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 .

Just heard from DC, interview invitation has come through for Earth Sci, Oxford. Very chuffed!

@TomelettewithGreggs

I have a friend whose daughter-admittedly a genius- is aiming for only Trinity at Cambridge. Nothing else will do. Otherwise the Ivy league. She refuses to accept any other college at Cambridge, or indeed any other uni in the UK..

I do think that level of pressure is hard on DC and makes life hard for everybody. DS gets mad if I even ask him to check his mail ( tho am not stopping).

I teach a boy who is like this (MML). I am vvvv worried for him .

Yes absolutely Ninaproudman - here's a safe space for deflation. Really hope he gets a great offer from elsewhere to get excited about v soon.

And congrats to @PhiRhoSigma DC.

Congratulations to your DC PhiRhoSigma

Well done to your DC @phirhosigma!

Thank you all.
DC has now moved into phase 2 of a quasi-military operation (= interview practice) planned since the age of 13 when sibling went
to O.
It does worry me slightly if it doesn't come off, but this tempered by the fact that the other sibling (the 'C reject') is doing really well academically and professionally. It's not the be-all, and DC can see this.
Also think it might be more to do with bragging rights than absolute perfectionism or insatiable desire to be at O.

@PhiRhoSigma very well done to your DC on getting this far and its great that he has a brother to look up to who has done very well without Oxbridge.

@PhiRhoSigma - great news! DS1 is resting Chemistry but has remarked how interesting Earth Sciences looks.

We've talked about the sibling thing before. I think DD really wants to be a Dr above everything else but the Oxford allure comes into play because of DS1 being there. I now have DS2 talking about Ivy League US next year. I swear they didn't talk about this at NCT 😮

@ProggyMat Just wondered if you have heard any news / rumours / anything re classics interviews? I was so convinced we'd hear last Friday even though you did point out that was unlikely. I find TSR really hard to fathom so that isn't helping ... Sigh.

They certainly did at my NCT equivalent in Fort Knox, where DD1 was born. The midwife told the class not to come back to her if the kid in question didn't get into Harvard or Yale. That would be entirely our fault and our problem. After the birth was done, the buck stopped with us, for everything.

Horace it's on the early side still.

@Valleyofthedollymix

Nothing for DS either yet but his lazy arse college doesn't seem to have made any interview offers yet!

DS is a private school and got lower in his final grades than some of his mocks because they also took into account the previous summer's exams. Seems a bit unfair since he was 14 when he took those and didn't have the exam allowances that he was only granted just before the lockdown (i.e. he never did a set of exams with the rest breaks he needs for a physical condition). In our experience, the local comprehensive with the dodgy admissions policy was the one that inflated the grades so I think it's a school by school thing rather than a sector vs sector thing.

Either way DS has not got a string of 9s. Not by a long shot. Hey ho. The lack of interview for such stellar candidates just emphasises my previous point that they don't take the 10,000 cleverest kids in Britain because it is so dependent on subject and college. Computer Science or medicine is a different order of competitive.

Oh and PP referred to me having said that in my experience, there were many mediocre students at Oxford. PP said she assumed they were all privately educated. Actually not, the least intellectually interesting of my history group was from a modest background/state school. She was exceptionally hard working and read every book on the reading list and regurgitated in her essays in a way that felt like a real-time reading. Barely left the library and came out with a 2.2. But I bet she was a great applicant as she was so diligent and I bet never got less than 100% at school.

at ‘least intellectually interesting’ - brilliant way to damn someone who is massively motivated and works really really hard.

Here’s an interesting fact - most people at Oxford and Cambridge suffer to a greater or lesser extent with imposter syndrome - especially with that sort of attitude prevalent, that somehow they ‘only got there by working hard’ and don’t really deserve their place.

WRT to the ‘school by school’ comment below regarding grade inflation - of course different schools had different approaches, but in terms of the overall picture, it is stark.

A Levels - Private schools saw a 12.1 percentage point increase in A*s on 2020, compared to a 3.9 per cent increase at state comprehensives, a 5.8 increase at state grammar schools and a 1.9 rise at state sixth form colleges. inews.co.uk/news/education/a-level-results-2021-inequality-private-schools-biggest-rise-teachers-top-grade-1144049

This is mirrored at GCSE. It’s inconceivable that this disparity reflects actual ability, which is why the universities need to be more creative with how they select students for offers.

This isn’t meant to be an antagonistic post at all - but whether your child ends up at Oxbridge or not, please don’t fall in the trap of suggesting people don’t deserve to be there. They all think that anyway.

I suspect that the genius DC referred to above - Trinity or bust - might not suffer from that particular syndrome Bilberry.

@BilberryBaggins I wasn't damning her, I think that working hard is a great attribute and Oxford was full of people who made a great show of not working hard, which is pretty irritating. But her essays were incredibly boring and she didn't do well in finals.

It was more to point out that the admissions process is arbitrary - it doesn't pick out geniuses, it really can't. I don't see that as a problem - the hardworking student was completely deserving of a place but it's more to say that whether you get or not doesn't say anything fundamental about your intellect.

PS and I really didn't feel I deserved to be there which is why I was a bit gobsmacked by how far from genius the vast majority of students were.

Thanks @goodbyestranger. I know you are right. I'm just not very patient. Another sigh.

Sorry to hear of DC not making the shortlist for interview.
Well done to all who have received interview invites to date
@Horace123 no news about Oxford Classics interview invites- think it will be Friday earliest.
But the good news is the Exeter bus has left the station! @badasscafe1

@ProggyMat and @badasscafe1 - I was just coming to tell you about the Exeter bus too! DS very happy and its a very achievable offer - needs 36 points (so slightly higher than Edinburg). Thrilled to have two offers now - both with an E although one significantly warmer which would affect my decision but won't affect DS's.

Well done to proggy junior - what A level grades are needed?

@TomelettewithGreggs

I have a friend whose daughter-admittedly a genius- is aiming for only Trinity at Cambridge. Nothing else will do. Otherwise the Ivy league. She refuses to accept any other college at Cambridge, or indeed any other uni in the UK..

I do think that level of pressure is hard on DC and makes life hard for everybody. DS gets mad if I even ask him to check his mail ( tho am not stopping).

I have a DC at Trinity and it wouldn't be my first choice. The porters are quite intimidating, and DC stresses a lot about breaking the rules. DC didn't have top GCSE grades. From memory there were a couple of 7s.

@Horace123 AAA. Edinburgh offer ABB.
Well done to your DS!

proggy so exciting!

Just been talking to DS about this over lunch. He hasn't heard anything and the assessment for his subject is Friday. He's quite certain that he won't be called for interview now, it's a shame but he knew it was unlikely.
I'm a bit miffed on his behalf that the college sent out a Moodle login almost a week ago then ... nothing

[quote fishingeagle]**@mich101 I'm sorry to hear that. Similar story at my DS's school for engineering. Seems as if they are basically discounting awarded GCSEs and predicted A levels and going all-in on the Engaa, and of course the higher the academic profile of the school the higher the Engaa threshold to secure an interview. My DS has applied for a subject with no pre test with less than perfect GCSEs from a high achieving school so I think basically he's wasted an application. If he gets an interview I think he'd do well - he's a late developer and now top of his year in two of his subjects - but had I realised that C would be comparing his GCSE results against that of his school applicant cohort I would have advised him against applying. If he gets an interview I will be amazed. Just want it over for him now so he can concentrate on his mocks.[/quote]
the higher the academic profile of the school the higher the Engaa threshold to secure an interview.

Wow, is this really true? Sorry to hear about your son's rejection, @mich101, it's taken me aback and i'm only an observer so can only imagine how you are both feeling! Is it anything to do with the college you apply to, I wonder? Are some more competitive than others?

My son is also an engineering applicant, to Churchill. He certainly doesn't have 12 9s at GCSE but got a fair few, and is predicted 4A* at A-level. Doing maths, FM, physics & computing. State grammar, no contextual offer I don't think. I really don't know how his application will go at all. Not a CLUE, especially when I see posts like yours. Makes you realise how competitive it is. The one thing he was happy about was his performance at the ENGAA. He couldn't keep the smile off his face when I asked him how it had been. So I'm still hopeful that he may get an interview.

What I can't understand is that he seemed to do poorly on his Imperial test for aero eng. You get told the scores for that when you do the test. He scored low in my eyes, and his, but he has been invited to interview & the letter he performed "extremely well" at the test. . I was shocked when he told me because of his test score.

So I couldn't call it either way with Cambridge.

@MillicentFaucet

Just been talking to DS about this over lunch. He hasn't heard anything and the assessment for his subject is Friday. He's quite certain that he won't be called for interview now, it's a shame but he knew it was unlikely. I'm a bit miffed on his behalf that the college sent out a Moodle login almost a week ago then ... nothing

Why don't you chase them? I think that colleges are sending out rejection letters, so it's possible there's been a mistake here, as your DS has been sent a login?