Oxbridge Aspirants 2022

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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.

One parent went way beyond disappointment to give me a countdown on what poor quality students were at a certain college - the one her DC applied to - for the subject the DC applied for, then spiralled off into the whole top private schools are feeling the backlash etc.

Blimey, if the company the DC would have been forced to keep were as undesirable as all that, you'd think that Mummy / Daddy would think that their little darling had had a narrow escape? (Trying not to say here, whereas, it's the offer holders who seem to have had that, because to be fair, sometimes fruit does manage to fall quite a distance from the tree).

Ooooohhhhhh lots of us then to support each other through this nail biting process. Not everything hinges on dd going to Cambridge and she is well aware that if its not meant to be then she will make her way at another Uni. Its just such a fantastic opportunity and so exciting, I never went to Uni so I am excited for what lies ahead for her Cambridge or not.

Do any of you have a child that just blows your mind with their sheer determination and hard work? She tells me all these things she has done like joining the labour party, running for school governor, asking her teacher if she can re submit her last essay as she did not get the grade. I admire her so much and its 100% her own doing. I never have to say a word she just wants to do her very best in all she does.......can you tell I am proud of her?!!

My tip is to read beyond the subject . Vast numbers of students will be offering all 9s, 3A*s and tip-top essays. Look for podcasts, articles, tv programmes as well as books on the subject of interest. This all helps with the entrance tests and, if over that hurdle, the interviews.

And I also second the attitude of friendly support from a parent but not Mission Oxbridge. There’s no doubt it is quite an intensive and brutal process, and both parents and dcs can lose the plot. I really think one or two parents this year (particularly one on the student room) have destroyed their own dcs’ mentally

It makes me so sad to read how absorbed some parents can get. I love my DC dearly but they are their own people and have to get on with their university applications and careers themselves. I'm interested (very) but what they do or don't do is their choice and achievement not mine.

On the 'wider reading' - DS1 read widely and voraciously but it was because he wanted to rather than because he had to. DD is the same. If a DC isn't inclined to read widely then that may be an indicator they might not be best suited to Oxbridge.

Do any of you have a child that just blows your mind with their sheer determination and hard work?

Well you can count me out.

I'm interested (very) but what they do or don't do is their choice and achievement not mine.

Exactly. I've long since realised that my DC getting into Oxford had to do with my long standing lack of absorption rather than the opposite.

Much less pressure for a start, and a bright kid will know if you're hovering absorbedly in the wings even if you keep claiming you're cool.

Following as also considering Oxbridge. Worried about the process though and how to help without putting pressure on.

Good luck to them all!

DD is one of those who ‘had a punt’ last year and was somewhat startled to get a place, certainly without all 9s at GCSE or all A* at A level.

She’s bright, but not startlingly so; more an interesting and interested person. I suspect she was more relaxed in the interviews than many a ‘dead cert’ student who was more committed to the process.

@FlyingSquid That's lovely to hear I hope your daughter loves it!

@Buttonfm Welcome hopefully we can support each other.

Competitions, professional conferences on your subject, reading list (which is often just a general springboard to you finding your own particular interest), follow the twitter accounts of your college, your department and the leading people in your subject, keep up with latest developments which interest you. Read academic papers and make links with other papers.

Ask academics and authors in your subject any questions you have that cannot be answered from their books and papers

DD1 did all this stuff and called it her "fifth A level". The only days she ever did no work towards her Cambridge mission was Christmas days. She even brought textbooks on holiday, as she was that determined to get top GCSEs.

I like that your DD is resubmitting essays, that shows reflection and teachability (this is very, very important) by following feedback. DD spent four days working on her submitted piece of work - something do do with the crusades and answering answering "what-if" questions, unrelated to what really happened and quite random, like trade and other incidental things that would have affected the outcome and aftermath and relating this to other conflicts and civilisations and this featured heavily in the interview. Preparation is all.

I acted like a manager; checking daily for the essay comps, finding conferences, outreach opportunities and places to visit, keeping track of deadlines, printing stuff and getting the cheapest copies of the (obscure) books she wanted. Her sixth form were excellent and went out of their way to find people who know about her subject to do mock interviews

Like you, I am unashamedly proud of her because she made it happen with graft and resourcefulness. She lives in a mediaeval paradise and the thought of this makes my day, every day. She's in her second term and the novelty has definitely not worn off for her.

...also do think about how you use the reading list carefully; you should really make links between a book and your other materials. Better still, critique the books/paper with some hard scientific evidence.

She needs to keep a running record/portfolio of what you will put in the 4000 word PS.

They don't care about music or sport, unless you're doing music, or you're a GB athlete.

DD was in the give it whirl camp - Oxf was not did not even hit her radar until a couple of months before the UCAS form had to be in. If your DC doesn't apply then it is a no already, but it has to be their choice because they want to do the subject at Cambs.

Good luck to them all btw - and not getting in is not the end of the world. Many fantastic and talented students don't get a place and with so many kids chasing so few places the difference between a place and not is so fine. I wouldn't like to tell them apart.

It's 4000 characters, rather than words, in a maximum of 47 lines, btw, the UCAS PS.

So the art of the précis is a handy one to cultivate, as well, wherever one is applying. DS2 actually said all he wanted to say in less than 3000. The PS adviser person at school, whilst agreeing that nothing need be added, was a bit taken aback, so I'm assuming that she was more used to having to help students to prune. To be fair, though, he wasn't applying to Oxbridge.

@MarchingFrogs You are quite right. It's 4000 characters, Thank you for pointing that out, as 4000 words is way over.

The final PS for DD was about 750 words, I think. I remember it was a tight squeeze.

@CinnamonJellyBeans Thank you very much for such a helpful post. Lovely to hear from another who is unashamed to admit they are proud of their dc. Much of what you've suggested she does do which is a good sign as she's sought these out by herself. She's fortunate to have a supportive college too, last year they had 16 get into Oxbridge which is pretty good for the area. I'm low key about it and she's very sensible & realistic knowing it's a long shot.

I didn't say I wasn't proud of my DC. I'm certainly proud of my DC. But your question was: Do any of you have a child that just blows your mind with their sheer determination and hard work? which is somewhat different.

I can see that CJB's DD is admirably enthusiastic and committed to her subject but it's worth saying that that level of intensity and investment is absolutely not required to get a place. For the vast majority of those getting an offer to read History it will be much more a case of interested/ interesting or engaged/ engaging; that kind of level. If I didn't know better, CJB's post would alarm me greatly. Each to their own but neither necessary nor sufficient to work 364 days a year and I personally would be alarmed if any of my DCs had regarded getting to Oxbridge as a 'mission'.

I applaud CinnamonJellyBeans’s coaching and her DD’s dedication to the task, but..... you have to bear in mind that the odds are long and the trouble is that if you invest your all in the process the hurt at rejection can be unbearable. Imagine if after all that cinnamon’s dd hadn’t got in. No wonder some people become bitter and do down those who have succeeded.

I think dd would have murdered me if I had “managed” her. I found the odd article of interest to her, but the drive was all hers. Ds needed a bit of a kick up the arse but if I had been monitoring deadlines and checking daily for essay comps I’d have made him ill.

The impetus must come from the dc; it’s a hollow victory if you realise the dream is mostly yours.

DD was certainly not on a mission either.

She’d seen how upset a couple of (exceptionally bright) relatives were by their first ever rejection and went into the process with a realistic view and a certain amount of relish.

I just posted a long response which has disappeared. Fwiw I'm absolutely with @goodbyestranger.
My child is a Cambridge offer holder. It was her dream and I'm delighted she has achieved an offer. She did do super-curricular things - she entered one essay competition, she attended lectures and listened to podcasts and she read books related to her subject. She didn't do any of those with the sole aim of getting into Cambridge - she genuinely loves her subject. As parents we had zero involvement, except for picking her up from the station late at night if she'd been into London for a lecture.
There are 11+ forums you can read that tell you you need to start preparing your child aged 8 and do an hour a day every day to get your child into grammar school. And then there's the reality that most children who get in do an hour a week and manage just fine.
I think this is similar - for all the "you need to do X to get in", the reality is that you don't. And unfortunately the reality is that it's a bit of a lottery. I'm enormously proud of my dd and her determination and achievements; I'm delighted she's got an offer from her dream uni; I don't have the slightest doubt that several others who were rejected from her course and college would be equally able to make the most of three years at Cambridge, had they been offered a place over her.
I asked her the other day what she was most worried about about Cambridge and her answer was "being with people who have been helicopter-parented for ever and who see their place as the result of Mission Cambridge" (I promise this is true before I ever read this) - luckily she knows 9 people going so far and none of them are remotely like that (some of them didn't even have Cambridge as their top choice preferring LSE or St Andrews) so I don't think she'll be unusual.

I think there is a fine line between supporting them and pushing them I am definitely not the latter. The reason I am so proud of her is that this is all of her own doing. For context I am from a very working back class background where education was not really seen as important. I see my Dd pushing herself in her education, she has a passion for politics and yes this blows my mind 🤷‍♀️

Whether she gets into Cambridge or not will not define her life of that I am sure. Does not stop me wanting her to have the best shot at I though, hence this thread.