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.

DD (two years ago) had three interviews in one day at Cambridge, two at first choice college and one at another. Could have stayed in college the night before but chose to drive up on the day.

Just popping in to mention that the courses at Oxford and Cambridge are often very different for the same subject (probably for good reason) and most DC quite rightly choose between the two on course content rather than admissions process

Looking for a teacher support thread!

No children in the process myself (too young) but one of my year 13s has an offer and needs an A* in one of her subjects- so we have started some additional tutoring.

Starting to feel the pressure already! I teach at an inner city comp in the Midlands do not exactly an everyday occurrence!

Just popping in to mention that the courses at Oxford and Cambridge are often very different for the same subject (probably for good reason) and most DC quite rightly choose between the two on course content rather than admissions process

Or, indeed, choose to go elsewhere.
The difference in admissions process should be pretty low down the priority list imo, excepting perhaps for the STEP thing.

DD was relatively lucky. Some other applicants on her college got pooled elsewhere and started the whole process all over again. She only had to keep popping back down to check if anyone else wanted to see her, which kept the tension levels high.

@GinWorksForMe the STEP dates are published online, as are the dates you have to register by. See www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/step/dates-and-costs/

Make sure you know which papers are needed - it should be in the offer details. DD has to do papers II and III, but not paper I, which I think is standard for maths offers.

There is a MN poster called @Pallando who knows all about STEP from the inside, and I have taken the liberty of tagging her/him as they are very lovely and helpful!

@Terfin2 Yes, she was nice - but this was the 20 min interview so just bam bam bam, no time for chat. Also D1 was second in and they were already running behind as the poor student runner had delivered the first person late. I heard her on the radio the other day, she was so impressive. Am ordering her books.

@GinWorksForMe @AChickenCalledDaal

Offers for Maths at Cambridge involve STEP 2 and 3. The entry fee per paper is £54 but centres might charge extra fees for invigilation etc. Any school / college which already runs entrance tests (such as MAT, TMUA and BMAT) will be a registered test centre already and can administer the STEP exams. Since STEP occurs at the same time as other Alevels it shouldn't involve much effort on their part! Information about becoming a registed centre is here:

If the costs and/or access to a test centre are causing problems then I would recommend contacting the college and asking for advice.

(For the record I am female and have 2 DDs - still at primary though)

@Bobbybobbins - welcome and support sent plus As a product of a Midlands comp I salute the great work you are doing and wish I'd had such a dedicated teacher!

Thanks @AChickenCalledDaal

Try again with link www.admissionstesting.org/administering-our-tests/become-a-test-centre/

@Oratory1 is absolutely correct. You need to choose the course not the institution. As selection seems to be be the basis of passion and aptitude for the course you can't be half-hearted. DS1 would have probably not got an interview let alone offer for NatSci at Cambridge.

But applying that criteria he should probably accept his offer at Imperial instead of Oxford as it's better for Chemistry according to many measures...

@Bobbybobbins, welcome .. what a lucky student!! Dare we ask the subject ?

Thanks once again @AChickenCalledDaal (maybe my DS and your DD will meet and fall in love over equations at Cambridge next year...?) and @Pallando. DS needs Step 2 and 3 for the Cambridge offer and Step 1 would reduce the Warwick or Imperial offer so he is looking at sitting at least number one and maybe all three. On top of four A levels it’s a lot of exams but I guess it’s all good preparation for a studious life at these universities.

Your help is always very much appreciated. I do feel a bit less informed than most but there can’t be much more to find out about now can there

@Oratory1 is absolutely correct. You need to choose the course not the institution.

Surely it's up to the individual student to choose according to their priorities? I didn't quiz my DC on the rationale for their choices. I think to say DC need to choose according to course specification is on the heavy side for plenty of seventeen/ eighteen year olds. They have to live in a university community for at least three years so course specifications, while important, may quite reasonably not trump other considerations. That's absolutely fine by me as a parent.

Yes of course it makes sense to apply on the basis of the course, not the institution, but within the Geography courses at Oxford and Cambridge there are so many module options (which it states can change year to year anyway), that the differences are not that obvious. Not from the website anyway. Especially to a young person who is just over a term into A-level!

To be honest, the courses that look most dynamic and flexible for him are at LSE, Southampton Bristol or UCL because you can combine pretty much anything with a language and most courses also offer the opportunity of a year abroad. We have t got so far as looking at Northern unis yet either. But still, Oxbridge is what it is, so it’s more about understanding the process at this point because it is different.. It’s all a bit of a learning curve.

Also, I do think you have to be able to see yourself potentially living in a given town or campus, regardless if the details of any course. Factors such as commute home, etc may well come into it.

Thanks @sandybayley and @hobbema

It's for Law so obviously not a subject they currently study. Feeling under pressure as our last student with an offer got 3 A grades, missed the star and didn't get in. She was also in my group. The others in my group are lovely but not aiming for the same grades so hoping a little finessing will help 🤞

Great to read about all your kids on this thread. Unfortunately my student (and quite a lot of others) does not have great support from home and in fact I have never met their parents as they have never attended parents' evening. How depressing.

@goodbyestranger - DS1 actually liked Cambridge more than Oxford but NatSci would have been absolutely wrong for him and the loveliness of Cambridge wouldn't have made up for the 'wrong' course. But he wouldn't have got in anyway.

I agree that you have to like your institution but no student will thrive if they're on the wrong course.

sandy I think NatSci as opposed to a single science may be in a category of its own. DS4 was also clear he wanted single science. So I guess I'm talking more History, Geography, English Lit etc.

In fact DS3 had to move away from his primary interest in History by virtue of going to Oxford, because the timetable didn't work out. But that's also worked out. He simply diddled towards other stuff, which he clearly enjoyed (graduated with a first in any event).

@goodbyestranger - yes I was thinking of NatSci and the single sciences I'd also argue that PPE and HSPS are quite different courses that could mistakenly be taken as potential substitutes for each other.

I don't know much about Maths but I also thought that the two courses are quite different but I might be wrong on that.

What a bubble we are in on here @Bobbybobbins.. I come from a very humble working class family. My parents wouldnt have missed a parents meeting for anything. I cant imagine how frustrating it must be as a teacher.I really hope you find some inspiration/ contacts on here; there are lots of amazingly knowledgeable parents on the thread. There’s a nice poster from Scotland who’s son is doing Law at Oxford from a state school , she might pop up, cant recall her name. It’s A level finessing you’re after really though I guess?

Re Maths - (disclaimer, not really conversant, but what I have picked up from ds)
Cambridge Maths has slightly more applied emphasis and Oxford slightly more pure maths.
For ds the choice was a mixture of many factors, application and entry process (he felt he would like to know earlier in the process if he was good enough to make the cut rather than miss a STEP), he liked Oxford as a place more and felt a bit more at home there.

That's interesting, HuaShan, and was probably my thinking when I applied to Cambridge 32 years ago (yes, my soul, THIRTY-TWO YEARS).

After all, Cambridge has the Dept of Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics, and is the university of Newton and Hawking. I saw myself as a theoretical physicist (things changed once I got my teeth into some real pure maths).

Oxford is the place that allows you to combine maths with philosophy, so (who knows? not me) is perhaps the place that prizes elegant abstraction over clever problem-solving? It's the university of... hmm, can't think of any famous Oxford mathematicians.

@DadDadDad - Lewis Carroll was an Oxford mathematician. Well he read maths at Oxford...