Oxbridge-Aspirants-2021-New-Thread-3

[Baaaahhhhh]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4016760-Oxbridge-Aspirants-2021-New-Thread-2

New Thread !

@quest1on that's a great offer from Bath. Hopefully DS will hear from them soon but it will be too high for an insurance. So if he should get an offer from Oxford, it will probably be York at AAB.

That's good to know goodbyestranger - DS is another who didn't do EPQ. His school also seriously advises against 4 A levels (excepting further maths) and so DS dropped his 4th after 1 term. He was glad he did, as it left more time for his community commitments and essay competition.

Goodbyestranger As all your children are now at Uni and I assume the older ones out and about in the world, how are feeling this year? Covid challenges aside, your house must now be very quiet?

DD1 just returned home having given notice on her London flat, her flat mates also returning home for.now, it's all change here again.

Dd’s school no longer allow 4 A Levels, too, and pushed the EPQ. But abandoned any support/guidance in the light of, well, you know what. Dd didn’t want to do one anyway because, as goodbyestranger said, it looked (from the ones displayed at open evening) that you could have written “EPQs are poo bum wee” and received a top (internally marked) grade as long as you ticked all the procedural boxes. Dd didn’t want to attend all the compulsory sessions which, as I said, didn’t take place in the end.

Haha exactly Irma.

Baaaahhhhh thank you for asking. The short answer is that I haven't had any time without DC at all since returning from the Cambridge/ Oxford drop off! (one DC had leave. another DC sprinted home as soon as there was a whiff of London lockdown in the air etc). The two doggies were looking forward to their peaceful retirement, but not so....

Well, I don’t know. Maybe the EPQ is worthless then, but it certainly looked like a lot of work. I really don’t think you can chuck out any old crap, they would just chuck you off the course at the literature review stage. This happened to quite a few.

I have another one (a few years younger) in another school where they can do IB or A-levels, but if you do A-levels it is automatically 4. The rationale for this is that it’s hard to choose 3 subjects , so do 4 and you can drop one at the end of Year 12. But what is the point of half an (unfinished) A-level that’s not even an AS? Personally, I hope they drop this policy and switch to the EPQ instead.

No idea what all unis think about the EPQ but Bath have a clear policy around them, that’s all I know. Also Cambridge have slightly changed their statement on them for this year.

Good to hear about other non EPQ'ers and non Durhamites, was feeling left out .

Hi Baaaah, DD hasnt applied to Durham and isnt doing an EPQ, as she is doing further maths instead.

She has 2 offers - York and Lancaster, both AAB. Not heard from Warwick or Edinburgh. I think Warwick wait for MAT scores, though there wasnt a space on the MAT form for DD to tick her course ( maths and philosophy).

Are online offer holder days worth going to? DD didnt really find the online open days told her anything she couldnt have found out from the website, so isnt sure if it is worth missing lessons to go to the York one. She is undecided about her preference order. I think Edinburgh would be the second choice if she didnt get an Oxford offer, with Warwick as backup if she doesnt get either Oxford or Edinburgh. York or Lancaster are the lower grade backups.

Dd had email from Durham this morning saying “we are working on your application” so doesn’t look like there is an offer on the horizon any time soon .

uni-of-oxford.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/446/~/how-does-oxford-view-the-extended-project-qualification-%28epq%29%2C-and-can-i-submit

However, if your chosencourse requires you to submitwritten work as part of your application,you can choose to send a 2,000 word extract from your EPQ.

By the sound of things, those attending certain schools would be less advised than others to take up this option...

@Beetlesand

Dd had email from Durham this morning saying “we are working on your application” so doesn’t look like there is an offer on the horizon any time soon .

DS got one too. I can't remember who reported that their DC hadn't heard back at all (@quest1on?) but if he hasn't heard anything at all, perhaps time to send him to dig in his junk folder?

He’s still never had the automatic acknowledgement Revenge, and his UCAS went off late Sept. He phoned them last week because it says on the website that you should wait to receive an acknowledgment of your application and then you have three days to submit an alternative PS. Someone very grumpy eventually answered and said yes they did have his application and “just send in an alternative PS if you want.” So he did, last Monday and no acknowledgment of that either.

Wow, @MatureStudent21 well done to you. Congratulations 🥳 Must be a nice relief. Out of interest, what course have you applied for? You don’t have to answer that.

@Revengeofthepangolins, we don’t know what to think, about wether the phone call makes a difference or not, but hoping for the best. DS did athletics and cricket too, but just local club level. So that’s really what the chat was around.

@quest1on, congratulations on first offer. It’s just such a good feeling.

@Pumpkintopf, gosh, it’s the sign of the times. I have another DC sitting a significant exam and DH and I have decided we are going to keep her home, self isolating for this reason, until she has done the exam

Sorry @Pumpkintopf somehow that passed me by. Hope she’s OK!

DS’s lessons via Microsoft teams have generally been working well though one teacher had some technical issues with her laptop which meant he couldn’t join. It does make me realise how much he missed out on in lockdown #1 with no remote teaching at all.

Hopefully DS has also avoided infection, no symptoms so far. He will also be sitting his Maths exam online apparently.

Thanks all he's absolutely fine and thank goodness it wasn't last week with the NSAA to sit!

FWIW another non - Durham non-EPQ DS here!

@pourmeanotherglass

Hi Baaaah, DD hasnt applied to Durham and isnt doing an EPQ, as she is doing further maths instead.

She has 2 offers - York and Lancaster, both AAB. Not heard from Warwick or Edinburgh. I think Warwick wait for MAT scores, though there wasnt a space on the MAT form for DD to tick her course ( maths and philosophy).

Are online offer holder days worth going to? DD didnt really find the online open days told her anything she couldnt have found out from the website, so isnt sure if it is worth missing lessons to go to the York one. She is undecided about her preference order. I think Edinburgh would be the second choice if she didnt get an Oxford offer, with Warwick as backup if she doesnt get either Oxford or Edinburgh. York or Lancaster are the lower grade backups.

My daughter got an offer for maths at Warwick a few weeks ago, but said if she does well in MAT they will lower it. The current offer is 3 A stars. She was also considering Step as another opportunity to lower the offer but is unsure as Step 1 has been dropped this year.

Also had an offer from Exeter, waiting on Bath and Nottingham, not confident at all about getting an Oxford interview.

3 A stars is a tall order! Am I right in thinking that not even Cambridge asks for that?

I know that Warwick is very highly regarded for Maths, but that offer is plain scary!

Hmm, just seen on the BBC that Wales have cancelled all GCSEs and A-levels for next summer.

Wonder if the same is coming our way???

@WarmAndco3y - I’m very relieved! I’ve applied for Law, so I’m hoping that as Durham and Oxford both use the LNAT that means that I did well on the LNAT!

Bloody Welsh. (And I say that as a half-Welsh person.)

What are they proposing instead? Not CAGs again.... weeeeep !!

I should think this move will surely prompt Oxbridge into issuing far fewer offers. They can’t have a repeat of last year. And of course Durham et al will be quaking.

Why on earth do they think cancelling the exams is a good idea?

If this happens in England DS will be gutted.

He (and all his friends) want the opportunity to prove themselves.

Honestly this is a bad call from the Welsh.

I think all our DC will be fine with CAGs. They won’t apply that ridiculous algorithm again, surely?

My younger one however, about to do GCSEs is another matter.

What is a fair way of assessing students though apart from public exams marked outside of own school?