Oxbridge Interviewees for 2021 Entry - The Journey Continues - Thread 5

[Baaaahhhhh]

New Thread from old one:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4088426-Oxbridge-Aspirants-2021-New-Thread-4

Standard for normal years that is.

But it does seem that quite a few colleges and subjects are sticking to as normal as possible, despite the online format.

STEM subjects, so normal and nothing to worry about then ?

With people being sent to other colleges I honestly can't see a trend re standardisation/ whether it shows they like you or not. I know people who were sent to multiple colleges who got into the original one, people (like me) who weren't sent anywhere else even when most of the cohort seemed to be, and were therefore convinced they'd failed, people who got pooled etc. One of my friends was pooled to our college but is now top of the year in his subject. I don't know whether he didn't come across well in his first interviews, or whether it was fluke, although he is quite a "marmite" personality so maybe they just couldn't stand the thought of teaching him for 4 years, however brilliant 😂. Good luck to any DC who still have interviews!

@RunnersTipple ah good, glad to hear he thought on balance they went ok - agreed , 25 mins is not long at all!

Yes FoolsAssassin, exactly that!

Thank you very much 🙂

Just to reassure, DS1 had two interviews for Chemistry at his college and was sent for a further interview at another college.

He is now at the original college. He did ask for feedback after he got his offer (you can even if you get an offer) and the feedback was very strong - so it was clearly a standardisation interview.

@BigWoollyJumpers

So DD is back from school and has spent the time from this mornings interview (which remember she was quite upbeat about) until now, going back through everything, second guessing, and coming to the conclusion that in fact she did really badly!

She has done the classic dissection of answers she could've given, and things she should've said.

Poor old DD - she is now napping on the sofa.

Interestingly IrmaFayLear she is hoping for a second interview to have another chance.... which I kind of admire, in that she wants to put herself through that again.

Anyone got an interview tomorrow? Good luck to all that have.

Your poor dd @BigWoollyJumpers I do hope she's feeling a bit more positive this morning.

My dd was also a bit like this - I reminded her that up and down the country, most Oxbridge interviewees are doing the same post mortem analysis.

My friend's daughter was at Cambridge a few years ago. This girl and one of her friends were both applying for the same course. The friend came out of the interview feeling very positive, felt he had spoken well etc and found the the interview quite easy. My friend's daughter felt they had to help her quite a bit and she found it difficult. She got a place and her friend didn't. My friend thinks they are looking for students who they can work WITH and take on board what they are saying.

Anyone got interviews today? Good luck to them.

Dd will hear on Monday if she has been re-allocated to another college. In the meantime she's got a ton of work to catch up on that has been interrupted this week - 3 tests next week and History coursework to finish. The work seems never-ending at the moment. Roll on Christmas holidays!

DD's last day today, so much more relaxed. They have all sorts of things going on today at school, house music and quizzes, last assembly etc.
She is going into town later to do a bit of shopping on her way home, a treat trip to Bravissimo :-)

lifemoreextraordinary.com/applying-to-university/oxbridge-interviews-what-theyre-really-looking-for-interview-with-the-admissions-tutor-of-homerton-college-cambridge/

Good read

Feeling worried now @goodbyestranger

DD just has two 25minute interviews from her chosen Cambridge college for Medicine. Is this a bad sign ?

That's nice @BigWoollyJumpers hope she has a lovely day with some well deserved fun.

My dd after dreading going back into school yesterday after 'that' incident, ended up having a good end to the day. They have Head Girl Team meetings on Thursdays after school (she is one of the deputies) and before the meeting they went into town, went to Starbucks and bought Santa hats which they wore for the meeting! She came home feeling upbeat.

@SATSmadness. I thing she was just making the point that some subjects interview at multiple colleges as a did a normal part of the process, some co-ordinate a lot and some just have second interviews at other colleges for the shuffling around discussed earlier. And the schemes for each subject vary over time

My dd had 2 interviews this week at 2 different colleges for biochemistry. Is it a bad sign she hasn’t been called for any further interviews next week? I’m a bit confused by it all. I thought there was only ever 2 interviews for biochemistry.

SATAmadness sorry I should have been clearer. I was being Oxford specific. There are a number of STEM subjects plus Medicine which send applicants to two colleges at standard, in a normal year.

Very true too that what's normal practice can change year on year even in normal years.

Very glad to hear your DD had a decent afternoon bendoverbackwards.

@bendmeoverbackwards I am glad your DD had a better day yesterday. That sort of nastiness can be so hurtful and take up a lot if headspace.
DD enjoyed her second interview on Tuesday and felt it went better than her 1st one. She didn’t get called to anymore interviews so she is just trying to put the whole thing out of her mind and get on with school work. She has a lot of catch up on after a few days off.

With the discussion of what it means if you get extra interviews what does it mean if you got reallocated even before the first interview? DD applied to one college but was invited to interview by another. Does that mean she was marginal anyway?

Chimney they will have been rebalancing the applications. She may have applied to a ridiculously over-subscribed college, whereas her interviewing college may have had fewer applicants this year and thought that she was a good fit for them.

One of dd's friends had a horrible experience this week. She applied for History and was called for interview. At the interview, they said they had found a problem with her application in that she didn't have GCSE History (was studying for A Level History though). They then ended the interview there and then!

Why on earth wasn't it picked up sooner? I didn't know you could do A Level History without doing GCSE. That poor girl.

@ChimneyPot - no, reallocation is random if there are too many applicants to one college. An oversubscribed college will 'lose' candidates to an undersubscribed one. Oxford (and I guess Cambridge as well) wants the strongest candidates for any subject so if they apply to one college disproportionately they will get moved around.

DS1 was reallocated from a big rich one to a small one. But is very happy that he was as his small college has handled Covid restrictions much better than the big famous one!

But that makes no sense. Quite a few schools will let you do a level history without gcse, provided you have shown history ability and Oxford at least doesn’t even require history a level, in theory anyway. And not all Cambridge colleges do. And none of them specify history gcse.

Are you sure she got the story right?

The story about the History GCSE sounds utterly ridiculous, that poor girl! One of the best students in DD’s history class is a girl who didn’t take History for GCSE!

I'm pretty sure that was the story @Revengeofthepangolins

Poor thing. Definitely worth her trying to follow up with the college