Applying to Oxbridge for 2023 the offers are coming in

[bettbburg]

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Logically unsound argument of yours.

Help people 'achieve' potential were my words.

As far as 'brutal, harmful and disgraceful' are concerned. The same goes...
I am permitted to express my opinion and hold to it.

DD said TSA didn’t go very well. There were very few of the type of questions she does well on.

She came to the prep side of things very late (cheers school) so at least hadn’t spent a year on it - unlike some of her fellow pupils. But perhaps more prep would have been beneficial. She was scoring above 70 on the few mock tests she did but thinks today was much worse.

I haven't been involved in the application process at all. I only got to read her personal statement 10 minutes before she pressed submit. Dd is very independent and has not been stressed by any of the process and even now after hearing her feedback ( which was that it was much harder than previous papers, she didn't have time to finish and she had to guess a few) she isn't upset or stressed. What will be will be. She is a bright girl and I am sure she will do well wherever she goes. The acceptance rate for the course she wants to do is only around 6% so we are fully aware how hard it is to even get to interview. We need to let these kids know how proud we are of them for applying and support them where they need it.

Wow! Perseverance.

I feel a little upset at your aggressive stance towards my (well meaning) post so I'm bowing out of the discussion for now.

Hope all goes well for your DC.

I can't agree that it's stressful for the young people, my dd is enjoying the process .
For me personally I'm happy if she's happy. So I can't get on board with all the stressy stuff x

@perseverence your experience is so different from mine I barely recognise it.
I have no educational input whatsoever, I provide the structure- warm room, encouragement, drinks, food etc. but she owns the whole academic process.
HAT today was fine, she's no idea whether she'll have done enough but is calm about the fact that if she hasn't then it's not for her.

I don't say this to be critical, I'm not necessarily right and neither are you, just to point out that it's not a high stress drama for everyone

2 hours for the PAT. DS messaged after saying it had gone ok, managed to finish it and probably got loads wrong, but it’s over and he’s tried his best and what will be will be.
Some kids more than others put a lot of stress on themselves, I know my DD is one of those children, she would struggle with the pressure she would put herself under. I can’t see her giving Oxbridge any consideration.

Slightly panicking reading all these posts of people whose kids have had offers etc already - my DD hasn't heard anything except for which Oxbridge college her application has been allotted to...

Don’t panic.
It varies by university and by course. Some will offer as the applications come in and some will use gathered field to assess later on. Overseas and contextual offers are also often earlier. What is your DC applying for and which universities?

I wouldn't worry, I think it depends on the course and the university - there are so many variable to take in to consideration.

I agree @balzamico I offered a warm room, cups of tea, cuddles & love. It's not been stressy whatsoever.

DS said the TSA MCQ was hard but ok and the written paper wasn't too bad either.

Nothing more we can do now, he's given it his best shot and that's all we can ask for.

Now to concentrate on November mocks as revision, as taken a back seat to TSA practice. He isn't too worried about mocks as school can't change his predicted grades!

Dont panic. Other than Oxford, my DS has heard nothing from anybody else.

Thank you Lionsandlambs and DeadDonkey!!

Thanks Firefox!
🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Another one not feeling much stress about DS sitting the TSA today. I made him a cup of coffee and gave him a lift to school. I felt like I'd been quite attentive! Not heard back from him. I expect he's busy.

Hopefully it went better than she thought. Ds ran out of time a bit on the first part. He hasn't had any preparation from school at all so it's hard for us to gauge his level.

I fully understand some dc/students suffer from more stress than others but if nothing external is going on in their life (a bereavement, illness, parental separation etc.) and they're struggling to cope with a single two hour test, and the run up to it, I'm genuinely not sure that a faster-paced, highly academic university will be right for them. They might do better off overall somewhere else (I am purposefully not dividing this into Oxbridge vs others).

Exactly @ACJane

Similar here - Tea and toast for breakfast and sent him on his way. He drives to school (since passing his test a few weeks ago) and it takes about 40 minutes, so I just suggested setting off a few minutes early in case traffic was bad.

I don’t think it’s that. I suspect it’s more that some children put a lot of pressure on themselves, or feel the pressure from family members or even the school. And high achievers are often perfectionists.

One of DDs fellow pupils has zero social life, everything in his world hinges on getting into Cambridge. He didn’t want to even apply anywhere else. I didn’t want DD to feel like that, in this house getting into Oxford is viewed as the remote possibility it is. They’re up against the brightest and most drilled. If you were a betting person you would not lay down any money on any teenager getting into the most competitive courses there (unless a true genius of course- which very few are). It’s a mixture of ability, preparation and a large portion of luck.

I do mean it in the nicest possible way. It could do more harm than good versus going elsewhere.

What's not healthy is when a parent lives and breathes a child's application.

I 100% agree @balzamico @beachcitygirl I've tried to offer comfort, enthusiasm, balance and advice when I've been asked for it (usually admin related!) DS is lucky in that his subject teachers have been supportive too.
If he gets in he will be thrilled but he's also excited about his other uni choices and I've no doubt that they will all offer him a great experience whichever he chooses.
Good luck to all of our DC x

DD felt ELAT went okay. She had time to finish and read over but confidence has been thrown by others coming out of the hall saying they found it easy. I'm just glad it's over and hoping she can get a good nights sleep tonight.