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.

As a parent of an international student, this thread is interesting, as are the comments about accents. I wonder where he will fit in, with his accent:)

Oh i quite like PT thanks @ealingwestmum! To me that means physiotherapist, a huge compliment.

Delurking having read the whole thread. Was reassured to see other Engineering candidates finding the ENGAA hard...DS was so downhearted afterwards as he'd been doing well enough to reach the interview threshold in practice, but doesn't think he will get a Cambridge interview now.

He has had an offer from Bristol and had an interview for Imperial today which he said went well, so fingers crossed! (I think he has Durham and Loughborough as his 4th and 5th choices).

@Panicmode1: Brilliant to have an offer from Bristol, and interview at Imperial! what type of engineering is your DS going for? Mine has Gen Eng at Cambridge and Durham and Aeronautical at Bristol, Southampton and Imperial. He found the ENGAA ok but he didn't do well at the Imperial aeronautical test at alll. He has an offer from Southampton but Bristol have him on hold at the moment. Nothing from Durham.

Great news on all the interviews!

I very much agree with your thoughts shadedog

Well done to all those receiving interviews! Really exciting times.

I am not surprised re the grammar vs comprehensive vs private figures - it's very neat to wrap up the 'grammar and comprehensive' figures together to give a 'state' figure, but it would be much more revealing to give types of school in the breakdown. Dd went to a comprehensive throughout, and you could really see the difference in approach for preparation (ie there was no prep from the school at all - she had to do it all off her own bat). Very different to being at a school that will coach you for the entrance exam, help you with the PS, and then coach you for the interview - and I know that is not necessarily a state/private thing, but broadly that is the trend.

@curlyheadedassassin he's applied for Design Engineering at Imperial (and I think Bristol - the offer is for a 5 Yr MEng). He's pretty much done this all by himself, with almost zero input from us or the school (grammar) so I'm not 100% sure of the courses, just the unis!

And I imagine you'll probably find that even amongst the non-grammar state school successful candidates, a lot will be from leafy London and Home Counties comprehensives.

It always strikes me that when you watch UC most of the Oxbridge competitors are from the London area.

Agreed NewModel. Bristol listed ds's school for a contextual offer. It's not the most amazing comp in the world or anything but leafy exactly describes it. I don't know if the proportion of graduate parents at a school is ever measured but it would score highly.

Ha, yes those stats lumping state schools together are dubious. My experience of primary schools showed me that there's as big a gulf within the state system as between state and private - my kids' primary was 60% FSM, the one a mile away 5%.

Re. Oxbridge, they should take out those middle class magnet 'comprehensives' (in North London, Fortismere, Camden Girls etc) and then take out the punishingly selective faith schools (JFS, the Oratory) etc and then I wonder what the stats would look like.

And then remove the children of teachers - almost everyone I've ever met whose been to Oxbridge from a comprehensive has teacher/lecturer parents.

(I'm not being serious, but I do think the number of kids from 'real' comprehensives without teacher parents is probably v tiny).

@curlyheadedassassin - sorry, didn't answer the Cambridge qu. I'm fairly sure it's general engineering, but as I said, he's pretty much done this on his own!

@Panicmode1 that's brilliant to get an interview at Imperial. My DS2 - also Imperial engineering applicant - reckons that only 25% get interviewed! Are they doing all online interviews this year??

Yes, it was an online interview. He thinks it went well and he enjoyed it, but who knows!!

@Valleyofthedollymix Absolutely this. In fairness I think Oxford's algorithm does band schools on a much more nuanced basis than just state vs indie - I don't know about Cambridge.

More impactful to my mind are measures such as LMH's foundation year programme, which does seek to identify inequality of provision on a much more granular basis and expand access in a more targeted way to academically able kids who, having experienced barriers in their education due to their socio-economic background, wouldn't be able to make the standard 3 A offer.I think some Cambridge colleges are also looking at it. I'd be throwing money at this initiative if I were a billionaire donor!

Panicmode1 I think enjoying an interview is a really good sign.

The estate of Max Mosely is doing just that fishingeagle, to the dismay of a number of people around the uni.

@goodbyestranger It's a tricky one but I think on balance I'd take the money for that purpose - no way would I let it get anywhere near a building or (God forbid) a statue!

They have taken it, that's the problem....

Ah. Didn't realise it had already happened.

Where the kids go to school is not their fault, but is where their parents decide to send them. I listened to one admissions tutor from cambridge and he said that what he wanted was a student that had potential and fitted in with their way of teaching, regardless of what type of school they come from.There are a lot of private and grammar schools that do not prep their students for oxbridge. Similarly there will be state schools that do. I feel that the private school kids who go to a school where they are not supported re oxbridge are disadvantaged compared to state educated kids (due to admission stats etc). I also think that at interview regardless of background , the admission tutors can see potential and look past what school you come from. My DS is at a state school that does not prepare for Oxbridge but helps everyone with the personal statements etc regardless of what uni they apply for.

@Panicmode1

Delurking having read the whole thread. Was reassured to see other Engineering candidates finding the ENGAA hard...DS was so downhearted afterwards as he'd been doing well enough to reach the interview threshold in practice, but doesn't think he will get a Cambridge interview now.

He has had an offer from Bristol and had an interview for Imperial today which he said went well, so fingers crossed! (I think he has Durham and Loughborough as his 4th and 5th choices).

Well done on the offer from Bristol. The majority of applicants are known to be interviewed for Engineering at Cambridge (about 80% I believe) your son has probably done better in the Engaa than he thinks. My son did very little practice (a couple of past papers the week before) and didn’t do great on them 🤦‍♀️ But feels, although extremely difficult, he performed ok in the actual exam. Fingers crossed for interviews

I think there is a lot of misunderstanding about 'penalising' children from independent schools at the expense of state school children - it's all about contextualising the applications, rather than punishing people for having attended private schools.

For some students, this is likely to result in them feeling some unfairness, as students with similar grades from a different sort of school get offers when they don't, but it's about understanding what has gone into getting those grades.

For what it's worth, when I spoke to the admissions tutor at Oxford, she said very clearly to another parent who was worried about this specific issue (he had a son in an independent school 6th form, but was aware that some of his peers had left at 16 to go to a state grammar, and felt this was playing the system) - that their outreach is about getting more state school students to the starting gate, not having quotas. Because in many schools, Oxbridge, or even university, is not regarded as an option, whereas most independents will work on the basis that many of their cohort will go to university, and a certain number each year will go to Oxbridge.

From what I have read, and can make out, grades are looked at in context to the school they were achieved in… surely this is all Oxbridge (and other unis can do)?
My son goes to a local grammar school to which between 0-3 make it in to Oxbridge each year… and there have been a number of years where 0 get in. To be predicted AAA (for example) in some areas/schools will put a student in the top performers in their school and Oxbridge would be very interested in taking them… where as in a grammar school that would put you a third of the way down a performance league in the school and probably would not even be interviewed.

I remember someone at my work being very proud because their son had got an Oxford offer. But he was at Westminster - so arguably the top academic school in the country. In that context I felt that the offer wasn't such a big deal.

@Valleyofthedollymix Happy to tell you that D1 is one of those tiny number. (state ed, not grammar, neither of us are teachers) She was also the only state ed student in her household last year (6 people). She definitely struggled with feelings of not belonging initially.