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

@Jano69

Mood swings here too. I know as parents were we're going to be biased but I do feel this year's Y13s are having it tougher than last years cohort.

Last year's Y13s had it all happen in real time with no prior experiences to refer back to.

This year's cohort saw what happened last year and how some very able pupils were denied the place they had been aiming for and which seemed attainable until CAGs replaced actual exam grades.

It's like being the second batch of lambs to the slaughter. They've already seen what can happen if you're unlucky.

As for teachers now being responsible for producing CAGs, well it's a poisoned chalice really isn't it ? Who'd want to be a Y13 teacher this year !

DD's friendship group are almost all academic high flyers and she mentioned that they've been discussing the CAGs situation. They think they could all get an A* on a good day but who is to say which of them would be the one having a slightly less good day and so deserving of an A instead of the A*. Who indeed !

Some are very very very talented, really keen on their subject matter and read around the syllabus etc, others, from GCSE experience, stick more to the syllabus and hone their exam technique to maximise marks and therefore be more likely to bag an A. Handing the responsibility to their teachers risks the first type being given an A in recognition of their undoubted greater knowledge base of the subject matter whereas the second type would actually be more likely to achieve an A* if they were still able to sit the exams as normal. Slight favouritism is also a possibility if grade predictions for UCAS is anything to go by.

Going by last year both your groups would get A*s !

Surely universities predicted or planned for A Levels being cancelled? If once again they have too many students this time it’s their own fault for not anticipating this.

There was that announcement that grade distribution this year would be the same as last (can’t remember when that happened - last term sometime. Late Oct maybe?) so logically universities should have already made the adjustment then. Although Birmingham’s behaviour would suggest not.

yes @Revengeofthepangolins I was mightily puzzled by Birmingham deciding so soon to lower offer grades. Things weren't looking good at that time and surely someone in admissions would have thought "here we go again".

Perhaps Birmingham decided in advance to pre-empt another admissions fiasco by offering those tempting grades to a much lower number of selected applicants, rather than sending out their standard offers to the usual number. I don't know. I only wish DD had applied there.

Hi everyone and congratulations to @WarmAndco3y @321zyx and @1805 for the offers! DD still waiting to hear from UCL and I'm feeling anxious about Tuesday. Just read that Wales have cancelled this terms internal assessments now as well so I have no idea how they will proceed in terms of grading now. Dd was supposed to be sitting mocks next week...

Aarggh. Still here (happy new year all!) and very quiet as simply don’t have the energy to speculate on what will be re a-level outcomes. Up and down DS here too, missing his real-life cohort and clearly even more on edge than would otherwise be re Tuesday given the background of uncertainty.

The only benefit DD can come up with, with recent events, is at least we can offer coffee, biscuits, cake, chocolate (we had a lot of hampers for xmas!) and hugs whatever the outcome on Tuesday.

Actually DD already pretty busy with on-line lessons and lots of homework. I wonder whether they have ramped up in order to have sufficient evidence of attainment. Our poor HT has sent so many emails in the last couple of weeks. His last was "we know, but we still don't really know" and they have moved GCSE mocks to after Feb half term, and Alevel mocks were already scheduled for then, so for the time being that is their plan. They have however already discounted having on-line mocks as not being workable.

I’ve cleared my Tuesday work diary to be fully available for hugs!

I think I’ll hide!

Good luck to all Oxford hopefuls for next week. Anyone else counting down to Cambridge on 25th?!

Well done to all the latest offers! Great news to read. Still waiting for Durham here and Oxford on Tuesday. Getting very nervous indeed.

@CoolKittens I’m with you Re 25th. It seems like ages away. I was secretly hoping they would just spring it in us earlier than that. But I’ve since found out they are still interviewing until next week, so no chance of that happening

I think the process has worn me out, because I’ve only just connected the dots that DC are actually going to be home when they get the news!!!
All the best to those waiting to ‘hear’ from Oxford next week. I’ll be looking out for all the news. I can live vicariously through you until we get ours.

Well done to all the recent offer holders - it's a small glimmer of hope in all the current chaos and gloom.

DD is philosophical about Oxford offers and redirections on Tuesday. I think she just wants to get it over and done with and then be able to move on a bit more in terms of looking at other options or possibly trying to plan a gap year. She really feels the interviews didn't go well and that one of her two admissions tests in particular was more difficult than any of the past papers and beyond her capabilities. She's considering deleting the email app on her phone until I get home from work in the evening, which is way more self control than I had at her age.

I'm worried that if dd isn't offered a place on Tuesday, she might consider taking a year off and reapplying. It's a gamble and if she's not successful the second time it's a bit of a waste of a year.

@bendmeoverbackwards. That's why I was so against DS1 reapplying - it's such a gamble. But he did and we are now on tenterhooks until Tuesday. Well to be fair, he's on tenterhooks and I'm on copious amounts of NZ Sauvignon Blanc and the occasional shot of Salted Caramel Baileys.....

FWIW I think you need to be fatalistic. Did you know that Durham, for example, has one of the highest rates of students marrying one another? So if your DC get redirected there, you can sell Durham as the place that they are more likely to meet the future love of their life. OK... that's a really lame way to console someone who doesn't get an Oxbridge place but it's worth a try....!!! Anyone got any better ideas particularly for people who've applied and been rejected twice?!

@bendmeoverbackwards not if Covid continues. She will just need to be creative with how she fills the year to make her application strong again.

Anyone know what time they are likely to hear on Tuesday?

Im going to work, so i she hasnt heard by 8:30 she'll have to rely on her sister for hugs.

I'm wondering too about the timing @pourmeanotherglass dd seems to think it will be first thing but who knows?

Best of luck to your ds @MidLifeCrisis007 Bailey's is the best isn't it? I have been known to swig it from the bottle during lockdown!

Apparently they can trickle throughout the day

Only a tiny number of colleges will notify by 8.30 pourmeanotherglass. 8.30 is a bit aspirational.

You'd be unlucky not to have heard by lunchtime but there seems to always be a slew of notifications from 9 to 10.

I suppose it’s better than the days of thick letter or thin letter...

Some colleges send rejections out ahead of offers, although that's fairly useless info :)

Do Oxford still send out offer and rejection letters as well as emails? Just curious.

It varies.