Oxford Cambridge 2021 Thread 6

[Chocomel]

Hopefully this is in the right place?

@DeRigueurMortis

Well tonight DS has just said before going to bed "I'm not worried because I already know I'm not going to get an offer".

He'd done the maths (pre-Covid) and as a mathematician knows the odd are even worse now.

He just seems resigned to it tbh and if I'm honest think he is somewhat gutted that he feels he didn't get the chance to prove himself in the same way applicants would have done in normal times.

I'm sure he will be fine. He's very happy with his second choice and is in the enviable position of already having that offer in hand.

I'm probably like many other parents hoping that whatever happens on the 25th he won't feel sad thinking "what if I'd been born 2 years earlier/later"

How do people just quote part of someone's post on here?? I agree with the first part of this post. Statistically it's so unlikely and then there's this awful tiny bit of hope which says "but they do have to offer 5 places and 5 people are going to get them and I could be one of the 5". I can't wait for Monday to be over.

Chill - just copy and paste part of the message, and bold it so that we can tell which bit is a quote. Old-school, I know, but we’ve only had this here newfangled quote facility for a few weeks anyway.

Ah thanks. Thought I was missing something complicated!!

So sorry for all your losses @Jano69, @Tenpastseven and @BigWoollyJumpers. What a sad and horrible time for you all. I hope all the C dc are doing ok, and managing to get through the final couple of days.

I’m also very saddened to hear what a difficult time people are having. This is a fairly small group and so much tragedy. I really do wish everyone the best for Monday. Whatever happens, it takes a certain resilience to give this process a go. Fingers crossed for them all, but whatever happens they will be ok. It’s just a point in time.

Just wanted to come back on thread briefly to wish the very best of luck to all those waiting for Cambridge offers on Monday. I hope it goes well for everyone and I remember in previous years, the angst of waiting and hoping that all the efforts put in by our DCs would reap rewards. This is also the hardest year yet, given the pandemic.

I hope results come out early in the day. I think DS1 heard around late morning directly from his college and then it took a few days for UCAS to update.

Peterhouse admissions stated in the Cambridge thread that they make the decision holistically and don't give any one part of the application more weight than another.

Did any of the Oxford applicants parents feel that the decision was not based purely on interview performance?

Wishing the best of luck to all the Cambridge applicants 🤞🤞🤞. Just 2 more sleeps. It definitely does seem a long time (even from when the Oxford decisions came out).

Also so sorry to hear the heartbreaking news of your family losses @Jan069 @BigWoollyJumpers @Tenpastseven. What a January it has been 😢

@chopc I'm pretty sure my DD's Oxford application was looked at holistically. She actually thought her interview was the weakest part. She was told at the end of her interview she performed particularly well in the aptitude test (not one that releases results) so that may well have tipped the scales.

That's good to know @Jalfrezi .

@chopc DD felt her interviews went very well, whereas her aptitude test performance and GCSE scores, whilst high, were not especially remarkable for this type of cohort. Admissions statistics showed that some applicants with higher scores did not receive offers. But hers were purely technical interviews, so I guess less subjective than for other subjects, and perhaps they were looking for candidates who could work/think in a certain way. So I'd say they were looking holistically, yes.

Of dd’s 4 in interviews at Oxford, she only really felt that one went well . She sat two admissions tests back to back and was happy with one but very unhappy with the other. She didn’t find out her scores for them. Her GCSE results were good, but far from stellar. Her written work was good I think and she spent a long time on her personal statement but it was only mentioned in one of her interviews. Two of the interviews asked about her EPQ and one about something in her teacher reference. So if that counts as a holistic approach from Oxford, then that was true in dd’s case. My Dad would say she was a Curate’s egg.

I think our daughters had near-identical experiences, right down to not finding out their test scores, Niam!

Dd's must have been looked at all-in I think; for her:
GCSEs - really good, she will have scored well here with 100% A*s (ie 8/9s) - and all but 2 of those 9s, in a state comprehensive school, so well above the average for the school
Aptitude test - carcrash, was well into band 4 (ie the lowest band)
Interviews - meh - she came out with no clue how she had done, didn't feel she had necessarily showed 'passion' but probably came across better than she imagined.
Predictions - she is predicted AAA

She got an offer from her 1st college, no 2nd interview, and they typically only offer 2 places for her subject, so they must have looked at the whole picture and liked her.

Really good luck to everyone who is waiting for results on Monday!

@FlyingSquid yes, I think there are a lot of similarities between our dds!

Good luck to all of those waiting for Cambridge offers on Monday! The last couple of days seemed to go sooooo slowly while waiting for Oxford - maybe some snow tomorrow will be a welcome distraction!

Thank you for your responses @NiamCinnOir @BilberryBaggins @DahliaMacNamara . Let's see what Monday brings

With regards to whether applications are looked at holistically, I'm sure that must be the intention. But am sure that in many cases the interview can sway it either way.

Can't help thinking that in DT1's case (my twin son who didn't get an offer for English) that his interviews can't have gone well and must have been the deciding factor.

His ELAT score was in the top band and GCSEs are all 9s (comprehensive school). Predicted grades AAA (A for Science subject he chose for variety). I saw PS and written work and both v good. So he must have underperformed at interview, right?

No complaints about the process but I would be interested to see the feedback. He doesn't plan to ask for it, though, and I think will be happy to move on if and when he gets a Durham offer.

If he doesn't I'm not sure what the next stage is. I fear that not enough thought went into the other choices and they may not be the best rated places for English.

DT2 has barely mentioned his open offer for History in the past week but equally hasn't indicated any increased leaning towards his other main choices, Durham (no offer yet) or Warwick either.

Anyway, good luck to everyone waiting to hear from Cambridge tomorrow - it's such a long wait!

@LoonvanBoon, for equally strong applicants, I am sure luck plays a part, gelling with the interviewer etc.

My DC are at O and C. Both really enjoyed their subject interviews, although DD found one of them incredibly challenging. They both have 10 9/A at GCSE and AAA at A Level. DD’s subject doesn’t have an admissions test. DS did the TSA and got a good score (for last year’s cohort). Neither felt their personal statements were very important to the process.
Good luck with the Durham and Cambridge offers.

That should read 3xA* at A Level.

Just sneaking back in to wish all your babies the very best of luck tomorrow. Whatever the outcome they are amazing to have got this far.

Don't know if it helps, but we were told at Oxford Open Day that the interview is one of many criteria. They said they had quite a good idea of the candidates they were most interested in before the interviews and that a bad interview definitely wouldn't rule you out. Good luck everyone!

@LoonvanBoon I echo your feelings. I'm trying to convince myself that the applications are looked at holistically, but I'm not so sure it is always the case.

DD has all A at GCSEs (inc a 1st and 2nd national place), 4 As at AS and predicted 3A, Her BMAT was excellent, and I feel her PS was well-written and had a lot of relevant experience, albeit limited this year due to no hospital placements for most, I'm assuming the teachers ref was very good.

She felt her interviews went fine, but this is where an applicant will never know how they are viewed, but she was happy with her answers and didn't come out in tears!

However, she is the quietly confident type who is happy to chat, but she will never come across as cocky and exuberant. I wonder if this was her stumbling block?

Another factor could be college choice. It is total guesswork as to how how many apply to each college, so in all cases there has to be an element of luck if there are 30 or 130 dc applying for a course. Does the allocation of a second college really address this?

I know other unis with a college system tend to have one admission system that everyone undergoes, and college allocations are made afterwards. As a parent, I feel this would be less stressful, with one less 'x factor' unknown to deal with (especially coming from a school with a very poor history of sending students to Oxbridge).

Just my thoughts, who knows how it really works.....

Very sorry to hear of the losses - sympathies to Jano69 and BWJ. Losing a parent is incredibly hard.

Millylovespuddles I can't for a moment think that cocky and/ or exuberant would carry the day. More likely those things would piss the tutors right off. Over the years our school has found some rejections almost impossible to understand. Mostly things go the way the school expects; occasionally a student they don't expect to get in does (and in recent years several of those unlikelies have come out with firsts, suggesting the tutors are smarter than the school) and then more often those the school thinks are shoo ins get told no, and there seems to be no intelligible reason why. Feedback usually says the student couldn't progress with the questions at interview and is rather bland, so there's not much to nail anything on really.

I would say that the interview tends to clinch a yes or a no.

Good luck to all those on this thread after the very long wait.