Oxbridge applications 2023 mutual support thread

[Riverpebble]

A new, friendly thread.

Anxious wait for Cambridge interview emails!

Had a similar experience with Edinburgh - emailed the identified admissions coordinator for a particular course / department. Was told that it wasn't really their thing (?), and given the phone number of a different team. phoned the number given and got a recorded message saying that whole team were working from home due to covid, and therefore not answering phones for the foreseeable future (but no email / alternative channel of communication was specified in the message).

And then Edinburgh wonder why they do badly on a host of measures of student satisfaction and feedback in the national student survey. The impression we've come away with is it's a research powerhouse but undergraduate provision is a chaotic afterthought, not a priority.

Can I just point out that it's probably (for a few reasons) a good idea to discount edinburgh

For a start its satisfaction scores are low. Secondly housing (can be ) extremely expensive & difficult to secure
Although it is gorgeous & a great place to live

To achieve a first at edinburgh is considerably easier than Glasgow

At university Of glasgow one needs 81%
At university of Edinburgh it's only 70%

This is known & UofG candidates are in a better position for gaining entrance to masters or academic work.

Interesting comments about Edinburgh. My DD had been seriously considering applying to Edinburgh for RUK Medicine this year and ultimately decided not to. The bar to secure an Edinburgh medicine interview is ridiculously high for RUK applicants. You need a stratospheric clinical entrance exam result , a situational judgement Band 1 as well as all A star A level predictions and full marks for GCSEs by their calculation method. It could only become a serious option after DD got her clinical entrance exam result in September, which came out in the top 1% in the UK. Along with her other stats, she could be pretty sure she would qualify for an interview and was initially very enthusiastic about applying. She was going to travel up from London for their Autumn open day.
However, comms from them were really patchy and she was really surprised when she found out that wouldn't be any medical school representative at their open day,
just a few med students to answer any questions. Compared to all the other med schools she had visited, it all felt distinctly aloof and so she decided she would rather apply elsewhere. I did the same when I got an unconditional offer for another subject from them thirty years ago and for similar reasons.

Same @hornetgirl. Does anyone know when we should get news? I've seen published dates for Oxford but not Camb

Yes, waiting for the Cambridge interview emails here too hopefully! All seems so much more complicated than when I turned them down back in the day (they would only take me after a year out as I was 16, and as I was doing a maths based subject all advice was that a year out was a bad move).

@opoponax Interesting! DD2 has applied for RUK medicine at Edinburgh so waiting to hear. Her UCAT was at top 8% SJT1, and as I read it, she scores their max for GCSEs without all 9s (8 plus in 8, and a 7 in Eng. Lan.). So not as high as your DD but should hopefully suffice. Where did your DD apply in the end?

@beachcitygirl, I'm intrigued by your comments about Glasgow v Edinburgh, which don't make sense to me as degree courses are quality checked/standardised (I have my own views though as to whether a first is of the same standard now as in 1990!). As an employer I wouldn't differentiate between a degree from Glasgow or Edinburgh, or Paisley or UHI for that matter...

@juicy0 Probably best to look at individual college websites, for example https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/applying-year gives dates for most subjects in the 'interview' section. I also read somewhere (maybe in the same place) that they aim to give at least 2 weeks notice.

@UnclearNuclear I'd check out those stats on the Medicine thread but DD (1st year Oxford medicine) didn't apply to Edinburgh with 'perfect' academics (straight 9s, 45 predicted IB) and SJT 1 plus top 8% UCAT. She thought it was too risky and, as it turns out, she wouldn't have got an interview!

@UnclearNuclear yes. I was quite shocked to find that out too. I suspect you are similiar to almost if not all employers who would assume standardisation but it literally means someone with a first from edinburgh could be not as good as someone with a 2:1 at glasgow. Apparently it's well known in academia in Scotland that glasgow & standys are over 80 for a 1st 🤷🏻‍♀️

@UnclearNuclear yes there is a lot of knowledge on cut offs of all the different schools on the Medicine thread and it is definitely worth asking there if your DD wants to know likelihood of interview. The expert view there was that DD would be safe for interview with 3200 UCAT, full academic marks and SJT Band 1. I felt DD was more drawn to the city of Edinburgh than the actual medicine course to be honest. She had rejected applying to Oxbridge as she didn't want such an academic course and preferred a more integrated style.

@opoponax thanks for info. What will be will be, not my application . Yes my DD is keen on the Cambridge approach, likes the more academic stance. I haven't researched it - I have to sit on my hands as I get very drawn in if I do... I mean I have looked at previous year stats for Edi and think she would have made it but we'll see. Only needs one offer.

Thank you @usedtobeboss3

Probably a daft question but I'll ask anyway 😁Do Oxbridge places ever come up in clearing?

@UnclearNuclear if you are not Scottish, just make sure you are looking at RUK stats as Scottish route thresholds are significantly lower. Top 8% wasn't high enough for RUK Edinburgh last year. On TSR there were DC posting RUK UCAT scores >3000 (top 3-4% in last year's bands) not getting interviews.

Not in normal clearing. They have their own systems, in the case of Cambridge it's the 'summer pool'. This changed a few years ago to prioritise applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds (per the acorn/polar type metrics) who hadn't been offered a place in January. They can be offered a spare place in summer if their results equal or exceed the standard offer for that course.

Oxford makes open offers underwritten by a specific college. If someone holding an open offer makes the grade they are guaranteed a place on that course somewhere. If no other college picks them up the underwriting college will definitely take them. The student finds out on results day who has chosen them.

Thank you (again!) for this. I didn't know this is how it works. DS probably did but it's helpful for me to know too so I can try to get some understanding of the process.

DS has just submitted his written work and video, now the wait for news on an interview!

Well done! DS is submitting his tomorrow and then will be focusing on interview prep while we have the anxious wait to see if he actually will get an interview!

Good luck! DS’s school start the mock interviews on Monday.

My DS has received an update from Edinburgh saying 'your application is pending our decision'. Does this mean an offer/rejection is imminent?

It's quite exciting as he hasn't had any offers yet ( Cambridge and Scottish unis so expected). He's a home (Scottish) applicant for Edinburgh.

@Aurea my DS also received an email yesterday stating the application has been received and will be reviewed along with all others after the January deadline.
To be honest I think it's likely that he will accept an offer from one of his other choices if Edinburgh are as late as May with their decision. He will want to have his choices straight in his mind before he tackles his A levels I think.

Thanks Juicy.

For my DS, it wasn't an email as such, but an update on his 'myEd' account (I think that's what it's called). No mention of January.

It's such a difficult wait for everyone.

I'll ask DS if he's received anything on there too.
When my DD applied 4 years ago all comms from unis were via UCAS until the end when her place was confirmed. This year it seems unis are using their own systems for comms as well as ucas. All 5 of his choices have provided log in details for sites where they have said he needs to check regularly for updates on his application. It felt much easier for DD to only have one place to check for updates.
Good luck to your DS @Aurea what has he applied for and is Edinburgh his first choice?

Thanks Juicy

He's applied for comp sci.

I think Edinburgh would be his third choice after Cambridge and St As but as he hasn't had any offers yet, the first one would be exciting. As he's Scottish and has exceeded the required grades, any offers to Scottish unis should be unconditional.

Which subject has your DS applied for?