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.

DS sat the TSA and his prep was practising past papers. Same strategy as @OnePlusOneEquals mentioned above for PAT; older past papers first and newest one just before the test. DS didn't use any other resources in preparation although I gather there are various books you can buy.

Whycan In Feb of year 12 your DD will be eligible to apply for UNIQ summer schools as she's at a state school. Priority is given to those ticking various widening participation boxes and competition is fierce, but they are a great way of seeing if the study methods and college system may suit your DD.

I had read about this but as I am not sure she would tick any of the boxes for free school means, deprived postcode etc so does she stand any chance of getting in?

It's worth applying. I think there was a 1/7 chance of getting a place. It's good practice for writing the PS if nothing else. Some subjects have a much lower number of applications than others.

DS has to hand in his completed personal statement and finish his UCAS application for his 6th form’s deadline tomorrow. All medicine, dentistry, vet and Oxbridge prospective students are the same.
Not long now really till the PAT exam, just over 6 weeks away. I think for once the long first term of the school year will go really quickly.

Has anybody got any experience of the Theology test for Cambridge? At the open day they said they had changed the format but no other details. School seem pretty clueless too.

Have you all spotted that the entry deadline for the exams has moved forward to the end of September, so they must apply before the UCAS deadline.

DD has got all her predictions now- 4A* she is applying for nat sci at Cambs

We've experience of both Oxford and Cambridge summer schools, Uniq and the Sutton Trust

The internal deadline for early aoolicants is Friday, but apparently the school can ping it back to the students who want to do more work on their PS until the external deadline.She hasnt as much for her PS as her siblings because there have been fewer opportunities because of covid

Good luck to your DD @user29 . Mine applied 6 years ago and loved the course. Bio or Physical NatSci?

Well she had the meeting yesterday and yes they will help them apply for the summer school. The group is currently made up of y11&12 so some stuff isn't relevant to her yet. But there will be visits and the next meeting will be to discuss the summer school applications. They will also help them work on their personal statements and (I think) support them in ensuring they have the sort of stuff they can put on there.

Hope I can join too. DS too is applying for physics at Oxford. He is just finalising his UCAS but has come unstuck on what he should put as his safe university (ie one that would have lower offers). For others applying for physics here can anybody recommend which other unis they have put down.

@Whycanineverever even if she does not qualify for the UNIQ summer school she may be offered a day. DS (now going into 3rd year) applied but did not get a place on the summer school but did have a UNIQ day in Oxford where he had a taster tutorial, visited a couple of colleges, had a talk on applications. So very much worth applying and it helped him swing his decision away from Cambridge towards Oxford!

Thank you @beeswain.

I must admit after the meeting I am feeling more confident that the school have this all in hand and will help.

So I don't need to worry about driving it!

She is adamant it's Oxford she wants (not sure why) but hopefully the school will arrange trips to both - she may change her mind if she visits Cambridge.

Biology is her main interest :-)

please can i ask what other institutions people's DC have chosen?

@Physing DS contemplating Durham, Lancaster, York, Warwick, Birmingham. In reality he just wants Oxford or Lancaster, not overly fussed about the rest.

DS (PPE) is thinking of Oxford, Durham, Edinburgh, Nottingham and Newcastle but I think his heart is actually in the US.

DS struggled with this when he applied too (2018 start). Lots of Physics courses wanted the same or higher grades as Oxford. In the end he put Durham but would probably have taken a year out.

Thank you for the suggestions. Durham Physics typical offer is now 2 A stars and A

My DS applying for comp sci is going for:
Cambridge, St As, Edinburgh, Glasgow and another.

He has Scottish fee status and his Scottish applications will be with higher grades in hand (6 x A1).

Sorry, that was when he had his offers and was choosing firm and insurance. He put down Oxford and Durham.

Had he not got the grades for Oxford, something would have gone massively wrong so have taken a year out.

On UCAS he put Oxford, Durham, Imperial, York and Birmingham. Some were with a year abroad in Spain I think.

Also, DS put in an open application. We went round lots of colleges and they all had pros and cons. In the end he decided that he could be happy at any college as long as it was Oxford.

Hi. Can I join in? DS applying to Oxford for Classics. I have no experience of Oxbridge so this is all a steep learning curve. His school internal deadline for UCAS (including the PS) was yesterday; yikes. He put down all five uni choices, all of which he managed to get to open days for. Not sure when the school presses the button for the final submission to UCAS.

Oxford, then St Andrews but other than that it's all up in the air.
Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff and LSE have all been dismissed