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.

And another RG offer here for DC. Lovely way to end the week for a change (last week I had an emergency tooth extraction at the end of the week 😂)

Good luck to all of our brilliant young people. I know it’s especially hard for the medicine applicants because of the many hurdles they have to jump. Sending positive vibes to them all!

@Uohoxbridgeapplicationtime congratulation to your DC.

Next week is test time for the Oxford applicants.

Good luck to everyone.

losingtheplot999 I think it's fair to say that almost every single applicant for Oxbridge Medicine will have a clean sweep of top grades and relevant work experience. DS1 was an Oxford medic with 12A stars at GCSE and 6A stars predicted then achieved (well 5A stars and an EPQ A star to be more accurate) and I'm not sure his grades were in any way exceptional. The students from school who've been accepted for Oxford Medicine have all been in a similar bracket and the Cambridge ones too.

Uohoxbridgeapplicationtime congratulations, having two offers must feel amazing!

My son's application went in this week and I'm having to work hard to not keep asking him if he's had any offer emails. He's much more relaxed than me and I don't think he's checking emails much, but I'm managing to rein myself in so far 😆

what would make you stand out from the rest to get offered a place?

Strongest possible BMAT?
Quicker mind than the rest?
Easy with people?

How exciting @Uohoxbridgeapplicationtime - two offers already! That must be cheering!

Of course, some subjects, such as English Lit, have the opposite gender split shape, if not quite so extreme. I sometimes think they just let the extreme subject splits ride so they balance each other a bit in the overall numbers😀

@Lightsabre we had an interesting conversation with one of the tutors who interviewed her at her graduation a few weeks ago about their interview process. DD hadn't studied PP or E before, so had little theory to fall back on. However her college tries to level the playing field so those who have debated at WinCol since age 13 can show off their skills without overshadowing those used to being in a class of over 30 ranging in ability from grade 2 to 9 at GCSE.

He thinks their approach works. DD discussed philosophy problems based on Doctor Who, politics using the Kardashians (who she had never seen on TV) and economics using car parks. Her only interview prep was arranged by her 6th firm with a recent Oxford Brooke's graduate who asked questions about her hobbies, so utterly pointless.

His delight in DD's success was obvious. They obviously take a risk in making offers to the "mediocre" but it was clear that they enjoy teaching the outliers as much as the dead certs. Life would be so dull if they only made offers to identikit 12 x grade 9, straight A star students.

Although as DD's BF is at the opposite end of the spectrum, as a medic from a famous public school with stellar results, we're quite pleased they still want dead certs too! Yes, they don't even see a real patient until their 4th year, after gaining their first degree at the end of year 3.

thanks all. It’s definitely been an ego boost but also an absolute reminder to us all to be clear about when offers are to be expected. If we think UCL/Durham might be late offers, we should share that info with our kids. It must be difficult if you are a med student watching one of your peers getting offers when you know you can’t for several weeks. We all need to keep them upbeat!

DSs PS went off today after a bit of back and forth with his teachers. He was able to see his references and even make suggestions.
Yesterday he came home on a bit of a downer as he’d been told there were 3 other pupils at his Sixth form applying to the same Cambridge college - 1 boy for the same subject (ChemEng) the others engineering and maths. We felt that while it shouldn’t matter it was very likely that his application would be compared to the other boys and that it would be better to chose a different college. The original college had been chosen by the heart, the second one involved a bit more head. Anyway he seems quite happy with his decision so next stop NSAA on Wednesday am.
Good luck to all DC with assessments coming up.

@ladsmum DS ended up applying to his very much third choice for the same reason. I did mutter to myself about needinf to have sharper elbows, as I thought his first two were better fits for him but am endeavouring to thrust such ideas out of my mind.

@ladsmum I’m sorry to hear this. DC school checks for clashes for this reason. Everyone stands a greater chance of success if they don’t all apply for the same course and college. It shouldn’t matter but it does.

I am amazed that some schools discourage applications to the same college. Are these super high flying schools? My own child’s school wouldn’t notice, much less discourage it!

@Uohoxbridgeapplicationtime Can ask what subjects your DC has got offers for? I haven’t heard of any teen in my kid’s school get an offer for one of the STEM courses, e.g. engineering, psychics or maths. A couple have for humanities (languages, English, even econ. etc.).

@O2HaveALittleHouse yes the school sends a good number of students to Oxbridge each year but also have to be mindful of previous pupils who may now have grades in hand who they also need to provide a reference for. As it is an indie school a balance has to be struck.

And yes, the offers are humanities-based subjects. They are also aware of PPE offers being made from Manchester University in the past week.

@O2HaveALittleHouse It is just same college same subject they try to avoid, so that fellow pupils aren't directly competing. There is a supposition that colleges would be reluctant to take two from the same school into the same cohort. I have known it to happen - one of DS1's friends insisted on sticking to his original choice which int he end took 2 boys from the same school into a subject of cohort of 6, but avoiding clashes does seem to make sense.

Aell done to your DC @Uohoxbridgeapplicationtime - it’s a relief to hear of the offers coming in!

interesting point @Revengeofthepangolins - I guess the schools know what they’re doing after so much experience.

I came across mn and this thread a few days ago and have found it very useful.

DS has applied to C. We are very new to this.

DS has received acknowledgment emails from all 5 universities, including the C college. DS has received offers from Manchester and Leeds for maths.

@Redhotchillipeppers good to have a couple of offers, quite a relief.What are his other choices?

This was discussed here a few weeks ago and I said best to avoid same college/subject/school if at all possible. Somebody said it doesn't matter as they look at each candidate independently which is probably true in theory but in practice can quite easily be a factor even subconsciously. The margins in getting an offer are so tight anyway so every little thing might matter.

This shouldn’t be a big issue. So many lovely colleges to choose from, the chances of same college/course/school are slim anyway. Often pupils have difficulties deciding which of multiple colleges to choose, rather than be fixated on a particular one.

Dd knew the other pupil at school applying for Natsci, and found out through conversation (rather than the school checking) that they were applying to different colleges. If it had happened to be the same, she would have just as happily applied to one of the two that she was deliberating over. In the end, she was pooled. So best not to get too fixated on a particular college, as many applicants are pooled anyway. I mean, would dc be so set on X college that if they get a pooled offer from Y college, they would decline?

Totally agree best not to spend too much emotional energy on college choice, given likelihood of any place at all being low and reallocation not unlikely. DS2 seems to have a very english focussed year - I think there are about 10-12 applying for english at Oxford, which makes the sharing out a bit trickier.

That includes reapplicants

DD is the only person applying for English at her sixth form. She narrowed it down to 4 colleges from the open day and then after a little bit of research she had 3 that she pretty much equally favoured and then just went with one out of those 3. She didn’t want to get in to the whole “tiered” colleges and strategically selecting a college in order to try and escape being pooled.

Are people willing to divulge the college they’ve applied to or is that not the done thing on this thread? Just thought it might be handy to see who has applied for what and where.

I think the convention is to disclose subject or college but not both, (so tends to be subject) to avoid students being identifiable but some people are less worried about this than others.

Yes, it’s a relief to receive a couple of early days offers. DS has also selected, Cambridge, Warwick and Durham. It was good too learn from this thread how late Durham can be with their decisions.