Oxbridge 2020 (6)

[Justneedatemporaryname]

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

@FingernailNibbler the Cambridge stats show the grades of admitted students - for 2018 see www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/ug_admissions_statistics_2018_cycle.pdf

No science

Hi All, very late in the day finding this thread as offed day is just around the corner.
Apologies if this question had been covered but I’m curious if anyone knows once having got through to interview stage but not being pooled does this lesson your chances of being made an offer???

@monkey2001 thanks for the link and so sorry about your niece. That's brutal.

@saintandsinner my understanding is that your chosen college gets first dibs on you. If they don't have room but think you're a top candidate, they add you to the pool and other colleges have a chance to look through your file (literally, a file of papers) and try to choose you. Sometimes the original college takes you back, but IIRC most firm offers from original college are decided before the pool stage.
There are good (official) links on both Oxford and Cambridge sites outlining pool details and dates.
This is an older article, but really interesting and humanises the process a bit: www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/10/how-cambridge-admissions-really-work

@FingernailNibbler thank you so much! I’m having a last minute wobble as Dds friends were given interviews at other colleges but Dd only interviews at her chosen college. I didn’t realise you could receive an offer without interview. We are waiting on Oxford.

.... and an article about the Cambridge Admissions process from last year, written by the Master of Selwyn

www.newstatesman.com/politics/education/2019/01/here-s-how-cambridge-admissions-process-looks-inside

Sorry HugoSpritz, I only know about Cambridge, I expect others will link if achieved results are published by Oxford.

Thanks, Monkey. Re the pool, it's interesting if you look at his entry numbers vary at one college over 5 years (on the Cambridge stats page) at least in some of the more niche subjects. You can see why they need to even put numbers. If you have a subject that takes just 10 students, you may have just 12 apply one year, and another year, 50. So it makes sense they can have access to other candidates and to pass on great candidates they don't have room for.

@saintandsinner. So sorry, I really don't know about Oxford interviews/potential pool at all. Hoping it means your DD got a firm yes from her original college. Not sure how Oxford does their process.

@HugoSpritz ok thank you! It’s reassuring to know it’s at faculty level. I was becoming nervous given that most of Dds friends had 2-3 colleges interview them however Dd didn’t. I wasn’t aware they still could be pooled after the interview. I’ve tried really hard to not think about the whole thing but with the deadline around the corner starting to feel angsty. I know I’ll be gutted for her if she has no offer as she has worked so hard for this.

DD4 only interviewed at her college of choice for Oxford and wasn't called anywhere else so she and I are very much assuming that she's either into that college or there's going to be no offer forthcoming. We'd be astonished if an interview came from elsewhere since three or four applicants were asked to go to other colleges. I think it's still going to be very rare that an applicant is given an offer from a college other than the interviewing college sight unseen. Not impossible, but since people were clearly being moved around in the usual way during the interview week, the system doesn't seem to have changed out of recognition.

Hugo did you get that info about more pre-interview reallocation this year from someone official, or does that just seem to be the case at your school? (I know they send lots, so perfectly valid to extrapolate).

Also, I'm not convinced that being sent elsewhere during the interview process 'increases chances'. If the purpose is for standardisation then it's neutral. You've already been selected. If it's for pooling purposes then your 'chances' in relation to the numbers also being pooled to the subsequent college are likely to be broadly the same, since your original college has simply released you to another college. We're tending towards no offer here, given that DD didn't think her interviews were all that.

Or to be more precise, one female tutor appeared to spring out of the red corner to flatten DD and when she said something mild in response she sprang back to flatten her again. So that was round one over in short measure. In her second interview she said they didn't ask about the interesting stuff in the poem supplied, just the basics, so she felt that one wasn't great either.

DS1 was reallocated pre-interview at Oxford and then interviewed at a 2nd college. It seemed like at his school it happened quite a lot.

His original choice of college was a 'big' name but his reallocated one was a small one. The 2nd interview was at a medium sized one. I have no idea what any of it means but and assuming it's a no. Safer that way.

There was an awful lot of pre-interview movement mentioned on TSR. DD was interviewed at the college she applied to. I think 2 out of 23 were sent elsewhere on the last day.

Goodbye was your DD more Nicola Adams to the tutor's Tyson Fury? I know which One I would pick!

Saint my grandson was only interviewed at his chosen college. Goodbye it's so hard to judge if the interview was good or bad! Grandson says he was " a bit confused" during his first interview, but the second one was "OK". He is quite unassuming so It's very hard to know if he is just being modest

Interesting sandy and Hoghgyni. DD said about four out of about twenty one were sent elsewhere.

Haha Hoghgyni no. I think it was more a case rolling over after the first bout and leaving her opponent to mutter darkly in the corner about how she didn't see that DD was making any sense. So you know, not super positive :)

DS was asked ‘What is the point of Maths?’ and he spoke very deeply (he thought) about how Maths brought order and pattern and explanation to chaos. At which point, scary interviewer looked up briefly from his notes and asked, ‘Isn’t that Physics?’ Ghastly pause, after which DS said that err... yes... perhaps it was, and wished the floor would swallow him up.
We are also expecting a no thanks...

Ds was interviewed by three Oxford colleges... each one further and further out. He requested feedback which was that he was a very near miss, having done very well in the entrance exam, so I guess in his case they were looking for a (clearly non-existent) flash of brilliance at interview.

It does add a few hundred extra levels of stress not knowing if one interview means you're definitely in or otoh definitely binned.

You honestly can not tell based on their perception of the interview. Ds was not happy at all after his interviews last year. Really despondent. He got an offer.

I really do think it's only part of a much more complex process.

Good luck for next week! I remember what it felt like this time last year waiting for his text to tell us the outcome.

I think you can a bit. If the interview was feisty, even if the candidate felt they came off worse, then there's hope. If the interview was flat and didn't catch fire, then generally that's not positive. Very unfair, as clearly it is difficult to try to show some personality or "spark" to order, especially when someone is very nervous.

Ds was certain he hadn't got in, because he said he came across as "boring". His best interview was actually the one where the professor had shouted at him and said that one of the books ds had cited in his personal statement was written by an idiot.