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......

@goodbyestranger

Maybe I am sandybayley - last Nov/ Jan seems much much more than 11/ 10 months ago!

Having just watched the end of the Six Nations, I must agree with that.

@Majaso12. I really wouldn’t worry. These early offers are just a smattering - one shouldn’t bank on hearing so soon, just enjoy the upside if it happens iyswim

My ds applied for a similar course a few years ago and got offers from Bath and Warwick within a week and he applied in October. It’s not helping that dd’s friends have a few offers already - Bristol, Exeter, Cardiff and I think Southampton. Dd hasn’t applied to any of those universities. It’s making her anxious that’s she’s not had any offers though. We didn’t expect the 2 London ones to be quick.

Has anyone spotted any news about whether PreUs are going to follow the delayed exams times of A level? I suspect my son might end up with a rather odd A level timetable.

I remember everyone on here being lovely when ds got in. In real life, however, there were a few corkers, eg, “It’s wonderful that they bend over backwards to allow state-school pupils in now...” and “Is that one of those new colleges?”

I know a couple of people with kids at Oxbridge and they tell similar stories Irma. 'Oh yes but xyz subject is much easier to get in with than my dc's abc subject' or 'much easier for a girl to get into a STEM subject' etc...

Sour grapes.

Oh god, well, I have 4 kids and they’re all in different schools and I don’t know any of the parents at this DS’ school as nobody goes there ever because you can’t park. Also, it’s a big school and not that personal. They’re from all over London and I don’t have time. So I doubt there will be any snarky comments here. They’re all so different. Also, I have a suspicion that LSE might be more competitive for DS’ course (just doesn’t feel that way because there are less hoops to jump through). The way I see it, what will be will be and whatever uni he ends up at, he won’t look back (hopefully)! Things that seem like a massive deal at the time just pass over and then it’s on to the next thing... I just want him to have a great uni experience which will mainly be gown to the friends he makes, ultimately... so who knows?

I see the silver lining of not knowing anyone who might feel ‘in competition’ with DS though often it feels a bit lonesome too.

I do so hope this thread doesn’t turn snippy and ungenerous come November/January. I’m finding it a great source of support and camaraderie in the main.

I’ve said it before I think, but I find it really helpful to trust that the Universities (Cambridge particularly in our case) know what they are doing with regard admitting the ‘right’ candidates for them. I’m not sure that will help me if faced with a rejection for DS, but it certainly helps through this application stage.

I think DD would prefer to go to the US rather than Oxford based on the time and effort she is putting in to her US applications compared to her TSA prep time which has been minimal.
So although I will be disappointed if she doesn’t get called for interview I will not be entirely surprised.
Actually I think her very top choice would be St Andrews but offers there seem very random.
She did get an email from them saying that they are waiting for clarification on whether irish students are to be treated as Scottish or other UK this year for fees purposes. I would imagine it will be other U.K.
I think there are a lot of places where she could thrive and be happy so it is good she is not set on one place.

Tenpasteven I too hope we all try to be supportive and generous whatever the outcome for our DC's. The most difficult thing for any parent though, is that we all think our children are the most deserving, of course we do, we go on their journey with them. We are there for the triumphs and the disasters, and are there to cheer them on, or pick them up. It is really hard to have kids rejected, for whatever reason, whether it is from friendship groups, school teams, plays, or selective schools or universities. It never really stops. Then when they are older, you commiserate with job rejections, failed relationships, and now, with Covid, for the cessation of the life they thought they were going to have, being independent, going out, having fun, doing all the stuff we did at the age. Ugh....... it's a rainy, depressing Sunday, forgive my depressing musings.

I know what you mean Baaaahhhh - their world should be expanding right now, full of new opportunities and experiences. It can be hard not to let it get you down sometimes.

Totally get what you are saying @Baaaahhhhh. I'm hoping that if I am dealing with DS's disappointment (and mine for him) that I can come to this thread and get some support, wise words and maybe even a bit of a laugh to cheer me up.

I"m musing here too now, but I'm not entirely sure if I do think that DS is the 'most' deserving, or even that the most deserving are the ones who 'do' or 'should' get places. I'm presuming that the system choses the ones who they think can benefit the most and 'give' the most back, and I suppose that involves seeing potential as well as achievements? It's that aspect which takes the pressure off, that if DS doesn't get an offer, I'm hoping I can trust that having done a thorough and fair assessment, they will know best and that he will be better off somewhere else. Truth be told of course, of course I have no idea how I'll respond in that scenario. And I guess that doesn't factor in the 'unfairness' of the increase in applications for 2021 entry.

I definitely plan to be there for the triumphs and disasters though (and having 3 DC I've been through my fair share of these, some rather flipping dramatic ones!).

You weren't wrong with the rainy and depressing Sunday!

Wise words tenpast

Did anyone else read the article on The Sunday Times today suggesting exams may be cancelled again this year?

Also that preparations were being made to sit "proper" mocks in the new year to help facilitate awarded grades?

I won't be in the least bit surprised
If exams are cancelled. I really don't see how admissions teams and exams boards can say education is being provided for on a level playing field this year.

And that's not to say that's what I'd like to see happening, I'm just trying to be realistic about it. Meanwhile DD is working away to try to do as well as she can in the BMAT on Wednesday - and yes, staying at home until then to minimise any chance of having to SI.... what a year!

De rigeur hadn't seen it but have just read it, thanks for the heads up. My concern is that some way be found for our dc to get the grades they deserve- whether that be through exams or individualised CAG , certainly not a repeat of the algocatastrophe of this summer looking at the centre rather than the child. I'd also hope we would see uni offers that recognise the disruption suffered. We shall see.

Baah and Tenpast wise words from you both and I agree. Very much appreciate the solidarity on this thread.

It's depressing isn't it Pumpkin - so much uncertainty after so much hard work.

I'm hoping the govt stay firm and schools remain open and the exams happen but I'm realistic that this might not happen.

I really hope summer exams aren’t cancelled again this year - what a grim prospect for our dc. How would sitting standardised mocks be any better than sitting actual exams anyway? Surely mocks are still exams - when are they proposing that these mocks would be held? I have three dc in years 11 and 13 and they’ve all been working so hard for months. All I really want is for each of them to be able to achieve their full potential and not to have their grades selected for them by a flawed algorithm.

I hope the support on this thread continues too, and doesn’t descend into sniping, as people have said happened in previous years. Success for one of our dc doesn’t mean that another of our dc has been robbed of their place. I am realistic of dd’s chance of gaining a place and I’m fine with that, and so is she - but like others have said, I’m hoping this will be a safe place to share our fears and disappointments, as well as celebrate any successes.

By the way, for anyone sitting the HAT next week, this is a really good recent (though quite long) video from one of the admissions tutors at Jesus College:

Niam I agree - I don't understand the difference between the sitting of mocks and exams either, plus (as has been previously pointed out to the DfE geniuses) it would be impossible to 'standardise' mocks as schools teach the syllabus in different orders and also sit their mocks at different times - for example our local schools, some have them scheduled for January, some for pre-Christmas- so unless they just mean 'any test sat in exam conditions' hard to see how anything- difficulty or content - can be 'standardised'.

It was quite clear last time that whoever was coming up with the ideas re the grades had no idea how schools operate from every mention of “mocks” as though they had any generalised meaning. Quite staggering. DS’s school only did mocks at all for the first time that year - he hadn’t had any for his GCSEs which I found staggering.

Revenge indeed!

Yes it was staggering when GW actually came out with the brainwave “they can use the mocks” last summer. Fgs, has this man even set foot in a school? I remember people were on MN in bafflement - some were saying that their DC’s mocks were “peer marked” - ie by the 17 year-old sitting next to them because this was part of the learning process! Others weren’t sure if their DCs had even done mocks. Someone else said, at her DC school, they all did some sort of test, but just as part of timetabled lessons - so the ones who had eg. physics in a later timetables session had already been told what was in the paper by the one who did it before them.

I guess schools could do a mock paper that’s worth maybe 50%, but also moderate the overall grades this with CAGs? This might be a way of reflecting the learning context for that child, or school? I don’t know - seems problematic whichever way you look at it.

I am praying there are no CAGS. Either the teachers will have taken note of what happened last year and will estimate everyone 3A *s, or will be threatened that this can’t happen so will judge downwards.

Whatever happens, they can’t risk the debacle of last year with everyone waving their CAGS at universities and the over offers coming home to roost - in very large numbers.I wonder if in the light of this universities will not over-offering this year?

Certainly last year's mocks, whatever form, if any, they took, weren't the fairest way to determine a student's likely performance in the summer exams, given differing attitudes to them from both schools and pupils. This year, if DD is anything to go by, Y13s will feel far more pressure to perform well in mocks than they probably should, just in case they turn out to be the only measurable means of assessing hem.