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

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango - easier said than done but I'd step away from the stats at this stage. What's done is done. Stats aren't going to bring you any insight because all that matters is how your DD performed compared to other candidates. You cannot know that at this time!

All of our DC have done well to get to interview stage and they are all strong performers (probably high achievers in their respective schools) but it's hard to gauge how they compare with others who interviewed. So best not to think about it too much now...

Sandy some subjects even at Oxford interview almost all applicants, so for example the idea that my DD4 did well to get an interview for Classics wouldn't really hold up, whereas my DS1 for Medicine - like your own DD - certainly did well. I think that for a few subjects the tutors say an applicant has to have really no merit to fail to be invited. Harsh admittedly, but true.

@CurlyhairedAssassin when DD1 was interviewed in 2016 in person at a central C college, it was not recorded. The notes made by the college she applied to were good enough for the college she ended up at seeing her potential and picking her out of the pool. I have said before how her DoS bangs on about being the one who picked her out blah blah. It's sweet, but 5 years on, she's getting a bit fed up!

For the record, DD applied to the central college, had 2 interviews in the same morning there. On results day, the envelope came (no emails then) but her offer was from a different college that we knew nothing about. We went to visit in February half term, loved the welcome we received, the people we met etc and she accepted the offer. She got the grades and spent 4 very happy and successful years there, graduating with a Masters and 1st class degree in NatSci. She is still there as a PhD student, but has chosen to live away from the college for now as she wants access to a proper kitchen. She is there several times each week leading supervisions and rows for one of their boats.

Yes exactly Malbec. DD's ex bf who interviewed at a central popular college said notes only recorded for the pool. Although his college never fished from the pool at that stage, although the senior guy said he'd like to try because some colleges got some notably excellent students that way :)

Final interview over - pretty tough question in French but DD seems more cheerful after a roast chicken. Now complaining she has no excuse not to work for mocks…. So hopefully she’ll just forget about if for the next four weeks.

Roast chicken resolves most issues @Juja

Anymore interviews for anyone? I know Oxford Medicine are still going as DD has two friends still in the midst of it.

DS had his two Maths interviews tomorrow after the two Computer Science ones today. He said they weren't too bad.... Who knows what that means. He seems happy enough this evening anyway.

@SirVixofVixHall sorry to hear your DD was disappointed today. My DS2 was similarly blindsided at his C interview. The whole format of the interview was apparently totally different to what he was expecting and to all the information/youtube videos that he'd watched. I think he lacked the maturity to think 'oh well, it wasn't what I was expecting but I'd better get on with it' - he just felt baffled and rather unprepared.

[quote kitnkaboodle]@SirVixofVixHall sorry to hear your DD was disappointed today. My DS2 was similarly blindsided at his C interview. The whole format of the interview was apparently totally different to what he was expecting and to all the information/youtube videos that he'd watched. I think he lacked the maturity to think 'oh well, it wasn't what I was expecting but I'd better get on with it' - he just felt baffled and rather unprepared. [/quote]
Sorry to hear this. I'm guessing he won't have been the only one feeling wrong-footed (I wonder whether it's deliberate?). Hopefully his qualities came through even if he didn't feel positive about it (and the same for SirVix 's DD)

[quote kitnkaboodle]@SirVixofVixHall sorry to hear your DD was disappointed today. My DS2 was similarly blindsided at his C interview. The whole format of the interview was apparently totally different to what he was expecting and to all the information/youtube videos that he'd watched. I think he lacked the maturity to think 'oh well, it wasn't what I was expecting but I'd better get on with it' - he just felt baffled and rather unprepared. [/quote]
My dd was expecting more chat about an area she is interested in but had questions on something she didn’t know anything about , so floundered.
It is difficult, over zoom, with no experience of any kind of interview until this !

[quote TangoWhiskyAlphaTango]@Piggywaspushed Here

www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics

If you play around with it you can see how many admitted via pool, last year only 18. I know somebody has to get in but the odds are so very low.[/quote]
@Eightytwenty Here is the link for admission stats - you can play around with it and look at the past few years.

Interesting to see how much HSPS has risen in popularity over the past few years.

It's quite new isn't it so I guess that's to be expected.

It's quite new isn't it so I guess that's to be expected.

Yes absolutely.

It's been around for a while in some form though. I applied in 1991 when it was SPS, looks like it became HSPS in 2011.

I really think the most helpful thing parents/schools can do for aspirants is make them aware of the odds . Every year on here and on TSR people seem astonished that they (or their dcs) are unsuccessful. The odds for most subjects are horrendous. Ds and his fellow interviewees were told that there were 40 of them being interviewed, and there were 8 places. Very well done to make it thus far, but the likelihood was they would not get a place. Sobering but comforting at the same time.

Dd says that her compatriots have discussed that a lot of them were "blindsided" by the interviews last year as they had practised and prepared for a slightly different format. I think this may apply more to the private school pupils. Dd had not received any knowledgeable preparation so wasn't sitting there waiting for the "usual" line of questioning. Still horrendous though!

Blindsiding is probably a well-used technique to find the strongest (excellent at thinking on their feet) applicants, rather than those who are best prepared. You may find it's applied more with students who come from schools with strong Oxbridge traditions (where they quite clearly will have been prepped with mock interviews, etc.) than those who are applying from places with little if any previous representation.

Luckily DD has not really mentioned C much since the interviews, I think she is well aware that the chance of a place is highly unlikely. Instead she is full throttle into mock prep and is taking it all very seriously with the chance schools could close and A-levels pulled again. She seems to be edging towards Nottingham now (which I am secretly happy about for a few reasons) and has an offer holders day early February so we can have a good look around.

A number of Classics I (overwhelmingly independent school)applicants in DD4's interviewing year were very cross when they were asked along with the Classics II (overwhelmingly state school) applicants to pull apart an incredibly obscure English poem from the turn of the 18th century. They said it was very unfair when they had come prepared to discuss extended essays on Homer etc and could have done that very well.

Stranger,I dont mind that so much as all applicants are being asked to do the same thing ,but i would hope that blindsiding is not being used as newmodel thinks it might be being used,ie used against pupils from certain schools and not others,that if true is very dubious to say the least..

Yes it was asked of all of them nolanscrack, although they mixed up the obscure poems a bit. Equal obscurity by the sound of it.

Surely it must be fair to discriminate sources and questions a bit, where there's a glaring disparity in educational privilege? Especially for this cohort, where the provision during the early months of lockdown was starkly different between sectors. I can't quite see that it would be dubious.

Someone has to get in - D1 chose a joint hons course with about 11% success rate and then got in (Oxford) two of her friends got places for HSPS at popular colleges, so don't despair yet.