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!

DS did his PS over the summer, his school was really good and looked at it and made a few comments then, so that's done and dusted.

I just need to speak to the school about how we evidence the contextualisation concerning his GCSEs, I'm trying to be hands off as I don't want him to think it is the be all and end all when it really isn't, but I do hope that school has this in hand since they are the ones who have encouraged DS to apply!

DS has his heart set on a London university just as much as he has for Oxford, but I am worried about the cost of this and whether his second choice, UCL, will be as understanding of the context of his GCSEs! All of his other 4 spots are going to be in London which I'd rather wasn't the case but ultimately it's up to him. I was hoping to get him up to Leeds or Durham or anywhere else but he's got fixed views!

I don't want this year to go too fast as it's encouraging them to move on too soon but I do wish this process was easier and more transparent.

Your concerns on cost of London are very valid especially on accommodation. My DS has just moved into a house in London for his third year. London is always difficult and expensive but this year a nightmare. He was originally looking for somewhere for 3 and then 2. Friends looking for 3. All of them just couldn't find anywhere for a couple of months despite having a budget of £900-1000/month each! They struggled to get agents to return calls and even when offered on places lost out to "young professionals". Ended up teaming up and renting as a five costing well over £4k/month plus bills and it's really not a great place even then. Run down and one bedroom can only fit in a bed and small wardrobe. They were desperate in the end. Unless you can comfortably avoid it or going to somewhere with halls for all years I would avoid. Lots of his friends have to work far more than is good for studying just to make ends meet. DD2 is off to Cambridge and of course they are told not to work during term time. Impossible for so many in London.

My DC were both asked questions based on their PSs. For DD (Oxford STEM) these were just icebreaker questions before moving onto a set of standard questions based on data sets, graphs, artefacts etc.
DS’s general Cambridge interview touched on his interest in his PS but his subject interview used it as a jumping off point into a more tutorial style of discussion. DS was glad he really had read everything he said he had read!

@Hertsessex your points about London unis are interesting. LSE would have been a logical second choice for DS after Cambridge but he refused to consider London on grounds of cost. Both DC are now working and living in London but saved a lot of money by studying at Oxbridge.

@SuperiorM You gave absolutely no justification for dismissing one of the most famous degree courses at Oxford, which you know others here have DC applying for it, other than that your DH doesn't like it either. That is why I found your comment amusing.

lol yes are rather sweeping comment. I studied PPE many moons ago and while not for all and not perfect it was great. It is more in tradition of liberal arts education in some other countries with less specialisation. DD1 is studying this kind of thing overseas and very broad and very flexible in a way not possible in the UK. The only thing I would slightly agree with is that some recruiters at big name consulting/banking firms are a touch jaded by PPE. Friend of mine in a very well-known consulting firm said they are more likely to take notice of somebody applying with something different - eg physic or languages.

This is really helpful thanks, now to try to get that through to him without letting him know I've been talking about him on Mumsnet!

We're not by any means loaded and I think he will need to get a part time job if he goes to a London university which is not ideal.

I of course mean comfortably afford rather avoid. London does have many good things but there is also the commute and lack of campus life. This will vary place to place but my son had a 45 mins door to door commute from his dorm which is not a lot of fun and also additional expense.

I rent out a flat in London and the competition is fierce. Even where I live now (zone 3, three/four bed terraces) the demand is high and nothing stays on the market for long. I had a flat in Portsmouth i let out to foreign students and they always left it immaculate, but they had the budget! It wasn't a typical student area.
My daughter is considering a London uni as an option, but I can't see how she could live in halls as a single en suite is around £280, but they have it at 31/39 weeks so terms must be short? Anyway unless you share a room it's expensive so she'd have to live at home for at least part of her time there! It would be an hour door to door though.
If she got in to Cambridge she's not only have cheaper halls but would qualify for the £1000 hall bursary.

I happy to agree to disagree on PPE. Many people do like it but I happen to think it’s not as good as Economics, Law, History, Maths or a combined degree like say English + French.

@mondaytosunday can I just ask how if you own a rental property your DD will then qualify for a hall bursary? Is there a resource you could share that might be useful with bursary criteria?

The comment about the consulting firm sums this up. May I note here that that’s the view of a practitioner - my DH is a practitioner and for some others on this thread that wasn’t good enough. When someone senior in the academic community expresses the view that a certain course is not necessarily the best of the best they do actually know what they are talking about.

I think you have cherry picked my comment and slightly twisted it to suit your argument. The idea of best of the best is a bit silly in this context. My friend was talking about being jaded by PPE as they get so many applications and something else might stand out more. He was not dissing the intelligence or academic rigour of such applicants. One thing PPE does teach most is that things are very rarely black and white and best to have an open inquisitive mind seeing all sides. A strong black and white opinion is rarely correct and almost never captures the nuance of the issue.

I would also add the world does not revolve around consulting and banking jobs in London. The people I studied PPE with are spread far and wide geographically and in terms of career. Only 2 out of 10 have anything resembling a traditional London banking/consulting job and none are in politics :)

I would hope that all Uni courses help people to have open and inquisitive minds etc. I wasn’t dissing academic rigour by saying something wasn’t the best of the best. More importantly, the views of educators and employers are out there
saying they are lukewarm/over deep love of PPE if they ever had it.

PPE varies a huge amount depending on what you choose to focus on. For second and third I spent 70-80% on Economics (including Maths/Statistics and very mathematic Economic theory) and the rest on Politics which was basically History - so much like the courses you mention. I think many seem to think PPE is about navel gavel philosophy discussions or spouting bollocks at the Oxford Union :) Also more generally large parts of the rest of world study much more broad undergrad degrees and seem to do fine :)

Well said @Hertsessex. The whole point of the Oxbridge threads is to encourage people to apply, not be disrespectful of their choices. There is little difference between 1/11 & 1/12 for successful applications anyway between Law & PPE.

But it’s perfectly ok to disregard the views of of 2 senior educators and professionals??? I wasn’t disrespectful anyway and I’ve endured you all telling me you know better. I agree to disagree on the subject but try thinking twice before you say the views of people who know their stuff are basically wrong. It’s fine for you to have another viewpoint but it’s also ok for me to as well.

It’s not even your viewpoint, apparently. It is that of your husband. How does it help knowing an unnamed law professor at an unnamed university’s wife thinks he thinks PPE is a crap degree? What can anyone usefully do with that? Get him to come on here and justify his own view (if it is his own view) with actual evidence and reasoning. You know, like a lawyer.

I’ll wait.

@SuperiorM you made a peculiar comment yesterday in follow up to a post from February 2023 suggesting that there were potential applicants for both 2024 and 2025 on the thread. This was in response to them saying that they couldn't attend an Oxford open day in June 2023. Then you were disparaging about their DC's possible choice of subject.

I'm quite happy for you to have an opinion, but you gave no justification except that your husband thought so too. Hardly an academic argument, is it!

Anyway, background providing SUPPORT and ADVICE now, which is the usual theme of the Oxbridge threads.

@10ppicnmix I may be incorrect but when I looked it was based on income only, not asserts. And based on that she would be entitled to £795-1007 bursary for accommodation (I looked at two random colleges, maybe not all do a rent bursary). This is automatic if they qualify for the Cambridge Bursary which is calculated when they apply for the fees/maintenance loan, and is available (also on a sliding scale) for those with household income less than £62k.

Excuse me, assets!

I most certainly did not say it was just the DHs view. Calling me someone’s wife like we are in the 19th century sums up the tone here. Two university educators v cb one on here and express an informed alternative viewpoint and all you can do is scream how much better you know. In years of having kids and educating uni students I’ve never encountered anything like so many know alls who won’t have it that someone has a different view. A really mild one too

Maybe take the PPE row offline? Surely there are polarised views on how amazing any number of courses are?

Peace and calm please - can we keep on track? This is a thread to offer support to current Oxbridge applicants.