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.

Ds mooching back in usual unemotional state about TMUA which he said was 'in the middle' as far as difficulty went. I'm relieved it's over, anyway.

@coldsoonplease

Would anyone know why some Cambridge colleges ask for written work and some don't? Presumably those that don't rely more on the interview? If you are applying to a college that doesn't want written work and you end up being pooled to a college that does, how does that work? Can they ask for written work later?

Yes I believe so. Dd has applied for HSPS at Clare who aren't asking for written work but other colleges are. If she was pooled I've read they may ask for work. We shall see......

DD uploaded her written work at precisely 5pm Italian time. There was no time deadline for this, unlike the SQ thingy, but last night, when she was still tinkering with it she suddenly came running in going "it won't be ready by midnight!" Cue me going "WHAT DO YOU MEAN MIDNIGHT I THOUGHT IT WAS TOMORROW" (but with more expletives)
Found a vague phrase saying "usually to be submitted by 11.59pm" but the "usually" didn't comfort us, so she belted off to TSR where a very nice person from Peterhouse admissions said they couldn't be specifically helpful about Kings but suggested she do it for 5pm.

I am so done with all of this. I'm looking at the apricot brandy I made yesterday morning for Christmas and am wondering if I could just neck the lot and start again tomorrow with some fresh.

@TerrifiedandWorried- wow, sounds very complex, which college?
@leonardo1972, dd also has Bath and St Andrews on her application and I'm bloody liking both more than C.

@mustardpot13

Oxford MAT ( sat yesterday) solutions are out. Probably best not to look at them !!

Don't think I'll even tell DS!

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango It is puzzling that some colleges find written work useful and others seemingly don't. I wonder how big a part it can really play in their decision-making if some colleges have dispensed with the requirement altogether. It seems unduly burdensome and stress-making, and I can well sympathise @Geamhradh!

My DS sat the TSA (Oxford, applying for PPE) today and is so disheartened as he felt it was so much harder than the practice and past papers he's been working with. Anyone else in a similar situation? This is going to be a long, difficult month now and he's convinced that he failed completely 😢

Whatstheweatherlike if your DS found it hard, everyone else will have too. The tests aren't designed to be easy and it's always far harder doing them under exam conditions without having answers nearby to check how you have done. My DD said exactly the same 2 years ago. It's your relative position which is important.

Tell him not to compare notes with anyone else or look at TSR. It will be a hive of activity of students asking if the answer to Q3 was 56 or asking how to do Q7. I'm sure some post deliberately to drive everyone into a frenzy.

The only comforting messages about hard papers is that everyone is in the same boat and mark boundaries will reflect that; and that if you found it hard you're likely to feel engaging at the right level and not missing complexity.

LMH @Geamhradh - she fell in love with it on a school trip in year 7. I feel totally out of my depth with the whole process. I didn't even go to university.

Thank you Hoghgyni and PermanentTemporary for your comforting words. Yes, I said to him that it's all relative and likely to have been very difficult for everyone. Will definitely be steering him away from any comparisons with others! I think it was the maths questions he's most frustrated with. It's his strongest subject and has found them OK so far in all the practice papers but today they seemed so much harder. I'm going to try and get him to switch off and focus on something completely different for a while. Hoping others here aren't having such an awful evening.

whatstheweatherlike my DS did TSA today and applying for PPE at Oxford too. He thought it was really hard too and he's been doing timed practice papers for weeks and weeks and gradually increasing his scores. He had a nightmare though - halfway through his essay his computer crashed. The teachers came and had to get it up and running again and he didn't lose anything but he said it totally freaked him out and his head just couldn't get back in the zone or refind his train of thought. The teacher was horrified and wrote a report to explain and was very sympathetic but my DS just took it as a sign that he isn't meant to get to Oxford. He's quite philosophical but is now dreading all the work he's going to have to do to catch up - he's prioritised the TSA practice over everything and missed a few lessons. He's glad it's over.

@Horace123 the Classics busses are on the road!
DD has an offer from Bristol!

@ProggyMat - amazeballs 😊🏆

Oh no SayYouDontMind that's awful. I hope they take the teacher's report into account for him. It sounds like your son has got a really mature approach to it all though. Yes, it's been the same here that the TSAs have taken over other things for the last few weeks so now it's a case of getting back on track.

@ProggyMat Yay! Congratulations to your DD. Obviously now wishing DS had applied to Bristol! Let’s hope you were right and now that one has arrived the rest will follow swiftly.

Great news Proggymat!

And all.these immensely tense experiences are character building i suppose...

[quote SandyBayley]@ProggyMat - amazeballs 😊🏆[/quote]
Cheers!
I’m aware that you and DD have had-to extend my analogy- a much longer wait at the chilly bus stop but I’m sure the medicine busses will be rattling along soon!

[quote Horace123]@ProggyMat Yay! Congratulations to your DD. Obviously now wishing DS had applied to Bristol! Let’s hope you were right and now that one has arrived the rest will follow swiftly.[/quote]
They will!
And I know what you mean
I wouldn’t have opted for the busses DD chose but it’s her journey.

That's great news! Makes everything seem more real to see real live offers

So great to hear the offers coming in - congrats ProggyMat

Hi, new here. I have a question. My DD decided relatively late to apply to Oxford. She has put that application in but has not put her other 4 applications in yet. Would any of you recommend waiting to find out if she has an interview at Oxford before putting the other applications in or just put them in? She isn't quite decided about which to pick as her other four. We haven't been able to visit any of them but they are all kind of big major city ones so I am not sure if a visit would help anyway.

I would put them in regardless of the interview. What's the decision - how many left in the running?

Congratulations to @ProggyMat's DD and all the others with offers. And @SayYouDontMind I am sure they will consider the report from the teacher; certainly if that happened during a GCSE or A level exam there would be special consideration given.

DD had an offer from Edinburgh yesterday, we weren’t expecting to hear from them for months, so she is worried it is a mistake or that she has misinterpreted the message.