Oxford Cambridge 2021 Thread 6

[Chocomel]

Hopefully this is in the right place?

@ImsorryWilson that did make me lol!!!!

Popping back again to say as the news sinks in I’ve just been reflecting on how much this thread and you lot have helped through this frankly fucking exhausting process. You have made this ‘no’ much easier to cope with for me.

Again, huge congratulations to those with offers.

@ImsorryWilson

My son has an offer for Natsci at Churchill :). Woo hoo!

Does this mean I can finally get over being pooled 38 years ago?
Nope - not a chance :)

My husband was turned down by all the Ivy League Colleges. He remembers all the envelopes arriving on the same day - all thin.

Years later he became a professor and had to go to Cambridge to examine someone's PhD - he phoned me up and asked if it would be very wrong to do a wee in the quad.

I hope this makes someone laugh today x

Definitely made me laugh @ImsorryWilson

You must be a really clever family. Well done to your ds.

Years later he became a professor and had to go to Cambridge to examine someone's PhD - he phoned me up and asked if it would be very wrong to do a wee in the quad

We need to know....... did he do the wee?? .

As expected, it's a no for DD although when the e-mail just arrived, she found out that she had been pooled, which I guess is a much better response on their part than she expected.

She had assumed that it would be a flat rejection based on her interview performance. I'm kind of hoping that this doesn't start her thinking about re-applying next year as I'm not sure my nerves can take another trip on the the roller coaster ride of Oxbridge applications.

Hearty congratulations to all the dc who have received an Oxbridge offer this year. I so wish it could have been DD as her teachers and I always genuinely thought that the course/college/tutor supervisions would really have suited her personality/learning style, although there's plenty of others too for whom this would be the case so she's not alone in that. I do worry that she'll be a little overwhelmed by a huge City Uni. but even saying that is a little presumptive as she currently holds absolutely no offers for medicine after having a full set of interviews, but no news is good news at the moment.

She seems unruffled by it as it was expected although they all have lessons/schoolwork to occupy their minds at the moment, who knows later on.

Hoping none of the dc are terribly upset for more than a brief period. We have to keep reminding them it was a bu&&er of a year to be going down the Oxbridge route in the first place and we just didn't know much higher the odds would be stacked against them this year, than in previous years, until some time after the applications were submitted.

"Years later he became a professor and had to go to Cambridge to examine someone's PhD - he phoned me up and asked if it would be very wrong to do a wee in the quad

We need to know....... did he do the wee?? grin."

let's just say there's a certain bunch of primroses that have flourished ever since.

By the way, those Ivy League rejection envelopes and DH's current standing as a professor are not unconnected....... it created drive.

That's a great story @ImsorryWilson - thanks for sharing. I do hope DS's redirection has some positive consequences- drive, resilience- then this process will not have been entirely wasted.

Commiserations to those who have been redirected. I hope your DC will be able find peace and move on to the next step after they’ve had time to take it in
I think everyone deserves to celebrate coming this far and I know it sounds like a cliche, but this year has been tougher than others considering the pandemic curveballs.

Absolutely this....

@ImsorryWilson DS is Churchill also - funny to think come Oct they might be socialising together!

I just want to say a big thanks to everyone on the thread - it's really saved my sanity at times.

Pumpkin - it certainly did have for both me and DH. Most leading people (and I get to connect with a fair few) have drive and drive is only created by needing to fight. For some people of course the drive comes from family issues or financial insecurity and that's not very positive. For others, like me, it has come partly from the Cambridge pool shock and it has stood me in good stead ever since. It's not pleasant, but it's not harmful either - in truth it's got me where I am.

funny to reflect on it still mattering after all these years - but not necessarily in a bad way.

On a practical note DH advises going for a first and then doing Oxbridge as a postgrad. It's a hell of a lot easier to get in at postgrad level.

Now the dust of redirection is settling, I’d like to echo the feelings of others about how much this thread has really supported me through this process.

I feel I know all our young people and am sincerely delighted for this with offers and feel the camaraderie with those of us helping our offspring to move past this.

Cheers you lot and ‘onwards’.

still waiting here, and now DS has lessons all afternoon. After the drama of the missing interview email (never going to get those 5 days back!) I am not convinced that the email has vanished into the wilderness of the interweb

They are still coming in so good luck to anyone still waiting. A lot of the actual offers for certain subjects are asking for all A*s so not standard offers so they are obviously worried about being oversubscribed again.

Watching with interest.

We have a little problem. DD has an offer for Cambridge (yay!) but... she doesn't want to go (]. F S F S. The thing is she doesn't like the college, which isn't the one she applied to. But I think it's a good fit. And I suspect the wisdom at Cambridge also saw this and put her somewhere that she could thrive. She got Murray. I think she applied to Queens, but I might have that wrong.

Does anyone have any experience of Murray Edwards? Or generally studying Econ at Cambridge? She has an offer for UCL. Waiting for LSE and Durham. Though I think she's gone off Durham. She says it's a party school and she's not interested in partying. Weird thing to say. We are clearly not related!

A friend of dd's has also been pooled to Murray Edwards. I think a very large number of people get pooled there each year as they have fewer applications then other colleges. Dd's friend is a very lovely girl - I'm sure the others will be too!

oh dear stench maybe a few days of mulling it over will help. They don't need to make any hasty decisions. A chat with her economics teacher might help to put things into perspective. Still it's nice to have it in the bag whilst she waits for LSE!

Well Dd came down at lunch and seemed much perkier. She’s knows she’s v lucky to have offers in and I really hope those redirected without offers blimmin we’ll hear soon!!!
She’s looked at the modules on one of her courses again and got quite excited.
I just wanted to say thank you (to all of you ) for your support through this.
And I also wanted to say a bloody well done to all our dc and HURRAH!!! to those who got an offer today .. I’m so pleased some of our kids got in and I take comfort that Dd may end up at a university with some of your smashing children.

She thinks its a "pity offer". She too hard on herself. She shoots for the moon and anything less is failure. Of course its not. But that's what she is thinking today. I think a woman's college will be a nice sanctuary for her in a very competitive male dominated course. And I think Murray will be comprised of some really interesting people from all walks of life and she will make some amazing life-long friendships there. I guess I'll see how she feels next week.

Just to say .. Dd is not alone. She knows of only one offer at her school so far . Such a tough year! Her and her friends are doing a very good job of supporting each other this morning .

“pity offer” ?!?!?!?!

The odds of getting into Cambridge this year were terrible - so an offer is a tremendous achievement.

Ds had a term of supervisions at Murray Edwards and liked it very much. He was worried at first he wouldn’t be allowed in !!!! But clearly males were allowed across the threshold. In fact one of his coursemates went there for dinner every night as he preferred the food at ME to his own college’s fare...

It’s a redirection for my DS too. He has taken it not too well. He says he is more annoyed because he put a lot of effort in, sometimes at the expense of his school work. I explained to him if he didn’t and did not get in he would regret having not done his best.

He says he doesn’t know what to do with himself. so I had to make him list what he would’ve done had he got an offer and made him see that nothing has changed on that list. I told him he needs time to ‘grieve’.

It doesn’t help that we are both unwell with covid, and today was his first day back doing on-line lessons after a pretty difficult weekend, but he didn’t want to miss anymore lessons. I have not been glad to have covid until today because it meant I could hug him and sit down with him in my room and have a chat. We are isolating within the house from DH ( who is high risk), and the other DC.
I am trying to take my own advice and we will celebrate his achievements as soon as we can.
He hasn’t heard back from Durham, but he has 2 good offers from KCL & Nottingham.

Pity offer ??? Cambridge do not make 'pity offers'!
Good lord.

@ImsorryWilson that made me chortle. Those with Natsci offers, did your DC's offer include 4 A levels (where they are doing four)? DS has 2 x Astar, 2A offer - but subjects not specified, which is higher than published standard offer. I wonder if this is part of a general tightening up this year?

@derekthe1adyhamster I heard a shriek from DS room in the middle of his lesson - and couldn't tell if it was a good or bad shriek - but he told me luckily his microphone was off.

it's a no for dd (english). she has taken it really well which is good. The reason for this is that it has been made easier as she says (as far as she knows) that no one from her (private) school has been offered a place. A fair few for O but none for C. tbh I don't think she has a hope in hell sadly of getting an offer for D. I think she may be holding up well as I know D was always her preferred place and so mentally she will be holding out for there as English offers yet to come. I think the competition is seriously tough this year with fewer places on offer too. She'll end up at one of the three she fortunately has offers for

@TheStenchofTruth

We have a little problem. DD has an offer for Cambridge (yay!) but... she doesn't want to go (]. F* S* F* S*. The thing is she doesn't like the college, which isn't the one she applied to. But I think it's a good fit. And I suspect the wisdom at Cambridge also saw this and put her somewhere that she could thrive. She got Murray. I think she applied to Queens, but I might have that wrong.

Does anyone have any experience of Murray Edwards? Or generally studying Econ at Cambridge? She has an offer for UCL. Waiting for LSE and Durham. Though I think she's gone off Durham. She says it's a party school and she's not interested in partying. Weird thing to say. We are clearly not related!

Welllll... it’s not compulsory to take up the offer. When DC1 and best mate were both pooled, best mate was ‘fished’ and then turned it down (much to the annoyance of DC1, who would have liked to swap places!).

Best Mate had three happy years elsewhere, got a first and has just started a PhD at Cambridge instead.

Re Natsci Churchill
it doesn't say anything at all - it says they'll write again with details.
all a bit odd.

"@ImsorryWilson that made me chortle. Those with Natsci offers, did your DC's offer include 4 A levels (where they are doing four)? DS has 2 x Astar, 2A offer - but subjects not specified, which is higher than published standard offer. I wonder if this is part of a general tightening up this year?"