interviewers (who she said were very friendly, one professor and one from the museum), were trying to draw out her thinking, but not in a 'she needs help' sort of a way.

Another one later and definitely another tomorrow in another college. Dd has both interviews in college today, but I think all applicants are having at least three interviews, but some just one in college today. She thinks for standardisation.

ds has doen one today and will have another one , both is same college ( combined degree ). I didn’t get that much info . All is ok so far . Dinner was good even .

Oh dear second one went badly . Oh well , he’ll get another chance I guess .

Panttwizzler I am often guilt tripped for being a restrictive, control freak parent when ‘all her friends’ are allowed to do whatever they want whenever they want etc. I am pretty sure I am about average, not at all restrictive really. They try it on!

Rianna I know the feeling when you get that message. Onwards and upwards!!

Do all the DC on this thread go to bed at sensible times and manage to self-regulate?!

I leave him to self-regulate, as I have done for several years now. He may or may not go to bed at sensible times! I give him a shout on the days when he's supposed to be up early. On the other days he seems to get to college on time.

Oh Rianna hope he's ok, it's not nice getting that sort of message from a distance.

My DD had her assessment and two interviews today at Cambridge for Maths. She said it was difficult and isn't hopeful. But she's not crying or feeling bad about herself and that was the main thing for me.

She said all the questions were about the assessment and maths. Nothing about her personal statement or about herself.

I'm proud of her for giving it a go!

If there's one thing I have learned on this thread is that there doesn't seem to be a set pattern about outcomes of interviews by how the candidates feel it went. Keep your chins up flipflop, rianna. Who knows, they might have been pushed out of their comfort zones and simply that, they are all still pretty young when you think about it.

Just heard from DD, she really enjoyed her second interview and thought it went positively. Her fellow interviewees felt that one of the interviewers was brusque and difficult to engage with, but Dd really liked him and found him friendly, god knows if that's a good thing....?

She's gone off this afternoon with her fellow interviewees (who she says are a real mix and absolutely lovely) to the William Pitt museum, and has another interview at Magdalen in the morning, which made me smile as she was unsure of this college, due to its somewhat more 'posh' reputation, which I'm sure is just that...

The interview tomorrow she thinks she'll get some text to analyse, as she's to arrive early.

They then find out if they get pooled Tuesday afternoon or evening.

I've told her to enjoy the experience in of itself and relax tonight. She thinks her college is beautiful and room comfortable, everyone friendly. So it's turning out to be a positive whatever the outcome, and I'm particularly glad about that, for her sake.

Oh and just one question about one thing on her PS.