Oxbridge Aspirants 2022...Part 2...applications submitted now the tense wait!

[TangoWhiskyAlphaTango]

Thought I would start a new thread as part one is nearly full and found thread one to be of great support.

So its deadline week this week for our applicants then the nervous wait begins to find out of they have made it to interview. DD applying for HSPS at Cambridge. We know it is a long shot but got to be in it to win it and she is very keen to try. Looking at the admissions info it does not look as though she will need to sit a test prior but all the best to those who will have to.

Thanks, I'll take it! It's given ds a boost in time for TMUA which he's dreading a bit.

Great news PermanentTemporary

@PermanentTemporary

Excited - Ds has had his first offer - AAA from Birmingham (standard Compsci offer). Am very proud and happy about that one.

Awwww well done to your Ds!

Eightytwenty Fingers crossed that won't matter. It's still a fabulous A.

Great news Permanent Temporary

We've been in Oxford today to have lunch with DS1. I found myself thinking how nice it would be to be there this time next year meeting up with both DS1 and DD. Oxford was looking particularly lovely in the Autumn sun....

My DD too has had an AAA offer for Birmingham (Maths). As @PermanentTemporary says it is such a boost just before TMUA plus she really liked Birmingham when we visited (the only full open day we have managed). Hopefully she might now be a little less grumpy and I have promised her homemade cake on Thursday!

Great news cosmicat. I am terrible at wishing ds's life away but it feels really good.

Fantastic cosmiccat, congratulations to your DD.

Sending positives vibes to all DCs revising for the ‘ATs’ next week!

Final few days. DD has been working hard all week. The BMAT is a complicated beast. I'll be glad when it's done 😬

That's great news @cosmiccat! DD has had one response now, an invite to interview at Manchester for maths and physics.

(Just had acknowledgements from others)

I echo that @ProggyMat. Good luck all.

@Eightytwenty

Yes and toes.

Ds has gathered examples of his work but has just realised he needs to add his name and course to the top of the pdf so back to the drawing board. I have no idea if the standard will be sufficiently good for one of pieces of work. He’s applying for His/Pol. His History submission was graded at 80%. Unfortunately History was the only subject which was graded as an A band 2 at Highers. His Modern Studies piece of work is 92% and it just feels like his results, interest and knowledge in mods / politics are much stronger than for history.

@ProggyMat @cosmiccat Excellent news for your dc!

@Eightytwenty

After yet more fruitless email correspondence, DD is now translating into English two of her Italian essays (but on history/politicky stuff) and her teacher has said she'll sign it off.

This is incredibly frustrating as DD is getting little or no useful information whatsoever from admissions and I can see with every copy and paste stock reply that comes to her, she's getting more and more "what's the point".

She studies history at school, and well, but they don't do written assignments because it's not part of their school leaving certificate.

The college said "you can send some you've already done" (yes, we understand that- see above- they don't do written history assignments) as long as they're in English (we're in the EU, they don't write their work in English) it can be translated into English but needs to be marked by the teacher. And which teacher would that be? Italian? History? English?
Head-desk. And repeat.

Fast forward to "you can write something especially for us" Great! But "needs to be in English and marked by the teacher" Rinse and repeat.

It is all so frustrating. It's like going back to Computer Says No sketches.

I think it's scuppered any chance she has tbh but I can see she's getting to the point where she doesn't care anymore and I certainly am. They are so unhelpful. I appreciate they can pick and choose, and it's Oxbridge and blablabla, but the copy and paste of irrelevant stock answers reminds you of trying to communicate with something like Ryanair rather than one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

[quote Eightytwenty]@Geamhradh what an enormous extra hurdle. No wonder you’re fed up! Surely they have had EU applicants in the past.[/quote]
Quite! I've sent 4 students myself! Just not for history and politics.
I'm sort of blaming myself for not finding out earlier- but every time DD asked me I said (foolishly) "well, you don't do written history, so you won't be able to send them anything, they'll be a proviso for people like you"
Except the proviso is to find and send what doesn't exist. Hey ho.

I'm curious as to how you study history without having to write essays? Genuine question. (I gave up history in Year 9 as found it too difficult to remember everything, and had no idea which era came where!)

Cambridge is saying essays this year don't need to be marked just to add extra to your annoyance...

What a pain this sounds for your DD.

@CurlyhairedAssassin

I'm curious as to how you study history without having to write essays? Genuine question. (I gave up history in Year 9 as found it too difficult to remember everything, and had no idea which era came where!)

They do assessed tests (4 a year, 2 in each term) which go towards their final end of year mark, but they aren't essays. They also have 4 assessed oral tests. At the end of the first term, they get 2 marks, 1 written and 1 oral, then at the end of the year they just get one mark. This can be a mathematical average of the 8 marks, and that's how they used to do it, but now most schools allow for some "he's always present and tries really hard so I'm proposing upping that 8 to a 9" etc.

In their school leaving exam, they had (until last year) 3 written exams- Italian (which would potentially comprise essays about history as well) is the main one (6 hours) (they produce just one piece of written work in that 6 hours) then they do a "second written" which varies according to the type of high school- DD is linguistic so hers will be either English, Chinese or German. (guess which one they're hoping for) again 6 hours, then there was the "third test" which is 2 questions from every subject (kind of like the old General Studies for anyone old enough to remember) which have to be answered in 10 lines.

That's changed for 2022 anyway, and now they'll have the big 2 6 hour exams plus a "maxi oral exam" when they have an interview with an externally led commission. It's still a bit vague as to how it will operate, but from what the Ministry of Ed is saying it'll take the form of a "springboard"- each kid will be given a quote, a picture, a news article etc and is then expected to link all their subjects to that starting point with members of the commission for each subject jumping in with questions as and when.

That's me there btw with my Covid board name

@Geamhradh what a nightmare!
In your shoes I’d advise DD to stop emailing and submit the two pieces of translated work. Her teacher can confirm on the cover sheet that the work is a translated copy of the original submitted for x in her course?
I think you may have mixed me up with another poster with a DC holding an offer- understandable in the circumstances!
DD is yet to receive an offer from her other choices so sending positive vibes to those in the same position.

@Piggywaspushed

Cambridge is saying essays this year don't need to be marked just to add extra to your annoyance...

What a pain this sounds for your DD.

FFS. @ProggyMat oops! Sorry! Lovely that the offers are coming in thick and fast though! We have a long weekend here and she's going to do the other piece and check the translation of the first one and get it sent. Then I'm going to start saying how lovely Bath and Exeter are.

@SapereAude No problem! DD is very chilled and of ‘it’s early days’ mindset-,it’s more me! 😂
After parking Oxford up, she has a first and second choice and it would be nice to get an offer on the table from one
That said, both are notorious for late offers

And yes! Great to see early offers coming through!

Must be all very frustrating geamhradh.

I go off places very quickly based on administration processes. Friday pm scheduled for a US college International Applicant Q&A session. DD registered, zoom invite, 3 reminders sent by them ahead, all good. But couldn’t access the meeting, no Meeting ID provided in any of them, couldn’t get in. Deadline to apply is only Nov 1st. She’s walked away as an early decision applicant, even though it’s likely she wouldn’t have got a place anyway. She’d rather wait to feel ‘wanted’ (if there will be such a thing this intake?) and this was enough of a red flag with zero response from them to walk away now before any further meaningful admin engagement to negotiate.