OR 22 - Edinburgh, Warwick, St A, UCL, Durham, Nottingham, Bath and more

[Valleyofthedollymix]

Following on from the Oxbridge rejects thread but I've got rid of those two words. I for one am interested to know where they all end up and when Durham might finally deign to reject/offer DS...

I have no year 13 children, but spent the last 3 years awaiting university offers so still dip in to these threads (then get over invested in some of the journeys!)

Have there been any LSE offers yet for MNers' DC? What subjects are you waiting for at LSE? LSE breaks up for Easter on Friday so hopefully there will be lots of offers this week.

DD is at LSE studying BA Geography. She is off on a field trip tomorrow... to Cuba! It is the first time the field trip has run since 2019. I am very jealous!!

@Piggywaspushed that’s rubbish. I remember the debate about whether to apply for feedback. We are waiting for DS’ school forgot to apply for it so it’s debatable whether he will hear back or not. Hearing that feedback must have been tough (and super annoying given the situation).

His feedback was automatic for his college. All 3 1/2 sides of it!

Hi @Oldowl, my DD is waiting to hear back from LSE for Geography BA.

I think the longer she waits, the more she counts it out. I’d like to hear more about your DD’s experience.

I'm so sorry @Piggywaspushed. That feels unbelievably harsh even for Cambridge. But congratulations to him on his fab offers.

@Stockpot I have sent you a pm.

I hope DD college doesn't automatically send feedback as it'll be going straight in the shredder. Nothing for her to gain from it expect to feel the sting of rejection again.

@Piggywaspushed I think it's crass of Cambridge to mention GSCE results from 2020 full stop, regardless of where they went to school. They didn't take the bloody things! DS's were in part based on exams he did in y10 when he was 14 and both those and his mocks were taken before he was found to have a physical condition which inhibits his ability to write. I'm not surprised you and your son were irritated, they sound really unconstructive.

They have to come up with reasons. It’s obviously not clear cut. Sounds like they grope around to justify turning down good candidates. They have to find some sort of reason. With how close the kids are it’s all a bit of a pantomime. There must be some clear standouts, but I suspect the numbers force them to cut through the messy middle.

Makes the idea of a lottery once the right grades, test scores, etc. are met, sound as sensible as anything else.

The feedback also said A level predictions were an issue,were they below the standard offer level?

Just to add to the contextualisation discussion I would expect that most of the deferrals from last year were not contextual applicants as a year out is very expensive….

One thing to remember is that Cambridge do interview a far higher proportion of applicants than Oxford who thin down earlier, up to 90% in some subjects. I do think that the remote interviews do not suit some applicants. I suspect the wording around grades are standard cut and paste type things that they add into their quite long feedback. Although they publish "usual" offers for Cambridge rather than standard for Oxford very many offers are at higher than usual level with very many candidates applying with a full set of A*/45 predictions.

The thing is if A-level predications or GCSE results were an issue then why put them through an interview in the first place? Waste of everybody's time and energy!

I imagine because they would say the whole approach is holistic,with no one area more important than another,they might say that the interview gave the candidate a chance to show his "passion" for the subject etc.
The normal complaint is that feedback is generic,this feedback would seem not to be,they have highlighted two areas where they think the candidate was weaker than other candidates..

TangoWhiskyAlphaTango - I agree. If you look at the Oxbridge and Cambridge stats, about half of those who enter those unis, year on year have achieved at least 3 A in their A-levels. It’s understandable that a candidate applying with 2 A and an A (predicted or achieved) might be thinking they are in a relatively strong position because they have grades above the standard offer of A*AA. But from the universities point of view, just based on those grades, the candidate would rank in the lower half of the cohort in terms of students who actually enter the university. Also, Oxford are still advertising some humanities courses as AAA. I don’t know why they encourage people to apply with AAA because the stats show that, in reality, hardly anyone enters the uni with “only” AAA. It’s all quite misleading really.

@2kto5 Oxford puts more emphasis on the assessment tests so once that "hurdle" has been surpassed they are happy enough to set an achievable grade standard that takes pressure off. As you say in reality those that meet that hurdle are the truly high achievers anyway.

@ACloseMatch and @doubleshotcappuccino ... which unis? My DS is waiting on Imperial, Bristol and Bath for Engineering. He sent in mitigating circumstances forms to all of them though, so maybe that's why he's in limbo. He dropped out of Y12 before the pandemic, changed schools for Y13, then the pandemic hit. He's doing 2 resits as well, so has a complicated situation. I can't help but think that they have him on the reserves bench and are waiting for others to turn their offers down ...

...well probably not Imperial. They haven't even interviewed him so goodness knows why they can't just say no.

Havent been on here in a while ,but DS has his offersand rejections. Offers from UCL, Warwick and Notts for Economics. He is firming UCL and Notts will be his insurance. Still having a couple of twinges about being rejected from LSE for Economics, but overall happy!

@kitnkaboodle fingers crossed for DS.. Durham, LSE and UCL for us .. holding Bath and rejected from C, predicted all Astars and got 9s for GCSEs but alas, we wait.

@2kto5 exactly -good point

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango very good point .. also I am interested to see who actually got offered HSPS at C .. did they go through all that work and prep for zero to very few places I wonder .. if that is the case the ethical route would have to disclose all this before our DCs went through this all this year .. not just C but everyone .. sharing data before would have helped make a more informed decision

Singleshot just got an offer from UCL:-) much, much relief .. there is was furiously spamming this group not knowing good news was afoot ...

Congratulations doubleshot cappuccino. And good luck to those still waiting. Cant believe how slow unis have been this year.

That is good voodoo @doubleshotcappuccino - really great news!