Oxbridge 2020

[GinWorksForMe]

Is it too early for an Oxbridge 2020 thread? I'm feeling in need of some hand holding through this process...

DS1 is going to apply to Cambridge for Maths. Doesn't know yet whether to name a college or put in an open application, so any tips gratefully received. We have visited two (very different) colleges and been to a Maths Open Day. It's unlikely we're going to have the opportunity to visit many more colleges as their open days seem to be on Saturdays and DS1 has a paid job Saturdays and Sundays.

Anyone else applying for Oxbridge for 2020 entry and want to share the journey?

DS2 used to be quite rigid in his thinking (due to ASD). The school did some interventions with him to encourage him to be more flexible, and he has improved a lot with age and maturity.

"DS has been told that there are no wrong answers and especially with history after exploring an idea they may introduce further evidence and ask whether your answer differs now. He has been told it is ok to ask further questions but basically to think out loud ie. If this happens then this, but if this then that so they see his thought process."

Interesting - even this is such useful information for interview preparation. Is that stated on the website, or sent out in a 'hello, here is some info before your interview' leaflet before candidates attend? (Of course I realise there may now be a chorus of 'well surely it's obvious the interviewers will do that at the interview, if the student doesn't realise that they obviously don't deserve to get in anyway!' )

Not sure Invisible if in any published - it is what the man from Churchill told our yr 12 kids and parents at the talk he gave in school .

Is that stated on the website

I just googled 'Cambridge interviews' - the most obvious search.

Top hit
www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/interviews

(This includes a couple of video clips which I've not watched)

Second hit:
www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/interviews/what-do-interviews-involve

So, yes, what OKBobble said pretty much is stated on the Cambridge website, and was very easy to find.

Hopefully 'oxford interviews' yields similar!

I think they are told it is more like a tutorial than an interview and perhaps that is what a tutorial is like. Again perhaps whilst this is seemingly obvious to an Oxbridge academic it may not be to us mere mortals There does seem to be an element of assumed knowledge.

Let's hope so as most of my info comes from Cambridge but he is applying to Oxford

Well, here's the top hit from googling 'oxford interviews'

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/guide/interviews

17 yos know how to google and expect to find information on the internet, don't they?

Perhaps one of the biggest problems is that they may place too much confidence in other sources. Teachers, other adults with obsolete information etc. Anything to do with uni admissions, first stop google and read that uni/course website.

I do know that contextual info is only regarding their performance in the context of their school and in ACORN/POLAR measures but that a candidate would still be expected to meet the minimum A level requirement for their course whatever context or background they are from

Having watched a number of Cambridge YouTubers, several from state schools admitted that they missed their Cambridge offers but were still offered a place. (I’m not sure if this has happened for other offer holders or at Oxford). However this year, Cambridge have announced that they will reopen applications in clearing for those candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds who made the published grades and were interviewed but not originally offered by the university. So I would suggest that this year if you miss your offer, Cambridge are less likely to take you, whatever your background.

this i like - it makes sense @errolthedragon

"Perhaps one of the biggest problems is that they may place too much confidence in other sources. Teachers, other adults with obsolete information etc. Anything to do with uni admissions, first stop google and read that uni/course website.

Errol our Cambridge admissions person said "watch the films on the website", so your links are definitely helpful. They also said that some courses will ask you to submit an essay or piece of coursework from school, not prepared specifically for Cambridge, which may then be used to trigger a debate. Encouragingly, she said 75% usually get asked for interview.

Cambridge push their HE+ website to generate ideas for super curricular stuff. They said that an EPQ obviously gives you something else to discuss at interview but no weight is attached to the actual EPQ itself.

I don't remember if GCSE results have featured heavily here yet, but at DD's school, 2/3 of their current year offers have gone to students with an average GCSE score of over 7.5, whilst the remaining 1/3 had an average GCSE score of less than 7.5 in our year group's terms. The school calculated this in our year group's format for benchmarking, despite the current group having a combination of letters & numbers.

A colleague says she will never forget the wail her DD gave first thing in the morning on results day when she saw on UCAS that Oxford had rejected her for law before she knew her actual grades. She had slipped one grade, but ended up with a first from UCL.

Just typed a really long note and lost it...sadly yes, many don't know what they don't know and whilst many students interested in their subject will be pursuing independent study, there is no doubt there are additional hoops. My ds is absolutel committed to his subject and started his STEP prep at the beginning of Y12 but there is stuff in STEP 2 and 3 just not covered in the A level syllabus that has to be learnt and doing that alongside A levels takes time.

I wonder though if things will go the way they have in the US. just for anyone's general interest - we have a friend who was Dean at an Ivy League college who took early retirement.He is now working his own business preparing kids for Ivy league University appications and he is BUSY! Parents typically start contacting him when their kids are 15, he guides their reading, supercurricular stuff, coaches on interviews and SAT tests.....he did a Phd at Cambridge also and advises on specialist courses there to the US market. It certainly got me thinking about level playing fields.

The company I work for runs Test Prep courses in the US for university admissions & they are huge business.

I can sympathise with your DS's STEP experience Kilash. Many years ago, the school I attended would not let me take Further Maths (I was one of a few girls in a boys school). I self taught myself for the S level instead, taken alongside the boys doing their STEP papers and it was tough not having anyone to check my logic with. It was worthwhile though, as I got a distinction. I'm sure your DS's hard work will be rewarded.

I wonder though if things will go the way they have in the US

My perception is that Oxbridge are trying to avoid that sort of scenario, and they're fairly heavily scrutinised and under pressure to make admissions more egalitarian (despite the inequities being in schools and other factors rather outside their control). One of the Cambridge links upthread included this:

^ External consultants^
We're aware of private companies and individuals who offer, at a charge, information and advice on our admissions process, assessments and interviews. We DO NOT support or encourage any of these commercial enterprises. None of these companies/individuals has access to any information that's not already available free of charge to all schools, colleges and individual students from College admissions offices, the Cambridge Admissions Office or Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU); and we're unable to verify the accuracy of the information these companies/individuals may provide.

Just for fun though....my dear MIL died recently and we have been going through her things. She went up to Cambridge in 1946 to read English and we found the results of her entrance exams. She took papers in English Literature RE and Latin. English was 'good' RE satisfactory and Latin 'passable'! I also found my dh's school reports which were hilarious... his Physics was 'chaotic', he could not explain himself in Chemistry, his work was generally messay and his grammer and punctuation was appalling. He somehow got to Trinity College to read Engineering at 17 - even he can't remember how! How times have changed. that was 1981.

Do they? I have previously name changed because I was discovered in real life. Is that what you mean.

I also name change once a year or so for privacy.

I'm panicking now goodbye how can you tell names are linked?

No, you have to respect name changes, goodbyestranger.