Oxbridge aspirants part 4......Hold onto your nerves interviews ahead....!

[TangoWhiskyAlphaTango]

Part 4 - A friendly supportive thread for those with DC applying to Oxbridge, its an arduous process to say the least. I suspect we will need some handholding and alcohol for the couple of weeks ahead as our dc have their interviews. For those still waiting to hear I hope news comes soon

DD explained it to me like this:

There are at least 4 things that could happen.
You have interview with college A
College B then wants to interview you because you're great
College B then wants to interview you because they're making sure it's all fair
College B doesn't want to interview you at all because you're a sure thing for College A
College B doesn't want to interview you at all because they think you're rubbish

I lost interest about halfway through but that's roughly what she said

Thanks @SandyBayley. At the Oxbridge talk at the end of lower sixth (with your DS!) the students and the teacher said (I think - may have made it up in desperation) that a lot of the successful applicants at our school got places at college they didn’t apply for. Would all of them have been pooled?

Well DS1 (the one you 'met' @Horace123 😂) got reallocated to another college before interview so it's true he didn't apply to where he ended up. He has plenty of friends who ended up at colleges they didn't apply for.

Oxford is efficient in that it moves candidates around colleges to make sure the strongest candidates end up at Oxford even if it's not at the college they applied for. It depends a bit on the subject and how centralised admissions are though, both Chemistry (DS1) and Medicine (DD) are quite centralised.

I really don't know much about Cambridge but I get the impression that candidates can be disadvantaged by applying to an oversubscribed college but maybe their pooling schemes can address that (no wish to worry anyone already worrying!).

Yes, but the other way of looking at it is that Oxford in general wants you, and that may simply be to do with the ebb and flow of applications, or perhaps with the wish to spread the various Classics students around so that each college has some diversity in terms of courses etc etc. It's the two interviews which makes me think pooling more likely. But really, so many possible explanations. Your DS has fab grades. Have faith!

I'd say it means that college A can't take him (someone better has applied to them), but he's been enthusiastically fished out of the pool by 2 other colleges who need someone like him. A high chance he'll get an offer as he now has 2 colleges actively interested in him. Does he like colleges B and C?

One year when DD1 was an interview helper the ChristChurch tutors said they weren't prepared to take a single Classics applicant that had applied to them so they asked all colleges to send over any applicant they could to interview with them. They said they'd rather take no-one than the applicants they'd seen. Perhaps two colleges are that underwhelmed with their own applicants this year Horace, and the phones are ringing off the hook! It happens - just not usually on such a grand scale.

What does it possibly mean if you have had no interviews yet, have made an open application, get told by New College that you will be interviewed and then get told that you have 3 interviews with New College 1 x Monday; 2 x Tuesday and a further one with Lincoln College on Wednesday. Why would New College interview you three times!?

I'm a bit sad that DC won't be put in the pool as taking a gap year. It's like a fun lottery!

@Storminamu he likes the look of college B and C. His choice of college A was quite random. I think he’s not that attached to college A but during the interview process is now quite attached to Oxford. Sigh.

I think it's looking very positive then, but don't raise DS's hopes too much, just in case it doesn't work out!

@Horace123 I would agree with what @goodbyestranger has said. My DD (3rd year Classics) was interviewed at her first choice college and two others, one of which offered her a place.

This is now ancient history (and I didn't apply for Classics), but I was interviewed at my first choice college and another one, and was offered a place at my first choice.

Fingers crossed for all our DC!

What subject carben? Could easily be standard for a science subject.

[quote SandyBayley]@Horace123 - as goodbye said there are just too many possibilities to know and you have no way of knowing what's going on. More interviews are definitely not a bad sign and are an opportunity for a student to impress someone. I feel most sorry for people who get a single interview tbh.[/quote]
This is the best way of thinking about it.

An interview at another college does not necessarily mean that College A does not want him. I have had applicants go to other colleges for interviews even though we are already almost certain to take them. In those cases it is part of 'benchmarking' across colleges. Different subjects use 2nd interviews in different ways.

Just see it as an additional chance to impress people.

...and also what @Storminamu said.

Thank you all so much - such a supportive bunch. I’m going to pour myself a big glass of gin and go and have a bath.

All this interview stuff has reminded me of when DC had interviews for secondary school. The school DD is in asked her what she could bring to their school - she thought about it a bit and said she’d probably just bring her book bag and a snack. And she got in.

!! DC1 had a full day of exams and interviews for a school they applied for. I was also interviewed (on my own) and asked what kind of a teenager DC was. By someone who obviously wasn't very keen on teenagers. Unfortunately, the school didn't make the cut...

Horace DD3 was shown a law report at her Magdalen interview and asked what court the decision was made in. She replied: House of Lords. The tutors looked quizzical and asked what her reasons were for saying that. She replied: because it says so at the top of the page. Which was the answer they were looking for (but got far more complicated answers generally).

“Goodbyestranger* I love that! It’s amazing how sometimes really really clever people are so used to complicated they can’t do simple.

DD called for 2nd interview. She had a rant about that meaning she definitely hasn't got her preferred college. I repeated back everything she told me earlier...

Anecdata: DH, DBIL and I all went to Oxford. DH and his brother only had interviews at their first choice college. I had interviews at two colleges and was taken by my first choice (Mansfield, back in the days when it was only 70% state school rather than 95%. I've told DD she can't really read anything into whether or not she gets another interview. She'd like one, but mainly because she doesn't feel she really did herself justice on Wednesday. She finds out about further interviews on Monday, apparently.

Horace the point is that the ones who gave the really really complicated answers were not the really really clever ones.

@goodbyestranger maths

carben don't maths get interviewed at two colleges as standard. In that context, some colleges do do three shorter interviews sometimes rather than two of around thirty minutes.

I wonder how Frankl's quads have got on? They should all be done by now except possibly the DD applying for Biochem. I hope she posts an update. She must be glad she didn't need to think about travel logistics for the four of them!

I know I don't really wish this, but the end of January seems a long way away. Right this minute though, I wish there was a daily/weekly round of "you're still in the mix" or "sorry, you're just not right for us".

To be honest, I just wish the other three applications she has in would just get on with it. The one offer DD has is great, but some choice would be nice.

Moan, moan, moan, moan, moan. Thank goodness it is almost end of term.