Oxbridge Aspirants 2021 - New Thread (2)

[Baaaahhhhh]

Sorry posted last message on the last thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3757768-Oxbridge-Aspirants-Sep-2021

Here is the new one......

Mind you, I think she needs some practise! She is inclined to shout and storm off if anyone disagrees with her so I can’t imagine how that would go down in an Oxbridge interview . Even via Zoom she might just turn off the computer...

calculatorqueen That's a great link. Thank you. Nothing terribly unexpected for History applicants, but goodness me, some of the other subjects ie: Maths, CompSci, Physics, are really mind-blowing in the statistical realities of getting an offer.

Some courses are so much more competitive than others - 60% success rate for Classics? Can that be right?

Wow, those statistics are even more insane than I’d thought! . That doc really emphasises the importance of the LNAT essay. Obviously, I knew it was important but it appears to be the only factor mentioned about the admissions process (they don’t even mention the reading section of the LNAT). Given the whole debacle we had with the LNAT last week, I imagine DD’s chances are probably now extremely slim . She was rather calm about it all last week but now that she’s feeling better, I think it’s finally sunk in that it’s out of her hands now. I’ve been trying to console her with the fact that the rest of her application is, in my (thoroughly unbiased ) opinion, very strong but she really feels that she might have blown her chance at her top three unis. I know admissions tests for other subjects haven’t been sat yet but is anyone else’s DC having a bit of a wobble?

[quote calculatorqueen]Found this whilst googling away. It's a good summary of courses at Oxford, based on 2019 and how decisions on applicants were made and test marks etc www.charterhouse.org.uk/uploaded/MainFolder/News/HE_and_Careers_News/Oxbridge_Admission_statistics_updated_April_2020.pdf[/quote]
Hmm. German at Oxford looks like a winner at 96% offer rate. Noch ein Bier bitte. Sadly that's all I've got....

Does anyone know how they contextualise gcses?

@Revengeofthepangolins

Does anyone know how they contextualise gcses?

With reference to, for example "Candidates are shortlisted if their combined HAT/contextualised GCSE score...."

Curious what the gcse score consists of, as this sounds as though it is a specific calculation.

Oh. Found the below. I guess not much use if one doesn't know what one's child's school's average # of As and average proportion of As is.
Will stop messing around down rabbit holes, get back to work and stop littering the thread

The number of A at GCSE is normalised with respect to the rest of the cohort The proportion of A at GCSE is normalised with respect to the rest of the cohort.
The two scores above are then averaged to produce the GCSE score.
For each candidate the GCSE score is spotted against the school performance data at which the candidate took their GCSEs (% of pupils obtaining 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C). The contextualised GCSE score is the standardised residual taken from the regression line.

I wonder how they factor in the EPQ (if there is one) as an A in an EPQ is worth half the points of an A in an A-level (28 points, I think)? This is what it says on the Cambridge website -

“We welcome the Extended Project and would encourage applicants to undertake one as it will help to develop independent study and research skills valuable for higher education. However, we recognise that not all students have equal access to them and so completion of an Extended Project won't normally be a requirement of any offer made.

Please note, this supersedes the guidance published in the Prospectus that the Extended Project Qualification won't be a requirement of any offer made. Applicants should instead refer to the guidance above.”

There's a thing called "Acorn" and "Polar4" which Oxford seem to refer to a lot, schools falling within various levels are contextualised in different ways. Over and above that it is simply how well your child did in comparison to their historical schools average.

I had a friend who was outraged her state school child wasn't contextualised, from her very wealthy, leafy, middle class, local comprehensive, with excellent across the board results

Second conditional offer just come through for DD!

What does any contextualising consist of in terms of elevating an application? (Gosh, that’s put confusingly!)

Is someone automatically uplifted if they have attended a “bad” school, or is their application given consideration when otherwise they might have been disregarded ? How much do they leapfrog over more “privileged” candidates?

A while back there was mention on here of contextualising the HAT test which I think would be grossly unfair.

The Charterhouse stats are very interesting, but ultimately not that useful for DD, whose course isn't listed on there. Do you know if similar info re: the really small courses is available anywhere?

How exciting @mikeandike! Congrats. Where is the offer from?

Is someone automatically uplifted if they have attended a “bad” school, or is their application given consideration when otherwise they might have been disregarded ? How much do they leapfrog over more “privileged” candidates?

I think how it works, is that there are always definite yes's and definite no's. Then a huge mash of in the middlers. From within that you can be picked up by a college, or put in the final pool. From within the pool, much consideration is given to contextualisation. That's all after interview though..... how it works before interview, is anyones guess! It's a dark art!!

I know people hate anecdotal stuff, but here is DD1's. On a certain course, at a certain college, the tutor was always very keen to give certain students the benefit of the doubt and give them a place. Over the last 5 years, not one of them has stayed the course, despite, and this is really true, lots and lots of support, and money, and time and effort. It's actually really sad, because they are doing all the right things in terms of outreach, and just not seeing any success stories.

So now the wonder that is GW is pushing the start of A- levels back by 3 weeks....

Months in consultation and that’s all he can come up with???

How will that reduce inequality - giving those who have had excellent online provision 3 extra weeks to revise / consolidate?

And still... no info about reduced content of the exams so that teachers know what to actually teach.

Plus results a week later by the look of it.

@IrmaFayLear, as I understand it and recall from last year’s applicant thread Oxford did contexualise the HAT last year.

@mikeandike, my DD had a wobble just before pre-entrance AHAA last year;questioned whether she was up for the fight as it were. She only told me after her A level results! Having the best imaginable time as a fresher at C now.

Great news, hobbema. Ds wishes he was starting all over again...

Regarding aptitude tests which use differing cut-offs for different subjects, it may be useful for someone to note that the PAT also works this way. It is used to assess applicants for physics, engineering and materials science.

For physics, use of the PAT is fairly brutal and candidates are interviewed if they are in roughly the top third of scorers. (Some allowance is made using contextual data.) For engineering and materials science, the cut-off is not so rigid. It is apparently possible to get an interview for those two subjects with a less-than stellar PAT score, if everything else about the application is high quality.

DS survived the PAT last year and is happily settling in his first year at Oxford. Good luck to all this year’s candidates.

know this was discussed at some point, but can someone tell me how we contact UCAS to see school reference?
Is it via email? What address?

[quote calculatorqueen]@IrmaFayLear I hadn't realised that different courses had different score cut offs for the TSA and the decision to interview. DS is doing PPE and he needs to score highly [/quote]
DD scored 76.5 last year. Strangely, they also gave a place to the person who got the top score who was almost off the scale!

@WarmAndco3y DD attempted to contact them by email and they said they would only send the reference if she called (it’s password-protected and they give the password over the phone). Number is 0371 468 0468.

@quest1on [Until the next change in policy] the alternations to content were announced in the summer by Offqual. There was very little change of A levels (perhaps more in the practical subjects but I don't remember much about those). Changes mostly restricted to gcses. I don't think that we are expecting any more changes.