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.

@TerrifiedandWorried

I know that everyone thinks their own child is special but DD really is . I think in the back of my mind I genuinely thought she would just walk into Oxford with no problems and thought that was a fair swap for the huge amount of work she has put in for the last 7 years or so. She got 12 9s for GCSE ffs. Her extra curriculars are off the chart and most of all, she genuinely wants to learn. It's not just because it's Oxford it's because she looked really hard at the courses available and this was the best one. I promise I'm not a pushy parent!

She hasn't been turned down yet, has she? From what you say, she probably will get in. But if she's applying to a very competitive course, it's best not to be too complacent. My DN had the best possible academic results and fantastic and unusual in a good way extra-curricular and comes across brilliantly. But somehow she didn't gel with the people at one of her interviews, and was turned down. Did get in on the 2nd attempt though.

@TerrifiedandWorried the school reference should address the fact that she only arrived at her high-performing indie for sixth form, so she will get the credit for having performed so well at gcse elsewhere. If I may, the best advice I can give is to lower the temperature as much as you can, take the pressure off her and big up her other choices. She will have a wonderful experience and be exceptionally well-educated at any of the world-class universities Oxbridge applicants typically apply to. I think there's a risk that if parents get too caught up in the whole Oxbridge thing that even if the DC get an offer, it can then take on a febrile, high-stakes, zero sum game quality as exams loom which makes the outcome you want from the exams less rather than more likely. The other problem with applying from a high-performing school is that if you miss the offer even by one mark they will show no clemency, so pressure off and temperature down at every opportunity.

Thank you guys - she knows none of my stress! She is incredibly level headed and has applied to Durham, Aberdeen, Leeds and UCL based on the courses offered rather than anything else. She's really open minded about it but absolutely lights up when she talks about the course at Oxford. I promise I'm quite a normal person, I think I'm coming across as a bit of a wanker on this thread! Sorry if that's the case, I just have noone to talk to about this in real life. Haven't met any of the other parents at her school because of Covid (well, one but only the once!). I'm totally out of my depth.

@TerrifiedandWorried not at all you sound lovely too. Your DD sounds amazing and is going to do so well. It's a long old road between October and August and I can't pretend I was always a paragon of zen-like calm.It felt really important to try though as I knew that my DC would take their cue from me.

As someone whose DD has been through the process and emerged at the other end (she got her MEng from Cambridge this summer), and who has seen many of these threads - one of the^ useful functions apart from information exchange is to serve as a supportive 'possibly^ overinvested parents anonymous' meeting

Goodness knows what I did with the italics there.

Terrified don't be hard on yourself, you just want the best for her. Good advice upthread, take your cues from her and try to focus on her having the best last year at school: there's so much to look forward to. I think I'm more chilled too because I'm I education and see so many wonderful pupils going on to great things all over the place, including college, apprenticeships, work and university. There's great stuff going on throughout their last year, honest. You're just being a good mum.

Incidentally, my DS had outstanding provision over lockdowns in his state comprehensive. My school has one of the highest scores of multiple deprivations in Scotland and we had amazing online support- I personally was online live teaching thr majority of the time. We have 2 pupils applying for Oxbridge which we're so proud of. It's not black and white that you have better chances if you go to a selective school. Apologies if it sounds like a rant, I just feel very strongly about it.

I don't think you have any need whatsoever to be terrified or worried about your DD TerrifiedandWorried, in terms of getting a place at LMH on the Law/ Law Studies course. I'm amazed that a local state secondary agreed to put your DD in for twelve new spec GCSEs, so they must have recognised her exceptional ability. How did she feel her LNAT went? Only a massive blip in that or something really odd happening at interview would scupper a place. I think you're correct that you tend to know as a parent when a kid is truly exceptional.

@Puffalicious your school sounds amazing! Well done! Her secondary school didn't have a 6th form btw or we would have sent her there. I'm not a fan of private education.

Old username! I'm not terrified or worried about DD!

She thinks the LNAT went OK, she had good scores on practice papers but it's impossible to tell. She's dyslexic so it was pretty challenging.

There must have been local state provision though TerrifiedandWorried. Still, your DD was clearly happy to go into the independent system if she solicited a scholarship, and by the time it gets to sixth form it's probably the young person's call, not the parent's/ parents'.

I wouldn't have thought of private at all but her rugby coach suggested she might like the school. We were wavering right up to the last minute. You're absolutely right that it ended up being her call. I wouldn't dare try to stop her doing anything

Terrified it's quite different here- no grammar system, no sixth form system: every school goes up to S6 and kids have a place at the school in their catchment (unless they go private). I'm a huge believer in quality education for all and it should be invested in heavily, but I also think people should choose to go private if they wish: educated is best.

Is she doing German A level? Or is she a native speaker?

German A level. Mad woman.

I don’t understand the comment I’m afraid. A good number of those applying (also true for MFL, annoyingly) have one or other parent whose first language is the one in question.

I thought the school had to disclose if an applicant is doing an A level in a language in which they are effectively a native speaker. But I suppose the school may not always be aware.

Totally agree! Let’s face it a high % of Oxbridge applicants are top in their schools (or in the top 10% at least), more or less straight A grade students… and many have read or studied beyond the curriculum. This is why their are interviews, pre-interview admission tests etc etc… it’s the only way to distinguish . Good luck to all

@kitnkaboodle

Hi *@mich101*! Nice to see some engineering applicants on here. Must be a boom year! My DS2 thought ENGAA was v hard - he came out rather shell-shocked. I think that a low score is kind of normal!!

Let’s hope so! 🙏

No the school isn’t always aware coldsoonplease.

It was a mild question, since two of my DDs have read Law at Oxford recently I was mildly interested in the reason for the year doing German law. Didn’t expect something like that to elicit the response mad woman!!!! Hope the DD is less aggressive with the tutors at interview.... though to be fair the female law tutors that I’ve come across are made of strong stuff :)

Ooh, I read Terrified’s reference to madness was towards her own DD!

Yes, me as well @ealingwestmum ! Personally I think some of my DC's A Level choices are a bit odd (Latin? Biology? ) but each to their own...

Morning all.
I agree very much with @VikingNorthUtsire's observation that it would probably be "nicer" if everyone knew that nobody was going to hear anything until after, say, the 5th March, but I appreciate that's unfeasible in this day and age. I can't remember when my UCCA offers came back in the dinosaur days.

When DD (and I, as witnessed by you all) has been having her hair-tearing, clothes-rending moments about the impenetrability of the "getting them to understand the written work issue", I did point out to her that she wouldn't have been the first applying from an Italian high school and so they would, actually, get why it's a problem, despite the head-against-brick-wall thing.

I also (especially as am often to be heard criticising the Italian school system ) have been stunned (in a good way for us) at how damn good pandemic provision was here. Our school closed on the 4th March 2020, ostensibly for "sanification". The regional govt announced it would reopen on the 16th, but in the meantime we went into national lockdown. By the 12th, DD was having a full timetable of online lessons. Which (sadly) went on for almost 18 months but they effectively lost just those first days. This is a school which doesn't have enough classrooms (DD currently in the school library, and 2 classes are in the gym) prior to March 20, five classrooms had an interactive whiteboard (out of 48) and yet, within a week, everyone was fully online. (Live lessons) Can't praise them enough. Good job really, as it went on until this September. They did open in September 2020, but after 10 days they closed again.

Lots of DC of native speakers in DD’s school, it has a very heavy international mix. Over 70% of her Spanish A level class are home speaking, it took a lot for her to overcome her confidence issue to hold her own, helped by activities such as debating. They have not disclosed for HE applications, but that’s their business, and I’ve tried to encourage DD not to get too hung up on it, that's life and she’s competent enough now to hold her own.