Applying to Oxbridge for 2023 intake

[riverpebbles]

Not sure if there is already a thread on this? My son is hoping to apply to Cambridge for Computer Science for October 2023 start.

We were told by school that 44 was an A* last year

@malbecfan ours are out of 50

@bettbburg sounds similar grading to ours in terms of %. However, grade boundaries are not normally published until results day. We are using 2019 grade boundaries as a guide but they may well be better this year if the DfE advice is applied. Fingers crossed in your case!

Here it was a 20 minute presentation and yes, the reliability and four other sections.

@panda55 Presentations should be around 10-15 minutes plus a Q&A session. My longest this year was 48 minutes, which was too much. It used to be done in front of their assessor plus at least one other person, but due to Covid, they can just present to me in person or indeed remotely. All presentation materials form part of their Learner Record.

All main sources should be analysed as to their reliability, authenticity, bias, vested interest etc. plus how the candidate used them.

The dissertation should be around 5000-6000 words long not including references, however, they are not penalised for exceeding this. However, the dissertation or indeed artefact is not worth a huge amount of the marks on its own. The Learner Record and presentation also carry a lot of marks and provide much of the evidence of their achievements.

Yes, I do read every word. This means "bye bye Malbecfan's Easter holiday each year"! Due to the extended writing, referencing, source analysis, presenting, thinking on their feet for the Q&A, you can see why it is so valuable for 6th form students prior to going to university.

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@riverpebbles I am interested in this too. DD got mostly 9s but got two 8s in subjects not related to what she wants to study and she also got a 6 in Further Maths but 8 in the regular Maths GCSE. She is hoping to study an Arts subject, will FM at 6 really pull her down? She swapped to doing FM as her Engineering course course couldn’t do the practical so she would have struggled to get a good result in that and exam board wasn’t making concessions for lockdown. She has 10 GCSEs, do they look at all of them?

@PettsWoodParadise Oxford or Cambridge? If Cambridge, it shouldn't matter. I'm not sure about Oxford.

DD2 applied for BioNatSci at Cambridge having mostly A stars and As (last year of old-style GCSEs). She also had a C in Drama. She was still interviewed by Cambridge. Although unsuccessful, I am confident that the random Drama grade was not the cause.

Pettswood my DD got a D for dismal not distinction for her further maths, a 6, some 7s, 8s & 9s. She's a 2nd year PPEist, so FM is actually relevant to her degree. It made no difference to her.

She also didn't have straight A*s for her predicted or actual grades. (Just busting a few admissions urban myths).

Thank you @Malbecfan - applying to Cambridge, really helpful to know they don’t filter out for interview with just one low grade

thank you also to @HewasH2O and so glad to hear about your DD

i know DD’s teachers really really support her and wouldn’t have her on the Oxbridge list if they didn’t think she had a chance. She is in the process of getting her end of year exam results back which form a part of her predicted grades and at the moment it is all looking very encouraging and I am so bursting with pride for her and her friends especially with all they’ve been through the past few years. My Dad left school at 14 and was proud of me just getting into any university,, I didn’t know anyone who had been to University. I wish he was around to witness how amazing his grandchild is.

The thing to consider @PettsWoodParadise is how your DD's GCSE results compare to others in the school where her GCSEs were taken.

Cambridge and Oxford will contextualise her results compared to her peers. So if everyone else in the school where she took her GCSEs got 10 x 9 the 6 might be an issue but if her results were at the top end of the cohort it would be fine.

But you also might find (as happened with DD for Oxford Medicine this year) that GCSE results are largely disregarded given the circumstances they were awarded in.

This explains it better for Cambridge

www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/contextual-data#:~:text=Finally%2C%20where%20possible%2C%20we%20use,GCSE%20performance%20at%20their%20school.

Admittedly, if DD had gone to Eton, her application wouldn't have made it through the first round, but they don't take girls!

My DS might apply to Oxford for PPE has 9 x 9 and 1 x 8. But in his school lots have 11 or 12 9s - hence his GCSEs wouldn't be considered particularly strong compared to his cohort at school. That said he could do well at the TSA and get an interview on that basis.

It looks like Cambridge treat 8 and 9 grades as the same.

@PettsWoodParadise I wouldn't worry too much about gcse results for Cambridge
My DD went to a school where achievement is amazing.
Her close friend had a range of 6-9s (from memory 1 x6, 3 x 7, 4 x 8, 3 x 9) which was probably just below or bang on average for their school - and is now thriving at Cambridge.
I do feel as though interviews make much more difference than results or a level predictions.

Thank you @Greatauntdymphna that is really helpful. DD if she got an interview would have a good chance. But then I am biased!

She isn’t sure how she feels that at Cambridge the ELAT is now used only if selected for interview rather than part of the selection process like it will continue to be at Oxford.. She is good under exam type pressure and felt it would have been one more chance for her to show her capabilities. I suppose for the university they don’t have to review so many written papers.

My understanding is that Oxford use exams to select out pre-interview but Cambridge interview nearly everyone so exams are used more during the process rather than ahead of it if that makes sense. So I think C will end up marking as many as O but just use them differently.
DD didn't have an exam in the ELAT sense but did have written work to do as part of the interview process (in timed conditions but just responding to a source and not officially "marked"). She found it fine - like your DD, exams are her thing - and suspects it really helped as she did not do well in her interviews but still got pooled to another college.

@PettsWoodParadise I have sent you a pm.

Well that's exams over for my Scottish DS.

He's taken four highers and one advanced higher this year. All went well he thinks. We have a long wait until results day on 9 August now.

Does anyone know how an early advanced higher in maths (Scottish equivalent of A level ) translates to a potential Cambridge offer for computer science?
Will he still need the standard entry requirements in year 13 if he already has one relevant qualification under his belt?

Hope all your DCs are enjoying the last summer term before the exam round next year.😊

@Aurea, well done to your DS on completing his exams.

Re entry requirements, I suggest your DS emails the admissions teams at a couple of colleges to get the latest, up to date information. Admissions requirements do vary slightly by college. Also bear in mind that Cambridge offers can be tailored to the individual and therefore higher than the published "typical" offer.

@HoneyMobster, my understanding is that TSA scores are banded by school type with a broader band of scores eligible for interview for under-represented applicants and a narrower band for independent schools.

Thanks Often

Ah. ...my DS goes to a non selective state school. We don't have any grammar schools in Scotland.

Are underrepresented applicant locations part of their consideration? It would be good for my DS if so. I think only one student has got in to Cambridge from his school in the past few years. A few have managed to get in to Oxford though (one or two a year).

Yes @ofteninaspin - DD's BMAT was subject to contextualisation this year (she was at a v high performing school) - finished yesterday!

Not sure DS is going to apply to Oxford anyway. He's doing very well (at a national level) in his chosen sport and it probably makes sense for him to go somewhere the national team has official links to, Oxford doesn't. It may even take him to the US.

I'm going to lurk for a bit though as it's not entirely clear yet how things will work out.