Oxbridge Aspirants 2021-New Thread 4

[Baaaahhhhh]

And we are off:

Thread 3 link: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4070531-Oxbridge-Aspirants-2021-New-Thread-3

Good luck, people!

Seen some applicants on tsr moaning because their interviews have come from a different college from that to which they applied. One was all for ringing up and saying they actually wanted college A as opposed to B

Classics interview offer today for DS. With classics stats at around 3:1 from the start that’s prob the easiest hurdle jumped. Now he’s going to have to really show his stuff as there’ll be no contextual flags for him. Fair enough; if he’s committed to wanting an Oxford education, it’s for him to show he deserves it. I certainly have faith in him; he loves his subject and couldn’t have worked harder.

Well done to classical ds!

Seriously, Irma? Initially and superficially disappointing perhaps but not a game changer.

I do have a question for anyone who can answer though. I see that PPHs are almost exclusively allocated via reallocation. I can imagine that a PPH would be a very ‘different’ Oxford experience but again shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for an Oxford aspirant? Does anyone have any inside experience? Just nosy!

And thanks for the well done!

@IrmaFayLear really upsetting that you don’t see how Covid has impacted many 17/18 year olds.
Great that your dc are obviously perfectly fine and coping brilliantly. It’s no wonder mental health is an issue when it is so easily dismissed.

www.itv.com/news/2020-11-29/government-to-announce-sweeping-reforms-to-englands-gcses-and-a-levels

Hope this link works, but apparently reforms are to be announced in the next few days, inc students being able to take books into exams () and / or being advised beforehand on what topics will be on the papers. Also, unions still calling for exams to be cancelled altogether...

@IrmaFayLear sorry to call you out again but the “ complaint about wanting college A and not B” and wanting to ring up the college on TSR, if you did read it you would have seen the student had applied for a scholarship from college A and wanted to call to see if it would be transferred to college B upon re allocation.

FrauFreud I think being re-allocated to a PPH during the interview process is always a bit more in the mind of classical applicants than others, given the limited subjects offered at PPHs. One parent on the current Oxbridge thread has a DC at a PPH who applied direct, which is unusual, but shows that that experience has its proponents. Oxford used to send out a form with the acknowledgment asking DC to say whether they'd mind being re-allocated to a PPH and mine all answered yes they would mind. DD4 (Classics applicant in last year's cycle) didn't get that same form so presumably they've stopped sending it, but she was clear before interview that she'd rather take up her offer of a place at Durham than go to a PPH, simply to have a more normal social experience.

For anyone preparing for a Maths (or scientific interview), Oxford will have an Interview advice session on Thursday (3rd Dec) - details here: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduate-study/maths-admissions-test/mat-livestream

(Will also contain useful advice for Cambridge students!!)

Sorry what is a PPH?

@knotanothername - of course young people have been impacted by covid. And because all of them have been affected it strikes me as cheesy for someone to think they are in any way unique in this regard.

How dare you make any assumptions about my dcs -and clearly failing to read my post properly. I won’t go into my ds’s health here, but suffice to say .

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_private_hall

Thanks, goodbyestranger. I think he’ll have to cross that bridge if he comes to it.

@IrmaFayLear, then perhaps if all ppl you shouldn’t be flippant

They do seem to send Classics applicants around the colleges a bit FrauFreud (even more so than other subjects such as History I mean), and then they seem to end up quite often getting an offer from their original college. This year of course the applicants who are sent around won't have the advantage of checking out their second or subsequent colleges which is a shame, but generally it's really only the PPHs which might reasonably raise a doubt in an applicant's mind as to whether they'd be ok in such a small community. I know some get offended by being sent to some of the former women's colleges but those kids need to maybe check out college/ halls buildings at the usual second choice unis before getting too uptight.

Good luck to your DS. Tell him to look at a few obscure 17th century English poems and look at Roman vases every which way up! They sure don't keep it conventional!

I had noticed the PPH's yesterday, and had a conversation with DD1. It perhaps would be quite a tricky situation to decide whether you would want to go to such a college, particularly if you are of no religion, and wouldn't fit in with such a community.

History interviews seem to be coming through now...... fingers crossed all.

Yes fingers firmly crossed.

About 2 minutes after my post yesterday DS opened his email to interview details, phew! Geography at Cambridge.

Thanks, goodbyestranger; it sounds as though the best thing he can do then is just go along and enjoy the experience! I love the idea of an interview that throws out all that you may have learned before. That is the only way to do it to be truly levelling. I expect also much more enjoyable for all concerned interviewee/ers alike.

Hmm agree Baah that it would be a tricky choice but not necessarily on the religion point - the student bodies of the colleges must necessarily be multi-debominational; it is just the context that is religious - think breakfast with Jesuit brothers. More of an issue I think is the size of the student body and perhaps the greater need to look outside college for you cohort/ sports/drama etc..

Great news Vargas!

And now I'm looking at that Cambridge spreadsheet like it's a complete and wholly accurate text, even though ds hasn't put any details on it! I think I'm going mad

Debominational?! How did my spellcheck let me get away with that?

And fingers crossed for those still waiting, hope we get some more good news on here today. I believe Cambridge said they would have sent out all invitations by end of day today.

Vargas! Same! Don’t think it’s even crossed DS’s mind to update the Oxford one. One of us clearly has better things to do with their time!

Yay, more interviews.

Congrats to FrauFreud and Vargas' DSs

There do seem to be a huge amount of people waiting to hear about History. A very popular subject choice for MN'ers DC. Competition must be very great for places unless MN is uniquely unrepresentative in this area.