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.

Though obviously it’s an evolving situation...

I wanted to know for myself (or rather DS) sandy, but the news won't take long to travel because the students in contact with the student in question have been given advice. To be fair this doesn't affect those without a DC currently in Oxford. There's no particular reason not to say, which college and news spreads like wildfire in the Oxford community, although of course the student in question shouldn't be named. Advice has been carry on no need to isolate.

Yes, it is evolving but it is inevitable that any institution with a large number of people will start seeing cases. I really don't think this is something that we can avoid and so it's important to maintain perspective and focus on how to protect the most vulnerable. I would guess corona virus will be with us for a while, possibly spreading to the Southern Hemisphere over their winter and then back again next winter.

Ah cheers hobbema! Useful. But it is a respiratory illness which seems to be around, so I'll adjust downwards to remain a sensible amount worried :)

Hi, I’ve been reading this on and off and noticed there seem to be quite a few applying to Durham as well as Oxbridge.
Could I ask why Durham seems to be such a common insurance for Oxbridge (is it the collegiate system)? - and how can this work when for most courses they seem to be making exactly the same conditional offers? For instance, if DS applied, it would be A*AA at both Cambridge and Durham and neither would accept him with anything less.
Also, how diverse is Durham compared to other unis in terms of students’ ethnic backgrounds? It struck me that it didn’t look particularly diverse from the webpages, but obviously this is just a very initial impression.

fizzE I think it's more that Durham is a very common second choice for Oxbridge applicants, rather than an insurance (although in a move which makes little rational sense DD has just insured Durham with the same grades as Oxford, so who am I to talk.....).

Durham appears very white compared to Oxford, to me, but that's a walking around impression rather than based on figures or facts.

goodbye - thanks. Can I ask, is your DD hoping that Durham might offer some flexibility in the event that she dropped a grade? Does this ever happen?

We’re just trying to work out if it’s worth going to the open day from London.

I can’t put my finger on why I had a niggle it may be less diverse. It’s possibly the tone of some of the student college reviews, as well as the photos on the site.

Also the colleges look as if they vary a lot and it sounds, on here at least, as if hardly anyone has been offered their choice of college.

Yes that's exactly what she's hoping fizzE, although she has no idea whether her department is inflexible or one of the slightly more flexible ones.

I can think of a few reasons which would play into the whiter nature of Durham, including the whiteness of its surrounding area.

DD4 was offered her first choice of colllege but that will mean very little if she manages to get a place on insurance. The computer allocated system could do with a tiny bit of tweaking I reckon.

Re diversity, have a look here:

www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-5

(Table 5 - UK domiciled HE student enrolments by HE provider and ethnicity marker
Academic years 2014/15 to 2018/19)
I may be missing something, but I can't see a table with 'All (not just UK domiciled), by provider, ethnicity'.

And the answer being, for Durham, not hugely, in terms of UK domiciled students.

1 725 reporting as other than White (or 'not known') out of 13 270.

So DD , having finally had her Durham offer (not the college she chose) has just firmed Cambridge with St Andrews insurance. Mocks were ok... enough to keep her hungry to improve !! Mighty relieved by how quickly other airlines have stepped in to replace Flybe given DTs choices.. though the Sleeper train is lovely.

Thanks Marching. I’m realising my impression is probably due to the fact we had a wander round the LSE campus yesterday The stats would back up my impression on the visible differences, but I guess that’s just London in general tbh.

Of course, I wouldn’t for one minute expect Durham to resemble London and DS is mixed Asian/ Euro and doesn’t really care about ethnicity as such, but he was just looking at some of the group photos on the website and he said it all looked a bit “red jeans British ra ra ra”

DS1 has been told by his school to assume that Durham won't offer any wriggle room on dropped grades. In their experience it rarely happens so they advise to be very careful about choosing Durham as an insurance.

I'm absolutely not advocating it as a sensible option sandy :)

I think I’ve heard Exeter are sometimes potentially flexible re their AAA offers if you have a relevant EPQ at A?
There was a talk from the Bath admissions officer at DS’ school and he said Bath will take EPQs into account in such circumstances.

@TerfTerfTerf Durham won't budge on college allocations, unfortunately. One of mine is there currently. Tried exploring the options last year but they don't allow changes, even if you find someone doing same subject who wants to swap. Eg in their admissions FAQ s :
"+I/we am/are Durham alumni and went to X College. I/we wanted my/our child to go to this college.
Applicants have the opportunity to express a college preference within their UCAS application. Previous family membership of a Durham college is not taken into account in the allocation process. The college allocation process is based upon two principles only; multidisciplinary communities within all colleges and an applicant's preference. Further information regarding how the allocation process works can be found here."

It seems so daft - I made a suggestion that they could ask their economics department to review the allocation procedure, as part of the study of economics involves working out how to maximise consumer satisfaction subject to constraints. Only response was a patronising standard reply about how everyone ends up loving their college, even if it wasn't their first choice.

The uni has a lot of things going for it, but flexibility isn't one of them!

@fizzE Durham has a lot of Asian students, including many overseas students. When visiting DS this is very noticeable. It has relatively few black students though.

@MarchingFrogs And the answer being, for Durham, not hugely, in terms of UK domiciled students.
1 725 reporting as other than White (or 'not known') out of 13 270

The UK as a whole has about 20% of people who identify as other than "White British", but this varies hugely by region. By the standards of the population of the North East Durham is diverse, but it's very different from London. There are lots of foreign students.

It's a beautiful city @fizzE and well worth a trip just to see the cathedral and walk round the beautiful nature reserves on the steep banks between castle and river. I have to schlep up and down to transport DS because of musical equipment, and tbh I don't mind because it's a nice place to visit.

DS has mixed feelings about it. Student numbers have expanded rapidly, but that's the case nearly everywhere I think. The student experience depends partly on how your subject is taught. Look at how much contact time they're likely to get as this varies a lot between subjects.

The PPE course is very similar to Oxford's & as both universities are a lottery to get into, many apply to both. You may get one offer, two offers or no offers.

Coleoptera I can see it's not premature given travel plan issues and esp if DT1 already has lists.

None of my three History DC has lists issued before results day, and I have to say that the speed with which lists come through varies massively according to college.

There must be a way to look at the first year options as far as Mods and take it from there? Sorry if that isn't helpful. My instinct is always not to bother tutors if you don't absolutely need to.

What a rubbish time for travel - poor DTs!

I'm beginning to wonder if they will delay this summer's exams. I know they had 26 June set aside as an emergency catch up day, but obviously that was only for things like the maths fiascos in previous years. Has everyone got travel insurance in place for their DC's summer adventures? We're still talking about DD's post exam trip & our own summer holiday, but there are so many unknowns now.