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

Well done to your dd @FlyingSquid does she have more interviews?

DD is interviewing on the garage this morning. DH converted it to a home office earlier this year and it has separate broadband and is detached from the house so should be quiet.

She is wearing a sweater that she wore for work placements.

Hi @ OnTheBenchOfDoom ! These are three criteria for selection by a Cambridge college:

1. intellectual and academic potential in the subject;
2. suitability for the particular Cambridge course, including workload, intensity, supervision-based teaching;
3. being in the best few available to the college.

Suitability for a particular college does not come in to it. I work with schools and my colleagues and we have never heard a College Admissions Tutor or subject Director of Studies mention this.

Another thing to note is that most strong candidates are difficult to separate on the both the draft offer/pool list and the final pre-offer ranking list. In each case, the decision is then intuitive, involves guesswork, is subjective and may be arbitrary. And some of the decision makers acknowledge that they sometimes get it wrong.

For example, for October 2017 entry, my daughter was winter pooled. She went on to take a Double First, is now on her MPhil course at Cambridge and making PhD applications. The ‘rejecting’ senior interviewer and DoS had the grace to say he just got it wrong, as she finished ahead of each of his preferred candidates in each year’s exams. His original reason? She was strong but the others had a bit more subject knowledge and he had to make a decision somehow. (Nevertheless, his summary notes on her application were highly complimentary, according to two other colleges’ DoS. All three colleges are completely different in so many ways, yet they were all interested in her.)

Good luck to your dd @ChimneyPot!

I'm terribly worried about there being a tech issue. We've had problems with our wifi recently affecting the whole of our neighbourhood. What happens then?

bendmeoverbackwards. DD just wearing a shirt/jumper depending on temp of the room! Not uniform, most 6th formers don't have uniform anyway, and if they were interviewing under normal circumstances, everyone would just be in smart casual. Seem to remember DD1 doing interview in polo neck, skirt, boots combo.

On the website they say most strongly not to worry if there is a tech problem and to let them know asap if you suddenly disappear from the screen/can't make contact etc. (I suppose you would ring up - on a landline !!) I should think every single candidate is worrying about this, from a bit of dodgy wifi to full-scale workman drilling through the cable outside. We have a lot of power cuts, so dh is primed to leap to the fuse box if necessary.

Feeling a bit sick today, actually. Ds got in on his second go, so dd is familiar with that, but it seems that next year will be just as bad as this so she might go with another choice instead of trying again.

Thank you @IrmaFayLear

@Baaaahhhhh I forgot that dd is unusual in her school having a Sixth Form uniform! It's a state school too, they wear a black suit, white shirt and optional black jumper with school crest.

@IrmaFayLear dd thinks she might try again if she doesn't get in this year. Currently her second choice is Liverpool.

DD not very happy with how her first interview went.

Oh, never mind. They say that a tough interview is a good sign - if the interviewers are nice to you they are just being kind as they don't think you can be stretched.

Sorry to hear @ChimneyPot If your dd is anything like mine (and probably most dc on this thread) she might well be very hard on herself and it might have gone better than she thought.

Thank you for the interview vibes everyone! Just heard from dd - she had her first interview at school this morning. Reported that the tech worked fine and that it 'wasn't terrible but wasn't great' either. She was given a 45-min slot but the interview was short (less than 20 min), presumably so the interviewers can get through as many as possible and have a break between interviewees. She said they were brisk and to the point, and referred briefly to her PS but didn't ask her about anything on there in depth.

@ChimneyPot - I do think it's very hard for our dc to judge exactly how well or badly an interview has gone. Sometimes the passage of time changes their perspective, and dd was still in shock and a bit babbly when she rang me straight after her interview. Most of our dc don't have much experience of being interviewed in any kind of challenging way before (dd had one 'mock' interview with her teacher but it was more a wide-ranging discussion I think) so they don't have much to compare it too. I hope your dd may feel slightly better later on.

I'm just popping on here to wish everyone the best of luck in a very stressful situation. I remember going through this last year with dd who is coming home at this very minute from her first term at Cambridge. She does MFL and found one of the interviews 'quite good' and the other one 'really tough' - the subject tutors asked very hard questions relating to the political history of the country (for her ab initio language) and apparently remained utterly poker faced throughout. She got through though, so I think some interviewers adopt this at their modus operandi to test people!

Best of luck all.

Good luck to all those with interviews this week. DD still not heard when hers will be but someone else applying to the same college (different course) also not heard so trying not to be too concerned - think the college is just slow. The dates on the website are Tues-Fri this week so really should hear today although DD seems unbelievably blasé about it. 6th formers wear suits at her school so she will just wear usual school attire - which is helpful as she doesn't need to overthink it. Also, despite her school not being overly helpful in the early stage application process, they managed to secure her a few more mock interviews so have gone up in my estimations 😆. I sort of feel she's had sufficient preparation now,
so what will be will be. If not successful, it won't be the end of the world and she has 2 great alternative offers so pretty sure she won't try again next year.

Yes, KaptainKaveman, ds found the "poker face" very difficult to deal with. I suppose at school they are used to teachers saying, "Well done, great point!" to whatever they say (prizes and stickers for all policy) and to come up against, not exactly unfriendliness, but a brusque manner, is discombobulating (love that word!). Ds had an interview where none of his answers elicited any response at all.

Perhaps in these days of greater transparency, FOI requests and even maybe surreptitious recording of interviews they are afraid of "connecting" with an interviewee and will give everyone the ice-cold treatment.

@IrmaFayLear

Oh, never mind. They say that a tough interview is a good sign - if the interviewers are nice to you they are just being kind as they don't think you can be stretched.

Argh, DD said hers was ‘really interesting and actually a great chat’, so I shall expect the worst!

I’ve already had to resist saying ‘You weren’t wearing That Top for the interview, were you?’ (Yes she was, no it’s not smart, but she spilt her glass of water over herself with one minute to go)

I think there was a big element of ‘thank duck the internet worked’ when she got started too, as the connection was utter crap at the start of the day

Duck??? My phone disapproves of me

A great chat is good - I think it's when the interview goes no further than lots of encouraging smiling after you fail to answer the tenth question in a row that it's bad news...

Well done and good luck to all of those with interviews this week.🍀 DD has hers this afternoon while at college. She was very nervous this morning and I’m keeping my fingers crossed it goes well for her and the experience isn’t too scary.

Fingers crossed for all!

I just tried to impress on dh that if dd gets a further interview he will have to vacate the study one day next week too. He has turned into Uncle Quentin from the Famous Five and lurks in there day and half the night.

I told dd not to wear a black jumper. Such is the lighting, on zoom/teams it looked as if she was just a floating head!

Just must say I did a quick scan of the student room replies and people are reporting the atmosphere in interviews as "chilly" so that adds weight to my thoughts that current interview training is maybe to go for a more formal structure.

Feedback - DD said that her interview this morning was 'fun'! At the end she thanked the interviewer and said as much. Not sure if that is good or bad but at least she's not downhearted.

The one on Wednesday is trickier because the interviewer is someone she quoted in her personal statement. She's preparing for a grilling!

Will be glad when this is over and we just have mocks to worry about 😂.