Oxbridge Aspirants 2022 part 3....Will they or won't they make it to interview? Our Mum nerves are in tatters!

[TangoWhiskyAlphaTango]

New thread for us, lots of lovely support whilst we wait. Some of our lovely DC now have interview dates whilst the rest of us hold our breath and try not to hassle our teens into checking their SPAM folders at least several times per day .

Which is definitely not to say that science departments are entirely filled with useless teachers, more that HTs have wept for joy when a good candidate walks through the door.

@VikingNorthUtsire

I'd also be grateful if this thread could return to info sharing and support please. The debate is an interesting one that could maybe move to a thread of its own? If fir no other reason than I think it will fray parental nerves which we could do without...

Thank you to all teachers and school staff for everything you're doing, in all types of school. And good luck to all the students, I know they won't all get in but I hope they all find brilliant opportunities which enhance their lives.

Hear hear

My longer post crossed with yours Eightytwenty. Agree that those with narrow experience probably can't generalise about other sectors.

I would be v grateful for some wise words from mums of applicants who have taken the (C)TMUA for computer science (or maths).

My son is hoping to apply for comp sci at Cambridge and other good unis next year.

He's just tried the 2016 TMUA past paper and scored 5.5 for paper one and 5.2 for paper two. This is obviously below the standard required.

How much would you expect his score to rise with practice over the next 11 months? Would a score of at least 6.5/7 be realistic in his circumstances?

With thanks and best wishes for your DCs' interviews.

[quote SandyBayley]@Piggywaspushed you are doing a brilliant job and I hope the parents and students at your school appreciate you. I could never do your job and am very grateful that you and others do.

Let's get back to fretting about the issue at hand. Who is still waiting for Cambridge updates?[/quote]
We are still waiting, but not just for Cambridge but also for any word from LSE, Warwick or UCL. I went onto the TSR site but offers for Economics seem to be delayed there too.

Sympathy @TomelettewithGreggs - it's hard when there are 0 offers to boost the confidence.

@Aurea - can't help I'm afraid but I'd assume it's very early to try the papers. I'd guess parts will be pretty inaccessible until he's covered more of the curriculum?

Has anyone heard of any movement from Oxford yet?

@SandyBayley We have one offer from Notts, so do have one in hand:) Notts is DS's last choice though.

@VikingNorthUtsire - there are some invites out to interview for Biology and Biochemistry at Oxford.

@Aurea ds took tmua this year for Cambs compsci. We don't have the results yet and as my precious firstborn he's used to fending off intrusive demands requests for information from me, so I have no idea what his practice scores were I got him 4 sessions of tutoring specifically for the TMUA with his best friend. It cost an absolute bomb. But I reckoned it was worth it as it's a different kind of exam.

If he hasn't made it, I certainly don't regret the tutoring because it gave him some confidence when he needed it and he looked fairly relaxed coming home from the exam. I can update once we actually get the results...

@VikingNorthUtsire

Has anyone heard of any movement from Oxford yet?

There are quite a few reported on TSR now. As well as biochem and bio, there are some law & fine art, starting to appear. Not from all colleges though. www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6822050

Any ENGAA/Engineers heard yet?! Trying not to stress or be impatient but it's SO HARD .

We are still waiting for news of an interviews from C for DD maths. She has outstanding GCSEs grades and the highest predicted A levels so surely she will at least get an interview but I will only relax when the email comes through.
TMUA results are out next Monday.

@Aurea I only heard about TMUA a few weeks before DD took the exam and she only started preparation specifically for the exam this term so I would have thought with a years preparation you'd expect a lot of progress.

The wait is bloody torture 🤯

Seen maths offers on TSR now! Still no engineering news… apart from those who applied to Trinity

@Panicmode1 still waiting anxiously here too! Only trinity and now today, kings, seem to have contacted engineering applicants! What college are you waiting for? DS has applied to Christ’s

My dc has also not heard back regarding an interview for Engineering. Fingers crossed that we all hear back soon!

Thanks for your help regarding TMUA.

He's Scottish so he doesn't study the same content as the A level curriculum maths but he has skipped a year in maths and taken higher maths early so he should have covered most of the content. He's taking advanced higher maths (similar to A level) this year which again is a year early so more of the content will be covered then.

I'll look into tutoring options as there may be gaps in the curriculum between A level and advanced higher maths.

@mich101 as per my earlier msgs, DS has done this completely on his own, so I think it is Downing but not 100% sure!

Thanks @PhiRhoSigma.

After all this talk of TSR and spreadsheets (I do love a spreadsheet), I have found the sheet showing when O responses came last year. Looks like DS's chosen course were late to the table.

Nothing for DS but then again almost nothing for either his subject or college on that TSR spreadsheet...

Nothing for my DC either! Earth sciences is only offered at a few colleges, Worcester seem to have sent out their invites, but none of the others are on the list at all! It's driving us nuts. It's college-blind selection too so they must know!!

I have name changed. But just heard today that DS hasn’t got an interview for Nat Sci at Cambridge he was applying for a tier 1 college.

His predicted A level grades are AAA*A including maths, fm, physics and another subject. He spent a lot of time and effort on his PS and several teachers at his state GS gave him good advice on this (I am sure that was fine and up to standard). Only he saw his school references which he was extremely pleased with.

The only things we can think that it might be are either he didn’t do as well as he thought with the entrance test, the algorithm his school applied to his GCSE grades (which ended up being worse than his mock grades and we advised him to focus on his A levels rather than do resits last November) or because he didn’t have chemistry or biology A level.

I think has hit him hard tonight but hopefully he will bounce back in a couple of days. Good luck to the rest of you still waiting to hear or with interviews ahead. DS has two offers from his 4th and 5th choice so all is not lost and I am a big believer in things happening for reason.

Take care all

@NinaProudman2022 I am sorry to read this and hope your DS is ok. It’s great that he has offers in the bag already.