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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Oxbridge Aspirants 2022

997 replies

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 26/03/2021 07:35

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.

OP posts:
Abetes · 27/07/2021 11:49

My dd has just finished her second year at Oxford. I agree with @goodbyestranger that you shouldn't get fixated on a particular college as many students get reallocated before or during the interview process. However, the factors that my dd considered when choosing were:

  • old traditional vs newer more modern?
  • do you want to be in the centre (more convenient for some things but busier/more tourists/more congestion? Would you rather be somewhere a bit further out and quieter?
  • is in-college accommodation for all years important to you or would you like living out?
  • do you want to be near your department/sports grounds/rowing/other facilities?
  • do you want a college that has a high quality choir/orchestra/sports teams/other societies or will these be just for fun?
  • big vs small college?
  • how many people doing my course at that college?
  • any specialist tutors who have a particular interest in my area of interest (eg a particular author or poet for English or a particular area of expertise for medicine?)....although obv tutors might move colleges or leave.
ErrolTheDragon · 27/07/2021 13:29

when she is selecting a college to have a punt at-

Simple... select a college that has its own punts.Grin (maybe all the Oxford ones do, it was a source of slight regret to dd that her Cambridge one didn't)

FlyingSquid · 27/07/2021 16:53

'the factors that my dd considered when choosing were:

  • old traditional vs newer more modern?
  • do you want to be in the centre (more convenient for some things but busier/more tourists/more congestion? Would you rather be somewhere a bit further out and quieter?
  • is in-college accommodation for all years important to you or would you like living out?
  • do you want a college that has a high quality choir/orchestra/sports teams/other societies or will these be just for fun?
  • big vs small college?
  • how many people doing my course at that college?
  • any specialist tutors who have a particular interest in my area of interest'

That was basically DD's list too, together with 'Does it have kitchens?' The college she's been given is pretty much the opposite in all respects!

Looks nice though. Hope she's going to like it anyway.

Genegenieee · 01/08/2021 11:19

Joining to follow the discussion and for support. DD is applying to Cambridge for Maths and I think decided on the other unis - that took a while as so focused / hellbent on Cambridge (she gets the risk).

She's looking at colleges at the moment, discounted Trinity. Having had a look at the Tumblr link, her short list are tier 1 and tier 2. It's the colleges

Genegenieee · 01/08/2021 11:25

Oops posted to soon?! I was going to say it's the college part that I find the hardest tbh - does she go for the one she wants which is harder to get into or the tier 2 one she also likes which may be less risky

Lovecatsanddogs · 01/08/2021 16:58

@Genegenieee I would be tempted to apply to Tier 2 as a way of having a little more control of where DD ends up as more likely to be pooled from Tier 1. Also if it is Clare there is a lot of ongoing building work going on and it looks quite disruptive.

sommerso · 02/08/2021 09:21

Hi - regarding Cambridge, can I ask what you mean by Tier 1 and Tier 2 colleges?

Piggywaspushed · 02/08/2021 10:35

See, this sort of thing is exactly what puts me (and I suspect lots of others) off Cambridge/Oxford...

sommerso · 02/08/2021 11:21

Lovecatsanddogs - thanks for that info. I had no idea Confused

Lovecatsanddogs · 02/08/2021 11:38

@sommerso

I dont know if its accurate or not I just found it when DD applied!

ErrolTheDragon · 02/08/2021 12:35

It's not an official thing, it's just a fairly crude way of looking at the admission/pool/offers statistics isn't it?

Another thing re pooling is that they have a system of letting the college which needs more of a particular subject have first dibs on the pool.

DottyHarmer · 02/08/2021 15:31

Where that link does get it right, ime, is make a brutally honest assessment of how competitive a candidate you are.

All 9s, all A*s, likely to ace the admissions test, massive wider understanding and interest of chosen subject - then confidently pick your college, however oversubscribed and its reputation for subject applying for.

If, however, you are having a bit of a punt, then choose more strategically.

Not 100% foolproof, but it pays to be honest with yourself and not underrate the competition.

Lovecatsanddogs · 02/08/2021 17:09

Also if any dds really would not want to end up in a female college it's best not to
apply to an oversubscribed one perhaps?

Genegenieee · 02/08/2021 18:49

Errol, agree it's not official - I think it's taking the graphs and stats which are publicly available on applications and admissions for each college, and giving a shorthand summary of how much competition there is to get in.

What puts you off @Piggywaspushed ?

@Lovecatsanddogs and others thank you, John's is the tier 1 one she's interested in. I think she's going to talk to her school, still not sure. She's got top grade predictions etc. I think she'd prefer a mixed college but wouldn't mind being pooled to a women's college but prob wd prefer not to be pooled to a v far out of town college.

Piggywaspushed · 02/08/2021 18:54

Jargon, secret knowledge, elitism,codes- even within the universities. Having to be 'in the know', the idea that you might do the 'wrong thing'. It's all - it feels- almost deliberately intimidating and exclusive.

sommerso · 02/08/2021 19:04

Re- GCSEs, they look at the average GCSE score from the applicants school and where the applicant’s grades sit in relation to that average. So ten grade 9s will not be particularly stellar from a school where the average pupil gets all 8s/ 9s. But from a school where the average is 5 GCSE passes at grade 5, a string of 8s/ 9s will indeed be regarded as exceptional. They really do look at context.

Also, nearly everyone applies with at least two A predictions to be in with a cat in hell’s chance. For sciences in particular, this is the minimum. Even 3 A predictions would not give you the pick of any college - just get you to the interview stage maybe? Thousands are turned down every year (far more than receive offers) and the vast majority of these will have the top possible grades / predictions.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be doom and gloom, but just speaking from experience and I think they have to go into it knowing the odds!

Genegenieee · 02/08/2021 20:04

@Piggywaspushed - yes I understand where you are coming from, would prob put me off too but the maths / theoretical physics course there is DD's preferred course by some way (and I think whichever college she might end up at, the course etc is the same).

@sommerso I think she's got eyes wide open about the challenge, and is privileged to be at a v good school for 6th form so the point you make about context around her grades is relevant. inevitably she would be disappointed to not get an interview / not get an offer - but even after an offer, she will have to pass / meet STEP requirements of any offer (with papers sat at same time as 4 A levels Confused). Long road ahead ...

Piggywaspushed · 02/08/2021 20:10

Yeah, I think my doubts are not his doubts. He is more gung ho about it than me! I think he is up for the challenge. He certainly on paper isn't a prime candidate, but his school has no Oxbridge track record at all so it's difficult when there is no one to follow on from. But at least the uni is local to us so that removes one barrier. I think he wouldn't even consider it if it didn't just seem a local choice, oddly! In many ways we realise courses on offer at other unis are at least as good, if not even a better fit so not too big a loss if he doesn't succeed. Nothing ventured, nothing gained...

Malbecfan · 02/08/2021 20:27

That tier thing looks a bit off to me. I just looked at the link with DD1 who has just graduated from a "tier 2" college according to that post. She was pooled from another so-called tier 2 college. One of my students applied to a so-called tier 2 for a popular science course and has been pooled to a "tier 1". So that's 100% of the people I know who have been pooled for this subject for which that post is inaccurate.

Seriously, don't waste ages on it. Look at what works for your DC whether that is the proximity to Sainsburys or a covered bike shed. Apply there. If they are good enough and interview well, someone will pick them out of the pool even if their first choice college decides not to make them an offer.

Seriously @Piggywaspushed, when DD1 applied, we were pretty clueless. We had visited the city and looked at various colleges as tourists but not the one where she ended up. However, we have been absolutely delighted with everything there, from the initial parents' welcome tea in the Master's lodge to the communication to the way they have responded to Covid, she could not have been in a better place. She is staying on for a PhD - we actually told her to move on but her college really wants her to stay and she's had a wonderful 4 years there.

Piggywaspushed · 02/08/2021 20:30

Thanks malbec, that really helps .

ProggyMat · 02/08/2021 20:35

@ErrolTheDragon

when she is selecting a college to have a punt at-

Simple... select a college that has its own punts.Grin (maybe all the Oxford ones do, it was a source of slight regret to dd that her Cambridge one didn't)

I was thinking more on the lines of having a cheeky e.w bet- the sort that may well run on into a place…
Genegenieee · 02/08/2021 21:32

Thanks Malbecfan, I suggested a shortlist based on who had a pool as it was really boiling the week she was reading up on them but she's ignored me on that one

Chilldonaldchill · 02/08/2021 22:02

I can't recall if I've already posted on this thread but my dd is a current offer holder (awaiting results next week). She applied to a "tier 2" college (I only just read that article - we didn't know about that before. She deliberately didn't look at statistics etc beforehand as it doesn't really seem to make that much difference). On paper she is a prime candidate (all 9s, all A* predictions, state school with very good results but certainly not all amazing, very likely to have done very well in test, genuine interest in subject and plenty of super-curricular stuff that she'd done)... And she got pooled.
Looking at this year's statistics the college she applied to had a huge number of applicants for her subject. She doesn't think she did well at the interview.
The college she has been pooled to is similar to the one she applied to - if anything, slightly higher up the Cambridge rankings over the last few years. But, despite having a significant number of applicants as well, 80% of their offers this year are from the pool (for her subject).
She knows about 8 other people going and 5 of them were pooled - all the others to female only colleges that aren't central.
(And all of them are very talented people with great results).
Luckily she wasn't hugely invested in "her" college but certainly she had spent quite a lot of time looking at it online and then all of a sudden things changed.
Some of her friends were much more invested in the colleges they applied to and experienced more disappointment (albeit short-lived) to get an offer elsewhere.
My advice would be not to focus too much on the minutiae of what each college offers - I believe 40% of undergraduates are not at the college they actually applied to.

Chilldonaldchill · 02/08/2021 22:05

And we knew nothing about the process beforehand. I didn't know this site existed; I didn't know what pooling was. We literally had visited the city twice several years before on day trips and DD had fallen in love with it then. I don't think it disadvantaged her particularly - although to be fair her school did offer some Oxbridge lunchtime meetings to discuss interviews and personal statements etc.