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.

I imagine Engineering will have lots of problem solving.

Pretty much entirely, I think. Not necessarily even getting to the right solution but working out factors relevant to solving it type of thing.
I wouldn't worry too much about body language and shyness - although I don't recommend this as a technique, one of DDs interviews involved her crossing her arms and winning a staring match until he provided a necessary piece of information which she couldn't have been expected to know, he wouldn't let her look up and she refused to guess because she thought that was stupid. The other interview went much better!

Thanks @MarchingFrogs

We are just back from a 2 day trip to Scotland so we could see St A (self tour) and a couple of student led tours of Edinburgh. Ds has now submitted his other choices, so Oxford, Imperial, Warwick, St A & Edinburgh. Hoping he might get an early offer from Edinburgh as others have. We will see. He’s applied for Maths and thought the MAT went quite well, but now he’s second guessing himself and thinking maybe he thought it went well but didn’t!! It’s such a stress for them isn’t it, and us parents. Ds is fairly happy with his 5 choices so not all riding on Oxford - but of course he would be disappointed if he doesn’t get an interview. Time will tell, the wait continues!

D1 (current Oxford student, History joint) heard (last thing on a Friday) on 29th Nov that she had an interview, and needed to be in Oxford 10th - 14th Dec for interview - so 11 days notice.

@MrsElijahMikaelson1

Thanks *@MarchingFrogs*

And U CAS, obviously. (No doubt there is an ICAS, but probably not helpful...).

Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland. I've got a nice mental image of confused youngsters fetching up there by accident.

@Darbs76, what did you think of St Andrews? DS has put down St Andrews and Durham, but I think he will find it difficult to choose between the two , if he is fortunate to get offers from both. Planning to visit Durham, but St Andrews is a long way to travel to from where we live.

Morning all.
DD just got an email from st. A fees asking to see her passport (presumably to check the whole British in EU thingy) Doesn't mean anything but it was nice to see St. Andrews there in the inbox

We flew to St Andrews as it’s a 8/9hr drive! We really loved it there, a lovely place. Only looked at the Uni from the outside but got a feel for the town etc

Thanks @Darbs76!

St Andrews is lovely - nice small town with sandy beaches. On a pretty coastline. The problem (for some) is its size - it's a tiny place, and feels a bit isolated. Though you can get the bus to Dundee, and apparently some students live in Dundee and commute in. My DC visited and dismissed it straight away due to its size.

Personally speaking I think St Andrews is too small and difficult to get to from a lot of the UK.

I was at Edinburgh and would visit friends in St Andrews for occasional weekends. It's very pretty and nice for a visit but I think four years in such a small place would not be to everyone's liking. But I guess there are some who would find those features very appealing.

We live near London so I think for my son it will be a nice change! The train links to other parts of Scotland are quite good, didn’t take us long to get there from Edinburgh

London to Edinburgh is a pretty long way! We also live in London so I'm very conscious of distances. I think it just depends on the individual and their preferences.

My own experience has been with DS1 at university in Oxford (65 miles away) during covid I've been very grateful that he was able to get home very easily if needed or come home if he wanted. It's a very different situation if you're 400+ miles away.

Well, we're in the south of Italy and DD has applied for St Andrews
Honestly never crossed my mind to encourage DD to pick somewhere nearer home.
But I love the fact it's tiny.

I went to St Andrews in the 80s and it was a 14-hour journey for me, involving a car trip, a taxi trip, a ferry crossing and four trains. I loved the university and the town and had a top-knotch education there which has stood me in good stead ever since, but I have to admit to being slightly relieved when dd1 didn't firm or insurance her St Andrews offer last year, and did a mental calculation about how much she would save on travel costs

To be fair @Geamhradh anywhere in the UK is going to be far from the South of Italy!

I think my perspective is coloured by my own experience of feeling isolated and distant from family when in Edinburgh in the 1990s plus the experience of lockdown in 2020/21 and being grateful that DS1 was quite close by. When Covid swept through Oxford in June 2021 I could do a quick mercy drive to collect him.

@SandyBayley

To be fair *@Geamhradh* anywhere in the UK is going to be far from the South of Italy!

I think my perspective is coloured by my own experience of feeling isolated and distant from family when in Edinburgh in the 1990s plus the experience of lockdown in 2020/21 and being grateful that DS1 was quite close by. When Covid swept through Oxford in June 2021 I could do a quick mercy drive to collect him.

True! I kind of think that it's easier for us these days to get a flight from here to say, Edinburgh, than it would be to get to one of the universities in the north of Italy that she's applying to!

I think there's something to be said for having a bit of distance. Cambridge is too close to us, I think, and it's somewhere we're over familiar with for family reasons (I'm from there). I remember at Oxford all the cool London kids disappearing off for parties and clubs back home every other weekend and I think that's a shame. And now I have spawned one of these cool North London kids and I like the idea of him only being able to come back for holidays, much as I'll miss him.

That said, St A does seem really small and I don't think it would be for me. He says that's no problem (not that he's ever been there) because he says it will intensify the student experience and make a nice change from the very busy bit of London where we live.

I think you have to get a train to Dundee and then a bus to St Andrew's.
St Andrew's is top in the University rankings at the moment and apparently did very well during peak Covid. High levels of student satisfaction. Apart from the size issue, their courses being an extra year is an issue. And housing is very expensive. Distance is a less important factor than those I think. It feels some way away from the "real world", which you can also say about Oxbridge, and is keen on its traditions. Lots of rich American students. A bit of a one off.

Interestingly, adding to the St A's debate: DS doesn't fancy it as it's too wee for him (he's a bright, city lights boy). DN is in Dundee and whilst she liked to nip through to see friends (30 mins on bus) prefers the bigger, city feel of Dundee. Contrastingly, DNephew has just started and is liking it (says everyone is American and it's expensive but he likes it!).

London to Edinburgh is a pretty long way! We also live in London so I'm very conscious of distances. I think it just depends on the individual and their preferences.

My dd is n Edinburgh and the train takes just over 4 hours from London - direct! So pretty fast for that distance actually!

From London City (and Belfast), you can fly to Dundee instead of getting the train, which may be more convenient for some for the breaks when you don't need to bring much luggage? Not the cheapest way to do it, admittedly.

We live about 60 miles from Oxford and three years on I really do appreciate the ease of driving there. DD's insurance was Durham and although there is one direct train each day from here, pick ups and drop offs would have been quite a faff.
DS was very keen on St Andrew's. He was able to fly up for a visit before applying but that route no longer exists from our nearest airport so with hindsight it is a relief that he did not end up there. Cambridge is just about bearable in a day by car for his drop offs and collections. The only problem is very similar term dates at O and C!

@Gardenia22 - I'm well aware that London-Edinburgh is 4 hours on the train but the door-to-door time will be considerably more. Add on at least an hour to get to KX and then travel to Marchmont or wherever the student lives. It adds up...