Oxbridge-Aspirants-2021-New-Thread-3

[Baaaahhhhh]

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

New Thread !

DD’s Durham offer is exactly the same

I wonder if the Durham offers are different this year as they have a number of deferred students and they don’t want to over-offer as much as usual in case the exams get cancelled again?

I’m sure there was another thread and they were discussing this... basically, because Durham will advertise courses at the same grades as Oxbridge (AAA) and also with the collegiate system, etc, they tend to attract the same candidates. But, for those who get Oxbridge offers, the AAA Durham offers were useless as insurance offers because if they don’t get the A*AA, they would miss both offers. So the offers were being dropped and they would miss those students. So maybe they’ve started dropping at the offer stage?

I’m fairly sure DS would be A*AA for Cambridge, UCL and Durham and AAA at LSE (but most competitive entry there, I think) and AAB at Bath (reduced to ABB if A above at EPQ). Mind you, I think some in his school have had contextual offers, so who knows?

Makes sense @quest1on, but also the chances of getting into Oxbridge are lower than other universities meaning Durham's equal entry to Oxbridge puts it into the aspirational category. I think a lot of applicants for Oxbridge will have another uni with the same entry requirements on their UCAS form.

It is just weird to have 2 conditional offers but it does equal the same UCAS points just different ways to achieve it. I suppose the B grade would make you think you wouldn't be accepted in so they are laying it out to show you what they will accept.

For Ds1 he has Cambridge at A A A and Warwick is also A A A, then Manchester and Durham on A* AA and Leeds on AAA.

@MatureStudent21

I wonder if the Durham offers are different this year as they have a number of deferred students and they don’t want to over-offer as much as usual in case the exams get cancelled again?

@MatureStudent21 - I doubt that Durham have that many deferred students. DS had a place for entry in 2020 that he originally deferred before deciding to have another pop at Oxford. He lost his deferred place in the process. Others will have done the same.

With 5 unis on an UCAS forms, unis know they have to massively over offer (many by as much as 5 times). It's like the 11+ process revisited!

Durham offers can be higher than Oxford offers too for subjects like history so few Oxbridge students will hold it as insurance.

@MidLifeCrisis007 I may be wrong but I thought Durham sweetened the deal of any deferment with a £2k bursary and guaranteed your first choice accommodation so I would assume some people definitely did defer.

I do wish it was easier to type the offers on these sorts of threads without it automatically bolding the rest of the sentence!

@Pumpkintopf The bolding issue can be resolved by not using the App. I use the App to read messages but I use the browser to contribute.

@MidLifeCrisis007 DS had Durham as his insurance a couple of years ago for History but only because his offer for Cambridge was AAA.

That bolding drives me bonkers... despite using the browser on my last message, it still messed up the grades.

Cambridge offer for DS was A Star A Star A for History and he insured with Durham with A Star AA.

Jano69 your DS had an offer of AAA for Cambridge - I'm new to all of this so can you tell me if oxbridge regularly make offers above the 'typical' offer listed on their subject pages?

@Jano69I knew I'd made an error by saying Oxbridge rather than Oxford in my earlier post!

Oxford history offers are usually AAA as far as I'm aware (compared to Durham at A star AA). I think Cambridge offers of A star A star A for History are unreasonably lofty!!! I read somewhere that as many as 40% of English and History students are awarded the wrong grades as content is so subjective. It's a real shame to think that students may miss Cambridge offers because of erroneous marking(/and re-marking!).

@LaundryFairy. Adding to midlife’s clarification about Oxford CE C history tariff, from what I have observed, Oxford always gives its tariff but C not infrequently tweaks theirs upwards, reputedly in some cases to set the bar higher for borderline candidates but perhaps for other reasons too. C over-offers more, at higher levels and uses that to do a last winnowing (famously in that, but I think also in other subjects) in addition

@LaundryFairy His offer was from Churchill College back in 2019 (not the college he applied for). The offer is not usual and when he attended the offer day and spoke to other holders, it became apparent it was only the independent school and grammar school students who had been made the higher offer. Churchill is particularly hot on widening access. I truly believe if he'd received the standard A Star A A offer, he would've actually got stronger A Level grades but the pressure was unbearable. So we have an odd relationship with Cambridge now as not only did he miss his offer, we also feel he didn't get the grades he truly deserved due to the awful pressure he was under.

I doubt very much Cambridge will deviate from standard offers this year due to the uncertainty around A Levels. I predict this is the first year they won't over offer either.

I think Cambridge offers of A star A star A for History are unreasonably lofty!!! I read somewhere that as many as 40% of English and History students are awarded the wrong grades as content is so subjective. It's a real shame to think that students may miss Cambridge offers because of erroneous marking(/and re-marking!).

Thank you @MidLifeCrisis007 - you've hit the nail on the head.

Thanks all for the clarifications. DS is predicted 3 x A*, so in theory ought to be ok for History at Oxford but, as others have noted, the marking can be very subjective, and he is also doing English Lit, so nothing is certain.

@LaundryFairy DD is also doing History and English A Levels. Like your DS, she is applying to Oxford for History this year :)

Hi @LaundryFairy, DD is a Cambridge history fresher. She has peers who were at State non grammars who were stipulated AA A. Huge pressure as you say given the historical ( pardon the pun) inaccuracies in marking some humanities A levels and (I might be wrong here),slightly lower % of applicants achieving top grades.

That’s 2 A star A ...

Hi Jano69 - hope your DD is doing ok through this process! DS is rather worried about how he did on the HAT, and just starting to think about interview prep. He is rather tetchy about the whole thing right now - too much worrying about whether he is good enough.

hobbema DS is at a large, non-selective state 6th form college and from what you've said I'm glad he wasn't interested in Cambridge.

@LaundryFairy Thank you for asking. DD is fortunately not too invested in the process following her elder brother's experience and is more enthusiastic about a possible offer from Durham. She's talked about the girls in the year above who got Oxbridge offers and doesn't feel she's "that type" and okay with that. The HAT went okay, partly because she really didn't care.

Oxford feels like a fairer process that Cambridge. They know who they want and they offer low. Far kinder to leave the process early rather than miss an offer.

I'm sure you're right, Jano69 - it is much less stressful when they don't feel over-invested. I hope your DD gets her Durham offer!

I have one DC at Exeter and one at Cambridge they are both very happy with their course and choice of uni. Both went to the local non selective Comp. Re Exeter comments DC has not really mentioned any atmosphere and has non white friends at Uni. DC would say the choice of accommodation is important ( they ask you some questions to help match households - party/not party Sporty/not sporty etc. )DC has said he thinks the indie schools tended to go for the most expensive catered accommadation. I have noticed when I visit there seem to be a lot of sporty people at Exeter. Beach being nearby is a hit.

Hi jellybean. Interesting about Exeter. This is one uni town we did actually visit over the summer. DS said it wasn’t for him. He is very mixed ethnicity, but I don’t think this was an issue particularly ... I don’t know what it was really. In any case, the campus was empty, so god knows what he was basing his ideas on. I think a lot of the stereotypes about unis get perpetrated on social media and this is where they’re forming their opinions. Whereas we, as mums, are actually looking at the facilities etc! I thought he would be non-plussed about Durham too, but he loved the town even though it’s miles away for us and he says it’s possibly even more beautiful than Cambridge. I know Durham has had some bad press recently, but I don’t know if he’s picked up in this specifically...

Hello all. Checking in to see how everyone doing?

DD has had her zoom interview practice sessions, and is quite positive. Perhaps all in vain, however, she found them helpful for confidence building, and also a good life skill to have had, going forwards. DD1 really struggled when she was doing the grad job rounds, and everything was on-line, it's a horrible experience if you have never had to do it before.

So DD2 is just back to normal this week, working away at coursework, and hoping the school keeps open. We had one case way back in early Sept, in year 9, no further cases from that, and we have just had one case in year 11, who are off today, to contact trace. Hoping this won't start a tsunami of cases.

Keep well everyone, and looking forward to lots of good news, later this week, or early next.

Great to hear that @Baaaahhhhh! So great that that she was able to do that. Good on her for sorting it. Was it with a subject specific person?