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.

@juicy0 - Here is the link to the interactive graph for Cambridge: www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics you can select course and college

DD hoping to apply to for medicine at C. She knows it's a long shot, but she's predicted 4 A*s, and seems to be on it with regard to volunteering, work experience, BMAT/UCAT prep etc so she'll throw her hat in the ring and see what happens.

At the moment I think Edinburgh, Keele and Bristol are in the running for the other 3 choices, and then she needs to decide on a non medicine choice, probably for Biochemistry.

Just a word of warning. If she's from England or Wales she will need all grade 9s and a UCAT score well in excess of 3000 to have a shot at Edinburgh going on the last few years. (If you're in Scotland ignore that!)
Once she has her UCAT score it would definitely be worth posting on the medicine thread as they will be able to advise but I have been doing some medicine application work too - if she has a great UCAT then Bristol is worth a shot but again it will need to be very high based on the last few years (high 2800s+). Keele only look at the R and R form really so she will have to make sure that her volunteering/working/leadership is really good. Other than Bristol (assuming she gets the UCAT score) they are potentially slightly risky options and it's best to only have one risky one and 3 "banker" interviews....
Also, if she's set on medicine, then ignore the 5th option as she would be much better to reapply if she didn't get any medicine offers. GEM is much more competitive than normal medicine.
There's a really good applying to medicine thread that's worth a read!

Thank you @Juja I'm not sure why my post appears multiple times, sorry about that.

Sorry, no idea why a chunk of the above is in bold ... :)🤔

Joining late-ish in the day ... DD wanted to apply to Oxford to do French and English. She's just had her predicted grades A, A and A - in Spanish. Is it worth her still pursuing this? She gets another chance to up her prediction in September, but assuming she still gets predicted A would Oxford even look at her? She's at a high-achieving private school.

It's absolutely not the be-all if she doesn't apply to O, but worth knowing if it's even worth a shot. From my point of view (I did languages at C) her French is a bit ropey, but it's hard to tell if this is because imo modern languages are taught badly now at most schools and the standard has dropped - certainly it's badly taught at her's, or if she just isn't a linguist. She is VERY enthusiastic about French but that's maybe not enough to carry it ...

I’m assuming your post fell into the MN bold trap and she’s predicted A star, A star in French and English, and A in Spanish, is that right? And she’s in year 12?

DD at that stage was predicted ABB, though not at private school. (She applied post-results.) Her French grammar is… interesting, even after a year there, so I assume it’s not the main thing they are looking for.

Standard Oxford offers tend to be AAA. Well worth a shot.

Is she sure about joint honours though?

Codfisher,
Is that A star AA?
I do think this cohort has missed out on exchanges and school trips for MFL which can't be helping them...

Sorry, she's predicted A star, A star, A and she is in year 12. She's also on track for an A star in her EPQ, which I've read and does seem very impressive.

Interesting thoughts on what they've missed - you're right, it's been a lot - no trips to France or exchanges and she only started French in Yr 8. She's very strong in English so there's a chance she could just do that but she does genuinely love French and I think it's a better choice employment wise. it depends on if O would even look at her if she's not predicted A star from her background ... She's an incredibly hard worker so I wouldn't be at all surprised if she pulls herself up a grade by this time next year.

Sorry and I meant A in French - Spanish came from me as it's what I did at uni! She's doing English, History and French

Is she really passionate about her subjects and well-read?
Between that being reflected at interview and in her personal statement, plus a decent performance in the language aptitude test, she'd have a fighting chance. She would surely not be dismissed from further assessment/consideration just from the lack of a third A star.

Cambridge have updated their website, their interviews like Oxford will be online too. With the exception of Trinity College. How odd.

I suspect that if she's very strong in English, and in two essay subjects, she'd have an easier time of it than my DD, whose approach to literature essays is 'tangential', according to her favourite tutor. Good luck to her!

@Codfishermen Yes, she should apply if keen, and they might offer her single honours if they don't want her for one of the joint schools. This happened to a friend of mine!

@Codfishermen my DS is going to apply. He's also predicted 2 X A star and an A in French. It's still higher than needed and it's notoriously more difficult to get an A star in French if you're not a native speaker. It's definitely worth them applying!

I've just listened in on my DS on a webinar about oxbridge admissions led by one of Cambridge admission staff. She said all interviews will be online this year.

@juicy0 www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/interviews/online-interviews

@OnePlusOneEquals how odd that she didn't mention the separate arrangements! I wonder why that one college is following a different process 🤷‍♀️

@juicy0 i think it’s a shame tbh that both Oxford and Cambridge are doing interviews online again this year. Should my DS be fortunate enough to reach that stage I think he’d find it harder than in person.
We may much prefer having parents’ evenings online these days (less background noise, sharp elbows, less time consuming, better organised etc) but with interviews they don’t just have the stress of the actual interview, there is also the worry of problems with technology, a feeling of it being harder to engage with the interviewers and a possible feeling of being disengaged from the process. It would be good to hear from other students/parents who went through it last year. Hopefully he’ll remember to do that at the open day!

@OnePlusOneEquals my DS went through the online process this year. I’ve just asked him what he felt about it and he said, “I didn’t mind it to be honest.” 😂He went on to say that he thought it was good that everyone was in the same position. He was very used to online learning so was confident with the tech side. I thought it was a shame he didn’t get to go but I suppose that could be a mixed blessing.
My DD went through the process in 2019 and did go. Her train was cancelled so she missed the meet and greet part and felt as if lots of people already knew each other and that she was an outsider. She enjoyed her actual interviews but not her stay there.
My DS has got an offer and she didn’t. I think she would have been more worried by the tech side than him but it was also good that she knew she hadn’t actually liked being there so has embraced going elsewhere.
I therefore think it’s swings and roundabouts; some students will prefer online interviews and others would benefit from actually being there.
Good luck to you all! I hope all your DC are happy wherever they study.

One reason is almost certainly because there will likely be high levels of Covid etc and the interviewers need to be well enough to do all the interviews and evaluate the candidates together!

I was not from an under privileged background but still found my in person interview stay incredibly frightening and intimidating (probably just my personality). So yes, I think the levelling aspect of online is probably helpful for at least a fair few candidates, though not all.

@OnePlusOneEquals I think maybe we worry more about it than our DC who, due to covid amongst other things, are well used to doing most things online. If he's lucky enough to get that far I think he will ask for the practice interview he has been offered by school to be done online so he can get some useful feedback about how he comes across on screen.

@Letsgoforaskip thanks for that. I think his main concern is (as he’s applying for physics) being able to solve the problems given on whatever devices/whiteboards etc that he has to use whilst still being visible on screen and not being totally silent at the same time! It will take practise. He’s adept at computers and so forth, but there can always be hiccups on both sides.
Whatever happens, it will be a (hopefully!) fun learning experience. He’s very keen on 3 universities and quite keen on 2, so at least he got his 5 in place. At the end of the day it’s a good opportunity for him to hopefully shine.
After the open days and being one of the ‘winners’ of the ISAAC physics challenge where he will spend part of the week at Cambridge uni, he’ll be able to experience the intensity of learning that Oxbridge is known for. He’ll either love it or hate it!

Thanks everyone for your help up the thread, it's extremely encouraging. DD is certainly super passionate and very well read, I think she stands a fighting chance and it's encouraging to hear that it's notably harder to get A star if you're not bilingual (back in my day, it annoyed me that the bilingual people had such an obvious head start on the rest of us and I met Margaret from the Apprentice once who read French and German at C and said the same thing!!) Just heard she's won the French prize for her year, so hopefully that helps her case ... Good luck to everyone going through the process, a lot of brilliant dcs out there who all deserve places