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 .

@SandyBayley, similar here. DD's Oxford offer felt comfortable but DD's multiple A star Cambridge offer less so.

DS's Cambridge offer was not the standard typical offer for his college so we wondered if he had been set a higher bar for some reason. Turns out all three at his college were made the same higher offer.

My DD had the same offer for Cambridge as my DS who is at Exeter. But her one star required was in a specified subject which ramped up the pressure so much more than being any subject. Some colleges do tend to specify subjects which is not always shown online.

@Chilldonaldchill, that is my limited understanding of how pooling works.

For DS's Cambridge subject, his college made three offers to direct applicants and put one applicant in the pool. They took noone from the pool.
For DD's Oxford subject it's a bit more complicated because one in four offers is open. You can be interviewed at the college you applied to and at one or two others and then, if successful, made an offer at any of the interviewing colleges or an open offer underwritten by the first college. On results day, you can be accepted by the underwriting college (the default) or at any other college that has elected to participate in the open offer system where someone has missed a grade.
As far as I know, open offers apply to history and biology.

Can I join the thread? Been lurking for a while, but my nerves can't take it any more, need to share my pain.

DC waiting on Oxford, Earth Sciences. Thought it likely we'd hear this week, since there would be a fair bit to arrange (interactive whiteboard, natural handwriting pen, Oxford called it a tier 3(?) virtual interview in an email to applicants - school is going to need to help with this, and typical level of disorganisation would suggest will need three weeks to get it sorted).

But nothing so far. Anyone else in this situation?

It's really still very, very early to be hearing from Oxford, apart from a tiny number of subjects.

Last year dd heard about Oxford interview on 27/11.

And given that interviews are online with no travel arrangements to make, the pressure on Oxford to notify is arguably less than it was in previous years (although I'd expect the date of notification to remain the same in that they notify as soon as decisions are made).

Two of my DC were given four days notice for History in 2013 and 2014.

Was that for a first or a second week interview subject BilberryBaggins?

@PhiRhoSigma

Can I join the thread? Been lurking for a while, but my nerves can't take it any more, need to share my pain.

DC waiting on Oxford, Earth Sciences. Thought it likely we'd hear this week, since there would be a fair bit to arrange (interactive whiteboard, natural handwriting pen, Oxford called it a tier 3(?) virtual interview in an email to applicants - school is going to need to help with this, and typical level of disorganisation would suggest will need three weeks to get it sorted).

But nothing so far. Anyone else in this situation?

It's less complicated than it sounds to get the equipment for a Tier 3 interview. You just download the whiteboard and buy a pen if you don't have one already. But it does sound horrible, and I remember having some kind of dramatic crisis over it all myself. DD actually did her second online interview at home rather than at school last year, as they turned out to be less helpful than she'd hoped about logistics, and it was less unsettling to know she could commandeer a room in the house rather than wait to be told at school where she could go.

Just popping in to say that @Chilldonaldchill's description of pooling is what happened to DD. She was interviewed by a central C college. Because her 1st interview was at 9 and we live in Devon, she was offered overnight accommodation. I drove her and stayed in a B&B. She had a 2nd interview there at 10:30ish and was free to go by 11:30. We were back in E Devon by 4pm!

The next thing she heard was a letter from a different college on offer day. We went to visit that college in February half term and she decided to accept following that visit.

At the end of her 1st year, her then DoS (Director of Studies) who is also an admissions tutor chatted to her and said how pleased he was that he picked her out of the pool. Since then, every year, he repeats this. She is now a PhD student doing some work for him at the same college. After her graduation, as we were walking to dinner with her, BF and BF's DP, he was cycling along, screeched to a halt and after ascertaining we were indeed her DP, told us what a good pick she was from the pool!

Dd had a very speedy offer from Edinburgh but since then no response from anyone else. She has been ill and I think may not get offered an Oxford interview as she wasn’t well and in a panic about the whole thing. She’d initially decided that she wasn’t up to applying but then changed her mind close to the deadline. She jigged her essay about so much trying to edit it down , and then sent in something with a mistake.
I really think that if a university doesn’t want you, then it isn’t right for you, rather than you not being “good enough” . I have told her this so I hope she and any of the others aren’t too crushed if they don’t get an interview, or get interviewed but then not a place. It is so competitive and pressured when it should just be about love of learning. I really feel for all the teenagers waiting and worrying.

Can I ask - was this English by any chance ? (I’ve heard a similar story from my niece)

@SirVixofVixHall

Dd had a very speedy offer from Edinburgh but since then no response from anyone else. She has been ill and I think may not get offered an Oxford interview as she wasn’t well and in a panic about the whole thing. She’d initially decided that she wasn’t up to applying but then changed her mind close to the deadline. She jigged her essay about so much trying to edit it down , and then sent in something with a mistake. I really think that if a university doesn’t want you, then it isn’t right for you, rather than you not being “good enough” . I have told her this so I hope she and any of the others aren’t too crushed if they don’t get an interview, or get interviewed but then not a place. It is so competitive and pressured when it should just be about love of learning. I really feel for all the teenagers waiting and worrying.

Just to mention (as aforementioned on the thread!), DS submitted the 'wrong' history essay in which he had written 'feeded' (I know......) and the teacher had written FED!!!!!!! in the margin.

He got an interview, so nil desperandum on that score!

DD has just fished a King's interview out of her Spam

@Geamhradh

DD has just fished a King's interview out of her Spam

Oh well done! Kings has interviews? I daren't remind DS to check his spam folder because he yells at me:( On his own head be it.

Haha Geamhradh, what a lovely surprise she must have had!

It was funny, I was reading her the post about pooling- "oh listen, the Mums said .." then I went "oh! AND YOU MUST CHECK YOUR SPAM!"
And there it was! 9th December.
@MareofBeasttown, it's History and Politics, and will be one interview with two men (she is frantically googling their publications though as I said, she should concentrate on her own work really!)

@Geamhradh

DD has just fished a King's interview out of her Spam

Wow, well done! Wonder why it has gone into her spam?!

DS is patiently (on the face of it) waiting to hear if he has a Churchill interview for MEng. He found the entrance test far easier than the Imperial one for aeronatical eng, and yesterday he was invited to interview to Imperial. I had to admit his score had been so low I was really shocked he had an interview, but he told me that "you're supposed to do badly on it - it's expected" . Anyway it's made him hopeful for Cambridge.

To be honest, I think he's the ideal Cambridge student (biased though I may be ). He doesn't mind the hard work at all but I get the feeling that Cambridge would be a more rounded student experience (despite the workload) than it would be at Imperial, which from what I hear is the same in terms of workload, but there are more downsides to London to my mind.

It is unbearable waiting, as a mum, isn't it?!

I find this variation between colleges/subjects on communicating interview invitations really disconcerting. Why can't they just have a system when everyone hears yay or nay on the same day as with the offers? Everything feels really opaque and random.

Which in a way feeds into my strongly held belief that who gets in, beyond a certain base aptitude, is utterly random and dependent on college/subject. Rather than a rejection meaning it's not the right place for a student, it just means that on the day the various stars didn't align.

As I think I've written before - Oxbridge has large handfuls of mediocre students and has rejected some truly exceptional ones. When I was at Oxford there were these weird private halls where you could do theology and I'm pretty certain they were a very easy way in (not sure if they still exist). There was also a college that was actually part of London University but you wouldn't have necessarily known it.

@Geamhradh

DD has just fished a King's interview out of her Spam

Blimey good job she checked!! Huge congratulations to her

It is unbearable waiting, as a mum, isn't it?! @CurlyhairedAssassin Yes it bloody is I miss the days of them being toddlers (well not quite but you know what I mean)!!

It is stressful isn't it.
I hover between thinking "it won't matter if she doesn't get a place because it might not be right for her anyway" and "how dare they even think of rejecting her"