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

@quest1on I believe they will get an email either way.

DS hasn’t been talking about it much at all since the end of term. But, in terms of prepping for potential disappointment, we are doing lots of bigging up of Bristol. The line DS is taking is that whilst he is desperately keen for C, ‘he’ll probably have more fun at Bristol’ and it won’t disadvantage him at all in terms of future plans. I’m not sure how much he believes it, but it’s his/our strategy and we are sticking to it.

We are bigging up Durham . Dc will firm them up if/ when redirected from Cambridge.

DD has offers from both her other choices, and knows which is her firm and insurance from those 2 - an offer from Oxbridge would just push one of them off the list.

I think she would be disappointed if both the other applicants from her school for her subject got in and she didn't, but in many ways the Oxbridge course is an outlier and her other two choices might fit her true interests better. She is most attracted by the collegiate nature of the university, tbh, and the idea of belonging to a smaller unit within the whole.

Dd is just trying to put the interviews behind her and forget about them as much as possible. Classic head in sand approach, which is working to some extent. She’s erring on the pessimistic side I think but hasn’t really taken a closer look at course structure and content for her three offers yet. She was due to be doing mocks for the first two weeks of January, which has been a good distraction, and is also up to her elbows in coursework for two of her subjects. Assuming mocks will still go ahead, but just be delayed by a week, but who knows. School sent an email this morning to say they know everyone in year 11 & 13 is anxious, but they’re considering their options.

@quest1on

Also what actually happens on 25th Jan? Do they get emails either way? Does anyone know? This is potentially hideous as he’ll be at school. Do results filter through all day or do they get them say, at 9am? Or is it a letter?

@quest1on - I think it varies between colleges (and possibly between O and C too).

Last year, DS got a rejection email late morning from Univ, Oxford and a letter arrived a few days later.

I seem to remember one college programmed all their emails to go out at midnight on results day (St Peters, Oxford IIRC). The others started emailing during normal office hours that day.

Some applicants found out via UCAS rather than directly from the colleges... and there was a lot of confusion about college codes too. Do have a list of college codes to hand on results day in case your DC is pooled elsewhere and the first news you get that day is from UCAS. (Each college has a unique single letter or single number code at Oxford.... don't know if it's the same at Cambridge).

It was hideously stressful for both applicants and parents alike.....

I'm way more mentally prepared for this year's inevitable rejection!

Thank you so much for the advice @MidLifeCrisis007 - will have Oxford college codes (and possibly a stiff drink) to hand on the 12th!

DS is (outwardly anyway) very laid back. I on the other hand am finding the wait almost unbearable. (And he's Oxford so can only imagine how hard it is for Cambridge applicants). DS usually doesn't check emails much and has never logged into UCAS without an email prompt so will be interesting to see if he does anything different on the 12th. He's very happy with Edinburgh as alternative and in fact says he might prefer it to Oxford because the course is more interesting...
Lovely to share the agony of the wait with others

Oh, lord, I hadn't even considered the dual college interview thing meaning two sets of responses. I only hope the two arrive together.

You are told by your original college if you don't have an offer from Oxford. If an alternative college is offering you a place, you will hear from that college, not the original one. If you have an open offer, you will hear from the underwriting college.

@Hoghgyni

You are told by your original college if you don't have an offer from Oxford. If an alternative college is offering you a place, you will hear from that college, not the original one. If you have an open offer, you will hear from the underwriting college.

When DD applied 6 years ago (hence it might have changed), she got an email from her original college saying she hadn't been awarded a place, but also that "however we understand you will be receiving an offer from another college". She got a letter from the second college that day confirming her place.

Irritatingly DS is due back at school on Oxford results day. Am rather hoping the email comes before he goes as am sure it will be a no, given his interview experience, and I do feel it would be better to receive such a message away from school.

Am a little envious of those whose DC have had offers from most of their other options - Durham and St A are annoying timing wise and n that regard.

@Revengeofthepangolins. Hope your dc hears soon from other choices.

I am keeping everything crossed for the lovely dcs on this thread ..it has been quite a journey with you all and I’d love to see your dcs get places . Dd is a plucky thing so will no doubt thrive wherever she ends up after the initial disappointment of missing out.

Thankyou for responding about the results day.

Of all days, Cambridge have chosen a Monday to release decisions. Either way, I hope it comes in the morning before he leaves for school.

He is in class with a boy who also applied for the same subject and the same college! Because of this, DS changed college as the school advised not to have two students from the same school going for the same subject at the same college. So it will be typical if the boy gets in at the original college and DS doesn’t. I hope they both get in, but surely they won’t both be that lucky.

I just hope we find out either way at 6am and be done with it! And I hope we hear from LSE in the interim.

On top of this, DS’ girlfriend appears to have dumped him after he spent all his money on a bracelet for her at Xmas. And he feels ill and thinks he may have Covid.

Happy New Year everyone!

Oh gosh @quest1on.. I hope your Ds feels better soon !

Never rains but it pours @quest1on. Poor chap. But maybe better to get covid out of the way now rather than in the middle of mocks/a levels - trying to find a silver lining for you (probably the same re girlfriend)

Getting results at school is a nasty side effect of email. DS boards, hence my being keen he gets his before he goes off to school, especially as the phone signal is so poor at his school, making nuanced supportive conversations even harder than they always are with teen boys!

Oh teenage heartbreak on top of it all @quest1on. That’s too much! Poor lad. Could covid be a real possibility? I mean obv it could be for any of us, but are there close contacts who are +ve?

Good news is that school will be offering a full online timetable from Tuesday for both my Y10 DS as well as my Y13 DS. Phew. This is such a different proposition to lockdown #1 where no school provision was offered and they both turned utterly nocturnal. I was dreading a re-run.

Rotten for your ds @quest1on - DS had Covid back in October and had a very mild case. As Revenge said, the timing could be worse. I hope he makes it up with his girlfriend, or gets the bracelet back.

Thanks. I know, never a dull minute here. I’m not sure if he has Covid to be honest, but he looks grey. Ambulances up and down the road all the time here - it’s suddenly very noticeable. I’ve been washed out too these last few days, but that’s more likely to be the onset of menopause to be fair! DS will be ok. Here’s to 2021...

I work with year 13's and both the Oxford and Cambridge results days are awful. I stock up with tissues and chocolate and basically write the day off. The emails drip in all day......

Happy New Year to you all!

@derekthe1adyhamsteryou sound like a wonderful teacher! Luckily DS will be on a rare day without any lessons so I can be ready with the tissues and chocolate as required.

Not a teacher, a matron in a boarding school - I do tissues and chocolate very well. :)

30/12/2020 18:19goodbyestranger pourmeanotherglass what is your DD's subject?

She has applied for Maths and Philosophy

Oh @derekthe1adyhamster you sound lovely.

I fear, despite DD's assertions that she is not even considering that Cambridge is a possibility due to her poor performance at the interview stage, to actually find out that the interviewers were of the same opinion will still be an emotional knock and coupled with the fact that she won't have any other offers by 25th I will need to be ready with the tissues/TLC that day.

Ah, that makes sense @derekthe1adyhamster - they are very lucky to have you!

I have found that those girls (I work with girls) who were ambivalent about Oxbridge were more enthusiastic about going after visiting for their interviews. I'm hoping that more will be like my DS who really isn't invested because he's never even been to Cambridge before!

More often than not this is their first 'failure' at anything academic and it does hit them hard. It's also very hard on those students who do get in, and their friends don't......