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).

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango you've done an amazing job to keep us all going and supported. Please reconsider going. The humour .. the camaraderie and the empathy has kept many of us feeling that we are not alone. Many of us have you to thank for being able to have a place to come and chat especially when we haven't told anyone IRL. This Cambridge waiting bench is getting a bit uncomfortable and chilly and most of can't wait to get off one way or another ! Thank you @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango for supporting us.. wouldn't it be great to see this out to the end together?

I just want to also add DD showed me Reddit's bread thread which is where a lot of them are talking as they wait for offers and also share offers. They're such a supportive bunch .. it was lovely to see how they celebrate, commiserate and generally support each other.

So pleased to see the old timers / aspirants returning @doubleshotcappuccino @MFLMum2022 @Eightytwenty - just and 6 sleeps to go for Cambridge. Thinking of @Piggywaspushed and her lovely DS.

Thanks @HoneyMobster keeping my fingers crossed for all our DCs .. it seems like a very long trudge but I'm glad to you all for your support and not doing it alone. @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango hope we can get back on track x

I echo not to leave the thread Tango. It's the boredom in-between the long waits that get filled with let's say, alternative debates! Just like the Scotland one earlier, not applicable to all but interesting nevertheless to hear the difference in education systems, and people's views on courses; accessibility, ratios to success, quality of entry applicants vs other subject hurdles etc. It's chatter to fill the void.

My DD has applied to other counties outside UCAS, but I have kept quiet because I don't recognise myself in much of the recent chat. I'm just a parent that has a daughter that before she was remotely interested in Oxbridge, was adventurous enough to enquire about study abroad. So I checked out Fulbright Commission as a start point and we did our own research, before being supported by school that provides outreach for international applications for ALL schools in the local community (along side 4 other schools). Now these options are very much her Plan B's, should things not go her way.

I hope those that seek alternative options, but not in it for bragging rights continue to have a place here on what has been a really helpful thread. The sadist in me would love a place at one of these dinner parties just to make the atmosphere awkward, but unfortunately, no invite has ever been sent our way

Well done to all that got offers and to those that didn't there are different routes to reaching full potential and being happy. Both my DC went to a very average comp and with DC1 showing promise for their subject applied to Oxbridge with a why not try attitude, got in and have loved the experience.DC2 applied was not sure it would suit as well, didn't get in and is loving where he is. Both are happy, both have good opportunities ahead of them, both are stretched to achieve. Good luck to those waiting for c

Another sat on the Cambridge bench, reading the chatter filling the void and quite frankly thanking the universe that DD didn't contemplate US applications as I can barely cope with the UCAS ones and the Cambridge wait.

She has some Olympiad things to distract her but is quite tense.

PS hoping @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango stays, this has been a supportive thread for most I think / hope whatever the background to application.

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango You need to assert your proprietary rights to this thread - you started it afterall! Anyway, you can't go - I've got everything crossed for your DD and you'll need to come back to tell me I can uncross them!

@DottyHarmer

Actually there’s a story in The Times today about a call to scrap personal statements. I am on the fence: for some places and courses they are necessary. In the whole I doubt they’re read. The fact that ds received some offers literally hours after submission does lead one to suspect that no one had read his ps.

Obviously some people have a lot of assistance with their ps, and I remember my hair standing on end a few years ago when a poster wrote about the “personal statement team” moved into their dc’s school to “help” write them.

The dcs received no help at all from their school but any student with any nouse (and they should have nouse if they are fit for higher education) could google examples and follow their style. If someone can’t find the student room then one has to question their commitment and independent learning ability!

My dd hasn’t heard of the student room, she did her PS on her own with no help, she didn’t google examples, she just wrote about herself. She is at a standard non selective comprehensive school.
I don’t think any of this stuff is really necessary. Surely if a university is going to be a good fit then that works both ways, they need to see what the student is really like. Fakery and hype on a PS is pointless if that then means either a rejection after the interviews, or a young person getting a place where they are then unhappy, or not coping, because that is the wrong place for them. It is like lying on a dating site, it might get you a date but it won’t lead to a great relationship. I agree with Tango, I wouldn’t want anybody to feel their children shouldn’t apply as they haven’t done xyz and they are at a comp.

My dcs were at a standard non-selective comp too. Even if you haven’t heard of the student room, if you Google personal statement examples, it will appear.

I can’t imagine writing about herself was her whole personal statement . The examples is not to copy but to see that Oxbridge require an academic ps, and not, as the dcs’ comp advised, a run-down of your interests and positions of responsibility with a line thrown in about being passionate about Whatever since you were a foetus. In fact DD’s ps was given the thumbs down by her tutor who seemed a bit anti the whole escapade.

How are mocks going for the DC? DD's results are back and it's looking very much as we hoped / expected. I'm very relieved her Oxford offer isn't scarily high like DS1's was. It does take the pressure off a bit.

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango

Does EVERYBODY have DC in independent school on this thread? I am feeling completely out of my depth here so going to bow out as I cannot relate to anything that is being said anymore.

Thank you to all the regulars for your support and the very best of luck to your DC for their future wherever they end up.

I hope you don't leave the thread, Tango! My DC has been at state school throughout (nothing fancy like grammar either). An advantage of that is that we know they've got as far as they have through their and our hard work, motivation and ability. I know that private schoolers have these too, but you need them more at a standard comprehensive than you do at a top independent. I find the boasting at dinner parties thing weird. My DC1 is very high achieving - at national level in "their thing". I never mention it to anyone. In my experience people don't like to hear other parents boast about their child. It must be different in top independent school circles.

@Storminamu - it's not believe me! My DC are at an independent school and the thought of talking up their achievements in a public gathering is cringeworthy. Really bad manners IMO. But I don't go to many dinner parties to be honest!

Yes completely ghastly HoneyMobster, but it's very definitely a thing.

Don't go @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango - I'm just ignoring all above and trying to find the names of the posters who I've enjoyed getting to know whilst we wait for offers next week (I guess Oxbridge vs Ivy League is at least a variation on the endless private v state boredom on MN. )

My children aren't at private schools FWIW - albeit they are selective state grammars.

Tango, all of mine are comprehensive educated.

It’s always a thorny issue, state/private debates and how that is managed by HE providers, but I think most parents will do their very best for their children. Whether the system itself needs changing is a different debate, but I wouldn’t criticise any parent who made choices that they believe are in their child’s best interests.

In my experience people don't like to hear other parents boast about their child. It must be different in top independent school circles.

I had THE most hilarious afternoon at a fencing tournament (I know, I know - our boys were in the scruffiest kit in the room, and the only state school I think). I was sitting on my own, watching my son and happened to be sitting in front of a group of parents from a VERY smart London school. The passive aggressive conversation between the women trying to outdo each other with how much tutoring/coaching/training their children were doing as well as how thin/rich/well travelled/busy they were, was eye opening....and utterly hilarious. I had to keep pretending I'd choked on my water, rather than trying not to snort it out of my nose with laughter.

@HoneyMobster mocks for DS don't start until the first week in Feb - but at least he will know about Cambridge by then, so will have a target for them, or Imperial.

Joining in the chorus of:
Don’t go @TangoWhiskyAlphaTango!

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango my DC are all state and non-selective educated here too.
I would like to thank you for always being kind and positive and wish your DC well wherever they go. 💐

@Panicmode1 - sorry to hear mocks are still hanging over you. It looks like DD might have to do another set. She's not impressed.

But she did get an interview invite for Bristol this morning 😊

Ds used to go to chess tournaments. Delayed brag: when he was 10 he beat the the 18-year-old captain of a public school chess team (very delayed brag as ds is now 22! ).

Anyway, the parental pushiness, boasting and general obnoxious behaviour at chess tournaments trumped anything I have seen since. Boy, those parents were horrible .

Sadly I have no fancy (or scruffy) dinner parties to go to, but I have experienced a few sniffy put-downs about the dcs from smart types, eg, “Is that one of those new colleges?” (No… but so what if it were?) and “It’s so nice they are widening access these days”