Oxbridge-Aspirants-2021-New-Thread-3

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

New Thread !

Same here, chocomel. Very (secretly) nervous for dd.

The spreadsheet tracker thing has gone crazy. Loads of competition for Land Economy at Robinson!😂

@chopc

The difficulty was as most of my friends were in London they didn't want to live outside walking distance but didn't have to budget to stay within walking distance. So it was indeed a challenge to find group accommodation

Yes that must have been difficult. Most of my friends accepted that they would have to live a bit further out and get the tube in. Lots lived in Zone 3 so short-ish tube journey in.

My younger sister has just had an email come through from Trinity at Cambridge for Engineering

Well done to her @StillRowing great news!

Congratulations to all those who have had offers!!! And good luck to those who’ve received invitations to interview!

Wow, congratulations to your DS @DeRigueurMortis

@Jano69 and @Summer15coming well done to your DC and. Congratulations on their Durham offers. That’s amazing. Hoping the good news is spread to us all still waiting.

@StillRowing well done to your Dsis wishing her all the best with her interview

@WarmAndco3y

Thank you.

We've been practicing the "tech" over the week for the assessment,

It's pretty straightforward apart from they say that both before and at a random point in the assessment you will be asked to move your camera to show the room you are in is empty apart from yourself.

Sounds ok until we realised that if he used the set up in the study he'd have to physically lift the Mac around .

So we've settled on using the iPad for the camera which should be easy for him to demonstrate he's alone and easier than his laptop.

Then they also have to scan/photo their work and email it within a 10 min window before doing a multiple choice (the assessment is in two parts, maths questions with pen/paper only no calculator, a short break then an online multiple choice).

@Pythonesque

Hope you enjoyed the rabbithole!

Actually it's very common for choral scholars to study subjects other than music, and not uncommon for organ scholars as far as I know. Some colleges are busier than others; and some subjects with busier workloads / lab times likely to conflict with practices, are not able to be combined with choirs with bigger commitments. But many of the choirs have 3, 2, or even 1 service a week plus a practice or two so to an extent students can match themselves to the commitment they are interested in. And there are lots of opportunities to join some of the lower commitment choirs after starting university.

DD has sung in choirs regularly since she was 7 so it's a part of her life. She's applied to one of the 3 services a week colleges that does significant recordings and touring out of term as well. She feels that the commitment is likely to help keep her disciplined in how she uses her time. (She also rows and we're looking forward to seeing just how much she manages to keep up, depending on which university she ends up at next year!)

DS hasn't chosen his A levels yet though I think maths / FM are a given. Music at university is possible but so are maths and computer science and probably a few other options!

Thank you for this - very interesting!

A couple of DS's friends are both very talented at Maths and Music and in a sense I can see the connection re: your DS.

As for your DD - golly she's going to be be busy with choir, degree and rowing!!!!

Best of luck to them both

DS2 is in the running for a Choral Scholarship, but has applied to study maths. He applied for a College Choir that wasn't a mega commitment, so he would have time to play his instrument too. He's pretty much balanced those things since he was 8, though when he was a Cathedral Chorister that was the main commitment.

He has all his offers. Warwick would be his first choice after Oxford, three A or 2A 2A, but the * in Maths and FM.

For those mentioning Lancaster, I know several DC there and all are/have been very happy. One just starting his PhD there after his integrated Masters.

I'm still somewhat interested in the choral/organ scholarships.

As I've already stated we are not a musical family unless you count DH's record collection!!!

DS has friends who are musically talented (think grade 8 piano) but none of them have applied for this - even though applying for Oxbridge.

Is this something that's "driven" by public schools and the opportunities? DS and friends are all in non selective state schools .

To be clear I am not trying to start any sort of negativity on this subject. I have no issue at all with parents choosing a public school education (DH and I discussed it for DS but decided against it in the end for various reasons that would derail).

It's just an honest question .

Theres’s no denying that it is enabled by public schools and the opportunities Derig - think weekly chapel choirs, recitals, onsite resource - and many who are clearly talented choristers etc from a young age will have had their paths somewhat directed to choral scholarships via music scholarships, etc through such schools.

FWIW I know of boys who have been awarded choral scholarships but then not been accepted to the university. It's not a free ticket.

And to be an organ scholar, you need to be very good indeed. It's not a case of being grade 8 standard and keen. They are all exceptional musicians.

My dd went to a scheme to encourage more female organ scholars. They were lovely at Cambridge. It is an advantage tho if you go to private school with a chapel though...

If you want to have an organ scholar they need to be religious as they will play every week. It’s a bit odd if they aren’t. They have to rehearse on top of that. They get paid a small amount.

If you have a state school kid who plays in church then I think you’d get in.

@newgirl did she get to meet the wonderful Anna Lapwood? I have a bit of a girl crush on her!

Ds was friends with a choral scholar. She was very busy. As pp said, it may be a back route in, but not a doss whilst you're there.

I think it is a bit private school-y. When I think of the dcs' musical experiences at secondary school... shakes head in misery. The only productions were cast of thousands musicals. And - and I've posted this masses of times over the years - I was a governor at primary school and tentatively mentioned to head about improving musical offerings in assembly and at lunchtime, when they played teachers' choice pop music (ie 90s). A bit of easy classical, jazz, folk, maybe? I was fixed with a death stare and told crisply that "the pupils cannot access classical music. It's not fun." That was that.

Otoh when I took dd to piano exams held at a nearby prep school I marvelled at a dedicated music department, with a visiting famous musician. Mind you, the other waiting parents were absolutely frightful. Scary. One sucked her teeth in and said, "Oh, deeeaaar" when we could hear dd's scales going awry through the wall.

DeRig - all the choral scholarships are at Cambridge is £100 per year. You can still be in a college choir without a scholarship anyway. If you think about it, there’s 30 odd colleges, all with at least one choir - so that’s a lot of choirs! As pps have said, the time commitment varies - eg. people say being in something like the Kings College choir is basically like having a job with a degree on the side . But that’s all male and has its own school for the choir boys, so not everyone’s cup of tea. DS would rather be in a mixed choir, for instance. There are some that only have commitment 2 or 3 times a week. I think they like to have potential students audition in March because they can match them to vacancies across the uni. DS is a bass, but they always have loads of them, so they might be looking for tenors at a given college, for instance. If you don’t get the scholarship first time around, you can audition again if you want and assuming you actually get into the uni.

Organ scholarships I’ve no idea about, but there will almost certainly be a lot more to it than Grade 8 piano. I think there is a boy at DS’ school who has gone for this but he’s basically a composer in residence there these days! Not sure if he’s religious though? Also he is a scientist.

There are still some parish churches that do a lot to promote children's music and development, and encourage aspiring organists. An amazing friend of ours started a children's choir at our local church which gave our children their first experiences although they both moved on to choirschools. Most of the others involved have remained state educated but several joined more serious choirs and I suspect there may be other potential choral scholars coming through. One older boy learned organ and is now studying music and conducting seriously.

I agree that public schools and ex-choristers probably dominate the higher level / more serious choirs, perhaps more so for young men. Only a small number of colleges have choirs that are only recruited via the choral awards though, many have additional auditions during first term and the choral scholars' role is leadership within the choir. And plenty take all comers (often including university staff). So a lot of young people have the opportunity to experience chapel music while at university and find out if it is something they want to do more of.

This year I wouldn't be surprised if the choral applications were/will be (Cambridge doing their auditions after offers) more dominated by independent school applicants than usual, as the open days normally held late April/early May were of course cancelled. Some who might have been persuaded to have a look and encouraged to have a go won't have had that opportunity this year.

Organ scholars remain a niche interest. Those that for a college with fewer services are often responsible for recruiting and training the college choir, choosing all the music themselves, and sometimes in charge of running college music in general! So those posts attract a fantastic musician who is also a great organiser.

My son's at the more serious end; we knew he loved pipe organs at the age of 4, encouraged him to try the piano out and got him lessons at 6. He was ready to start organ lessons at 10 although practice time was limited while at prep school, now he's a boarder and can practice more his playing has really taken off. He won't be doing grade exams on organ! He is singing in his school's chapel choir and is likely to have opportunities to accompany some services there.

A current organ scholar I know fairly well started as an excellent pianist but added organ as a teenager. He's in one of the more serious / career oriented organ posts.

And yes, choral scholarships are no back route in for oxbridge. You have to obtain an academic place in the normal way either to take up a choral offer (Oxford) or to be eligible to audition for one (Cambridge).

I love the image of a 6th former being "composer in residence" ... my DS is headed that way too when he's not coding.

Thanks for all the explanations from everyone.

All really interesting. I wasn't aware that the OS's are more like a musical director in residence - again an amazing opportunity for someone whose very talented.

It does make sense about the majority of potential scholars coming from public schools - having chapels, services and a choral tradition.

There's certainly nothing equivalent at my DS's school and our local church choir isn't exactly a breeding ground for talent .

But all that said I understand the bar is very high and you still have to pass muster academically like any other applicant.

You learn something new frequently on here!!

Thanks again for all the explanations

DS had a Cambridge interview invite!

So great news (though to be honest, I have a feeling they interview about 75% for his course). But still... he’s happy to have got this far. He just texted from school.

I was fixed with a death stare and told crisply that "the pupils cannot access classical music. It's not fun."

Ha, our (small, state) primary used to play classical music every lunchtime. The main result was two sons who salivated at the sound of Mozart's clarinet concerto.