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

This is not intended as teacher bashing but I despair over the abandoning of formal examinations.

The thought that students who have put in a lot of hard work on their A Level studies since Autumn 2019 will be denied the chance to prove themselves under as normal exam conditions as possible is disappointing.

All these extra assessments in schools would seem to be a lot of extra work.

Some students such as DD and a great many of her cohort had the self-motivation and access to technology to keep going despite the decidedly lacklustre online learning provision provided by her school.
Other students will have various reasons for not having kept up momentum. Surely help could be targeted at the relevant students, identified as being in need, to get them back to the required level in the same way that GCSE revision classes (run in abundance at DD's school) were. They were optional for some but compulsory for others.

Possibly naive thinking on my part but it just seems to be "Oooh, that's a bit hard, abandon abandon abandon !"

England are probably going to follow suit aren't they.

DS in 2nd one now.

He came out smiling after first one

I’m at work, so getting feedback courtesy of DH. Gosh I didn’t think I’d be this anxious. Trying to really focus on work.

DD a bit flat after final interview where she felt she got no feedback from the interviewers and muffed some of the questions.

Now we wait.

I think multiple interviews on different days applies to both. DS has interview on Tuesday and another tomorrow and he’s C.

DD felt her second interview is confirmation of rejection- very basic questions, nothing that was stretching or challenging her. She thinks it's because they weren't bothering to consider her a serious candidate after her first interview. Oh well, we'll see in 5 weeks!

IrmaFayLear, I think it must vary a lot by subject. My DD found her 2nd language interview particularly 'warm and friendly'. The main interviewer wasn't there, and both people were younger than a professor or DoS. Possibly a different experience if he had been there? Maybe as grad students they were willing her along, hoping she would do her best? I would think that something more objective, like maths would be more businesslike in tone.

DS says both were fine. He still he’s done his best and happy to get this far. And whatever happens now won’t be because of what he has or hasn’t done.

He still only has one offer so far

I know it’s easier said than done, but even if the interviews seemed not to have gone well, it really isn’t an indication of anything, just like if they’ve gone well isn’t. We are all just hoping for the best outcome. I secretly hoping C’s date of 25th January is a worst case scenario and that will receive news before then. One can only hope, right!

@chopc one of DS’s friends had one interview on Monday and one on Tuesday in C, but different colleges. Is this what winter pooling is? Why would they do that? Just trying to understand

Wishing everyone yet to interview the best!

@WarmAndco3y

DS says both were fine. He still he’s done his best and happy to get this far. And whatever happens now won’t be because of what he has or hasn’t done.

He still only has one offer so far

I know it’s easier said than done, but even if the interviews seemed not to have gone well, it really isn’t an indication of anything, just like if they’ve gone well isn’t. We are all just hoping for the best outcome. I secretly hoping C’s date of 25th January is a worst case scenario and that will receive news before then. One can only hope, right!

@chopc one of DS’s friends had one interview on Monday and one on Tuesday in C, but different colleges. Is this what winter pooling is? Why would they do that? Just trying to understand

Wishing everyone yet to interview the best!

Could the interviews in separate colleges be because they don't have many lecturers in that college from that subject? I imagine for some of the more niche subjects that might be possible?

Dd’s 2 back to back interviews for C are happening just about now ( at school)
I read her DeRig’s son’s wise words this morning and she agreed. It helped.. so thanks for that

@Tenpastseven is that two interviews on each day or one each

This is the year of no consistency anyway (Pembroke giving offers without interviews for example)

@summerlovinn surely they wouldn't have had time to discuss between them! She may have found the questions easy but others may have found them challenging

None of us will be any wiser until Jan

Although the anticipation is horrid

@summerlovinn I agree with chopc they won't have had any time to discuss your DD's first interview.

I think most people cannot gauge how well they did in an interview especially if they believe it went badly (my own uni interview is testament to that) and it is lovely to hear that at least some of the interviews felt more friendly and less like an interrogation.

Ds has one interview in the morning and one in the afternoon. He is mid mocks so has the added stress of trying to revise for those whilst not stressing about his C interviews.

@JBX2013 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.

I am only repeating back what a Cambridge student said. They said they had spoken to an academic about the winter pool and he said "that your college may feel there is an academic present at another college that may be more suitable to your learning style and your interests".

Just checking in. DD has had her second Oxford interview so now it's all over!

It was another chat that she enjoyed. Plus point is that she now knows that she really does love Earth Sciences (no Geology A Level at her school).

Downside is that she now really does want to go to Oxford. Before she wasn't sure. Ah well. Roll on the 12th Jan!

[quote chopc]@Tenpastseven is that two interviews on each day or one each

This is the year of no consistency anyway (Pembroke giving offers without interviews for example) [/quote]
@chopc One interview on Tuesday and one tomorrow

@Chilldonaldchill yes I think this is right. DS's 2nd interviewer is from a different college as I don't think they have a Spanish tutor (not sure what I'm meant to call them?) at his college, only French and German I think.

DD had her Oxford interview and said it went "It went okay - not great not awful just meh"....

Dd is a bit despondent..said the first one was awful.. gave her a real grilling and that there was loads she didn’t know.. it over ran. She’s couldnt wait for it to end. Second one (straight after) went better apparently but she can’t gauge it at all.

@Beetlesand if it overran they must have enjoyed speaking with her

Thanks @chopc .. who knows. She feels like there was a bad vibe to the first one and a fairly good one to the second. It’s done now anyway.
Onwards!
I wish all the lovely dcs on this thread the best of luck. I am super proud that Dd has put herself forward for this and gone for it. I’m sure we all feel the same about our fab kids.

Not sure if other Oxford subjects doing this but DS (classics) received notification of a call for an interview at another college in addition to the 2 interviews at first choice college, before those had taken place. This ahead of pooling which takes place as of Friday. Not sure what to make of it...
Interviews at first choice appear to have been 'comfortable' and very much of the interesting tutorial category of interview. Haven't had a huge amount of feedback and trying not to pester! Interview at other college tomorrow afternoon.
Well done to all interviewees so far and good luck for all still to come!

Dd had her third and final interview for O today - she said the interviewers were younger than the previous interviewers and marginally more friendly. One of them even smiled, apparently! She feels very deflated and ‘meh’, like a very tiny fish in the big Oxbridge pond. She really feels that she’s reached the end of her journey at O and that is fine. She was starting to worry about coping with the demands of the joint honours course and wondering about having any kind of social life alongside academic work.

@FlyingSquid - thank you for your support, I’m also rooting for your dd! Mine was a late choice for O, yes - she certainly doesn’t regret applying and is in the really good position of having three other offers.

I watched a lot of YouTube videos of Oxbridge interviews and the scientific/ maths ones were very scary. I think you have to truly be "into ". academics to enjoy the course.

So well done to all our DC's for having come this far. I know of students with perfect grades/ prizes who were redirected pre interview. Perhaps some didn't do well in the entrance test although not all had entrance tests. I know some people say it's not random and I guess they can ask for feedback on why they were not invited for interview?

Well done to all the dc who’ve had recent interviews. They’ve all done brilliantly to get this far.

Dd has her second interview today. But who’d have thought she’d be in the middle of a horrible friendship crisis?

Unbeknown to me, there have been some tensions among the girls in one of dd’s A level subjects. Last night, one of the girls told dd they needed to have a big group talk tomorrow. Dd knew it would play on her mind so she asked if they could have this talk that evening. She called me from her room to say she’d be late for dinner, she was tearful but said she’d explain later.

Dd came down later in floods of tears and full of self loathing. It transpired that they had had a group zoom call where a number of girls had complained about dd’s behaviour. It sounded a bit like she was on trial, they said she had said x, y and z. Some of these allegations dd couldn’t remember saying. However she did apologise for what she had appeared to have done wrong.

Dd now thinks she is a horrible person. I don’t know what to make of it all. She can come across as quite a strong character and stands up for her views in group discussions but she always respects the the views of others even if disagreeing with them.

I’m upset with the timing of it, just before dd’s interview.

FrauFreud that happened with DD2, for History. She arrived at her own college for interview where her interviews were the following day and was told to go almost immediately to another where she had a thirty minute interview with no explanation. It seems to have been for standardisation, and suggests your DD has a very strong looking application so he's being sent around to set some kind of bar.