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

Well done to your ds @WarmAndco3y great news!

How is everyone feeling about Tuesday's Oxford results?

Congratulations @WarmAndco3y having an alternative option they like makes a huge difference.

Schools in Ireland have gone from being really good and safe before Christmas with almost no Covid or sending groups home to being a total mess. Covid cases have exploded and schools are going to remote learning except for Leaving Cert students. The government announced yesterday that they are back to school on Monday but they didn’t consult the public health authorities on their plan. Government still saying exams will definitely go ahead as normal.

We are very glad DD has her unconditional acceptance in the US or at least we were until we turned on the TV and saw Trump trying to stage a coup.

Thank you all.

@ChimneyPot hopefully by the time your DD gets to the US, Trump will be a non issue

What exams are done in Ireland? Sorry if this has been discussed upthread somewhere
DS is still working on the assumption that IBs will go ahead.

@WarmAndco3y am I right in thinking that even in UK those taking IB are unlikely to be from disadvantaged backgrounds?

@ChimneyPot interesting you say this. My friend in Dubai says now she is thinking of Australia as an option for her son to go to Uni as leadership matters

@chopc, I guess the majority probably not from disadvantaged backgrounds. But I do know a number of people who are / were on full bursaries in independent schools that are from disadvantaged backgrounds. Doing or that have done IB in the past. I guess going to those schools helps bridge some ( but not all), of the disadvantages.

The not knowing is frustrating, the schools are frustrated too. And the predicted grades sent to IB, won’t necessarily match the ones sent to UCAS Those will be determined by how they do in their mocks and a few other things. They’ve done a fair bit of course work, to be fair. But it’s just all up in the air at present

Happily DS has received some news to distract from the exam fiasco and the wait for Tuesday's Oxford results - an offer from Durham (History).

Congratulations to your DS @321zyx ! Great news!

Great news @321zyx!

Congrats to her/her m @321zyx. I think j that is the second January history Durham offer, which is exciting - I assume this is first trickle of non-contextual offers. Hopefully so anyway.

Must be some comfort in these uncertain times.

Ah, Durham has woken up!

DS got an Engineering offer from Durham a few days ago. He is y14 though which might make a difference??

dd told me that durham have put back their english offers until (can't quite remember..) either end of jan or beginning of feb. she did tell me why but i can't remember.

Possibly because the UCAS deadline has changed to 29 Jan, Beethecrackon?

yes, that was it flying it was because of UCAS. i thought she would want to immediately look next week to see how she got in in her cambridge entry exam however to my surprise she says she would rather not know until she knows if she has or hasn't got an offer

@1805 and @321zyx congratulations to your DC. Durham indeed, seem to have woken up.

Good news on the Durham offers, congratulations!

Congrats on the Durham offers!

I reported a couple of days ago that DD was chilled and sanguine about cancelled A Levels. Reality has now hit and she's not happy at all, absolutely convinced she won't get the grades she needs for her first choice unis.

@1805 congrats to your DS on the offer. Must be a relief to slay that reapplication fear of losing the bird in hand. So pleased for him.

I would love to one day to hear how Durham go about things. I simply don’t understand how offers for a single subject dribble out, even within each category. As I recall it carries on that way after the Ucas’s deadline too. I realise that the departments and admissions must be working very hard and it is all tricky etc, but it conjures up the image of someone steadily drinking tea and reading a paper all day, before around tea time languidly tossing a couple of applications into the out box, just to show willing

I was thinking - most Unis makes offers based on the paper application and therefore predicted grades right? So perhaps the number of offers won't be that much reduced this year in most Unis?

And comedy quote of the year (well so far anyway!) goes to @Revengeofthepangolins!

Congrats on the offers @WarmAndco3y @321zyx and @1805.

@Jano69 I imagine they'll be going up and down the anxiety scales as the deadline approaches. It's all the 'what ifs' that play havoc.

@Revengeofthepangolins