Oxbridge 2024 Entry

[Lightsabre]

Thought I'd start a thread for parents of dc considering Oxbridge applications for entry in Oct 2024 (I don't think there's a current one)? Past threads have been so informative and supportive and hopefully this thread will offer that too. Please feel free to add to the thread if your dc have recently had experience of the process, good, bad or ugly!

If the trip is fixed but the tests are online again, could your DC do it whilst away? The school could help with organising remote connectivity in advance.

I think DS's Imperial test was online, not sure about Cambridge though.

@spacechimp79 international applicants can sit the tests at approved test centres, perhaps he can find somewhere close to where he'll be and arrange to take the tests there instead of at school?
DS sat the MAT and I don't think there were contingency dates, applicants just had to submit their applications without test results and an explanation as to why they missed it.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I didn't sleep last night worrying about this after coming to the realisation that it can only be sat on this date.
I feel sorry for school as they'll have a massive problem on their hands and it does seem unfair that the date is so different. From my googling it is normally either in the first week of November or last few days of October.
I've told DS not to worry as it's out of our control. Typically the trip is a once in a lifetime opportunity for him really and I've had to save up hard for it, so he won't want to miss it for a tiny chance of getting into Oxford

Thanks @IThinkIMadeItWorse for the link. I've booked DD1 on the Biochemistry & Genetics masterclass & DD2 on the one for History.

Not sure at the moment whether or not they'll apply but it doesn't hurt to take part.

Like @ErrolTheDragon I have a DD who graduated in 2021 in NatSci. Mine is now a PhD student in C.

The pros are as described above, but add to that accommodation is not as expensive as London, and with shorter terms, you don't have to pay for so many weeks.

Some colleges are very traditional, some not at all. I used to teach a lovely girl now studying NatSci whose mother is appalled at the lack of gowns at formal dinners. This is an extremely well-regarded college (and mother never did A levels let alone go to uni). Maybe it's my DD but neither she nor her friends are remotely posh. DD has northern parents so she uses northern vowels. The parents we met at Freshers' Parents' tea, lunch and then graduation events were a mix of lovely people from various walks of life. Drop-off yielded a whole variety of vehicles, most packed to the roof - I miss it now!

So we had the Oxbridge talk yesterday about the process and applications. There were a couple of admissions tutors (one O the other one C). As we thought, academics and supra curricular are key to showing a deeper interest in the subject.
They advised that open applications have the same chances as college applications. Advice was to start preparing for entrance tests soon. Humanities interviews more discursive, sciences and maths will be 90% problem solving. No decisions have been made yet on whether interviews will be in person or online later this year.

This is not so relevant if applying to Oxford, but for those applying to Cambridge, do look at the stats per college (the interactive graphs showing direct admissions / pooling for for the last 5 years).

Particularly if applying from the independent sector, it may be worth choosing a college with the highest state school applications / intakes year on year. This is because the need to apply WP criteria may not be as marked in those colleges that already have 80% of applications from the state sector anyway (eg, Kings or Homerton). Look at the admissions statistics to see application v offer ratios for different sectors.

Choose a college that has a good and reasonably consistent intake for that subject per year - eg, colleges they only take one or two may occasionally decide not to take anyone at all in a given year!

Some subjects at some colleges seem to take from the pool every year as a matter of course, some seem not to. Similarly, some subjects at different colleges seem to have a better track record of getting their pooled applicants accepted by other colleges (whether this is because those tutors make more effort, or simply that some colleges attract a higher standard of applicants in that particular subject is hard to say).

Thank you lightsabre. We don’t get any oxbridge talks at my daughter’s school, but her French teacher did study at Oxford herself.

@elia3 sorry if i missed it but do you have a link? Am very new to this topic!

I would encourage any DC applying to invest equally in their second choice uni.
My DC didn't find applying to Oxbridge particularly onerous. DD was very organised and got her PS ready and chose an Oxford college during the preceding summer holiday. I found DS's Cambridge application more stressful because he left every step of the process to the last minute; choosing a course, a college, writing a PS, prepping for the admissions test. Both were successful and both felt regretful when rejecting their second choices as they were equally carefully chosen.

Notaclu - if you just Google "Cambridge admission statistics" the official stats produced by the university every year will come up. There are interactive graphs so you can see applicant to offer ratios at different colleges for all the subjects (for the last 5 years). Then there are the stats pages at the bottom of the page where you can look at admissions by sex, school sector, ethnicity, region, POLAR, ACORN etc etc.

Hello 😊 I’ve also come over from the Year 12 thread - DD is wanting to apply to Oxford to do History and Spanish. She’s at a comprehensive school which gets a few Oxbridge offers each year and they’ve had a session or two at school about the process. She’s been researching different colleges and looking at the admissions test etc (she’s also intending to apply for a choral scholarship just to add to the fun!)

A few of her friendship group are also intending to apply to either Oxford or Cambridge as well so they will either encourage each other and be bitter rivals (joke. I hope 😃) She and a couple of others from school have got places on a residential event at Oxford in a few weeks time as that college seems to run one for people at state schools in this county so that should be good.

I am hoping it doesn’t become the be all and end all and I will be very much encouraging it not to be.

Elia this is really interesting. Do you have any insight on whether this advice for independent pupils to go for a Cambridge college with high maintained sector numbers applies for subjects with a v small intake anyway, where most colleges only take one or two, and max around 4? I have assumed maintained/independent is not so important as most colleges will be choosing one out of three, or 3 out of 8 applicants and so they will just take whoever is best. Is that a wrong assumption?
Also for those subjects is it better to go for a big college, in the hope that if not successful they will be pulled out of the pool by a smaller one, or try and target a small one based on No of applications/likelihood of success? My feeling is that any attempt to finesse in these tiny subjects may be a waste of time and DD should just apply to the college she likes best, but I am prepared to be corrected. I know nothing!!

Delphi - I think you are right that it's probably pointless trying to finesse when numbers are so small. At that level, it's probably more about the personality / fit of the interviewers on the day and the strength of individual applications overall.

It was a broader point really that colleges are (rightly) aiming to achieve a certain balance in terms of the independent / state sectors. Having said this, they also claim to contextualise selective grammars in the same way as equally selective independents. For instance, Kings College enjoys a reputation as being a college with one if the highest state school intakes, yet DC and friends say they are yet to meet one who wasn't at a grammar or selective academy.

But in very broad terms, a college that still only receives 60% of its applications from the state sector, may be more likely to go to the pool to seek a more balanced cohort because they are all aiming for a certain target (maybe 75-80%) which has to be published.

Apart from this, the stats across subjects and colleges suggest some tutors seem to take from the pool every year, whereas others never do. Whether this is their personal preference, or whether they always receive less / more competitive candidates is impossible to say.

Its probably a good idea to choose a college that takes a consistent number each year. For instance, when we looked at the stats for the subject mine is studying, there was one college that takes only one or two each year. That year, they had ten direct applicants but took none of them - nobody was pooled and they took nobody from the pool. It's hard to believe that not one if those candidates was worthy of a place and you have to wonder if they just decided not to bother with the course at that college that year, but didn't really push their candidates to colleagues elsewhere.

It's different at Oxford because they seem to make decisions on a departmental level and they will redistribute students from oversubscribed colleges to those with less applicants.

My D1 is currently in her 3rd year of a History joint at Oxford. The odds look daunting - there are about 12-14 on her course per year, across all the colleges and only about half the colleges offer it. When D1 was in her 2nd year, she was the only person on her course in her college. However, it does mean that you get interviewed for two subjects, if you don't get an offer for the joint, it is possible to get an offer for one of the subjects as a single honours. They ask you at interview if you would consider a single honours. In D1's first interview which was for history, she thought it was a trick question to see if she was serious about her course and said no (arghh). She realised in her next interview and said yes...

Choosing a college or making an open application really makes no difference at Oxford - they aim to interview 3 candidates for every place, so once they have their cut-off point, the interviews are spread out across the colleges. This is done by the central admissions computer btw, not a group of dons poring over applications to see who would be a 'good fit' for each college (I have seen this suggested) and gives everyone an equal chance.

Thank you! I think she is really set on applying for joint but think she would be happy with single too. She is on the Uniq French course and spends 3 days there in July so she can get a real feel of what It would be like to study French there.
Her school doesn’t send many - one every few years) so it is pretty daunting looking at the process.

DS is in a large inner city state comp. A couple of students usually get in each year to Oxbridge. He wants to apply for maths, and has suitable grade predictions but not 100% sure about the pressure cooker of Oxbridge. He has visited Edinburgh, Leeds, and Newcastle with me and Oxford and Cambridge with widening participation schemes.

My dc will be applying for Cambridge/stem. I personally would prefer him to apply for Oxford due to the MAT which does rule you out earlier. However the course he wants is C so that will be his choice.

I think at this stage we are both highly realistic of chances but I know as you go through the process you can't help but invest more. Interviews give you a chance to spend time in the colleges so attachments form. Does anyone know if interviews will be online?

A reservation I have is the limited facilities for cooking at some colleges. I think Uni is such a great time to foster independence and making sure you can prepare and cook food is an important step.

I’m sure I read somewhere that decisions haven’t been made yet about online or in person interviews for 2024 entry. I might be imagining that though!

@Livinghappy in her 4 years living in college accommodation, DD self-catered completely. Her college does a really good Sunday brunch, so she would have that meal, but apart from some formals, she didn't bother with college food. The gyps (small kitchens) in her college had a hob, toaster, kettle and microwave. DD also has a small slow cooker. She is a very creative cook - they managed a floor Christmas/Bridgemas lunch a couple of years ago, catered entirely in the accommodation block. In her 3rd year which was interrupted by Covid, she had a proper kitchen with an oven & freezer which she loved using.

DS2 is steering towards Oxford over Cambridge as he is veering toward joint Maths and Stats and a degree with an integrated masters year, which Oxford offers. We haven't looked into the catered versus self catered side yet, I would prefer self-catering so he cooks for himself.

The odds of getting an offer for either Oxford or Cambridge for Maths are very poor, higher offer rate for Cambridge, but then some fall at the final hurdle with the STEM exams. It's a bit odd for these exams to be at the same time as A levels, more pressure for young people, in the case of Maths, due to Maths/Further Maths many are already doing 4 rather than 3 A levels.

Hello just signing in - great to read your comments - my DS is considering Cambridge for 2024 for computer science and/ or mathematics- can't see any masterclasses for these topics - any ideas?

@mushroom3 Yes, agree. 4 Alevels plus having to practice for STEP however I guess if they love the subject it good prep for the degree workload.

@Malbecfan, thanks. I wasn't aware they could use their own slow cooker.