Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Oxbridge Aspirants - Part 6

504 replies

HoneyMobster · 26/01/2022 14:58

The offers are in but there is still a long way to go...

@CurlyhairedAssassin
@Panicmode1
@PermanentTemporary

OP posts:
Panicmode1 · 07/02/2022 21:04

Well done Durham offer holders!

We are heading to Loughborough on Wednesday for an interview for DS - he has offers from his other four choices (C, Imperial, Durham and Bristol); it's a long trek for us, but he's excited to have a face to face interview and see the faculty, even though I don't think he will be going there. He's also going to Bristol on 9th March for an engineering offer holders day (anyone else going?) and to Imperial in half term - so hopefully he can finally firm and make decisions then!

Original poster
HoneyMobster · 07/02/2022 21:23

Congrats on the offers. DD still has her single offer from Oxford. Would be nice to have an insurance....

OP posts:
Pallando · 08/02/2022 08:26

Morning all,

I'm not totally surprised by some of the offers being higher than "standard" - there has been a massive leap in the number of A* grades in recent years, and for 2022 the grades are going to be higher than "normal" (but not quite as high as last year).

For those taking 3 A levels the percentage getting A in all three went up from 1.6% in 2019 to 4.3% in 2020 and 6.9% in 2021, and those taking 4 A levels and getting A in all of them went from 9.9% in 2019 to 23.2% in 2020 and 28.3% in 2021
Source of numbers

If we do drop back to "halfway" that would be a prediction of about 20% of those taking 4 A levels getting A* in all of them.

I'm not a fan of the "A in Further Maths, A in maths" type offers - these feels like a sneaky way to make a 3A offer.

Pallando · 08/02/2022 08:27

As in the previous thread, any questions about STEP please feel free to ask! We will be offering a series of (free) webinars to everyone from a UK state school (invites will be coming in a couple of weeks - for some reason it takes ages for us to get the info we need to send them out).

CurlyhairedAssassin · 08/02/2022 13:06

Just popping back on to say that I'm now a bit worried about DS making it into Cambridge. His Further Maths mock result was not good. He only got 60% which I don't think is even an A. He had a terrible error of judgement (wouldn't be warned!) and did not do any past papers, stating that if he did them all now then he wouldn't have any to do nearer the time for the real things! (I know, I know......) Despite me telling him the idea is to have a bash twice for each past paper a few months apart, and hone your technique from the first time, he decided I didn't know best.....

He feels confident he will do much better in the real thing but it really doesn't do any good at all for my nerves. His insurance will be Southampton and I (and he) would be happy there I'm sure, but his goal is Cambridge and I know he'll be gutted if he stuffs up this chance.

I'll be so relieved when September's here and I know where he's going!

PermanentTemporary · 08/02/2022 13:14

Well the good news Curly is that the exams are definitely going ahead - ds is upset about that but for people like me and your ds whose way of being is to peak on the day, it works...

MFLMum2022 · 08/02/2022 13:33

@CurlyhairedAssassin, that does sound stressful. If he wants to, there is still plenty of time to get is Further Maths where it needs to be.

Completely different course, but DDs insurance may well also be Southampton, which she really liked when she visited.

DD managed to really stress both me and herself out about the A she needs in her third, non-MFL, A level. In the end she got a strong A for her mocks (actually an A* on the 2021 grade boundaries) and the big news yesterday was that the syllabus for the subject has been significantly reduced. There will therefore be much less material to cover for the final exams than there was for mocks. Since it was the volume she struggled with, it’s taken the pressure right off. I have a much happier DD!

Panicmode1 · 08/02/2022 14:35

@CurlyhairedAssassin I may well be writing your post in 2 weeks time - mocks don't start here until the week after half term, but DS is not confident of the A in maths - he is confident about his physics and maths as As but the FM is one of those 'can go either way on the day' exams for him......

He said that yesterday's annoucements don't really help for STEM subjects either because for maths and FM you need to have all of the formulae and knowledge from all of the modules in any case.

We will just have to keep our fingers and toes crossed that they pull it out of the bag on the day, and work their socks off between now and then!

Panicmode1 · 08/02/2022 14:37

@Pallando - totally agree with you with the A in maths and the A in FM being a sneaky way to make an all As offer - and I understand why it has been done, but it does seem quite hard on them this year, when it's been hard enough with all of the disruption. I guess that there will not be any wiggle room either.

kitnkaboodle · 08/02/2022 14:52

@Panicmode1@CurlyhairedAssassin
My DS has 'joked' that he won't be telling us his mock results. I 'joked' that I would therefore just ask the teachers at the (now blessedly online) parents' eve in a couple of weeks! Grin
At the end of the day, we need to accept that engineering at the top unis is fiercely competitive. I think Oxbridge and Imperial have always asked for A A A and a lot of students there will have three or four As. I think it pays at the moment to underplay the Oxbridge offers and talk about them in terms of 'wouldn't it be nice if that happened?' but maybe talk more realistically about Bristol/Southampton/wherever else.
FM is fiendishly hard and i think it's realistic to think of an A as a big ask, even of the most academic/STEMmy/nerdy DC.

kitnkaboodle · 08/02/2022 14:54

I had a bold fail there for @CurlyhairedAssassin

Juja · 08/02/2022 23:11

DD received Durham offer yesterday too but as expected it’s the same as her O offer so not a suitable insurance. Bristol offer lower than O and she’s off to an offer holder’s day there in early March. Still awaiting Edinburgh and Newcastle.

Greatauntdymphna · 09/02/2022 08:23

@Decafcoffee

Congrats on all the amazing offers!

Can I ask what the process is now? When do they firm up offers? Apply for student loans? Accommodation? My dc is my oldest so haven’t done this before.
Dc has Cambridge, Bristol and Leeds

DD at 1st year at C and was our first too. So no expert but this is what she did... She firmed at the end of March or early April when she had all her responses (one response was quite late and she was tempted a few times just to cancel her application there so she could firm earlier but in the end she didn't). Her college asked for an email shortly after offer day to say she wanted the place so (although that's not binding etc) I guess they roughly knew numbers. She applied for her student loan after that - I think in May. She did not have to apply for accommodation at her insurance - I think she'd have had to deal with that after results day if she had been going there (luckily not as they were one of the units with insufficient accommodation). Her college emailed a few times between May and August for things like GCSE certificates etc. She had to pick her options for courses in June or July. They didn't email about accommodation until early September and then she had to give preferences and heard back about a week later with her actual room details. I think different colleges are different though - for example one of her friends had very little contact from the college before results day but then knew her accommodation within a week. Hope that helps.
CurlyhairedAssassin · 09/02/2022 23:53

@kitnkaboodle, Yes, A at FM is a really big ask. I think it must be really hard to achieve that. Luckily DS gave me the news today that he achieved As in his Computing and Physics mocks so he was pleased with that. Which makes 3A*s and the surprising A/B in Further maths.

I mean, it's silly because normally no-one on earth would moan at 3As at A-level!!! I agree with @Panicmode1 that it's really sneaky to ask for the A at FM, definitely a way of asking for 4A*s.

Just hope he'll come good. He said his ENGAA went really well, he was buzzing afterwards so wasn't too surprised when the results came in as being a near perfect score. So I know he's capable of studying at the level required. I have no idea what went wrong with his mock!

Ah welll....

Durham offer came the other day - A*AA. Same as Southampton offer. I think for Engineering Southampton is a better bet, and DS seems to think so too. So Southampton will be his insurance. Still nothing from Bristol or Imperial yet.

Finding this whole process fairly stressful as a parent, I have to say!

Panicmode1 · 10/02/2022 07:17

@CurlyhairedAssassin - well done to your DS on his Durham offer! My DS isn't even going to look at/consider Durham despite his offer and when I asked why he'd even put it down, I got the teenage eye roll of disdain..!?

DS said yesterday (on his way back from Loughborough) that he ''hopes FM will just come good on the day - we will just have to see'' - I suggested revising might be of some help - and got the teenage eye roll of disdain again Grin.

Totally agree, this is very stressful ...!

Familyfallout · 10/02/2022 07:29

@CurlyhairedAssassin congrats to your DS on Durham offer! sorry didn't reply to you earlier but one of the DC has covid so have been busy arranging pcrs and working from home. I think DD got her Durham offer last week. They have given her an invitation to an offer holders day, but due to the expense and distance she won't be going. I wish I'd have known offer holders days were a thing. We went up by ourselves before she applied, but it would have been better to go now as we could only do a self guided walking tour (that took hours!) as there were no official tours. I think train was over 200 pounds for the 2 of us and overnight in a hotel plus meals not cheap!

Original poster
HoneyMobster · 10/02/2022 07:40

Feel for all the FM takers. Horrible stress to be under to need to get that A star is a specific subject and such a hard way be (to my mind).

OP posts:
Frankl · 10/02/2022 10:44

Mock results came in today for DD1 and thankfully she did well. Still no news about DD4 results, but she thinks she will be fine.

DD2 and 3 did way better than what their teachers expected. Maybe knowing where they will go eliminated some stress form them.

Right now preparing their surprise birthday party for next month. Thankfully all family and all friendship groups are helping with the process

kitnkaboodle · 10/02/2022 13:51

@CurlyhairedAssassin our DSs had identical applications then, apart from mine has Bath where yours has Durham. My DS had a Southampton offer that is very achievable. I think one grade on the offer is A/B, so prob A* A A/B and no subjects specified. Did you go to Southampton open day? I thought it looked great.
Bristol are always slow.
We're waiting on Imperial too and DS1 doing the online test tomorrow. Radio silence about DS1's application there ...

kitnkaboodle · 10/02/2022 13:55

I mean radio silence about DS2's (he's the C offer holder) Imperial application.
Forgive me - both sons applying at the same time for the same course at 3 of the same unis!!

CurlyhairedAssassin · 11/02/2022 22:33

[quote kitnkaboodle]**@CurlyhairedAssassin* our DSs had identical applications then, apart from mine has Bath where yours has Durham. My DS had a Southampton offer that is very achievable. I think one grade on the offer is A/B, so prob A A A/B and no subjects specified. Did you go to Southampton open day? I thought it looked great.
Bristol are always slow.
We're waiting on Imperial too and DS1 doing the online test tomorrow. Radio silence about DS1's application there ...[/quote]
How did the Imperial test go?

CurlyhairedAssassin · 11/02/2022 22:34

We have the Southampton offer holder’s day next weekend. Hope he likes it!

kitnkaboodle · 12/02/2022 08:53

@CurlyhairedAssassin DS2's Imperial test suffered from online cockups! (Sigh ...). Not very impressed with this coming from the country's top technical school! Hundreds of candidates couldn't use the back button on the test, so if you scrolled forward a bit you couldn't scroll back to review/finish your answers. To their credit, they have offered two dates to resit it, and they had that sorted out by the end of yesterday. But it will draw out the process even longer, I guess Angry.
I think your DS will love Southampton. Make sure you visit the special 'science park'y bit that is just up the road from the main campus (can't remember the name - Wolfson??). Big facilities for aero, maritime and civil engineering. Don't bother getting the shuttle bus like we did - it's only 5 mins walk!

kitnkaboodle · 12/02/2022 09:18

It's 'Boldrewood Innovation' campus! God knows where Wolfson came from!

quest1on2 · 12/02/2022 15:35

Hi congrats to everyone on all the other offers coming in.

DS has now firmed C (unconditional offer as post A-level) so after a long period of uncertainty, can now finally visualise where he’s going and enjoy the rest of the gap year. He’s currently volunteering abroad and will be for some months yet. I was so worried when he decided to withdraw from Durham last August, but it seems to have all worked out for his best.

Quite a few of his friends who didn’t get into C following last year’s carnage seem to have been successful this year which is interesting.

I do feel for students with this A* Further Maths and STEP business hanging over them. I’m in awe of anyone who takes maths at all tbh, let alone FM.

Swipe left for the next trending thread