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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 2

973 replies

Lightsabre · 12/09/2023 22:43

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

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Uohoxbridgeapplicationtime · 20/10/2023 05:54

@O2HaveALittleHouse no as far as I know, Mrs Sunak’s family wealth is not connected to the Tata family. Their wealth is generated from a tech Co though?

In case it is helpful, aptitude tests set for today are awaiting advice from Oxford as to whether or not a paper exam will be used. Decision notifications apparently will made to the school/college at 9.45am so exams such as the HAT are already pushed back to 11.00am.

MirandaWest · 20/10/2023 06:35

DD is sitting MLAT and HAT today. MLAT is meant to start at 9. How have you found out about the time of HAT changing? And surely MLAT would also change if they’re waiting until 9:45 to decide

mummylife123 · 20/10/2023 06:46

MirandaWest · 20/10/2023 06:35

DD is sitting MLAT and HAT today. MLAT is meant to start at 9. How have you found out about the time of HAT changing? And surely MLAT would also change if they’re waiting until 9:45 to decide

Exactly. DD also doing MLAT today and even more stressed than she should be as she knows nothing about it. We are going to get to school for just after 8 to give plenty of time to sort things out. Not what any of these kids need though is it, shocking!

O2HaveALittleHouse · 20/10/2023 07:03

Yes you’re right @Uohoxbridgeapplicationtime . Her family own Infosys, an equally huge but unrelated Indian tech company!

Uohoxbridgeapplicationtime · 20/10/2023 07:05

@MirandaWest DC received an email from school late last night. There was a comment made on another UCAS thread which also confirmed their school had said the same. No idea about the MLAT I’m afraid.

MirandaWest · 20/10/2023 07:22

i know DD planning to get to school v early too. Once I’m back home (have been out for a run to calm myself a bit!) I’ll see if she has heard anything. Just need to remind her it’s chaos for everyone and she just needs to keep going!

MirandaWest · 20/10/2023 07:39

@mummylife123 hope your DD can stay calm. Which language is she doing - DD is doing Spanish. She’s making sure she’s got suitable pens and pencils and I’ve told her to take some snacks!

mummylife123 · 20/10/2023 07:41

MirandaWest · 20/10/2023 07:39

@mummylife123 hope your DD can stay calm. Which language is she doing - DD is doing Spanish. She’s making sure she’s got suitable pens and pencils and I’ve told her to take some snacks!

My dd also doing Spanish- and I've given her the exact same advice! Good luck to yours. Let's hope it goes smoothly

Uohoxbridgeapplicationtime · 20/10/2023 07:58

I’ve checked Twitter/X and FB feeds for Oxford admissions and Tata consulting services to see if there is any guidance but there is Nada. Really should be some sort of official comms so that students who may be solo at an institution can have some sort of checking mechanism.

Good luck to everyone’s DC today 🤞

timetochangethering · 20/10/2023 08:03

Anyone know how long the results take for the TMUA?

timetochangethering · 20/10/2023 08:04

...ah Google was my friend it's 28 November 2023 at 9.00 GMT

MirandaWest · 20/10/2023 08:08

mummylife123 · 20/10/2023 07:41

My dd also doing Spanish- and I've given her the exact same advice! Good luck to yours. Let's hope it goes smoothly

Good luck to your DD too :) Mine has set off for school and seemed surprisingly calm.

O2HaveALittleHouse · 20/10/2023 09:04

Best of luck to all sitting today. I hope it is a smoother experience but at the very least there won’t be the debate about whether it’s internal or external factors causing it.

IThinkIMadeItWorse · 20/10/2023 09:07

Gosh I'm so sorry things were such a mess yesterday, sympathy to all those young people affected and good luck to those sitting more exams today.

Hope everyone manages to enjoy half term.

DSandDD · 20/10/2023 09:11

Keeping my fingers crossed for my son's Spanish MLAT today. Knowing that there have been issues with other tests, he felt less nervous and has taken pens and (a) pencil! No idea yet if it started on time. It's half-term for him this week, so he can relax for the second week now. Good luck to everyone else sitting today.

Dafrty · 20/10/2023 09:52

re Special Consideration - it says they get sent to TCS (the company who administered yesterdays test debacle) who then forward the form to Oxford. I don’t know if I have faith in them to do this as it seems like a conflict of interest. Forwarding lots of SC requests basically verifies their ineptitude.

mummylife123 · 20/10/2023 09:56

DSandDD · 20/10/2023 09:11

Keeping my fingers crossed for my son's Spanish MLAT today. Knowing that there have been issues with other tests, he felt less nervous and has taken pens and (a) pencil! No idea yet if it started on time. It's half-term for him this week, so he can relax for the second week now. Good luck to everyone else sitting today.

Dd just came out of her Spanish MLAT and said it went well and no major issues (huge sigh of relief!) Apparently it did lock her out for ten minutes but didn't get rid of her work or time or anything so no biggie. Something about "I did not know the word for front cover"" Grin

MirandaWest · 20/10/2023 09:59

Am hoping DD's Spanish MLAT was OK. And then also HAT whenever that does actually happen.

Sometimes think it's more stressful not being able to do anything and just be the one waiting!

MirandaWest · 20/10/2023 10:00

And still another week after this until half term here!

mushroom3 · 20/10/2023 10:33

My DS was the only one in his school who took the MAT (they are an ordinary comp, Oxbridge entry is rare and not annual). The person doing the Exams Officer role mainly does another role in the school. They have said to my DS they don't know the procedure for reporting the disruption. They can't find a phone number or an extenuating circumstances form and so have emailed Oxford. Does anyone know who/how they should officially report that my DS had an extremely disrupted 5 3/4 hour exam? The school didn't print it out for him and so he just had an exam that kept crashing mid question, it was a horrific experience for him. There is nothing on the MAT website page.

From the Student Room there appears to have been issues in Australia where they sat it on Wednesday night UK time, so they could have acted to prevent the issues for those doing it yesterday eg delayed the started and emailed pdfs to schools to print out.

I haven't seen any press release from Oxford about the mess?

Good luck to all those taking exams today.

Silkiefloof · 20/10/2023 10:37

Its on Oxford Uni website

Silkiefloof · 20/10/2023 10:40

Though DD reckoned special consideration would only get 2% no idea if that's correct but if it is its not suitable. Their school did have notice from Oxford yesterday before noon that no candidate would be penalised if issues in test or unable to do test yesterday - don't know exact phrasing as DD was in test day before. She made it sounds like Oxford Uni statement maybe to school exam centres.

newnamenellie · 20/10/2023 10:58

Hi, I’ve only just found this thread but happy to join 😊

My daughter sat the BMAT for Oxford on Wednesday, she thought it went pretty well. Just a waiting game now…

lifeturnsonadime · 20/10/2023 11:04

MirandaWest · 20/10/2023 10:00

And still another week after this until half term here!

Same here, we're off to Athens for half term so looking forward to it.

DS has HAT today, like many others on here, he was emailed this morning at 9 to say it was pushed back to 11am. I hope everyone has a better experience than yesterday.

Such a fiasco and sorry so many DC were affected Flowers