Oxford aspirants part 5......the wait is over the results are in!!

[TangoWhiskyAlphaTango]

Thought I would start a new thread as its likely to fill up quick now.

So here we are after many months of applications, assessments and interviews. The wait is finally over for those with DC who have applied to Oxford. Those with Cambridge applicants have another 2 weeks to wait until the 25th Jan (bummer!!)

You have all been a lovely bunch to share this journey with and I wish your dc nothing but the BEST OF LUCK for tomorrow (and the 25th).

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 Exactly, because it was part of her family culture. It's the same for my DD - DH and I met at Oxford and his brother and both parents went too. All state-educated but with a family culture of Oxbridge aspiration in DH's case. For me it was my Cambridge-educated teacher who pushed me to apply. I definitely would not have done so otherwise.

Just look at the state schools in inner London now sending 50 kids off to Oxbridge every year. It's because it's now an expected destination for them, just like it has been for private school students since time began. It's got much more to do with expectations than ability.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

I suspect you'd find that even of the non-grammars, a high % of the state school comprehensive educated young people at Oxbridge come from leafy London/Home Counties comprehensives with lots of high achieving students (with affluent, well educated parents who can afford tutors if required)! DN is just such an example.

NewModel sums my sentiments up well. This is our experience, living in London. I completely get the challenges of access focused favourably towards the private sector, but it’s just too simplistic to make the differentiating cut like that.

DD is educated in the private sector. She knows and agrees (as her parents do) with the need to widen participation. She is the recipient of parents that made a choice for her, based on a number of factors, and has a shortlist of institutions that will serve her well if C offer is not forthcoming, as disappointing that may be for her.

I am an immigrant (1960s) from a single parent background, neither DH nor I went on to further education, but whilst not educated in an academia way, DD has benefited from our life and work experiences, and not feeling inferior to those from better educational backgrounds. When asked where we did HE, it’s met with a head tilt ‘really?’ which amuses me now more than bothers these days. But I do sigh when DD is judged by her school background, vs what she is like as an individual, as we would never pass judgement on those that have parents Oxbridge/similar educated but comment negatively about their DC’s lack of confidence or feeling inadequate against private schooled students etc. There are shitty attitude kids in from all school types. Invested, supportive parents and teachers is what’s key, and it’s those students that don’t have access to this is where support is needed, which can be lacking or in abundance in any school sector.

The stats do tell a top line story, but I believe Oxbridge are going a long way to WP; whilst still trying to retain a standards benchmark and reach those that would thrive at either O or C.

DS is very philosophical about his Cambridge offer chances...if all of his 8 friends also waiting, get offers and he doesn't, I can see that will sting a lot, but he does have an Imperial offer, so it's not a bad position to be in really.....I just want to know now. January is a horribly long month at the best of times!!

we have not had a foreign holiday in ten years and my car has done 120 000 miles. That’s how we have paid for private schooling ( no grammars or academies or comps in our area oop north)

As I'm stepping back from this thread, dies anyone know if there's a particularly active thread on non-oxbridge 2022 entry? I've tried a few of the most recently active ones but they seem a bit quiet a focused on specific issues.

Sorry I know it's OT a bit

@VikingNorthUtsire

As I'm stepping back from this thread, dies anyone know if there's a particularly active thread on non-oxbridge 2022 entry? I've tried a few of the most recently active ones but they seem a bit quiet a focused on specific issues.

Sorry I know it's OT a bit

This thread is for all 2022 entry and everything in between:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/4444124-Thread-26-Covid-Cohort-Hoping-for-a-Stable-Successful-2022

Thanks @Shimy I thought there must be one

Viking: they are lovely bunch on that thread. Dip in or out as much as you want to.

@VikingNorthUtsire I would be interested too. Commiserations; I know it hurts.

@VikingNorthUtsire

Thanks *@Shimy* I thought there must be one

You're welcome and see you there

Although the 30% private school number is no doubt still too high, I do not think 7% is the "right" number. As i understand it, the % at private school is closer to 20% for sixth form, so assuming the numbers are derived from the school they are at at the time of application, you would expect the number to be higher than 7% private school as a starting point.

Also, it is not really comparing like with like in that far more private schools are academically selective so will tend to have a greater % of pupils who are capable of getting very high grades. Of course, the fact they are at private schools will make it far easier for them to achieve their potential (so this needs to be factored in), but it is still relevant. In comparing the GCSE results of a grammar school to a comp, for example, i don't think a straight comparison of % of 7s to 9s would be a fair reflection on the performance of the comp in determining where bright pupils get a better outcome - i think it is more appropriate to compare the performance of the grammar with the top (say) 20% of the comp cohort. I think the comparison here is somewhat similar (to a lesser extent).

There are obviously all sorts of other things that distort the comparison both ways - pupils who move from private to state for sixth form, high-performing selective state grammar schools and sixth form colleges, pupils at private schools on bursaries etc.

In summary, i don't think it is a simple as saying that the "right" outcome is that 7%% of Oxbridge applicants should come from private schools. That is not to say i think 30% is the right number either and more progress is no doubt required, but it is at least progress in the right direction.

I have a DD waiting to hear from C although she is not at all optimistic, and happy with both the offers she already has (but keen to hear from the other two, particularly Durham!). She is at private school. DH and I both went to Oxbridge, both first generation in our families to go to uni, I am state educated and DH went to private school on a bursary FWIW.

DD's private school (academically selective but not at the Westminster/St Pauls/NLCS/City level) got a higher % of O offers yesterday than expected (no noticeable reduction and an increase on last year which was lower than normal). However, far more applied to C, so the combined numbers may be more telling. Also a higher % applied than normal (maybe because overall GCSE grades will have been higher due to teacher assessed grades, making some more ambitious in uni choices). Interesting to know if the total number of applicants increased significantly

It would also be interesting to hear feedback on how the likes of Westminster etc. have done.

I have just seen a snapshot table (from a pre-Christmas Daily Telegraph article) of recent top performing (all state) schools/colleges in terms of Oxbridge places gained. From memory the top four were all in London, and I suspect although not on paper selective, young people need to get super-selective level grades (7s and above) to gain entry for sixth form. I certainly know this to be the place for Harris Academy Westminster (one of the four).

case rather than place .

DS came home from his final mock exam today quite subdued. We were all so excited about his offer yesterday (and he is so pleased - I think he hadn't let on how much he wanted it) but there wasn't any chat with friends - guess no one wants to say in case the others didn't get. And of course there have been disappointments - his 2 best friends didn't get (1 classics, 1 physics - one a very big surprise not to get) and it has really taken a bit of the shine off in a way. He said to me "guess I got lucky" which of course is right in some ways. They were all great candidates - almost identical academic records, pretty sure would come across well in an interview etc.

Of course it will all work out - in some ways it will be good to be forced to make new best friends; it will be good to be able to visit friends at other universities. But at the moment it's just a bit horrid.

Horace out of a group of four close friends of DS3 at school one didn’t get an offer despite being at least as strong an applicant as the others. It was really hard. It’s probably a bit better for the other two friends if your DS that two didn’t get in rather than just one.

*of not if

@goodbyestranger

Horace out of a group of four close friends of DS3 at school one didn’t get an offer despite being at least as strong an applicant as the others. It was really hard. It’s probably a bit better for the other two friends if your DS that two didn’t get in rather than just one.

Same at DSs school @goodbyestranger - 6 of them applied, one didn't get it - think it must be really tough if you are the one left out.

There are far more Cambridge applicants so I think there will be a more even distribution of offers and non offers. DS is in a very strong friendship group of 6, all very strong candidates and all (aside from DS) children of Cambridge alumni....I'm very nervous for him!

@WhyOhWine Clearly we are going to have very different opinions, because I fundamentally disagree with selective schools and would ban them tomorrow if I could. I think they are disastrous for social mobility and cohesion.

Anyway, sorry to have derailed the thread! Fingers crossed for those waiting for Cambridge offers.

Fair enough, myname, i was not wedded to selective education myself, and if the comp school options available to us had been as good as the state school i went to we would have jumped at them. I do think, though, that even if you remove private/selective schools from the equation, there will still be other blocks to social mobility, whether it is tutoring or some people being able to move near the best schools etc.
I am certainly supportive of fair access to opportunities, i just think it is not as simple as focusing on headline numbers.

totally agree! Look at grammar state schools. Private in all but name

Perhaps a different way at looking at Oxbridge entrants (and whether entry opportunities really have expanded) would be to see what % of them have close relatives who are graduates of the two universities. We might be surprised that the 'expanded' reach in recent years isn't as great as the increased state school representation would initially appear to indicate!

@Balloonsandbaubles

totally agree! Look at grammar state schools. Private in all but name

Sorry but that's not true. My kids are at a state grammar. Funding per pupil is £5303. This report looks at how this compares to funding in the independent sector: www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/school-funding-gap-ifs-report-b1934075.html

Both sectors have good and bad points. But independent schools have far greater financial resources.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 I am always surprised that the metric of '% graduate parents' isn't used more in secondary schools and in outreach. Perhaps because it would be too revealing?? I can't be sorry that ds benefited from a contextual offer based on his school for one university (not C obviously) despite the fact that he and 6 of his closest friends are all from dual graduate and mostly dual Oxbridge parental backgrounds. We're all failures of one type or another but we still have the familiarity with the system and cultural expectations that we don't even think about. It's the brutal truth that despite our less than stellar achievements we know that we might as well take a shot, how to do it, why it might be a good thing, and how to maximise the support we can offer.