Oxbridge 2020 (thread 10) - the path to the first term (just one slight hurdle to clear first)

[DadDadDad]

For better or worse, there is a bit of a bond of mutual experience between parents whose DC go through the Oxbridge application process. Thank you for your companionship so far - and thank you to others who started the earlier threads in this series.

This thread should take us to the start of the first term (whatever form that takes). All welcome here, but for many of us hopefully this will be the place for practical support as we help prepare these peculiar* young adults to spread their wings.

But the first item on the agenda appears to be the small matter of judgement...

*or for those who chose Oxford, very peculiar.

I know someone for PPE who was offered AAA and got AAB and accepted straight away.

What's annoying for us is he has over the UCAS points required and the subject he needed the A* in isn't even the one he is studying at uni!

And he says it's the subject he knows he would have got the A* in because ever since his mock he was doing 4 hours a day on it to ensure he got the grades! His teacher is livid

A star *

Thats right @DadDadDad. Her teacher and head of department messaged her to say they thought grade was unfair, they had awarded A , moderation brought it down to A. Her year is particularly strong in that subject this year compared to previous ones I think and I take some comfort from the fact that I think they must have played by the book in their grading, I bet several of dd’s peers were stronger and got the As. She got lucky/unlucky... lucky!

She will , of course, brood on it forever.

We have been told today by the school who have been informed by OFQUAL that if you were in a small cohort your grades given by the school were honoured. So DS got A* for history in a class of 5 and A for Gov and Pol in a class of 5. But if you are in a class larger than 12 they used cohort GCSE data so if you are in a low performing cohort you got marked down hence he got a C for RE. Anxiously waiting to hear about the pool.

DS seems to think that Cambridge are sticking fairly rigidly to the offer conditions for his course judging by the number of near misses being rejected. Anecdotally, the reason given for the apparent lack of leniency is the existence of the appeals process. A lot of offer holders for his subject had very specific conditions such as an A* in both Maths and a humanities subject.

A Level Maths cohorts are likely to be large at every school given that it is the most popular A level course so I suspect many offer holders fell foul of that - particularly if they were in a classes where may students were also taking Further Maths.

Out of interest, has anyone (or do you know of anyone) missed their Oxbridge offer but still got their place?

Yes loads. On a FB group I’m in about this grade travesty there’s a kid who needed AAA and got ACC and got in but was moved to a different college (hadn’t had an open offer) indicating that perhaps there was some kind of internal pool this year? Amongst DD’s offer holder zoom chat group there have been half a dozen who dropped one grade in one subject and got in. (Grade not dropped on subject of the degree of that makes sense?)

I also know of narrow misses not leading to places, so it sounds like most colleges/courses are deciding based on the scores they already hold for each offer holder.

DeFleury, is this Oxford, Cambridge or both?

Inaspin

I shared this with my brother and he agrees with you he had his A star in maths moderated down to an A and there are lots of further maths in his class.

Apologies - all Oxford.

My DS has been put in the pool with A A C ( offer was AAA) but the other offer holder for the same course same college has been rejected with 3As. Hoping this is because he did well at interview?

DC was 1 grade off. The teacher predicted the grade that was needed, but it was marked down by the exam board. Apparently they marked down more than half of the school's predicted grades in that subject (private school).

Now in the pool.

I'd also guess that they want to see an A* in the degree subject. If your DC is at the top of their year in that subject, they're unlikely to have been moderated down?

DS1 could potentially have got an A star in Maths. I haven't seen his CAG yet but he received an A yesterday. He thinks most of the school's A stars went to those who took FM as well. I understand the school may appeal the whole cohort for maths but given that DS1 achieved his place it doesn't matter to him.

It does matter to a number and others though so DS1 might benefit as I think he would have been in a marginal rank between the two grades.

@doadeer, it’s such a frustrating situation. I hope this all ends well for your brother. I am so impressed with your support for him - well done and good luck.

He is such a good kid, he deserves it so much he really does, state school from the north-east and he has worked so hard.

Plus, I'm super excited at the thought that he will be near London where I am!

@sandybayley, DS’s (selective) school is also considering appealing the whole Maths cohort. DS is annoyed to have A* Maths downgraded to an A but he otherwise met his offer so not a disaster.

Congratulations to your DS on his Chemistry place at Oxford. DD1’s college “ husband” is a chemist 😀.

@ofteninaspin -thanks! I got a bit cross with DS1 yesterday when he grumbled about his maths grade as it is academic now (no pun intended) and there are so many people who have real problems. I pointed out to him that he'd met his offer because he'd fallen the right side of the grade boundary in Physics (we knew that could go either way) so he'd had his share of good fortune and ought to be grateful.

But he's an 18 year old who needs to think bigger picture than he currently does - work in progress and not finished article.

Agree with the "bigger picture" outlook @sandybayley. DS is very fortunate to have come through this relatively unscathed and he will learn from this that sometimes things just don't go to plan.

Sorry to jump in but just seen this on Twitter and it may be of some help to someone here. It is verified by the college.

twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1294275052200964102?s=21

WWWOOOHHHOOOOO DS 1 is in - just had the email. He has been taken from the pool by the college he applied to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A*AC so so so happy.

Give that fish a medal! So pleased for you @Cliff1975 !