Additional experiences for mathematical ds hoping to apply to Oxbridge

[balzamico]

Ds is y10 currently but is aspiring to Oxbridge.
He scored all 8s and 9s on recent exams but really excels at maths.
He's likely to choose either maths, stats or something including economics and is interested in being an actuary.

Are there summer schools or work experience for next year or the year after that people could recommend please?

Both that he'd enjoy and that might enhance his ps

there are various summer camps around in computer programming which might be relevant, if he doesn't know it all already.

also look up your nearest university and email Maths professors to ask if there is any work experience.

There are also Math Camps. These may be more well known in North America. I know of them from when I worked there. DH is a Maths professor. Examples include Canada/USA Math Camp, PROMYS (Boston University, very competitive), Arnold Ross or Ross Scholars (Ohio State University, the granddaddy of Math Camps, many famous mathematicians are alumni) and Michigan Math and Science Scholars (The University of Michigan, may offer financial maths). I feel confident recommending these but I am sure many other Math Camps are also very good.

All welcome international pupils.

I’m not sure of your background but the Sutton trust runs summer schools including mathematics ones which are well regarded. They are however aimed at low income, first in family to uni, from areas with lower numbers going to uni etc but if any of that applies then worth looking at.

Also, focus on super curricular activities UKMT, other Maths competitions. Lots of lectures are available on line and ds went to a couple in London in Y12. He didn't have any relevant work experience for his PS but had plenty of academic stuff including topics he had independently researched.

I assume he is already doing maths challenges etc at school.

The Big4 do work experience type things during y12 such as Deloitte Career Shaper etc.

DS did one in October half term y12 and 2 in Summer y12 at 2 of the Big4 and one a tier down. Do look out during y12 when he would need to apply as you need to do it quite early. I think June/July for October and September/NOvember for summer.

If interested in Economics look at reading Freakonomics or even reading The Economist articles so that he is able to comment on something that catches his interest.

Work experience in maths is not really relevant for university, though if your DS wants to become an actuary then trying it out isn't a bad idea.

The best thing he can do is just more interesting maths. As well as the American ones listed, there's PROMYS Europe, which runs at Oxford. If your DS enjoys maths competitions, then UKMT, Olympiad, and others are available: https://www.ukmt.org.uk/challenges
Even if he doesn't want to do the actual competitions, getting some experience of doing interesting problems is helpful by taking a look at past papers. Nrich has a lot of great problems: https://nrich.maths.org/frontpage

There are a lot of great books for mathematically inclined students which have been published in the last few years: Vicky Neale's "Closing the Gap: the quest to understand prime numbers" is one of my particular favourites.

Thanks for telling us about PROMYS Europe, @Recoba. OP, I agree with her that the most important thing your DS can do is to investigate more interesting maths on his own. The camps and Sutton Trust, etc provide powerful social supports as well as intellectual stimulation, but a deep interest in the subject as demonstrated by independently — and coherently, for a teenager — pursuing certain aspects is part of what will interest Oxbridge.

For maths Oxbridge aren’t really fussed about the PS. In fact for Cambridge it’s pretty much entirely about STEP. My DH did maths at Cam and did do maths tutoring to pad the PS but really it came down to STEP grades and doing extra A-level modules. They massively over-offer because they know STEP will weed people out. They do offer some resources to help: https://maths.org/step/

For economics, I’d have a look at some of the books on the preliminary reading list ideas:
https://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/ba/PrelimReadingList.pdf
https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/suggested-subject-resources

There’s also economics essay competitions he could take part in eg:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fcdo-next-generation-economics-competition
https://www.discovereconomics.co.uk/young-economist-of-the-year-competition

Have you seen how the PS changes from next year? Much more formulaic to avoid parental coaching. As mentioned Cambridge are not interested in PS, it's just Maths and ultimately if you can get high grades in STEP.

It will be important to do FM at A Level if his school offers it. Also try competitions as mentioned before. Whilst it doesn't help with Uni entry it will develop the problem solving skills and help him determine his level. IME, those getting Oxbridge places will usually have achieved Gold & above (BMO) in every year.

I agree with much of what @Livinghappy says. However DH is a Cambridge alumnus who stayed on for Part III and got a Distinction, now a Russell Group Maths professor. He would have preferred to gnaw his own arm off than participate in the BMO.

A bit more on STEP, because @Carleslireis and @Livinghappy are correct to focus on it.

STEP is the big difference between Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford Maths applicants sit an entrance exam in the autumn. Results are considered with other components of the admissions material, ahead of any offer.

Cambridge makes STEP a condition of almost all of its Maths offers, and states baldly that only about 50% of Maths offer holders make their offer, with STEP being the primary obstacle. Cambridge calibrate STEP grades (used also by other institutions) to control their Maths numbers. It is rather brutal.

The material is from A level and FM but the problems are novel and/or difficult. Some schools provide tuition. There is some kind of national Support Network, primarily online I think, that is supposed to be accessible to all pupils but may not be in reality.

I like the idea of STEP in theory, but in reality tuition and support make a big difference to outcomes. For this reason I have some reservations about the current use of STEP.

The Math Camps and similar activities will help with problem solving skills.

(I am a former RG STEM admissions tutor).

OP, I’ve just been looking further into that statement above about gold mrdals at the BMO.

According to Wikipedia, somewhat over 200 students who begin the BMO are invited to sit the second, harder paper. (Or maybe this was a typical, recent year). Approximately the top quarter receive a Distinction. This is thus between 50 and, generously, 75 pupils. A Gold Medal number or percentile of participants was not defined, but we may assume successively smaller numbers of Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals. 24 of the top performers are invited to begin to train for the IMO; they will be sieved further.

Cambridge alone admits well over 200 Maths undergraduates each year. It is not possible that most getting Oxbridge places will have achieved Gold and above in the BMO.

Your DS should be true to himself.

Yep @poetryandwine DS1 is doing maths at O and got a merit, I think, in Olympiad? Possibly silver (I genuinely can't remember.) But definitely not gold, and that was only the second or third UKMT competition he had taken part in. It's not a deal breaker but I suspect a good score does help.

For Oxford, if you smash it on the maths admissions test (75%+) they are very likely to offer a place. DS1 had nothing of any note on his personal statement beyond his Olympiad score which was good but not jaw dropping. He just scored highly on the MAT, had a 9 at GCSE and A star predicted for maths and further maths, and a decent Olympiad score. They really do almost entirely just care about your maths performance. My only caveat would be if your child is at a high-achieving private school in which case they might expect to see a bit more in the PS. But basically, have top predicted grades and focus on the MAT.

I was referring to the senior maths challenge where a 1,000 qualifying students take part in the British Mathematical Olympiad Round 1 (agree the follow on rounds are highly selective)

I think those who end up at Oxbridge tend to do well at problem solving papers and UKMT just gives them an opportunity to practice those skills. These are the students who also happily study for MAT as it's "fun".

Cambridge alone admits well over 200 Maths undergraduates each year. It is not possible that most getting Oxbridge places will have achieved Gold and above in the BMO.

A significant number of maths undergraduates at Oxbridge are international students and a number of these will have competed in the IMO.

However, I do agree that performance in the BMO is not a reliable indicator of success. Certainly, for Cambridge, performance at STEP is the most reliable indicator. STEP has quite a lot of calculus, mechanics and statistics whereas BMO is very focussed on number theory and geometry.

Further thoughts, OP -

For maths, Imperial and Warwick are essentially equivalent to Cambridge and Oxford. These four are known as the COWI group and are the top tier of British maths.

There is a real element of randomness in Oxbridge admissions. Most qualified applicants, particularly in competitive subjects like maths, do not get an offer. Imperial and Warwick attract a good number of these superb mathematicians.

C, I and W use STEP but I and W offer alternatives. As I implied above that could be important, because only those with a high degree of a certain kind of intelligence will find that STEP preparation comes naturally. For most highly able pupils, STEP outcomes are linked to the quality of the tuition they can access.

And to be denied entry at this level in the summer because you fell at the STEP hurdle, which is the fate of about 50% of C maths applicants in a typical year, is a bitter blow.

FWIW, DH enjoyed Y3 and Part III at C very much. He felt Y1 and Y2 were designed for the ‘Clever Clogs’, students who could quickly see the trick. Only when he could start choosing more theoretical modules did he rise to the top. But he turned down the offer of a funded PhD at C for one at a red brick and he’s had a wonderful career in America and the UK at institutions in the tier below COWI.

He said recently he might have done better to choose W or I for UG, and then apply for Part III at C.

This is a long way of saying by all means your DS should apply to Oxbridge if he is interested. He should give it his best try. But it isn’t worth any angst.

If your DS is at state school then also look at the UNIQ programme for Oxford.

https://www.uniq.ox.ac.uk/selectioncriteria

It would be worth him getting some work experience as an actuary. Roughly where are you based in the UK? My cousin is an actuary and I'll hit him up for some ideas