Oxbridge 2023 support; it's offer month. Good luck all.

[Riverpebble]

New thread for the start of the Oxbridge offers.

Thank you - we understand that and it is a small college. But it would have been encouraging to hear this - or something about visits etc - from the college…

Are offer holder days a new thing at some colleges? I don't remember any offer holder days for either DC but both had pre-Covid in person interviews. I think it is quite usual not to hear anything from a college until after results day.

@Jeelba, DD called up the college that had made her an offer (it was from a college that hadn't interviewed her) and arranged a visit in the holidays. The porters made her very welcome and the school outreach person gave a tour of the college and answered all her questions. She was also able to see a couple of student rooms too. Colleges are very used to prospective students and offer holders having a look round.

@Jeelba I have sent you a PM.

As well as an offer holder day in person DD had an online meeting with her potential Director of Studies. They were so kind in explaining how the first term is about settling in, typical amounts of essays, how supervisions work etc. DD could meet her little cohort online that she has met mostly in person a few weeks before plus the international students. Downside of all this engagement is that if DD misses the grades she would be all the more devastated.

Thank you!

DD got her last offer in today (Durham) which was same as her Oxbridge offer. She let me look over her shoulder while she firmed Cambridge and insured York.

Not long now until those exams…

No offer holders days at the college mine holds an offer from but there is something in the summer and work will be set.

Still waiting for St. A.

Looking at all the negative impact rejection has had on these kids - and all the futile hard work that has gone into applying (and well done those who got an offer) - both of which will affect emotional well-being, experience of Y13 and possibly grades - would any of you recommend doing it this way…..

Apply to your 2/3rd choices in Y13.

ONLY if you get AAA* (?) then decide to take a gap year on results day and apply then to O/C ?

Would that avoid the anguish in Y13 and also put you in a better position with grades in hand and effectively year older / mature / academically / socially better to handle the interview vs the Y13s applying in that year?

I think you would have to get higher than AAA*. And be aware that you'd have no guarantee of getting an offer from your insurance again, especially if it was somewhere like Durham or St Andrews.

Sorry the bolding didn’t work should have said 3 A stars

DD was fortunate enough to get an offer but if she hadn’t I don’t think the process was futile. I’ve taught my daughter that if you don’t try you will never succeed, that includes being prepared to fail.

I know some with health, financial or personal reasons why applying later is absolutely the right path for them, but that is the whole Uni thing and not Oxbridge especially, There is no right or wrong answer.

@Ooonafoo you give some reasons to wait for applying so I include my take on the arguments not to put off applying:

Some subjects like maths don’t lend themselves to a gap year as it is too easy to get rusty and some universities don’t like to see this.
Where there is an entrance test will the candidate be at the right level or will some of the momentum of study have fallen away
No support from school, not sure what happens to the school reference part of the UCAS form
Most of their friends will be heading off to Uni, if they have fragile mental health that may be just as much a challenge
The Unis won’t necessarily know you hadn’t applied the year before and Oxbridge colleges may think you’d applied the previous year to ‘the other place’ and got rejected
There were fewer applications this year and predicted to be many more next year
If you didn’t even apply in Y13 there may be a case of ‘what if I had applied’ if it doesn’t turn out for the later application, at least if you had applied and it doesn’t deliver the results you want you can try again knowing more about the process and maybe even feedback from rejections.
Many who apply to Oxbridge are predicted all A stars but don’t necessarily get all A stars. I suspect to apply with grades rather than predictions you’d need the A stars in hand so the standard might (don’t know for certain) actually be tougher.

@Ooonafoo it's actually the parents who seem to be most traumatised by the process. They struggle to see that others show as much or more potential, especially as some schools tell them that their DC is a perfect match. The DC tend to be disappointed for a few hours then convince themselves that ICL/Durham/Imperial/ St A will be much more fun.

UCL. Not ICL.

If you are doing a science/maths based subject then taking a year and reapply isn't really possible - DS asked about this because he really wanted to go travelling, but was told that it's frowned upon - he's actually really pleased he didn't because he said even the mental break from finishing A levels to starting the pre-course work they sent as soon as his place was confirmed, was really tough!

DS is in his first year at Cambridge reading engineering and HAS to study through the holidays - he gave himself one day off when he got home and is giving himself two days over Easter - I've barely seen him during the day since he got home because he has to go over the lectures he didn't understand the first time, do the set module work and he has exams when he gets back. The type of children who are doing this sort of intense course (engineering/STEM) are not going to be put off by the hard work - and I'd argue it's not 'futile hard work' because even if you don't make Oxbridge, you will presumably have applied for Russell Group unis for your subject, and are going to need high grades anywhere.

I guess it depends on what the child wants - DS had Imperial as his insurance and would have been very disappointed not to get Cambridge, but understood that getting a place is a very long shot in the first place. Other friends children (studying English/History) had parents who had been and it was Oxbridge or bust so have re applied - one successfully, one not and to have the disappointment again the second time round is almost more brutal......and they've had a whole year knocking around at home, albeit working or travelling a bit, whilst their friends are at uni which is also difficult.

You’re all parents of successful candidates here, @Ooonafoo in hindsight I wish dd had done what you’re saying - not least because, owing to some dodgy advice from the school that sent us down the wrong path we can now see she should’ve applied for a slightly different course and would’ve stood a much better chance of getting in with that. I can see if you’re doing STEM this may not work but assume you know that. @Trylinescore my dd has become more disappointed not less with time passing, even though she has a great second choice offer, I know people who were rejected 40 years ago, who still feel the pain. If your child hasnt been rejected it’s easy to say it’s not that big a deal and they would have thrived elsewhere, actually it’s been horrible and made an already challenging time even more challenging.

Also obviously you don’t spend the gap year knocking around at home, you travel, work (maybe living at home but not knocking around) and gain life experience which might make university no longer seem like such a big deal, because in the scheme of things it’s not

@Ooonafoo DS is a reapplicant for a STEM subject. He was pooled the first time round and rejected. Was predicted 4 A stars. On results day it turned out he got 3 A stars and an A, missing out on an A star for the fourth subject by 1 mark. He had made his mind up to go to another university but withdrew the day before the course started! He said the 'what if' factor was too strong and he wanted to try again. By this time he had decided he preferred another STEM subject and applied to a different College (a bit like the alternative @Codfishermen speaks of). All quite traumatising for me as he had only a weekend to write-up a brand new personal statement with no gap-year work experience to put in it, and two weeks to prepare for the entrance exams. So at the time the reapplication seemed a bit weaker to me- 3 A stars not 4, STEM subject so possibility that College thinks his maths skills will get weaker, no relevant gap year work experience. The interview worried me as well as DS whizzed through both interviews with 10 minutes each to spare. But the College offered him a place. And he ended up getting places at Imperial and all the other places he applied to as well. DS concludes that luck plays a big role in Oxbridge applications. For him, the gamble paid off. Interestingly though, now that he has an Oxbridge offer, he is seriously considering Imperial. So for all that effort, he may end up firming imperial.

That’s an amazing story - good on your DS - he has given himself all the choices so there are no ‘what ifs’ when he comes to make his decision.

We went to St Andrews for an offer holder day this weekend and as a result DS has decided it will be his insurance choice. He has now confirmed his two choices on UCAS so now he can just focus on exams and revision.
If anyone has any questions about St A I'd be happy to answer.

We got a no from st Andrew's yesterday.
That was going to be the insurance choice but it's been well received.

Slightly grumpy and very stressed daughter here. IB offer of 42 and 776 in Highers. All others on her course at her college got A-levels of A*AA. Sure she will be fine but that IB offer seems a heck of a lot harder. Perhaps IB helped her get the offer in the first place but wishes she was doing A levels right now.

Someone's done an FOI for admissions stats for DD's subject at O. We think we can identify her based on the info provided and it's fascinating. Interview shortlisting is based on the average of 2 people independently scoring the application form but there are people who were interviewed who had much lower scores than many others (and then did really well in interview). For this subject admission is at department level rather than college so why might that be?

DD scored amazingly on her application but less well in both interviews. She's really awkward with speaking to people she doesn't know so this isn't a surprise. I'm not sure how they calculate the final score but using an average of the application, and both interviews it look like she just scrapped in despite getting an overall score of 6 out of 7! Just shows how competitive it is.

I'm curious how you can identify her as we looked and couldn't identify mine from the information given due to things put in place to stop that.

How can you identify when you don’t get your own interview scores unless you are rejected? You might know your Oxford exam score and your GCSEs but that’s it surely?

Because it gave an applicant ID per page so assuming they kept that consistent across the data tables there was only 1 person listed with the combination of colleges she was interviewed at. For her subject they have 2 interviews as standard. It was a comprehensive FOI! In previous years they've omitted the applicant ID column.

@Ooonafoo Re only applying for Oxbridge post A-level, I would say if you're prepared to take the gap year, it's worth applying pre A-level in the first instance, simply because that then gives you experience of the entrance exam and interview. Besides, they might get in first time round and then you're sorted!
My DD now has a place at Cambridge for veterinary medicine after reapplying post A-level. She had to reapply to uni anyway as she got no offers first time around. As it is, she got straight A*s in her A-levels; otherwise, I don't think she'd have tried Cambridge again. Another girl from her cohort also got in on reapplying for a different subject (making it two out of three that were successful second time around).
Both O and C say they welcome reapplications, so I don't think it's viewed negatively. Actually having the grades in hand seems to make a huge difference - possibly even more so for humanities, where it's rarer to get all A stars.