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

Some post interview interviews are standardisation but overwhelmingly they're pooling interviews.

Interviews set up prior to the interview at the college of choice are almost all standardisation interviews, and much less frequent.

Irma two of my History DC were interviewed at their college of choice but pooled to/ offered by colleges which suited each incredibly well and where - I don't think by chance - the special interests of the tutors happened to co-incide with the particular interests of my DC as explained in their personal statements. It's entirely possible your DD has indeed been pulled rather than pooled.

My understanding is that if college no.1 likes you, but likes other people better, they throw you into the pool to be fished out by a college which has spare places/wasn’t quite happy with all of their own applicants. So it’s another chance, but still makes you nervous knowing that you are not good enough for the first college.

I have seen that “standardisation” doesn’t exist, in that first-choice applicants never get sent around other colleges.

There is no January pool in Oxford; all done and dusted by then.

Thanks for those encouraging words, goodbye. Good to know your dcs triumphed!

Thanks both.

DS upstairs and ready to go #2.

DD not happy with her interviews unfortunately. She said that nothing she had prepared came up - they only asked her about niche bits of both her essay and PS which felt very tangential.
Oh well. It's done now and she says she won't think about it again till 25 January!

Hi @ Chilldonaldchill ! Sorry to her your DD feels like that.

According to the Admissions Tutors I know, interviews rarely change the pre-interview candidate ranking or pre-interview overall assessment. Most candidates do 'badly'; the top candidates to a bit less badly than the rest.

And nearly all Cambridge undergraduates will tell you their interviews were terrible!

As for the content, it varies enormously, even for the same subject. A school classmate for the same subject talked about her PS for two whole interviews for one college. By contrast, for another college, my daughter was asked nothing at all about her PS or her 2 submitted essays. And she wanted to punch her second interviewer! (Turns out he then gave her a very strong recommendation! ... And rubbed her up the wrong way for the next two years as a Supervisor and transformed her essay writing style!)

Good luck to your DD!

Oh they are so hard on themselves aren’t they @Chilldonaldchill.

Well Ds is done, two interviews. He feels the second one went better than the first but who knows. He wishes he could relax but he has a mock A level tomorrow so revising for that now.

He does feel that knowing that nothing is happening until January he can at least have a nice Christmas.

@bendmeoverbackwards my Mum introduced us to the legend that is Victoria Wood. If we went out for coffee and cake she would always lean in to me conspiratorially and say "have you seen it on the trolley?" which would set us off giggling. God I miss her.

@ OnTheBenchOfDoom, Whatever was actually said by that academic, it is not worth speculating. But the reality is clear on particular academic interests or learning style.

It’s the degree course which has the flexibility to accommodate a student’s particular specialist interests and not any college. They all rely, for all degree subjects, on many specialist academics at all of the other 30 colleges. And these interests will evolve or even change. They really are not predictable. So it would be daft to select students on this basis in any event. (My daughter had a close friend on her course at her college. They chose two completely different specialisms and ended up spending a lot of time with senior professors at 4 different colleges. Their own college played no part in these modules. Both these students came from the winter pool.)

Learning style? No one can diagnose a nervous candidate’s individual, composite learning style in two twenty-minute interviews. It is for the candidate to develop this self-awareness and study accordingly. But most successful undergraduates have these qualities in common: they are bright; they become smart, adaptable learners; they are driven; they work hard; they are good at learning mainly from books and/or problem sheets, sitting by themselves at a desk. And this is irrespective of the college at which they are based.

@IrmaFayLear Doesn't necessarily mean she's not still being considered by the first college - often it doesn't mean she's been 'rejected' by the first college as such, think of it as giving her every opportunity to get an offer. Someone my D1 met during interview last year was sent off to another college to interview, and then in January got an offer at the original college. On last year's thread, someone's DC was reallocated colleges, had an interview, sent to another college to interview - and ended up getting an offer from the original college they'd applied to. Try and see it as an extra chance. Best of luck to her.

Interview #2 done. DS says it was OK. The translation was hard and he realises he got some wrong. But the discussion in English went ok he thought.

He’s done his best and that’s all he/we can ask fir.

Lordy, Jan 25th seems a long time away. I’m not blessed with patience as a virtue.

Me neither, @Tenpastseven ! I'll need some serious distractions to take my mind off worrying / wondering. As Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part...

Interesting Goodbye. DS’s second college interviewers couldn’t have been a better fit as regards his personal interests (apparent from his PS). I’m certainly hoping that standardisation or pulling vs pooling does exist!

@Tenpastseven I hope you and your ds are ok, bad timing for a row.

@IrmaFayLear well done to your dd, they must have thought she is Oxbridge material! But I don't blame her for not wanting more interviews. At least she has an idea of what to expect now. Best of luck to her

According to the Admissions Tutors I know, interviews rarely change the pre-interview candidate ranking or pre-interview overall assessment. Most candidates do 'badly'; the top candidates to a bit less badly than the rest

Really, is this true?

Well dd emerged from her room post-interview this morning feeling sort of ok. She said it wasn't brilliant but not terrible. She quite enjoyed the first part and was happy with what she said, the second part didn't go so well but we both reminded her it was supposed to be challenging.

I'm just glad she managed to put last night's experience to one side. But almost immediately afterwards she was very upset again, thinks these girls will spread the news around, all her friends will hate her etc I encouraged her to tell her close friends what had happened BEFORE any gossip could get out.

I had a quick word on the phone with the subject teacher. She said she hadn't noticed any friction, that dd was always respectful of the views of others and that she's very fond of dd. She couldn't understand it at all. She's going to check with the other teacher just in case she had noticed anything in class.

Does anyone know if the school's reference bears any weight? I imagine most schools would give students a glowing reference but if they are not Oxbridge material, would they say?

@JBX2013 you need to put the @ next to the name of the person you are tagging , no gap, otherwise it doesn't notify us.

Also According to the Admissions Tutors I know, interviews rarely change the pre-interview candidate ranking or pre-interview overall assessment. Most candidates do 'badly'; the top candidates to a bit less badly than the rest

So can I ask then, what the hell is the point of putting hundreds of students through interviews every single year? If this is true, out of the mouths of admissions staff why do they do it? If it "rarely" changes any ranking why go to the huge effort involved with organising staff and candidates for 2 or 3 interviews? Can you ask them?

Hopefully if they are not Oxbridge material, the school would tell them before applying

Ds’s feedback when he failed to get in was that he had to be pushed at interview. Since he scored very highly in the entrance test and his written work/grades were good it was definitely the interviews which blew it for him!

I should think the interviews are crucial - on paper the vast majority of candidates will be like the big bunch of horses in the Grand National.

@bendmeoverbackwards lovely to hear that her subject teacher said your DD was respectful of others' views. What those girls did came across as an ambush and nasty.

Re the reference I think they say no one aspect of the process weights more than another. Ds's C college even said that your place is not reliant on the interview, this isn't the make or break just one part of it that we take into account along with everything else. Although it does feel like the final hurdle to all of this.

@IrmaFayLear it must feel like they are moving the goal posts but it is a positive thing but obviously doesn't feel like it. Bless her.

I didn’t know you could get feedback @IrmaFayLear

In February, I think... after the decisions, anyway - it says somewhere on the website. Obviously only worth doing if you are unsuccessful - if you get in who cares how you did!

Ds was interested because it informed him whether he should have another bash. If he had done poorly in the entrance exam he wouldn’t have bothered, but he knew he could do better in the interview.