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.

Thank you both for the information on halls and subjects.

Yes DS was strongly encouraged to take Chemistry by both ourselves and his Chemistry teacher but he wouldn’t listen.

I think he will be pretty easy with regards to Halls and will encourage him not to get overly invested. He visited Durham for a virtual tour which is much closer to us last month and was very impressed with all the architecture there.

Morning, hoping everyone's return back to school/college is going well.

If there are any DC of posters with first hand experience of either Downing or Selwyn College Cambridge, would welcome a PM with any insights. DD had originally chosen other colleges, but due to clashes with other students at school, is looking at alternatives. Her basic needs are self catering options if possible (but not essential), good music and sports, friendly community. She's outgoing and mixes easily. Is looking to apply to AMES with MML 2nd language, so will be a small course.

She is not getting overly invested at this stage, knows pooling if she got that far could throw up somewhere else but just needs to finalise her application in the next week for internal review.

Thanks to anyone that can share any information, including how the colleges were to students during the last 18 months.

Selwyn on our list too!

Visited Selwyn, Homerton and Fiztwilliam a few weeks ago. It was beautiful.

They have a resident 'very large cat'. Discovered that this is a dog...

It was closer to Cambridge than the other two I named on a leafy quiet street : but further from amenities.

Thanks Piggy.

The cat that is actually a dog but looks like a large cat could well be the deciding factor between 1st and 2nd choice!

I think there are two 'very large cats' actually!

It doesn't even look like a cat : it's a beagle! (it's a typically Cambridge story: will find a link)

We sure wasted our time looking for the college cat....

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-28966001

Hello, I have just spotted this thread. I have skimmed through and it looks really helpful. Good luck to all your DC!

I have a ds in yr 13 first day back today. He wants to do Maths at Oxbridge or a RG uni. He has 5 8 and 5 9s at GCSE and is predicted 3A* and 1 A at A level (further maths, physics and classical civilisation).

He is very driven, loves maths, entered a maths essay comp this year, and he is doing an EPQ. He has started prepping for the STEP/ MAT.

He is autistic so has extra time and a separate room/ post scribe or access to lap top to type in exams cos no one can read his writing. Quite extreme sensory issues.

So applying to any uni is going to be a bit more complex, we will need to find the right support for him.

He has signed up for various online open days. His school has offered a bit of help but not a huge amount.

It is difficult because change is hard for DS, but he is very determined to go to the best uni he can. I am immensely proud of him and that won't change regardless what happens next year.

Welcome FlemCantango, hope you find support both here and in RL to support your DS's application.

Welcome! Your love for your boy shines through.

I , too, am proud of mine regardless. He is the kindest person I know 😀

Welcome @FlemCandango - if you don't try you'll never know.

My DD is applying for Oxford Medicine. I experienced Oxford application with DS1 (now 2nd year there) and I have to say that the Medicine element of the application is frazzling my brain much more than the Oxford element!

I have a DD in S6 in Scotland. She leaves school 1 year earlier than in England, which seems to me to be a big disadvantage when applying to a competitive university. It's a 1 year 6th form. Is anyone else from Scotland? Anyway, she's expressing an interest in Oxbridge, so I need to support that. There's not much time at this stage. We've gone through the colleges and excluded half of them, but not sure how to narrow it down further.

I applied from Scotland, many moons ago. I did feel, at the time, that the interviewers wilfully did not understand the Scottish system and I felt young and underprepared next to some very confident and assured English students, I will admit. I am not sure that Scottish schools, even the elite ones (maybe not so much the Edinburgh ones?) target Oxbridge as the pinnacle .

BUT , I think there are loads of advantages in the breadth of the Scottish system. Some people poo poo this but I am going to say it anyway. there are colleges that are known to be more open to/have abetter rate of admission of students from Scotland. I don't know which ones they are these days but must be possible to find out.

What subject is she looking at?

There was someone on Oxbridge boards a couple of years ago who had a DS applying from a state school in Scotland (and shared your anxieties ) : he got in. I wonder if I can retrieve who that was. Will dig.

Thank you both. MML.

Yes, she'll be 16 at interview and a few months into 6th form.

I had just turned 17 when I had mine.

I thinks he just needs to make sure she gets some practice interviews beforehand. I was never offered any.

Were you referring to me, Piggy?

My son started at Oxford in 2019 from a Scottish state school.

Lateyetagain, is there anything in particular you'd like to know. My son was only just 18 when he started at Oxford. He was very brave (in my eyes) at age 16 and went down on the train on a 10 hour journey on his own for a two day subject open day staying at a college. He arrived in Oxford at 9pm and had to find the college in a strange city. Thank god for smart phones. This really helped his confidence as it was all done on his own initiative.

NB the college offered to pay his train fare and gave him free accommodation.

He's very happy now and is just starting third year there.

Yes, i think I am!! Hello!

I just wonder whether many colleges are likely to make an offer to someone who on starting uni will have spent only 1 year in 6th form. And when she has to take the test, produce essays and discuss literature she'll be that year behind everyone else.

But Scotland has three years of examined content post 16 (for many). The S6 bunch are really equivalent to our year 12s. It has always been said the final year in Scotland is worth more than year 13 in England (got a bit behind these days with the qualifications but pretty sure they are tariffed more highly on UCAS). There is no magic intellectualism in England's two year sixth form, honest!

It's not a year behind : same number of years of education ; just different school start dates. I assume the oldest DCs in a Scottish school year are still the April babies?

Please don't panic on that score!

I think that Scottish pupils do have a year less in education as they start school 6 months later and end six months earlier but you can't really compare this to a year less in sixth form. There is no sixth form in Scotland (or at least my area) as all schools are 11-18.

My son has another friend who got an Oxbridge offer and they allowed her to defer (their suggestion) as she would not have been 18 until the Christmas after the first term.

Advanced highers are considered slightly harder than A levels in most subjects as it involves a lot of independent learning, like at university. My son did advanced higher RMPS (religious, moral and philosophical studies) from scratch and discovered there were no text books or revision books as it's an uncommon subject so really had to teach himself alongside three periods of timetabled class himself. If your DC is good enough for Oxbridge they should be able to do this.

Primary school : 7 years? Secondary = 6 = 13 years? Same as England?

My DC has had a year less in school than English pupils. I've done the maths.