Oxbridge Aspirants: Sep 2021

[funkysatsuma]

Not sure if it's too early to start this thread in Nov 2019 :)

DS would like Cambridge Economics as the first choice. Would like to know where can we get some help to prepare for the ECAA test - appreciate any pointers/links. Thanks in advance

I think DD has finished her choral application statement. It's just gone to her singing teacher to check.

She is SO reluctant to even apply though due to thinking she borderline on any given year

I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't end up applying and pulls out of the choral

Anyone else's children feeling like this?

She wants to do medicine so only has four choices. She doesn't want to "waste" one.

Will people be able to choral ? (I reckon that’s not a verb!)

Can there be singing... and Evensong?

Dd has lost momentum. She hasn’t written her PS yet and no news from sixth form on any application help. They are in a real spin over how to get the kids back in; I think university applications are about no. 89 on their list of headaches.

@IrmaFayLear I hope so by the time they get there in 2021...

Auditions and interviews are obviously all via video though.

DD's teacher is hoping to do a lesson with her the first week she is back in school. All I know is that they have "plans to make it work" !!!

I know they measured all the singing and music rooms to work out distances and things. But I think it goes beyond that...

Yeah, no real personal statement anywhere near being finished either...

Grey - is the choral statement you’re DD is going for Oxford? DS thinking of trying for one at Cambridge but I thought there’s nothing you can do until late Jan after conditional offers are out?

@quest1on Yes, it's Oxford. DD never thought about Cambridge. I would have assumed they were the same, but obviously not if Cambridge is January. Oxford is the form in by 1st September (could be 31st August - she means to submit this weekend though), and reference by mid September. Auditions end of September, including a folk song she has yet to learn... Oxford is decided before any interview date.

Thanks Grey. DS’ teacher had told him you can’t try out at Cambridge unless you have a conditional offer, but was wondering if we were missing something! It’s quite confusing as I can’t work out if you apply to the choir of the college you get an offer at (if you do)! or if it’s a more centralised system.

Oxford you name a few colleges on your choir application pre UCAS application. I know that. If you get a choral offer from one, I presume you have to put that down as first choice, although I have vaguely heard there is movement post interview. I guess some kids with choral offers will get pooled as well and end up somewhere utterly different. Doing it post interview would make so much more sense!!!

Absolutely GreyBow. It seems very complicated

DS2 has submitted his application, and will record the audition piece when he is back at school. He could have had in-person lessons at the end of last term so presumably that side is OK. I'm not sure how he will be with the on-line audition, but I guess it will be good practice if he is fortunate enough to get to the interviews in December!

As for singing being allowed, I understand it is now in England, subject to various regulations. That is what the music staff at our Cathedral told me this week, they are busy measuring and making plans. Though we haven't yet been told how it will work.

Anyone been for a visit to Oxford over the summer? We're thinking of going tomorrow. Any recommendations of where to park, where to visit etc?

I haven't been this summer but re parking-it's a nightmare in Oxford! I would suggest you use one of the Park & Ride's.

If I were you I would just walk around and 'soak up' the atmosphere. I very much doubt you will be able to look around any of the colleges but you could always ask. I think the Botanic Gardens are open but you would probably need to book a time slot if you wanted to visit.

If you are looking for somewhere for lunch The Nosebag is my go to place (be warned though it does get very busy at times).

I love Oxford-such a beautiful place. Hope you have a lovely day.

We went to visit recently. Used the Park and Ride which was so easy. Just check their website to see which of the P&R locations is nearest to the way you are approaching the city. All the colleges had signs up saying they are closed to the public so you really can't have a look even into the grounds. Nevertheless, just walking around you can get a feel for the place and can see where each college is located and various faculties. It is such a beautiful city just to walk around. Maybe try one of the open top bus tours? We took a map showing all the University buildings which was very useful to navigate.

Hi @quest1on!

A close friend of my daughter has been a Choral Scholar at a Cambridge college. Both have just graduated.

A candidate can apply only after receiving an offer of an academic place in January. The friend went in March for her audition.

Advice? It's a lot of work and all the choral commitments are rigid. The friend found this got in the way of other activities and regretted being a choral scholar. She wanted to do more singing in the wider Cambridge scene and more dance, too.

Some colleges do not allow some subjects to be combined with a choral scholarship - e.g. Medicine. So do check the web site. ... This is clearly because the STEM subjects have extensive, fixed lab and workshop commitments which can easily clash with the choral timetable.

There is usually a shortage of choral applicants. So it's possible to read an academic subject at one college whilst being a choral scholar at another. Multiple choral applications?

I think the Ashmolean Museum has recently reopened too.

I went with dd: you can’t look inside the colleges but it is possible in some to peek through the doors. It is nice just to wander the streets without two million tour parties shuffling along.

I must recommend the loos in the new shopping centre/mall place. Very clean and socially distanced! I was a bit hyper about where I was going to find a comfort stop but these loos were top notch.

I was interested to see a lot of mask wearing in Oxford: obviously in shops but also in the street. No one wears a mask outside round here (down south) but I would say 75% of people in Oxford were wearing them in the street. But perhaps they know something I don’t...

I live in Oxford and second the suggestion to use one of the Park and Rides if you can. Parking in the centre of Oxford is expensive, but if you do need to use it, there are car parks at the Westgate Centre (multi-storey - the shopping centre that IrmaFayLear mentioned) or at Worcester Street, both very central. Yes, most people in Oxford are wearing face coverings at the moment - East Oxford where there is quite a high-density population is currently on Amber alert.

As others have said, the colleges are resolutely closed to visitors at the moment, but you might manage to peek through the front gates of some. I'd suggest going for a walk around the area of the college your DC is thinking of applying to. All the colleges are within a 15-20 minute walk from the centre at most. You could pick up some things for a picnic from one of the delis (try St Giles, the High St or the Covered Market) and have a picnic in Christchurch Meadow, heading towards the river or in University Parks. You can walk through the Christchurch grounds and come out near the Botanic Gardens and Magdalen Bridge, and then walk back into the centre of Oxford along the High Street. There's a large concentration of colleges on the High Street and on or near Broad Street. The open-top bus tours and also the walking tours are running again - both good for getting your bearings and figuring out where everything is. I think the Tourist Information on Broad Street is closed though..

Thanks JBX. Yes, he’s just focusing on the possibility of a conditional offer at this point. If he is in a position to go for a choral scholarship next year, he’ll go for one with a lower time commitment as some require at least a rehearsal 5 days a week!

My DD and I visited last weekend - lovely to walk about and get an idea of the size of the town and see where the colleges are located. We really enjoyed our trip, although it's hard to imagine how different it will be during term-time.

@mikeandike

Hi all! DD going for Law at Oxford this year. LNAT all booked - she’s sitting it a month today Has been hard at work on her personal statement draft this week but is feeling a little bit anxious about her other UCAS choices as we haven’t been able to visit any (not in UK and couldn’t go back this summer). There’s only so much info you can glean from open days :/

What are your DD other choices? There might be people on here that might be able to give you an insight on them as a parents prespective :)

@GreyBow Good luck to your daughter with her choral application. There's a good range of choir commitments amongst different colleges, and I think scholars in the less pressured (if that's the right term, probably not) choirs may get a great chance to lead and develop their skills. And there are lots of opportunities to join college choirs once you are there, too.

My daughter got her application in late last week, ran it past me and I was able to remind her of a couple more things to include in the music statement ;) She's aiming for the higher commitment choirs that sing 3 x / week; but is also a rower ... Simpler for a girl than for the boys I guess who have to consider whether they want to go for the choral foundations at an even higher commitment. (my son will most likely be going for an organ scholarship in a couple of years' time - that's a whole 'nother can of worms...)

Completely baffled by these threads. Your children are in their late teens. They are bright, presumably. Ready to go out in the world and forge their future paths. Why do you all need to swap notes about it in mumsnet? Just butt out and let them get there on their own merit without you fussing!

When I applied to Oxbridge, it was me applying. I borrowed money from my mum for the train fare to go and see Cambridge with a friend. I’d been to Oxford on a day trip previously. I read the prospectuses etc, mentioned to my head of sixth form I was going to do the entrance exam for Oxford, signed up for two S levels and asked my main subject teachers for additional reading recommendations. School bused me and some other Oxbridge hopefuls a to local private school to hear 2 former students talk about their successful p experiences of applying (awful; almost completely put me off as they were very privileged jolley-hockey sticks types). And that was it. Head down, work hard, read everything I could around my subject, I got hold of the practice papers and got on with preparing. Carried on going out with friends, hobbies, some part time work. My parents were only involved when dad kindly drove me up to Oxford for interview.

My parents were immensely proud when I got into Oxford, just as they had been when my brother got in. But they certainly didn’t get so caught up in the minutiae of us getting our places. Let your kids grow up, back off and let them succeed in earning that place by themselves and stop living vicariously through them. Geez, no wonder the millennials suffer MH issues, you are all so claustrophobic.

Well I expect you feel better for getting that off your chest @CustardyCreams. Any fule kno that no amount of parent interest/interference makes a blind bit of difference ; when it counts its your DC and their merits that “earn” the place as you put it. Posting as the mother of a jolly(not jolley)-hockey sticks type who found companionship and support on the 2020 threads which is the only real purpose they serve.

it’s...

Times change CustardyCreams” and how your parents / your generation did things is different to now. As hobbema* says, these threads are for support and companionship.

You come across as overly aggressive, I think it best for your MH to avoid such threads going forward. Just a suggestion.

I must recommend the loos in the new shopping centre/mall place. Very clean and socially distanced! I was a bit hyper about where I was going to find a comfort stop but these loos were top notch.

This is the most useful advice I have read on a MN thread. It could only be improved by being for Cambridge. Anyone?

Why am I on here?

1. Dd’s school not much help. Certainly no bus trips anywhere, not even to jolley (sic) hockey sticks schools.

1. When ds applied MN and it’s veterans were an immense help as I was clueless in the matter. Also I went to university in the 80s. Much has changed (and no EE offers, either!)

1. It’s nice to have a chat, and get invested along the way in the journeys of other posters’ dcs.

Sorry if this makes me a saddo.