Oxbridge 2020 (6)

[Justneedatemporaryname]

New thread ready for when the old one gets filled up!

Just wanted to wish everyone and DCs a very happy Christmas and a HNY.

Whatever our circumstances for which only we as individuals can account for, however we came to be on this thread, huge good luck to all DCs who are waiting to hear from Oxbridge - as parents/grandparents all we want is for our children to be happy in whatever they do.

@Hoghgyni, I have put a pack of playing cards in DS's stocking too .

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yes, Happy Christmas all . I'm incredibly proud of ds and how he has gone about the whole application process and how he has negotiated his interviews. It has been a fantastic experience and whatever happens an important life lesson.

Youngest DD (8) was worried that Father Christmas might not be interested in eldest DD now she’s at university. I was able to reassure.

Last stretch people. DS1 waiting to hear if he has any more interviews this morning.

He's just had the two at the college he was reallocated to. Which could be a very bad or good sign. I can't devote any more headspace to it and am going to now obsess about Christmas food shopping.

I discovered an amazing Hibiscus Spritz cocktail last week and now need to source hibiscus flowers to freeze in ice cubes.

I think Just was saying she felt odd being talked to about social mobility/access from someone who i supposed more privileged/wouldn’t fit the social mobility/access criteria.

My DC go to a grammar school. Beyond that, no-one knows what their background is. If a poster says it really doesn't matter, in their opinion, whether an Oxbridge applicant has attended a top independent or a failing state school then it's pretty fair to point out that it matters enormously, and those in the education system trying to level things out would throw their hands up in despair. My response was nothing to do with the stress of DD's application (I'm pretty unstressed, not least because I'm a huge fan of Durham), nor an attempt to 'spar' (absolutely can't be bothered).

That said, I'm not quite clear why I shouldn't react to hostility and rudeness and to a large number of assumptions about my DC which no-one else is in a position to verify. My father arrived in this country in 1939 with a small suitcase and nothing beyond that. I think that by any stretch, that's not a privilege. The fact that six siblings have gone to Oxford has nothing to do with DD4, it's not her fault. All my DC are their own people and have just as much right to apply as any one of the other thousands of applicants. As for the idea that I 'send them' and it's my 'aim'........!!!!!!!!

I agree with Pant's peace and goodwill message though, despite not necessarily rolling over in the face of posts like that.

Goodbye. You have been most helpful iwhen by son was applying for law last year. Thank you! 💐

@PantTwizzler - talking of Father Christmas, time for a bit of Oxbridge trivia: which Cambridge college has a chimney that is wide enough not only to accommodate a rotund man but I reckon you could get a team of reindeer and a sleigh down it (although the ends might be a bit restrictive)?

Ooh I love a bit of trivia. Trinity? Peterhouse? Pure guesswork.

It's a bit of a trick question, but people walk up and down this chimney all the time.

Google suggests Corpus!

Oh Jesus then. Cheat!

That's cheating @PantTwizzler !

Correct: www.google.com/search?q=jesus+college+chimney&oq=jesus+college+chimney

Bonus trivia*: Did you know that Jesus has the oldest surviving building of any college in Cambridge - the chapel predates the college itself.

*or is the singular trivium?

What were you doing there, Pant? I was there late eighties / early nineties - hence my stunning knowledge of its architecture.

Bonus bonus trivia: Jesus College’s correct title is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund.

I think I’d better get off MN now!

I stayed a fourth year to do my PGCE there! I don't remember any PhD snottiness (maybe I was just too emotionally lacking to notice) - in fact I shared a college house with someone doing a Philosophy PhD and we had some interesting chats because the area she was looking at overlapped with maths.

A Christmas joke for all of those from Exeter to Waterloo, Portsmouth & Isle of Wight to Bristol.

Why don’t SWR train guards share advent calendars?

They want to open the doors themselves!

@Hoghgyni - that is a bit too close to home but very funny. I only have one more day of the nonsense as am going to WFH on Thursday and Friday.

Grammar schools are a bit contentious not least because not everyone has access to one. Several education authorities simply don't have them.
This year, Durham is giving contextual offers to grammar school applicants. When I queried this with Durham admissions, they confirmed that grammar school applicants are eligible for a contextual offer because the schools are within the state sector. I find this odd as grammar schools are selective and presumably admit the brightest kids locally or at least those who have parents who can afford to live in catchment and pay for tutors and so on.

Well, DD is back from her Cambridge interview. No lunch catering but I suspect that's because my friend, who accompanied her, used this opportunity to treat her to something she really wanted. Sushi apparently.

She came back mentally and physically exhausted. I insisted she take a mental health day yesterday and I'm really glad I did. She's the first Oxbridge candidate her school has ever had and they'll be all over her like a rash today wanting to know how it went. Good luck with that as I've heard barely anything.

We've decided to pack it all away until after Christmas, but not before I took the opportunity to have a serious brag session over the family WhatsApp group. My family all live abroad so hadn't realised she had applied. The first they heard about it was a picture of her in the grounds at Newnham College and a "Guess where she is" message from me.