Oxbridge Aspirants 2022

[TangoWhiskyAlphaTango]

Hi not too sure if there is another thread started as could not see one. May be waaaaaay too early but wondered if any other parents out there who have a child applying for next year?

Dd would like to apply to Cambridge to study History and Politics in 2022. She is at a state A-level college doing History, Politics and English Literature. I have never had to push her towards studying she is a very motivated child and wants to give Cambridge a shot (a very long shot as we know!). Her GCSE results were good but not top notch (9s in History, English Language and literature and the rest 7s and 6s) so not sure how much this will affect her. So far her A-level essays are coming out at As and A* and those are her predicted grades so if she continues on track that should meet the criteria.

She reads a lot of extra curricular stuff and has a genuine passion for politics, has joined the local Labour party youth group. She has applied for the summer programme at Cambridge & is part of an Oxbridge group that the college puts together.

It feels like a such a long shot and the stats of actually getting in are very low only 18% of applicants successful in 2019 so I am trying to tell her not to get her hopes up whilst actually supporting her!

She is my first born so I have never been through this before. Anybody else out there? Would be lovely to hear from you.

@ClarasZoo DD was advised to do 4 A Levels, definitely including Further Maths. Her Cambridge offer for Physical NatSci is 2A*2A

[quote pepperaunt]**@ClarasZoo* DD was advised to do 4 A Levels, definitely including Further Maths. Her Cambridge offer for Physical NatSci is 2A2A[/quote]
Yes that seems to be fairly usual for phy natsci although some this year have been asked for four a stars- Queens I think😱

Does anyone have a child studying PPE and if so, did they do three or four A levels and did it include further maths?

DS is trying to firm his A level choices and is getting conflicting advice so any information would be welcomed.

DD is studying PPE. The recommended subjects at A level are maths & history. DD also took English language and an EPQ on a PPE related topic. There is a lot of maths in economics, statistics and coding in the first year which she would have found very hard without maths.

@juicy0 - if you look at the link below you'll see that Maths and History is the most likely combination. No mention of FM. Economics is also popular.

www.ppe.ox.ac.uk/files/ppeadmissions2019-20furtherstatisticsfinalpdf

Thank you @Hoghgyni and @sandybayley

So the advice was that he wouldn't have a hope unless he did further maths but it seems that his choices of Maths, History, Economics and Latin would meet the criteria.

I'd say that is a really good selection of subjects @juicy0 . Nicely balanced and keeps lots of options open for your DS.

That advice is complete rubbish juicy0. I agree with sandy - very good options for PPE.

To add another layer of angst to college choice, echoing what goodbye said, try to find out who is scheduling building work. Only half joking - you don’t want to turn up to a college and find that your accommodation is 2 miles away, the dining hall is a tent in the car park and the beautiful building is obscured by scaffolding....

Of course when all’s said and done a place is a place, and you may well be pooled anyway to a building site, but if you can detect which colleges are scheduling works then you can try to avoid them.

Hi all and glad to discover a this group.
I thought 11+ was taxibg but this is much worse.

My DD is currently studying maths, English and Economics A levels with A* predicted in all.
She was doing further maths but dropped it due to wanting to focus, but am i right in thinking both Oxford and Cambridge require it to study Economics?

She is also interested in studing English so any tips on preparatory work she could do in addition to her studies would be appreciated.

@juicy0. Ds is 1st year PPE. He did History, Maths and Re. He started FM a level but after a hospital stay beginning of y12 where he missed quite a bit, decided he didn’t want to catch up and dropped it.
He says economics is a lot of maths, and his eco interview was purely maths. His college had an extra maths course that you could access in 1st term, it was compulsory for those with IB maths but not alevel, he didn’t have to do it so presumably normal a level maths is plenty

If an applicant's school offers FM it would be bold to try for Cambridge Economics without it.

@juicy0 - DD's boyf is reading PPE@O - he did maths, fm, econ, and history, his offer was AAA. He got a fabulous TSA score but found the interview experience odd - he had one less than the rest of the people he was hanging out with while there, and came home having convinced himself that it was because they weren't interested in him...

Bit busy at moment but will post later re English. I failed my Oxford interview and I do know why. It was a long time ago but nothing has really changed.

We have had two successful applicants to Oxford for English quite recently, too.

@felinephoenix there’s a video here about an English graduate from Christ Church. Not a “how to” at all, but might be of interest.
vimeo.com/466472549

@tangowhiskyalphatango Hi, I've read your original post but not the rest of the comments in this very long thread! Just came here to mention a couple of things that might help. I went to Cambridge in 2006-2009. It's possible some things have changed since then.

Choosing a college: I did an 'open application' (didn't specify a college) so was automatically allocated to what is now called Murray Edwards, a women-only college. It's possible this gave me an advantage as it's one of the less popular colleges - it seems likely that competition is fiercer at the more prestigious colleges so I may have seemed 'better' at interview compared to other applications they saw? The interview took place at the college and I was one of only two interviewees for my subject, i.e. one of only two people that that particular Director of Studies had to choose between. (The end result was that I was offered a place and the other applicant was put in the 'winter pool'. Then after results I ended up at a different college and she took the place at Murray Edwards! This is a little unusual.)

Without giving away too many personal details about subject etc, in my interview I was given a few tricky challenges along the lines of, 'here's a thing related to your subject - what can you tell me about it? What's interesting? How would you go about solving/analysing/developing this?' So it's good to be able to really THINK, and be critical, and be honest about what you do and do not know. They're looking for the thought process as much as (or more than) the answer itself. I was absolutely hopeless at one particular challenge and basically sidelined one entire element of it in order to attempt to achieve the rest of the goal.

I also had an interview with a couple of pastoral (not subject specific) people from the college. I was asked about my extracurricular interests. I don't remember much else about it other than we somehow ended up all agreeing that we liked the portrayal of Charlotte Lucas' financial situation in the 2005 pride and prejudice film 🤷‍♀️

So I guess what I'm saying is, you can help prepare for a potential interview by really getting used to talking around the subject and discussing things (literally anything) with more perception and a willingness to just 'have a go' even if the result isn't perfect. That TV programme you just watched? What do you think were that character's motivations and why? That news story you just read? What can you tell me about the issues it raises about society as a whole, what are the ethical dilemmas, how would you respond if you were Person X in the story? (Sorry, I don't know enough about DDs preferred subject to think of a more specific example!)

I don't mean to put you off if that all sounds a bit poncy, and I definitely DON'T discuss tv and news this way all the time, but I know how to turn that bit of brain on and blag my way through a discussion if I need to, and I can critique information I'm presented with. This is a skill worth practising and it's the kind of thing that can come in useful in an oxbridge interview.

Thankyou @PantTwizzler and I look forward to any insights @Piggywaspushed.

My daughter has a real aptitude for reading (3 books a week) and critical analysis skills so I feel she would be able to cope with the demands of either institution for English.

OK, so re English.

I was a bit overlooked at school and made a decision quite late to apply so probably had not prepped myself enough for Oxford interview and also was not prepped at all by my school. If your DD's school doesn't do Oxbridge mock interviews I'd recommend sorting something!

I was an avid reader and , in hindsight pretty good stuff (Spark, McCullers, Cather) : for its day my tastes were very female and very Scots/American . I'd like to think that wouldn't be so sneered at now. But your DD needs to-

a) read widely and beyond what she it taught
b) read about and reflect upon her reading ( I didn't do that bit)
c) read historically widely and know different movements (eg the Romantics, metaphysical poets)
d) be prepared psychologically for any obscure unseen poem (this was the bit I was floored by totally)
e) really exude a love for literature
f) be clear on what she doesn't consider worthwhile and why ( it's a leftfield question but one that is asked)
g) be prepared to feel very small and inadequate. She must fight her corner. I didn't.
h) say what school subjects have taught her/not taught her/done for her
i) be able to explain coursework in detail

I had three interviews. One was horrific. The more pastoral one was lovely. But I wish I had thought more about what I would have said about reading. I just love books. That wasn't enough. People were swanning about talking about Nietzsche and I felt out of place, quite angry, quite excluded and instead of taking righteous fire and indignation inot my interview , I giggled and gave self effacing answers 9I STILL do this!). My interviewer also had an issue with Scots darkening his door as he commented on my kilt, told me he didn't understand Scottish exams and eyerolled at Burns and said' let's talk about something that isn't Scottish). English literature was the only thing then. I am so glad that is not the case any more!

Excuse typos!

Oh @Piggywaspushed it sounds like a baptism of fire!
I hope you weren't too scarred from the experience as it sounds daunting.

I appreciate the heads up re reading widely and pushing outside of comfort zones but it sounds as though it's very difficult to fully prepare for ..which I guess is the point.

Self confidence and self esteem need to be high I would imagine to hold your corner and fight for your place.
Hope it all worked out for you, regardless

Oh it was all fine! I only ever wanted to be a teacher (cue more eyerolling from interviewer) so it wasn't life changing and I still went to a v good uni. It was all self confidence and preparedness. I do see that this is why some young people are so advantaged . Me now would have handled it all differently . My interviewer was an arse. I am sure they aren't all like him!

@Piggywaspushed - thanks for that. I'm almost ready to share the horror of my 1994 HSPS Cambridge interview but not just yet. Another example of what happens when a school does nothing to help...

Yes, mine still comes back to me sometimes and I don't remember stuff from my past all that well as a rule.

I don't entirely blame my school. It was in Glasgow and academic but not a real Oxbridge track record. My two friends who got I applied to all female colleges.

The system was definitely stacked then. I am amazed anyone got I who wasn't English public school educated at the time! I realised when I did get to uni how different a Scottish education really is , especially on subjects such as English and history.

What did Murray Edwards used to be called?

find out who is scheduling building work

Yes, I encouraged DD away from Clare because when we visited on Open Day they had a tent up explaining about the upcoming works. That said, your kids are 2 years later, so maybe it will all be finished by then, and seems to be amazing project with a riverside cafe.