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.

My eldest was going for a non essay subject and she did let me make a couple of corrections. One where she repeated a phrase and one where it wasn't clear from the sentence what she meant.
College definitely helped also.

Agree grammatical errors should be corrected.

What struck me was it had very little information about him in it, mostly just about his passion for his chosen subject.

But that is the salient information about him in the context of 'is this a person who really wants to put effort into studying this subject at a high level?'

My dd had me check hers for SPAG, and also while she was drafting it discussed the structure - getting everything in that she wanted to say in the order that made for the most coherent flow.
I guess apart from the actual content it can be viewed as an exercise in 'effective communication'.

I agree that the PS now a days are very different from what I submitted in the 90’s.
I glanced over my DS’s the night before he submitted it and hardly knew what he was talking about tbh.
His form teacher has also checked it and I think maybe his head of college. He didn’t appear to get much advice initially as I caught him starting it with a quote. Thankfully he removed it after I explained it was really unpopular with the admissions teams.
He submitted it to school last Friday but apparently he has one more thing to do before they send it off. Not sure what as he is very hostile to me asking any questions in regard to this.

Yes I did the same in terms of sanity checked to make sure it flowed, suggested alternative sentence structure and vocabulary in places. Pointed out where she’d repeated herself and basically helped make as concise as possible.

DS submitted his UCAS form yesterday so it is now with college waiting for them to check it and add his predicted grades and reference. This morning he has had emails from Cambridge and from the college he applied to so that makes it seem quite real! He will need to do the extra Cambridge form but I assume he doesn't really need to say anything extra as he is applying for the same course at all his unis?

@IThinkIMadeItWorse dd also received her Cambridge info and is unlikely to add anything extra as she is also applying for the same course at all five choices

@FancyFanny my DDs Hof6 just suggested she remove one sentance and that she add a bit of politics (she is a politics teacher)! It's HSPS at C, Sociology or Sociology/Anthropology or Sociology/Social Policy elsewhere). There's an Oxbridge bod at the school too and he said she needs to write it as if Cambridge is the only place she's applying to! She ignored that, but he did say one of the books she referenced would be well known to them so didn't have to explain her point as detailed as she did, which saved her some characters. She also did add a reference to a politics book in the context of a sociological issue she was already mentioning. I just looked it over for spelling and clarity. Her Hof6 now says it's 'excellent' - which my daughter took to mean she just wants rid of it! She went through several drafts before she let anyone see it (mostly cutting it down) and two more drafts after. Do put it in the UCAS form as their format changes character count. It needs to be no more than 47 lines too - so my daughter's comes in at 3850 words now.
She's actually left the school but they made it clear they were happy to help kids on a gap year.

DD wrote her PS, school commented and made a few suggestions (mostly on tone - apparently she did not sound keen enough on paper) and I was allowed one read and did some minor editing to cut words and make the English a little better, but the subject specific content was all hers.

She didn’t spend nearly as much time on it as some of your DC appear to have though, and I thought that was okay. For her circumstances and her subjects (Physics at O, Physics and Maths elsewhere) I don’t think the PS is that important in the process. At O whether she gets to interview or not will be almost entirely determined by her PAT performance, and most of the interview will be problems posed by the interviewers not discussion of the PS. The feedback we got at the open days for the other universities is that for her subjects they tend to make offers to most applicants, and effectively selection is done through the standard offer and actual A level results (which I assume are set at a level the
university expect the right number of students, having put them as first choice, will get).

Appreciate this could be very different for other subjects and very competitive courses at other unis.

@mondaytosunday hah hah, funny that, a politics teacher saying she should mention Politics! DD had the same when she showed to her tutor, who also happens to be her History teacher. She highlighted one bit and said DD should link it back to her History a level. DD was already having to cut stuff out and adding this suggestion would have meant her taking more relevant stuff out! It seems some teachers struggle to remain objective. 😂

She eventually got final sign off from Hof6 who said it read very well and was fine as it was.

Sorry should have said she’s applying for English lit so what she does in History isn’t particularly useful.

Joining this thread as DS is applying for Spanish and beginners Italian at Oxford. He is a perfectionist. 22 drafts of his PS so far. I think it looks very good, his tutor said draft 8 was excellent, but still he keeps tweaking. His PS will really end up being very focussed at the specific Oxford course, so we'll see how that goes! MLAT on the 20th, which falls in half term for him, so no relaxation that week!

Daughter’s agonising over PS is driving me slightly up the wall.

@DSandDD DC got to draft 9 - painful; and yes its so geared to the O course that i have warned them to expect an auto-rejects from at least two places that will be scratching their heads as they read it!

My DD is applying for Spanish at Oxford too- decided against doing another language at beginner because she only really wants to work/ live in Latin America going forward. Does have grade 9 French GCSE so at least that's the grasps of another MFL. A bit niche really but I'm just the supportive mum! Submitted UCAS a few days ago. What are your DS' other uni choices? We found finding the right courses for MFL was quite difficult - all the different balances of literature/language/culture/politics! And yes, MLAT revision is ruling her life at the minute I will be glad when that's over and she can focus on the actual A levels!

@mummylife123 - He has St Andrews, Edinburgh and UCL as other choices. However all eggs are in the Oxford basket as that's the course he likes the best. Good luck to your DD. Stats suggest that a large %age of students who sit the exam get called for an interview, but remains to be seen!

Yes she has put down St A's and Edinburgh too. Those plus Ox are the only ones she would actually want to go to really and the other two were just fillers. The MFL interview stats do feel promising. Best of luck to your DS!

DD applying for History and Spanish so we have MLAT and HAT preparation here. And bits of NEA on the side too.

She has a night out planned with one of her friends for 20th October (both are now 18 so suspect there will be alcohol involved!)

I can't imagine having 2 admissions tests to deal with! Good on your DD

DD just submitted her UCAS application so will go to college to add her PG’s and references. She has applied to Cambridge, Durham, Exeter, Warwick and Lancaster for English literature.

Ds has sent his in with a few tweaks. He is a bit worried that it sounds too vague compared to his friend (different subject) who has written an amazingly technical PS that is like something out of an academic journal ( I suspect this boy had help from his Ox educated academic parents!). I suppose I'd do the same if I had the brains but I haven't got a clue!

Don't stress too much about the PS. My friend misspelled the name of a key author, which was pointed out in the interview (first time the tutor had properly looked at it!)- still got in. My college tutor said the only time he looked at them in detail was for the Schools Dinner after Finals, when he chose extracts from everyone's, and we all had to guess who wrote what.

Grades, performance on tests, submitted written work are much more importance for getting to interview. Then at interview just make sure that you actually have read any books/articles you mention in the PS and are happy discussing ideas and themes from them.

DS just applied to Cambridge for Engineering, he has ASD, wondered if anyone has any experience or advice on asking for interview adjustments? The college he is applying to still does online interviews (which I think he prefers) but just looking for pros/cons of asking for adjustments and what is normally allowed. He will be speaking to the learning support teacher at school as well about his specific needs.

@muminhampshire if it helps to provide some reassurance, DS is at C studying engineering and he said there are a lot of ASD students on the course (by their own admissions) - so whilst I don't know about the specific adjustments made, I am sure that the interviewers are experienced in helping and recognising those that may need them. Is there anywhere on the application where you have to state any issues? (Both of my children who have been through the UCAS process did the forms without reference to us!)

Thanks @Panicmode1, that's good to know. I also didn't see the Ucas form! But he tells me there was a disability section with a specific option to select for ASD, and he has now been sent a general acknowledgment email from the college which mentions an adjustments form for those that might need it. This also gives us confidence that they are used to dealing with various needs.