Oxbridge Rejects 2023 - Come this way and commiserate

[Rejects]

As mentioned on the other thread a safe space for those who'd like a bit of support while not dampening others' moods Sorry that I have gone on a lot about this rejection already on here - it's helped me keep outwardly calm and cheerful when my ds has been very upset.

I am acutely aware in the scheme of things a university rejection is not a huge deal and that amazing lives and outcomes no doubt await all our dc wherever they go, it's just getting through the time between now and A levels and/or offers from other unis arriving, keeping dcs' morale up. Good luck everyone

In what way does she worry they won’t be like minded?

I think it's that we are southerners and none of her friends are applying to York. She's worried that she won't fit in.

People who live in the north are basically the same as those in the south.

I live in the Home Counties - Buckinghamshire- my ds is at Manchester and the mix of students there is essentially the same (international, norther, southern, state, private) as those at the universities his friends are at (Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Oxford, Durham etc etc).

My childrens school (in Bucks) sends large numbers of students each year to Manchester, York, Durham, Liverpool, Newcastle etc and no one seems to report lasting damage as a result of being exposed to the north 😂

I mean this kindly but maybe your dd should perhaps reexamine their prejudices?

York has 20,000 students. You can reassure her there will be many southerners as lots of northerners don't go because it's too close to home.

Your dd will be fine in York

@KittyMcKitty
I don’t think that’s very fair. I have relatives in the North who wouldn’t consider anywhere south of Sheffield, ever! They won’t ever look at Imperial, LSE or Oxbridge because there will be people there they won’t have anything in common with. Very narrow vision! I’m Bucks too and Liverpool is an outlier in your list. The others are very popular with southern Dc but not Liverpool so much. The others plus Edinburgh and St Andrews and Leeds are the northern universities chosen. Keele and the post 92 group are far less popular.

She doesn’t sound prejudiced, just scared she will stand out, which is a normal teenage reaction

This was us last year. DS was predicted 4 A* (which he achieved), was rejected from Oxford and St A (which was actually his first choice at the time, but that changed, luckily). It stung, especially when his best friends all got into Oxbridge.

I just want to reassure you all that it was absolutely fine in the end. He got offers from Manchester, Durham and UCL and is now doing the exact course he wanted at UCL. He's now very glad not to have gone to St Andrews as he's living his best life in London. He's made lovely friends, and his closest friends from Secondary School also come home a lot from Oxbridge (their families are all based in London) - they seem to be spending their free time meeting up to play board games or going to gigs. And he's been coming home to us regularly too, which has been lovely (we live about 1.5 hours away) - including with his GF for most of the Easter break. Oh and he managed to secure a scholarship, which definitely took the sting out of the rejections.

It's a stressful time and they put a lot of pressure on themselves, but in the end I believe it mostly works out fine, even if it doesn't seem like it at the time.

Good luck to all your YP! And they're not rejects - it's a lottery since there are far too many applicants (we found out that the specific course DS applied to at Oxford had 300 applicants and made 8!!! offers. It's mad).

Oxford publish their applicants per place. The worst is 16.9 for Economics and Management. So not sure the 37.5 ratio is correct for any course. However students definitely can thrive elsewhere. It definitely is a case of picking yourself up and embracing all another university and city has to offer.

Offer rate for Economics and Management at Oxford is 5.2%. For Maths and Statistics, and Computer Science, it's 4.6%.

https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-AdmissionsStatistics2021ByCourse/Applications?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHome=no

That was in 2021. 2022 was apparently a particularly bad year due to deferrals from the previous year. We got the numbers from a family friend who is a professor in the relevant department. He said the offer number of just 8 was exceptionally low, about half as many as usual.

Rejection from Edinburgh yesterday. DD really upset, almost more so than for Oxford. I'm secretly relieved and means she can now firm Durham (which was always her first choice anyway) and insure Warwick. I think her feelings are complex - is she not good enough, why did she waste so much energy on Edinburgh when they were going to reject her anyway, it's all tied up with the stress of approaching exams (and she has many friends sitting IB who finish school today, so that's making things more real for her too), plus she has her driving test next week. It's a perfect storm!

I'm really sorry to hear that @EmmaStone - we keep saying it but these late rejections are very tough to deal with. So glad she has her first choice in place - hopefully she can move on quickly and focus on exams. Good luck to her

@EmmaStone that's so tough but at least she has her first choice to look forward to, but doesn't make a rejection sting any less. I saw my DS' head of UCAS yesterday and he said that this year 13 are the brightest they have had in years yet they have had more rejections than ever particularly from Durham, St A's and Edinburgh. All of the students that got Oxbridge offers were pooled then picked up for the first time ever (one of whom has since been rejected by St Andrew's and Edinburgh) He said it was heartbreaking seeing some extremely bright students getting rejected numerous times.

@EmmaStone my Oxbridge reject son is at Durham - it’s a really special place to study and he is very happy he ended up there . Good luck to her with college allocations but it seems most seem very happy with where they end up.

Thanks All so much, you're all very kind! Onwards and upwards, and although I'm sad that she'll be so far away in Durham, I'm delighted she's going somewhere that really excites her (all being well...).

“I saw my DS' head of UCAS yesterday and he said that this year 13 are the brightest they have had in years”

that is an absurd comment by 6th form teacher. This year is ridiculously competitive due to demographic bulge/deferrals etc. But zero evidence that this y13 “are the brightest” - they have never sat public examinations FGS!

@Holidayhunters I think posted was referring to their school. Not in general.

This is a difficult year and so many are being rejected whereas 10 years ago when university number caps were removed. It was a given that bright students got a majority of offers. Grade inflation is making that more difficult and other pressures about quotas.

However I would, if I was advising, be very careful about Scottish universities. Two is maybe a risk too far now. StA and E both appear high risk for non Scottish but not overseas applicants. I’m not sure there is extra effort required for them but it appears a gamble that should possibly be avoided.

@TizerorFizz yes I think that's exactly what he meant, he was talking school specific. Totally agree with you about the Scottish University's from the evidence of our school three out of five who were offered Cambridge were rejected by either St A's or Edinburgh this year.

Well, that's the final response in for ds, from St Andrews. It's a rejection, sadly. So disappointed for him. He honestly couldn't have done more. He has 10 x 9s at GCSE and is predicted 4 x A stars at A Level. His PS is literally packed with relevant experience and he has a passion for his subject. It's pretty competitive out there. St Andrews wasn't going to be his firm, but possibly his insurance. At least with all his responses in now, he can more forward.

I’m really sorry to hear that @FriendlyLaundryMonster, that is so tough, and also nuts. He literally could not have done more. He would clearly fly at any uni on any course. So what is his plan? Will he rethink for an application next year to get where he wants to go?

Thanks @Delphigirl, he will firm Imperial, which is a fab option to have, so all is not lost. Let’s hope he gets the grades.

Oh wow that’s great! I’m sorry I thought he wasn’t happy with his other offers. I’m sure he will do brilliantly, he sounds like a very sorted kid.

Imperial over StA any day. Hugely different locations though.

@FriendlyLaundryMonster congrats to your ds on firming, we're still waiting here for some info from Edinburgh and so will be going up to the wire. Huge luck everyone who has exams starting this week - there's a double GCSE A- level whammy here. I'm sure everyone's dc will do brilliantly and they deserve it