Applying for Uni 2019 entry Part 3, UCAS & offers

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Wow that last thread filled up quickly. Well done to your DS, Piggy!

That’s good new Blame, typical that the favourite is the last to come back!

This morning dd got confirmation that she got an A in her EPQ, so she’s cheerful. It puts a couple of her offers down a grade, not sure if Southampton reduce their offer for her course though.

Oxbridge Offers for London State School

Wow. Amazing news.

DS has had his first offer!! From Sussex. His 5th choice apparently but I'm so pleased the ball has finally started rolling

AAB or ABB if firmed.

Well done to blames ds on all 5!

Great news! That is lovely.

Blametheparents wow that's a very inspiring article - it must be quite a school. An in-house team of five Oxbridge graduates solely dedicated to university access will help their cause too, I would have thought. I would imagine that's quite unusual?

Well done to your DS, Pasanda and to your son too blametheparents.

Yay! that’s great pasanda :D

It would be great if schools like that could change the attitude that stops lots of very bright state school kids having a go at Oxbridge.

I think it takes nerve to stick your head above that parapet. There is no camouflage.

It is quite a school, indeed. But , do note, it is not just a 'local comp'. Who knows how that team is funded but London will lose all this funding soon. It interviews students for admission, unlike most state comps, too, and has a waiting list.

Still great to read though.

For goodness' sake, don't put this on the Oxbridge thread. WW3 has already broken out!

Oh... just popped over there. They are already arguing about it.

@piggywaspushed - I'm off to take a look!
There will be those who think that all of those students don't 'deserve' a place, but we cannot judge and we've not lived their lives. I hope they all do brilliantly and inspire others to apply.

I have to ask what is the obsession with an Oxbridge degree. DS friends who left school at the end of the 5th form. Went onto vocational college, we have a plumber, electrician, builder, landscape gardening, stone mason. They are all making mega bucks. So is it about money or bragging rights as parents. Just asking....

Youngest DS is doing the interviews this month, my eldest DS now an architect said you will be retired at 40 if you go for a vocational career.

Yes I think much of it is parental bragging rights...And it's good spin to convince everyone that Oxbridge is the be all and end all until such time as a poor DC doesn't get in.

Agree that vocational courses are the way to go if one has the natural aptitude.

Dd’s school is a comp (four 9-2 passes required for 6th form) admittedly ‘leafy’ but they don’t do any Oxbridge etc prep & they got three Cambridge & eight Oxford offers this year(140 kids doing A level). I think just getting a wider range of kids to apply is half the battle, it’s hard to risk the rejection & sticking your head up is difficult too (e.g. the school newsletter which was sent out this morning with Oxbridge offers on it (no names thank goodness)). Being resilient enough to pick yourself up if there isn’t an offer bodes well for future success (in life generally!).

I call bollocks to parental bragging rights where kids get to Oxbridge. It’s about being challenged academically, fulfilling potential, being taught by the absolute best in the field. Not saying you wouldn’t get that elsewhere but very demeaning to kids who work very hard (and have a shit load of good luck) and get places to imply they are only there to enable their parents to brag 🙄

Yes I think much of it is parental bragging rights

Oh, don't be ridiculous

That's great news blame . Here's to getting 38!

[... wanders off to the Oxbridge thread to point & laugh...]

I'd guess most people who participate in MN higher education threads are those who want kids - both in general, but obviously their own in particular- to get the education/training which best fulfils each youngster's aptitudes and aspirations.

Ahem. It is ds who has pushed the whole Cambridge thing and if anything me who has been dragged along fearfully in his wake!

I googled the stats today and in this particular college last year 17 people got maths offers and only seven ended up there. So I still think he could well end up elsewhere.

I'm proud of all four of my children and they are ending up in quite a wide range of jobs. Not one the same which is lovely.

I know two Cambridge graduates who decamped to the States. One over 25 years ago. He had a brilliant brain but was paid pitifully, across the pond the budget was in the millions of dollars. He persuaded a colleague to join him. At the time the colleague was doing research to make ends meet his wife worked at a supermarket. They had two children. They had a beautiful home, pool, the lot, but the wife was homesick. So they came back home after a couple of years. Once home she realized how much she had come to enjoy the standard of living in USA so they all went back. They are still there.

Yes we may have the brains, but we do not treat them well financially, nor do we allocate decent budgets as the USA do.

I have to smile when I see things they have developed over there, becoming available here at huge cost. I am proud of them at the same time as despairing at the short sightedness we show to our best brains in the UK.

Only just noticed this new thread!
Obviously I've got lots to catch up on!

I have to ask what is the obsession with an Oxbridge degree.

Well, they are the two highest ranked universities in the world.

Does anyone know, you have an uif and have decided you want to defer a year, the university is likely to agree to that? Either a) before you accept; or b) after you have accepted but then once results day is out decide to do a gap year? (I suppose in the case of (b) it might depend on your results rather!!)
It will all vary case by case I know, but just wondered if anyone had any experience of this?

Speaking of Oxbridge did anyone see this story on the BBC website?

Hi Lillian, yes they did - there was a discussion about it on the 'oxbridge applications' thread (though I think the thread's moved on now!)

Sorry - should have RTFT. Ooops