Oxford Cambridge 2021 Thread 6

[Chocomel]

Hopefully this is in the right place?

I guess what is making it harder, is that her rejection letter said they believed she was Cambridge material and that's why they put her in the winter pool

That's exactly what happened to our older child some years back. It's galling to get so near - but it does show how very bright they are.

It was a substantial increase at Cambridge, they got hammered.

I think when the stats come out we will see how very many fewer offers have been made at C this year because of how significantly they were affected last year and how CAGs will affect things this year.
I genuinely feel for all of you feeling gutted and sad. DD was the perfect candidate on paper and I am really aware (as is she) how lucky she was to be picked out of the pool.
Everyone's response to her email (teachers, family etc) is "great but we were expecting it" which is lovely because she has a place... But at the same time it shows how little people appreciate the differences this year and it must be so hard for those of you with similar children who didn't get offers.
I'm hoping many of them have offer holder events at other universities in the next few days/weeks that will make them feel more positive.

"think when the stats come out we will see how very many fewer offers have been made at C this year because of how significantly they were affected last year and how CAGs will affect things this year."

do the Unis publish these statistics?
also, apologies, but what are CAGs?

Sorry i was meaning centre assessed grades but I appreciate that's not yet 100% fixed.
And yes the statistics definitely come out at some point.

cheers.

have been staying away from it all to be honest because DS is naturally more optimistic than me and I have my own "30 years of hurt" Oxbridge issue that clouds my judgmnets so I felt - probably rightly - that I would be a drag.
In consequence, I haven't got a clue what's going on! :)

@derekthe1adyhamster I did a few open days with DS when he was in the process of applying for university and Birmingham was the friendliest by far. It felt like everybody we met was genuinely lovely. There was such a nice feel to the place and I liked it a lot. The students who were there just seemed like a collectively happy and chilled bunch of people. The accommodation was very nice and I especially liked the library. DS didn’t apply there in the end but it was number one on my list.

Covid just seems to have messed things up spectacularly for this cohort and it's hard not to think, in normal times, things would have been different

I completely agree @goldenlilliesdaffodillies It's really rubbish for them but what can you do? I've seen a real change in dd's resilience over the years which will help her in future endeavours. When I think back to late primary school years and Years 7/8, all the in depth conversations we had about the minutiae of friendship issues and so on...dd says herself now that she has learnt to deflect things better. She is still very hard on herself and agonises over things, that's just her nature but she definitely deals with life's blows better.

My colleagues and I work in schools. We work with Cambridge Admissions Tutors quite a bit. We have our usual mixture of delighted and distraught Year 13 sixth formers at present.

Cambridge has a normal number of places this year. There were very few extra deferred from last year because of Covid or for any other reason. Some colleges actually had fewer than normal deferrals last year.

In terms of offers made, it is possible that Teacher Assessed Grades mean predicted grades are more likely to be met. So some colleges may have made fewer conditional offers. Colleges are used to adapting.

For example, my daughter went up to her undergraduate Cambridge college in October 2017; that year , A Levels had been revamped, AS Levels were being phased out and A Level results were especially unpredictable. More offers were made but some offer conditions were harsh or were harshly enforced in August . Trinity College Offers exceeded Acceptances by 23%, Christ's by 33% and Murray Edwards by 56%. Many offer holders did not make it. The opposite pattern may apply this year.

The final statistics may not come out until December/January, but we feel the number of eventual acceptances will not be affected by Covid, only part of the assessment mechanism for getting there.

This is an amazing thread full of amazing people. I can't believe I'm here. A part of me is sad that I missed sharing the journey over the past year with the rest of you. DD is my oldest. And I would not describe her as my most academic child... although I do find myself wondering now if I am mistaken. I have spent the bulk of my waking hours in the last few years fighting for my youngest child's education in a mainstream primary school. He has a brilliant mind which chooses not to reveal at school. He is High Functioning Autistic and has ADHD. He doesn't like to talk at school, and often doesn't. Hi first primary school stuck him in a corner while they educated the calm ones because they couldn't get him to sit down and talk to them. This was obviously a problem. So I have carved a full time job out of my fight for an EHCP that actually meets his needs and recognises his abilities and potential. Consequently, I took my eye off the ball with DD because... well... she looks after herself. This is so unlike me. Most people regard me to be positively obsessed with my children's education - all of my children. I was drafting an email to our SENCO yesterday when up popped a text message from DD that read "I got an offer for Cambridge". I think my heart stopped and I loudly exclaimed "Oh my God!". I think I scared the neighbourhood. I didn't even realise it was Cambridge offer day. She had told me earlier in the month that she would hear by the 25th. But she also told me she bombed the test and wouldn't get an interview, and then that she bombed the interview and wouldn't get an offer. So today I sent her some information on Imposter Syndrome. She is warming to Murray Edwards (or is it Medwards?). I think she will come round, and I am so happy and so proud. But I can't believe that I had no part in the journey. Oh well, good for her. Maybe there is a lesson here for me that I should save some of my attention for the child who does not have Special Needs. Or perhaps I should just let her get on with it as I genuinely am not needed. No I selfishly do not like the idea that I am not needed.

Weirdly, XH and all of our children love McDonalds. Yuck! But DD will want to know where it is. I will go do some research and tell her where it is because that will make her happy. :-)

And I look forward to sharing the rest of the journey with all of you wonderful people.

Our experience of the Pool is that pooled offer holders often do better in Finals than the ones who were initially preferred to them. We think Cambridge is quite good at selection overall, but less good at ranking their selected candidates accurately.

Also, there are just too many strong candidates for most courses in most years. So , sadly, some will miss out quite harshly. The Admissions Tutors we know acknowledge this but add that they have to make a final decision eventually.

Pembroke and St Catherine's colleges invited some school teachers to repeat the selection exercise one year. Anonymised copies of actual Admissions Files were used. All the teachers, without exception, were amazed at how much detailed work went into selection and horrified at just how difficult it was. Their conclusion was that the process is fair and that it works as it should. They found pooling decisions the most heart rending, especially the pooling out from a college. They also found that, in the pool, there were some very strong candidates which stood out for most subjects; the others were strong but much of a muchness. The competition really was very tough!

Maybe there is a lesson here for me that I should save some of my attention for the child who does not have Special Needs.

And maybe the experience of growing up with a sibling with autism has made your daughter mature, empathic and interested beyond her years.

We have similar.

I can utterly sympathize with the full time job of getting barely adequate provision sorted for the one who so needs it.

JBX2013 we're saying the same thing.

Hi

Deluding here but can't help but feel a.little emotional reading your children ' s experiences. It brings back many of the emotions about being rejected by Cambridge a long time ago having being put in the winter pool by St John's but unfortunatly not being given an offer.

My rejection was a long time before the internet took off so wasn't able to find a community of Oxbridge applicants so find this thread in interesting.

With hindsight I wish I had reconsidered a reapplication after a year out. I felt that after rejection emotions can often run high and for me personally there was a desire to 'move on ' and I accepted an offer at a Midlands RG university.

Turns out I had not really processed the rejection and found some aspects of my university experience disappointing not least as the degree was not incredibly challenging (got a first) and due to clearing the course has to be suited to a wide range of ability in terms of a level tariff acceptance.

I would really consider a year out and re application seriously given the obvious talent of your children. I know this is not an easy option and very much dependent on individual experience but I think it easier to find closure on this journey if you have exhausted all possible avenues of entrance. There are a number of posts in various places about successful re applicants which are encouraging.

I am only posting this as I understand the sometimes strength of emotion about Oxbridge rejection but a cool look at things in a couple of weeks may allow some reappraisal.

If not reapplying I would have a considered thought about t he insurance offer and make sure it really is what is desired and the choice is worthy of your child's abilities.

As did I Goodbye.

The reality is that it always looks as though there are more Cambridge rejections (than Oxford) at this point too because they interview far more than Oxford do, so Oxford have already thinned out by not inviting many decent candidates to interview.

Delurking not deluding (hopefully)

Quite. That too SeasonFinale.

That is why certain universities are obvious second choices. If you are amongst a lot of Oxbridge rejects, the general standard of fellow student will be high.

Applying again can bear fruit (eg ds) BUT has to be considered very carefully. The odds of getting in post A Level are only slightly better and it must be noted that more is expected at application stage. Ds was enthusiastic about his back-up, which is vital. You have to have peace with what the outcome is going to be, as you don’t want disappointment to turn to bitterness.

Mids2019 - they won't need to consider insurance choice as they have yet to make firm choices unless you mean to consider what their new first choice will be. Often insurance choices aren't the second choice as many second choice after Oxbridge actually have higher offer requirements so sometimes a "lower" offer makes the insurance choice of an Oxbridge firm, whereas Imperial, Warwick, Durham may now be the first choice for those rejected but too high for Oxbridge offer holders.

Thank you @FlyingSquid. Now back to preparing for our EHCP annual review.

(found McDonalds)

The uni advisor person at DS’ school was very frank with us that, once in the pool, candidates from that school (selective independent) will have to have done something truly exceptional to be picked out. On this basis, we were recommended to go for a college for which 85% of applicants are from the state sector (namely Homerton) because this means that the proportion of direct offers to applicants from the independent sector is significantly higher. But we ignored this and went for a college with only 2 spaces for his subject (!) because they requested written work and DS had this do thought he might as well use it. He was pooled, but not taken out. Would it have been different at another college with more spaces and better offer rates for independent schools - well, we’ll never know. Probably would have been the same result. Anyway, he’s absolutely fine about it now. As I said, his school normally get about 15 into Cambridge in an average year. It’s 4 this year - that’s it. Oxford numbers are down slightly but not nearly as dramatically. DS doesn’t take it personally as he’s well used to competition and feeling average in his cohort. In a weird way his experiences at his school has built resilience and when you see the students who stand out in your cohort (all with flawless grades and much more) also not picked out the pool, then you realise it is what it is. These are bright kids regardless and other unis will benefit from their drive, resilience, work ethic and talents.

Anyway, congratulations to all who did receive offers and all the best!

Just to say DS had a "no" for computer science at Cambridge. He didn't have his heart set on it and didn't expect to get an offer due to the result of his maths test (top 50% but not high enough) and the low acceptance rate for CS even in normal times - so he's fine.

He goes to a highly ranked state grammar school and lots of the boys apply. He's not at school so he hasn't heard how many have had offers, but one friend got an offer for History at Peterhouse.

He sounds like a fine young man, @quest1on .

It seems to me that the most blindsided applicants are those who have always been a big fish in a small pond, standing out in their school, always top of the class etc etc. Ds started off in a primary school in a, er, challenging area. He looked like a flippin’ genius. They (idiotically) moved him out of reception into yr 2 as he was so far ahead. We moved to a naicer area and ds started at the local state school there back in his usual year. Ha! Half the class were chess fiends and grade 8 flugelhorn. In fact 5 of that primary class went to Oxbridge ! Had ds stayed at the first school I would have been led to believe that he was Einstein.

I take the points made here and especially the one about contentment about second choice (not insurance sorry) and often it is a really good choice. I think it is worth being explicit about 'obvious ' second choices and although my second choice (Nottingham) was a reasonably good red brick (or white in reality) there was a reasonable range of ability on my course which may not have been the case at oxbridge (where it would have been more competitive).

I understand that there are additional pressures with re application and it a lot of soul searching is required @IrmaFayLear but for the right applicant don't you think this should be something of serious contemplation?

@TheStenchofTruth

Thank you *@FlyingSquid*. Now back to preparing for our EHCP annual review.

(found McDonalds)

Oh god. I have inch-thick files from statement reviews (precursor to EHCPs). It’s not fun trying to write out all the things your child struggles with most.