Oxbridge-Aspirants-2021-New-Thread-3

[Baaaahhhhh]

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

New Thread !

But if they find the deadlines within the EPQ to be a bore / waste of time it won’t be them making the decision to drop out - this decision will be made for them! EPQ teachers have better things to do than chasing up students who, rightly or wrongly, think their time can be better spent in other ways.

Perhaps the photo request this year is to check that the right person is zooming in for the interview

Though I suppose in any normal year you could if you were that desperate send Simon Schama to do your History interview and hope they didn't twig.

Also, Cambridge have altered their statement about EPQs this year. It’s on the website. They basically say that they recognise that not all schools offer the EPQ, so they do not make this a condition of any offers. But, where it is available, it is something they would encourage. And there is a footnote saying something like, “this replaces our previous statement on the EPQ.”

quest1on DD4 made her own decision about four weeks in, when she realised how empty it was.

My DS didn’t do D of E Gold, for instance. He thought it would be too much. But he wouldn’t just write it off as a pointless exercise because it was something he personally didn’t feel would benefit him. Hats off to all those who stuck it through. I’m sure some might have gone through the motions but most of them probably gets a lot out of D of E gold - and credit to them!

quest1on the Cambridge statement has nothing to do with any intellectual brilliance required for the EPQ (since demonstrably none is) and everything to do with the extra training it provides to meet bleeding deadlines. Tutors' lives are blighted by students not meeting deadlines.

But of course the EPQ can be useful in tripping a particular interest, as your own DS has shown.

Also, there is a website called “What Do they Know?” - I think somebody once linked to it on here. Very interesting. There was a request for the qualifications of all applicants to Cambridge for a particular course - I’m sorry, I can’t remember if it was HSPS or Geography now, or possibly History? Anyway, I was surprised to see what they actually list as “qualifications” alongside the A- levels or IB of candidates (given that they claim to be only interested in academics). You will see D of E listed, grade 8 music qualifications and EPQ.

Irma a few years ago there were several incidents of bearded 6 ft 11 yr olds turning up to take the 11+ at various grammars....

goodbye - you could say the same about the entire A- level syllabus though, surely . Whu single out the EPQ. A-levels are a set curriculum and all about working to deadlines and exams. Hardly mind expanding clear blues skies is it? More like, “there a test on Friday, get your head round pages 10-34” or “this essay is due Friday.” That’s life. That’s school,

Three A levels are the minimum requirement quest1on, it's that simple.

You don't get an Oxbridge offer simply by being a trooper.

You don’t get an Oxbridge offer by doing the bare minimum though either? I’m not sure what your point is here?

As for all these deadlines on the EPQ.., as far as I recall there were only two deadlines once they actually started on the real thing. The teacher was allowed to give written feedback on the literature review in about Feb, I think, then again one the first draft of the whole thing. That’s it. Otherwise they just got on with it in their own ways. But if you missed the lit review deadline, you were off the course, yes,

Well you certainly can get an Oxbridge offer by only doing three A levels quest1on.....

Oh sorry. My point was a reply to your question quest1on:

quest1on: Why single out the EPQ? [as a qualification to avoid]

goodbyestranger: Because you don't need it for uni applications [and it can be a restricting bore]

It can also not be a restricting bore, but that’s up to the individual student, as I said.

I never said it was a test of “intellectual brilliance” by the way. Not at all. My DS is just an ordinary boy - not intellectual or “brilliant,” just reasonably able when he is motivated. And the EPQ helped him to get motivated, imo. If he gets A* in anything, A-level or EPQ it will be because he worked hard. No intellectual brilliance here in any shape or form

No no quest1on, I'm quite clear that you weren't claiming anything on behalf of your DS, other than it sparked a particular interest - all good. For my own DS(1), he chose to do something on mad cow disease and now can't look a mad cow in the face, even though he's undoubtedly smart and still exceptionally engaged in his subject as a whole. My narrow point is that while it can certainly have a use - as it has for your own DS - a top mark can be achieved with projects which have no particular academic merit at all. And that's literally the only point!

Anyone who finds EPQs 'a restricting bore' certainly shouldn't be doing one.
Anyone who finds it to be a tick box exercise should probably not bother.

For others, it can be a valuable opportunity to delve into something interesting. Schools certainly shouldn't make it mandatory.

It's been very useful in securing KS5 funding for schools Errol, on minimum teacher time.

I remember reading on LSE website that 3AL is standard- anything the student can do as an extra is a bonus - whether it's an additional AL or an EPQ or something to showcase their ability and interest. May have changed though - this was a couple of years ago

And any time spent educating oneself further is not a waste

chopc not doing the EPQ doesn't preclude a student from reading more widely.

How many of the 8 schools that send the most to Oxbridge ,do EPQ?
My boys havent done EPQ,didnt stop two of them and the third will hopefully follow..

@nolanscrack - My DC are at one of the eight schools. They don't do EPQ but they do mostly take 4 A Levels and are required to produce an extended essay. DS1 (fresher at Oxford) referred to his extended essay in his PS and was asked about it at interview.

Yes a lot of the top schools seem to do what sandybayley's does. MCS told me that they avoid the EPQ on the grounds that their own extended project allows for significantly more freedom and creativity.

sandybayley a peer of one of my DDs went to her Oxford interview with a copy of her EPQ under her arm and was told by the interview panel to leave it outside, the tutors decided the agenda and theirs was to discuss the same topics with each candidate, to try as far as they could to create a level field. They were quite sharp!

If they are finding the EPQ too much, the school tell them to call it a “dissertation” or “research project” and keep it to 5,000 words. Some people do an EPQ “artefact.” I’m not sure what this is exactly. You can make films or write plays. The point is, it doesn’t actually matter. If it’s important to the individual student and they gain something from it - what is the problem?