Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 2

[Lightsabre]

Continuation thread (when old one is full) for those supporting dc through Oxbridge applications. All welcome as we enter the next phase.

Many congrats to choral scholarship winners and offer holders, may they be the first of many successes on this thread 🏆

Is anyone putting music / dance on the UCAS form in the qualifications section? I'm not sure if any uni will be remotely interested, does it look a bit silly alongside the academic stuff?

Ds put his music grades down (for the higher grades) as you get UCAS points but I'm not sure how relevant they are. Seems Oxbridge won't really be interested in them but other uni's might be.

Congratulations to the choral scholarship offer holders - a nice boost!

Yes put music but only G8/diploma level - school insisted

Thanks - I am haunted by this line in the article a PP posted about Cambridge admissions!

An academic remarks with bafflement that a candidate has "got his violin grades on there".

Yes i am not sure its needed at all - DC therefore cut right down to the last grades they took

If they have ucas points then it seems correct to include them there. Otherwise no.
In the PS id have thought they might be mentioned in a sentence or two at the end, as interests/'what I learned from...' type of things but no grades there.

Hmm she hasn't mentioned anything like that in the PS, it's very focused on what she wants to do at uni and beyond (which is not music). The end is quite powerful and she thought it seemed a bit of an anticlimax to add that she likes playing the piano in her spare time. Plus it was hard enough to get it to length as it was.

I still can't decide what's for the best, have asked a family member who knows about this stuff.

My DC stripped out everything on the UCAS form except for the GCSE and A level grades - to make it cleaner. Ho6 was fine with that - said he preferred the look of it but the general line was to bung in whatever you could. Mine could never see the point of cluttering the form with add ons. They also all cut out stuff on the PS to put paragraph breaks in, which made it far easier to read.

I am leaning that way I must say, I can't see who would be interested. Yes, she has included line breaks to split the paras, it's completely indigestible otherwise I think.

Agree. I was asked to read the thing before it was sent and just couldn't read an unbroken wall of text.

There's a lot to be said for keeping the qualifications to an absolute minimum.

Why not? Grade 6 above does have UCAS points.

None of the universities she wants offer on points. I'm just not sure whether leaving it out makes it easier for them to see what matters or makes her look like she has no life (given that she doesn't mention anything like that in the PS). But then maybe having no life doesn't even matter 🤷‍♀️

singingstones I doubt any tutor thinks that a student who keeps their UCAS form streamlined therefore has no life. Arguably they want to get on with life rather than filling in redundant lines on the form.

My son put his grade 8 in under qualifications. I know it will make no difference to his Cambridge or other chosen universities - but if things go wrong those extra 30 UCAS points may come in useful in clearing.

Also haven’t put paragraph breaks in, but have short end of paragraph sentences which makes it look a bit less blocky.

🤞he will get final sign off today.

I think you're probably right. If they're that desperate to find out what she does in her spare time, they can always give her an interview and ask her 🙂

This was posted on my son's C college socials this morning, along with the matriculation photo for this year's intake. It may give an indication of the competition for last year. I thought the ratios were less scary than I imagined, but of course, it depends on the subject applied for.

Anyway, HUGELY good luck to all of the Oxbridge applicants - and their parents 😉 - IME it is a rollercoaster from here until results day but I think the young people seem to deal with it better than we do (or expect them to!)

What does the last sentence mean? 94 undergrad freshers and the rest postgrad?

Ignore! I clicked on it!

DD hasn’t added anything other than her GCSE’s, A levels and EPQ. PS is limited to information strictly relevant to her subject. She hasn’t even mentioned her part-time job anywhere in her application; I queried whether she might want to include it and she said her History teacher has added in her reference.

No paragraph breaks either as put her over line count by 6 and she can’t afford to lose the text. Thankfully you can see where one comes to an end and the next one starts.

I would keep it simple but perhaps check for non Oxbridge choices what they say in their selection process docs of what they do when oversubscribed. Some are quite detailed. BTW the Edin email to applicants says they are expecting 75000 applications this year - no idea if that’s usual

Oh just looked - same as last year it seems

Of course they should put music grades (anything over Grade 6) in the qualifications drop down menu. There wouldn't be a listed category for these otherwise - on the drop down menu you will see the various exam boards ABRSM etc. Also there are categories for LAMDA and other drama exams. If they have them, put them in!

A Grade 8 at music / LAMDA, etc is basically the same UCAS points as an A star at EPQ. Definitely list it - why wouldn't you?

No need to mention music or drama qualifications in the PS (unless directly relevant of course). They will see these listed alongside other qualifications.

If they have done D of E (especially gold) this should be mentioned in the reference, unless something very specific in this (perhaps the volunteering element) is relevant to course choice.

4G5 you sound rather certain. There's no 'of course' about it. Tutors frequently say they are sick to death of hearing about the DoE, even gold. There's a lot to be said for simplicity and for focussing the attention of admissions tutors on the majors not the minors.