Oxbridge 2020 (8th thread)

[DadDadDad]

A thread to continue discussing entry to Oxbridge in October 2020 (less than nine months away ). All welcome, although this obviously will be of most interest to those with DS or DD holding an offer, and wanting to find a bit of support.

All too soon, 13 August will come over the horizon. Until then, ask questions... share experiences... discuss news and stats... write a poem... (we did briefly have some poetry on a previous thread).

With huge thanks to @HugoSpritz and predecessors for previous threads.

@Hoghgyni - DS1 could firm but hasn't yet.

He's happy with Durham as his insurance after his visit yesterday. After grumbling about the expensive train ticket we may actually get a full refund as the train back was two hours late!

Definitely apply for Delay Repay. DH got an entire Sleeper journey refunded last year.

I was beginning to think that DD was the only one hanging on.

DS could firm but hasn’t got round to it yet. He also has several forms to fill in from his college. He does seem to be working over half term, though, which is reassuring.

DS still waiting to hear from Durham for PPE. Currently York (AAA) is first choice with Liverpool (ABB) as insurance. Warwick made an offer but he's decided he didn't like the campus (despite loving it when he visited!) We're not stressing as he'll probably change his mind another 4 times before next autumn 🙄

DD hasn’t firmed as she has not visited Exeter yet.

DS has a Durham PPE offer which was going to be his insurance but he really doesn’t like the allocated college. Still waiting on one uni decision which is an insurance contender if he gets an offer.
It feels like a very protracted process this time around.

@ofteninaspin - DS1 is ok about his allocated Durham college but not as excited as he was about his original choice although both are Hill colleges and quite close to the labs. He visited yesterday and is happy with the university so will insure.

The thing is that if you insure Durham you're probably going to get reallocated again so your DS may not get the college he currently has. Might be better but could be less desirable. I think DS1 is actually quite pragmatic so will take the risk. He's very pleased with his Oxford college even though it wasn't the one he originally selected.

Often DD is in exactly the same position, but her Durham offer also matches her Oxford offer. She's trying to find out if Durham will give any wriggle room as they only wanted ABB if it was a firm choice.

@sandybayley good to hear your DS is still happy to insure Durham. You make a good point about the possibility of being reallocated again. I think DS will have to accept that there is a degree of uncertainty re accommodation with each of his insurance options.

@Hoghgyni, we're in the same boat I think. DS still waiting on St Andrews to make their mind up for computer science. I've seen a bunch of other folks with computer science offers from St A, but not a peep from them so far, which is a bit .

Still, we've got used to the waiting game by now and we don't need to panic quite yet.

She'll be happy if they offer her anything with a B in.

Well DS still not made a decision here. Has been to two offer holder days this week and still doesn't know what to firm/insure. Not sure how he is going to make his decision, but we are quietly leaving him to think about it all.

Good luck to everyone else as the DC make their choices

Found this on my Facebook feed. Might be interesting to some on here.

thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2020/02/21/regional-diversity-and-why-cambridge-lacks-it-132849

@hobbema My DD is also still waiting to hear from Durham for History. They are taking such a long time!

@Halloween73, its beyond maddening. I dont understand why the delay. I know some posters have said that they wait til they have all offers in on Jan15th; but plenty of offers seem to come out well before then, including for two of my other DC , neither with context flags. Also, St Andrews , who do also wait til Jan 15th have already offered DD and they are right up there with Durham for course prestige so... Whats frustrating is that from everything I hear the student experience at Durham is brilliant and I know DD would love collegiate life. She is really disheartened and convinced she would now not get the college she wanted and isnt even able to plan an Offer holder visit . Incidentally DS’s experience at the Offer Holder day for a science was so abysmal he changed his first choice. DT2 had an erroneous unconditional offer just before Xmas, corrected to conditional when she queried and even that now has been cocked up somehow and is showing on UCAS as waiting for a decision, the Uni say her offer is unaffected, big of them.

DS got a Durham offer mid week for History and MFL - it was the standard offer of AAA. His college allocation came through last night (they are seemingly working all hours to clear the back log if working on a Saturday night!) - it's not the college he wanted which is disappointing as it's his first choice and will be firmed.

Does anyone know if there is any wiggle room to negotiate your college allocation if you firm an offer?

Not according to the Durham website unless there are medical grounds.

DS has had no luck with getting a college allocation changed - took it right up to the top but repeatedly told it can’t be changed.

Thanks ladies. Useful to know. His college is certainly not a disaster, it's just a hill college and he wanted the Bailey.... I've been stalking the college's social media pages (as you do when you're an over invested parent!) and it looks like a fun place with good music on site and a wide array of college sports teams.

It sounds as though he has the one DD applied for, whilst her allocated college is not catered and not yet built, so doesn't even have a bar or sports team in place! I ranted last week, so I'll shut up again now.

Completely agree, I don’t understand what the delay is now. One offer holder date has already past and we are only a month away from the next two. I suspect DD won’t get the college she requested. We are a long way from Durham so she would definitely want to look at the allocated college if she gets an offer. I’m sure I’ve seen previously that someone’s child didn’t get their offer until after the offer open days which is ridiculous!

@Hoghgyni, I sympathise completely with your rant! I think the college allocation process is ridiculous, particularly for those reallocated from catered to self catering and vice versa. It only works fairly if the colleges are broadly similar which they clearly are not.

Hopefully it will all be academic anyway. Perhaps I need to put a huge poster of her possible Oxford College in the garden to motivate her everytime she looks out of the window, like the poster of Bishop Brennan in Father Ted!

@terfterf, yes, I saw that piece from the Tab (and it's nice to see some data driven journalism on there for once).

I'd want to pick at the figures a bit more but I think it's quite well known that there are regional pockets where applications are worryingly low. Quite a bit of the University's outreach efforts are designed to address this, I think, but I don't know how successful that is proving.

Speaking as a northern born girl myself it's irritating, because I think it helps perpetuate the media's idea that everyone north of Lincoln is a bit dim and living in a deprived urban wasteland

I can understand the push/pull of geography. I was much keener on Oxford for DS1 than Cambridge for the geography. Much easier to get to from home and we have family in Oxfordshire and the Midlands. The course was a better fit (and that was a deciding factor) but geography was definitely part of the thought process for DS1.