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 .

@pantjog - great advice - yes she reads lots in English, and her target language as well as some foreign texts in Translation in her ab initio language - Queens did a great programme in providing free books in translation and then you to wrote a book review which they marked.
Today she is going through the books she mentioned in her personal statement and summarising what she liked about them, key characters etc.

@Storminamu - snap! the Oxford website for some subjects say you need to be in the top 25% of the candidates they are accepting this year to be offered a deferred place for the following year. It is possible - my son managed it and had a great year overseas despite Covid and Brexit - and now is a fresher. More of a challenge now is getting a visa to be in the EU for more than 90 days. Also if they don't get in this year they can reapply...

DC not DD. Apologies, I don’t have my glasses to hand!

@ealingwestmum Ugh the comments about “easy” subjects! My eldest DD is reading Classics (“easy”), DD2 is applying for music (“easy”) and my subject was ML (“easy”). All these subjects have very high entry costs and one reason A level numbers are plummeting is because it’s hard to get high grades. Sigh.

Does anyone ever hear over the weekend or can I just try and forget about it for a couple of days?
Has anyone heard anything from Worcester College-no matter what subject? DD’s hat is in the ring for modern and ancient history

DS has interview for Engineering at Cambridge (Churchill). Yay! Not holding breath though as lots of tough competition. Treading the line between encouraging him to prep well but not making him hate me in the process!!

hehe, those pesky humanity subjects

Well done to your DS @printmeanicephoto

@MrsElijahMikaelson1

Does anyone ever hear over the weekend or can I just try and forget about it for a couple of days? Has anyone heard anything from Worcester College-no matter what subject? DD’s hat is in the ring for modern and ancient history

Have you checked the student room spreadsheets? That's where we got our info from 😊

Great news Printmeanicephoto

@printmeanicephoto

DS has interview for Engineering at Cambridge (Churchill). Yay! Not holding breath though as lots of tough competition. Treading the line between encouraging him to prep well but not making him hate me in the process!!

Fab news huge congratulations 💃💃💃

[quote Juja]@pantjog - great advice - yes she reads lots in English, and her target language as well as some foreign texts in Translation in her ab initio language - Queens did a great programme in providing free books in translation and then you to wrote a book review which they marked.
Today she is going through the books she mentioned in her personal statement and summarising what she liked about them, key characters etc.

@Storminamu - snap! the Oxford website for some subjects say you need to be in the top 25% of the candidates they are accepting this year to be offered a deferred place for the following year. It is possible - my son managed it and had a great year overseas despite Covid and Brexit - and now is a fresher. More of a challenge now is getting a visa to be in the EU for more than 90 days. Also if they don't get in this year they can reapply...[/quote]
The top (our college) or the top 25% (your DD's) - I think this is more of a practice run for my DC than anything, with those odds!

[quote pantjog]@ealingwestmum Ugh the comments about “easy” subjects! My eldest DD is reading Classics (“easy”), DD2 is applying for music (“easy”) and my subject was ML (“easy”). All these subjects have very high entry costs and one reason A level numbers are plummeting is because it’s hard to get high grades. Sigh.[/quote]
Sorry - I'm not sure what you mean by "entry costs"?
My DC are in 2 of those categories.

@Letsgoforaskip I absolutely love that quote from the admissions tutor, thanks for posting. It's so true and I think should be laminated and stuck on everyone's fridge as well as auto generated any time any googles Oxbridge applications.

@MrsElijahMikaelson1

Does anyone ever hear over the weekend or can I just try and forget about it for a couple of days? Has anyone heard anything from Worcester College-no matter what subject? DD’s hat is in the ring for modern and ancient history

Invites for history interviews for Oxford go out on 30th November, regardless of college.

(Or so I was told)

In any event, if you tell yourself that, you’re not going to get stressed until December .

Thank you @Walkaround that’s exactly what I needed to hear! May stop DD from getting more and more disheartened!

I've just discovered DS applied to engineering at Corpus, not Downing (that's his friend who has applied for Nat Sci!)

Told you he'd done it all by himself and I didn't have a clue.

He also got invited to Loughborough for interview yesterday, but it's the same day as his Cambridge one so he is going to have to reschedule.

@Storminamu I just meant that all three subjects require a skill, usually acquired over many years, in addition to an academic element ie proficiency in a classical or modern language as well as an interest in literature; or proficiency in an instrument as well as an interest in music analysis. That puts many people off studying these subjects at A-level. So lower entry numbers don’t mean the subjects are necessarily easier to get in to — just that candidates have already cleared a hurdle before even applying.

I’m not arguing for a hierarchy of subjects of course. Just arguing against there being “easy” subjects.

That's certainly the case for music, I agree. You could look at it the other way round, too. Our children have a hobby they've enjoyed for years and which gives them a readymade social life. On top of that, it has helped them get into Oxbridge.
There's a private / state issue with all 3 subjects, which must affect numbers, too.

Classics certainly isn't an easy option. D1 has a couple of friends doing classics (Oxford) and the workload is insane.

@Valleyofthedollymix Thank you!
It’s so hard to cope with rejection at any stage and it’s often the first time the high flyers feel they have failed. It’s also impossible not to be invested as it is a drawn out process. My DD was very disappointed at the time but is now happily elsewhere.
I have a DS who is waiting to hear if he’s got an interview this year so we’re going through the process again. I think we’re much more philosophical this time; what will be will be!

DD (one of last year's applicants) was so mentally well prepared for rejection that she didn't really know how to handle getting an offer. She wasn't one of the kids tipped for Oxbridge from age 11 or whatever, and she had good solid GCSEs without having stars on them all.

She's there now, still with major imposter syndrome after the first term, and I still half expect every phone call to mean that she's decided to pack it in and do art or catering instead.

So, it just might be worth making sure your DC know that they are well worth an offer and would handle it if it happened, even though not all of them can get one.

@Storminamu I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make. My point was simply that music etc aren’t easy subjects. Music is certainly life-affirming and wonderful but you don’t get to grade 8+ in 3 instruments by just liking something.

As for state/private, my DCs go to a comprehensive school. I realise not many comprehensives offer Latin.

Simply that if you dedicate all your spare hours to football it doesn't help you get into Oxbridge.