Psychology A Level/Oxford

[Tesstheteddybear]

Hi my DS is applying to Oxford 2020 for Chemistry. He is a little concerned he may not receive an interview due to the fact he is studying Psychology, Chemistry, Maths not Further Maths, Biology, Physics etc for A' Level. GCSE's are very good.

Has anyone got any knowledge of this - thank you!

@Comefromaway - you are absolutely right about how the massive gulf between many state schools. My DSis boys went to the same comp that we had both been to in the 80s/90s. It's still a rubbish school but she didn't have any choice as there are no grammars. My nephews are lovely boys but they were badly taught and poorly advised by the school.

One of them is at York and may well get a 1st in English Lit - he is heading into 3rd Year. If he'd been in an area with a super selective grammar I'm sure he'd have had a good shot at Oxbridge. The comp/grammar gulf is a wide one.

What tends to "save" people where I live is that not very many state schools have 6th forms so most go to a massive 6th form college where they do have staff who are more clued up. However things may change as the council recently got rid of a local bus discount scheme for young people. My neice is there at the moment and her mum can't afford her bus fayres.

sandybayley it's been the source of much comment in the national and educational press, the fact that independents fought shy of the new reformed GCSEs. It's old news.

And yet MN is very anti grammar! And anti all grammar students! And doesn't like the access initiatives across all the top grammars! The grammars can't win.

AS for press coverage Larry, the papers could ask, but they'd get a flat refusal from my DC. It's not a superstar thing. They're individuals, not a collective.

Oops there goes another typo (AS).

Incidentally I've had to tell my brother in no uncertain terms that we have no wish to feature in the Guinness Book of Records, with our name in lights alongside the pie eaters from Alabama etc.

Good grief, give it a rest.

@goodbyestranger - DS1's school certainly didn't fight the new GCSEs it just decided not to dive fully in in Year 1 - choice in such matters is one of the benefits of being outside the state system. It certainly wasn't an issue of wanting to avoid academic rigour, of the numbered grades taken last year 56% were 9s.

I think what winds me up most is grammar school parents who have been lucky enough to have access to a grammar (most people don't) and conveniently forget that whilst it is a state school it's not the same as the vast majority of state schools. There is also a tendency to 'bash' parents who've chosen to pay as some kind of idiots. For what it's worth DD had a place at one the top super selective grammar schools and we turned it down for an independents. It was carefully considered and has meant financial sacrifices on our part but it has been absolutely worth it.

@sandybayley couldn't agree with you more. The Indy bashing that goes on by otherwise privileged families is so hypocritical.

Waiting for the stock photos mid August of a) girls tossing their straightened hair leaping in the air or b) slightly nerdy boy clutching a piece of paper showing 7 x A* for A levels in chemistry, maths, FM, biology, physics, economics & French. It's never the single nerdy girl or a group of boy band lookalikes on the front page. I wonder why.

I didn't even know summer schools were 'a thing' until very recently (Oxbridge or otherwise). I am not sure how DD knew about subject specific open days. It was the open day that resulted in the summer school.
I don't think anyone else from her school applied/were invited to anything (other than to an Oxbridge outreach conference that school took them to).
I think that probably tells us 2 things.

1. The information is out there but you would only go looking for it if you knew it was there in the first place
2. MNers are a special breed that do know these things 😁

@bpisok - I definitely agree with you on the value of MN. DS1 wouldn't qualify for anything like UNIQ (nor should he) but I did read about Headstart on MN and showed it to him. He applied and got a place at Manchester earlier this summer. It was for Chemistry so relevant to the OP! I also read about Smallpeice and showed to DD and she applied and got a physics place.

Having a parent who knows that this kind of stuff even exists is such a massive advantage to a DC. This is why I love MN when it's at its best - a bunch of people sharing useful info and supporting each other. Unfortunately MN isn't always like that.

I'd love it if we could just have one Oxbridge thread where we agree to support each other and not engage on with me-upmanship. We largely managed it for GCSEs 2018 so maybe we could try again. I might even start a thread called 'Oxbridge 2020: let's be nice'

Sandy - sounds like a good idea.
I think someone tried recently but it descended into a bun fight (as usual) and everyone wandered off.
....can't say as I blame them since it all seems to gets rather heated whether it's intentional or not.

Brilliant idea Sandy. I was reading the latest posts on the 2019 threads just now and most of the posts are very supportive, whereas catching up on the 2020 thread was vile by comparison. It's not a competition, as only a few DC seem to be applying for things like classics & maths / sciences amongst the regular posters on these topics and there are more than enough spaces to go around.

I hadn't seen anything about UNIQ on here, but I hope my DC's positive feedback will be spotted by someone next year before the entry deadlines and make the realise that it exists and that it's a perfect opportunity to live the dream even if you decide on reflection not to proceed.

For what it's worth DD had a place at one the top super selective grammar schools and we turned it down for an independents. It was carefully considered and has meant financial sacrifices on our part but it has been absolutely worth it.

Well I assume worth it because independents have vast resources to deploy which grammars don't (ours historically and until very recently was one of the worst funded schools in the country). Inevitably that shows in terms of all sorts of aspects of school life. I genuinely don't think you can get the difference unless you understand the limits that finance impose on the grammars. You clearly felt your chosen school offered more - that's fair. It happens to be a school I would absolutely have loved my DC to attend, and I would expect them to have been in the frame for that sort of school so had we been near geographically and had the funds, it would have been a no brainer. But it was never an option. And in fact, apart from that single comment about the reformed GCSEs - echoed by a lot of colleagues in the educational field - I've no quarrel whatsoever with independent schooling, so the idea of hypocrisy is ludicrous. It's also fair to make that comment about the approach to the reformed exams which was an approach widely derided, but it's an isolated comment on my part and even the HTs of the independents are well aware that they took the easy road because they could - in your own school's case, that was out of character and I'd have expected the leadership to have been rather bolder. The school is, after all, highly selective and in the lucky position of being able to secure the very best teachers and I think the pupils and staff would have coped just fine. The pupils would have benefited by the more challenging syllabus and by not having a rag bag of letters and numbers as exam grades. But you know, the school chose a different path. I doubt it will ruin any life chances, it's just quite striking to observe from outside. But the reason it's striking is precisely because the school is completely outstanding.

bpisok none of my other DC have done any summer school ever. I think DD will benefit from this particular week because of going utterly solo on the Classics front. No insider knowledge required, absolutely none. It's very clear that both Oxford and Cambridge are very keen to reach out to able state school pupils who have demonstrated an interest in the subject, that's all. She was surprised to be approached but will be in no different position from the others attending the course. To be honest, there are comments here that people should be ashamed of, based on a total lack of knowledge and understanding and borne out of an unpleasant competitiveness. Extraordinary, coming from adults.

That post crossed with a lot of others. Over the years plenty of people have found my input useful, or at least said so. I hope they meant it.

Larry UNIQ is mentioned repeatedly on MN and has been since it started in I think 2010. It's frequently recommended and plenty of MN DC have attended.

I would suggest that if this very unpleasant competitiveness directed at complete strangers (or worse, their DC!) could be left at the door - seems to be difficult for the odd individual I know - then the threads can offer very useful mutual support and info.

No oneteen this appears to be an Oxbridge thing. But of course the idea that one's DC is in competition with the DC of another stranger on the internet is too bizarre for words - it's not within my comprehension.

sandy perhaps that's rather a unpromising thread title. Those who are unpleasant to others will show their colours quickly enough, in which case they'll be picked up for it I hope. And if those of that persuasion manage to contain any unpleasant snarks this year then no problems should arise.

I didn't even know summer schools were 'a thing' until very recently

Neither did I. Well I knew dance college summer schools were but not uni ones. In fact it was gutting to find out that our local university was holding a summer school aimed at Year 10/11 in he exact subject ds wants to study. It was all about having the university experience to encourage kids like him at schools like his to apply to university. But we only found out about it (via a pop up Facebook ad) the day before the application deadline and as forms etc had to be signed by school it wasn’t possible.

Goodbye - I hope it wasn't aimed at me either. Over 100 are accepted into classics and your DD has a far more impressive academic profile than my DD!!! I am a realist 😁

The diversity of Mumsnet and written word will no doubt lead to a certain amount of conflict - that is not always intended.

I certainly knew about Summer schools, but DD is just not interested. She certainly didn't want me to pay out money for any summer schools but I guess she's content in knowing the Uni's where she'd like to apply. In fairness, she was incredibly tired when she finished Yr12 (Its the first yr she has really applied herself and worked incredibly hard - we had a couple of tearful phone calls in the last week).

We should acknowledge too that ‘advantage’ doesn’t just mean £££. It is surely easier to excel in a subject if you are in a class with peers of similar ability and to negotiate the uni/Oxbridge route if parents, siblings and peers have trodden the same path.

Bright children in schools and families who are the first to take this route are hugely disadvantaged.

goodbyestranger No one begrudges your DD a place on an Oxbridge summer programme. I hope your reference to unpleasant posters is not for my benefit. Our DC appear to be applying for completely different courses so there is absolutely no competition here.

Your DD will have a blast at the summer school and she's done very well to gain a place. I am genuinely puzzled as to how Oxbridge can email your daughter out of the blue - you say she was 'surprised'. How would they know her contact details? Is it something her school has done e.g. put forward students who they think would benefit? There is that unexplained leap that I can't figure out - maybe I'm just thick. Surely you can see that this would be very useful information for future applicants to know.

No bpisok absolutely not you either. You've been very civil.

242Mummy the posts suggest strongly that people are 'miffed' tbh. In that that was the phrase that was used! I'd be perfectly happy to explain other things being equal but it's pretty straightforward: DD applied for something which indicated an interest in Classics and where she needed to fill in her contact details and school - I can't go further than that without compromising her privacy. I don't want to make it a mystery and a few suggestions about how students are picked up have already been aired.

I do have a concern that summer schools are being seen here as being tantamount to an offer of an undergraduate place - they absolutely aren't. They're just part of the outreach. No other DC of mine has ever been to a summer school, whether paid or funded.

Oratory1 sure. I agree that siblings going (or in Larry's case, uncles etc going) confers an advantage of sorts. In the sense that it looks a reasonable application to make, in that you may have visited the place, in that you're aware there are aptitude tests etc. Nevertheless, all siblings are individuals with an equal right to have a shot at things without being told oh it's easier for you. I mean, no-one is sitting GCSE's or A levels, no-one is doing any of the reading or aptitude tests or interviews which will lead to a successful application. The helpful thing is to know that an application is realistic - beyond that, it's down to the individual sibling to do their stuff. No-one can help with that. Especially not with a new subject not taught at school which no-one in the family or school has a clue about. I'm fine with her being invited. Perfectly fair.