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

Oh dear Tango. Reminds me of DD showing me a TikTok of a girl ranting about UofBristol sending her a Christmas mail 4 days after they’d rejected her. Marketing at its best!

Ah, it looks like all C applicants will get one Tango, but colleges decide when to send it out. Overall, it seems constructive to want feedback on how to improve process for future years (especially with online v f2f), but do understand the timing of an email may unnerve some to thinking it is about something else!

Bristol just seems to have blanket covered ALL applicants without consideration to those already rejected, which could be a little insensitive, and void of basic database management.

It does seem somewhat poorly timed to be fair when they're counting down the days until the 25th. I was well disappointed! 😱😂😂

DC has confidently predicted no offer from Cambridge. Which would save nerves over the exam process, at any rate. With DC1 I half expected them to get an offer, as they had an amazing PS and lots of practice with interviews in a different context. The bigger question was whether they'd get the necessary exam results. It was very touch and go. I suspect that if DC2 doesn't get an offer, they may chill out a bit and then not get results that are good enough for a 2nd attempt.

I and DD can confidently predict if it’s a rejection from Oxford next Tuesday she will not reapply.
That said, of course she’ll be disappointed and however she chooses to ‘wallow’ at said news - for won’t of a better a word - I will encourage her do so!
That said -again,- - she holds four offers from universities she ‘can see herself at’ so will be ‘cracking on’ to ensure she secures the grades she needs for entrance.

DC is taking a gap year so could easily apply again, but may well not have the grades!

DD is highly unlikely to take a gap year by choice. If she gets a place at one of the four medical schools she's applied for she will go.

If she doesn't get a place she will reapply next year. Medicine is a bit different to other subjects in that it is quite possible to not get any offers in a year - they could not get and interview and they could not get an offer. At the moment she has two interviews out of four. I'm hoping she'll hear back from the other two in the next week.

Good luck for your Dd Sandy I didn’t realise that medicine was like this, how stressful for all applicants, along with all the stress of Covid , they have had a really difficult couple of years.

Thanks @SirVixofVixHall - an Oxbridge medicine application is the pits! But the good news is she got an interview from Leeds this morning so her chances of getting a medical school place this year have definitely improved!

Medicine does sound very tough.

Definitely no gap year for DD, especially as she’ll have her third year abroad as part of the MFL course.

I’m very concerned that she’s convinced herself she’s going to get an O offer, and will be devastated if she doesn’t. It’s also very likely to affect her attitude to mocks, unfortunately.

Yay! Well done to your DD @SandyBayley!
Don’t want to try to imagine the stress of the ‘double whammy’…

Great news Sandy, and looking good on her odds now for one/multiple offers; Oxford could be the first!

DS goes back to school next tuesday,so he could hear before he leaves for school,in the car on the way,or once weve dropped him off,he doesnt need to be back till mid evening,so it will probably be when hes still at home..

Good point, Nolan - does anyone know what time UCAS updates with the offers?

Poor DS just failed his driving test so feeling v despondent

It can be any time from early morning. When DS1 got his offer I think it was about 9am via UCAS and the email from the college followed about 10.30am. The UCAS update includes a letter 'code' so you can work out which college.

DD has mocks next Tuesday as says she's going to turn off emails for the day to avoid getting distracted. Yeah, right 😉

Commiserations @VikingNorthUtsire on the driving test ☹️

My DD is not expecting an offer (Cambridge). The way she looks at it is that even though her school usually gets a decent number of offers (12-15 or so), that is, say, 1 per subject so only the top person per subject should have realistic hopes for a place. 5 applied for her subject to C or O, and she reckons the school would rank her 3rd of the 5 so very unlikely, unless she pulled out a stonking interview (she does not think she did). She knows it does not work like that in reality - there are always surprises both ways - but i think it is a reasonable enough way to look at it in terms of managing her expectations.

She is still glad she applied though and has other offers she is happy with, but really keen to get Durham so feeling more nervous about that than C as she is not expecting to get C anyway.

sandy Congrats to SandyJnr re the Leeds interview - how exciting. DS has also announced he won't look at emails until after the maths mock. Hmmm ... we'll see.

Viking sorry about the driving test.

Proggy I know your DD didn't apply to Durham but if any of her friends hear about applications let me know - you are my most reliable source of classics information - DS is useless.

Viking; sorry to hear, that’s tough, especially after so much stop start on driving lessons these last 18 months.

@Horace123 Nothing from Durham as yet among DDs friendship circle.
I’ll give you the heads up once things get moving!

@sandybayley - great news for your DD!

@VikingNorthUtsire Commiserations; I feel yours and your DS's pain - we went round the driving test buoy 4 times....!! The cancellation apps were very good.

Good luck to everyone waiting for Oxford offers and to them all for their mocks - we are late on the mocks (Feb) and are waiting for Cambridge, so it feels like it's going to be a LOOOONG month!

@SandyBayley similarly DD has a mock exam next Tuesday 0900-1100 so will have got decide whether to look before or not... I've got meetings all morning to distract me which is helpful...

She sent off her application to Trinity College Dublin this afternoon and super excited by that. They don't give offers now, you hear on results day as everyone is ranked by points. She is now looking at points (different type) to get Irish Citizenship by naturalisation - bizarrely a fishing licence helps - only in Ireland!

@ProggyMat @Horace123 not news from Durham for DD or for her friends. It seems they are waiting till after UCAS closing date.

Thanks all re the driving test. His lessons have been SO disrupted. He:s perked up this evening and ready to get back for another go

Thanks also for the info re offers. Sounds like he'll find out at school. Not in an exam at least, his mocks are end of the month.

Horace DD4 got her Classics offer from Durham before she interviewed at Oxford. A few of them at interview had already heard back from Durham.