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.

I think with the ELAT they will take everything into account not just predicted grades, I also feel like the written work will play a huge part in short listing. I think we just have to wait and see, when you look back online on many forums those who got high mark in the test didn't always get an offer post interview. I read an article once on how they choose who to accept and it's cut throat.

The admissions feedback paper explains how they process the various inputa into scores for english and yes, the bar charts showing the scores make it clear that no one factor gaurs tees shortlisting or offers. I have always been surpised how high Elat results (same for hat) can get and still not achieve success. Report can be found on Mansfield's site, among others.

Just goes to show that even if you have the best ucas application with a high admissions test score and you felt you did good in the interview nothing is guaranteed because you just might not be what the tutors are looking for. I was looking at stats with my daughter the other night and it was very depressing to see the low percentage of offers for students with ethnic backgrounds and the disadvantaged compared to other applicants. That's why she's preparing herself for the worse and has two back up uni's she also loves so if she doesn't get in her world won't be over.

DS was able to start the MAT online but the system crashed/froze multiple times (for most/all of the students) and every time it did they had to be restarted by an invigilator which took ten to twenty minutes. Eventually they got pdf copies from Oxford which they printed off and they finished the test on paper. It took over 4 hours. DS does not think he did well, which is frustrating as he’d prepared well.

How long did it take to hear from oxford? my My daughter's exam officer just couldn't get a hold of them at all and he was also getting very stressed by the whole situation. It's just disappointing that an institution like Oxford can get things so wrong. I don't know who was in charge of the tests last year but if it ain't broke don't fix it as they say.

@catmomof3 Am surpised by your comment on chances for ethnic minority and disadvantaged students compared to other types. Have you looked at the admissions stats? Oxford's proportion of disadvantaged students is within 0.1% of the national proportion of those scoring AAA at A level, and BME students are mildly over-recruited at 27.8% compared to 23% of the age 19-25 population, which I think is surely encouraging?

Clearly, it leaves the question of whether students in the socio-economically disadvantaged category have the chances they should do to achieve AAA performances, but this is something that needs to be tackled at the school level.

I really don't think that being an ethnic minority candidate will in itself lessen their chances.

I was looking at it based on the college she has applied to mostly, but in general while oxford have improved on how many offers they give out to those from ethnic minority backgrounds it still gives way more offers to white and privileged students which can be disheartening statistic wise especially when you compare it to other top uni's in the country. When you are a poc competing to get a place at the most prestigious university in the uk I think it's normal for prospective applicants to ask themselves why in every category is the acceptance rate so low. We do however know a local family who are also poc who's son started Oxford last year and he has been a mentor for my daughter and that has given her some hope she might be lucky to gain a interview at the very least.

According to a quick google around 23% of students admitted to Oxford are from ethnic minority backgrounds. This is roughly in line with the UK population.

I can't remember where it was but one university course I was looking at was boasting ethnic minority students of slightly higher numbers than white- I can't see how this is a good thing or fair. 80% of the UK is white.

I wonder what uni that is? Because end of the day no matter your ethnicity everything should be fair. Like I said where Oxford has improved it's numbers recently which is great it does still have a bit of a way to go. My daughter just felt down when the college she applied to it's numbers for the bame and disadvantaged admissions was a bit deflating.

I was looking at the admissions stats for the Ruskin and it seems it's much easier to get accepted if you are a male VS a female applying. While the applicants are largely dominated be female students at 200:50 the acceptance rate was 18:12 female:male. This means male students had a 24% chance while female only 9% chance of acceptance. Surely they are skewing the numbers here to avoid having an art department too heavily dominated by women rather than taking the candidates purely on the strength of their work. I can't really believe that the male applicants were so much stronger than the female ones that more than twice the percentage are suitable.

What percentage of BAME students do you think would be ideal?

I think there is discrimination to get a balance of genders on some course eg drama schools. Far more women apply but it does seem to be roughly 50/50 men/women. They are upfront about it and say ‘we want to create a diverse cohort’ which will mean favouring some candidates over another.

It varies by course. For physics last year, 25% of applicants were female, but they received only 19% of the offers. Maths also had a slightly lower percentage of female offers (28%) to applicants (30%). So females, despite being in the minority, had a lower chance of getting an offer than males.

That’s a shame re physics as surely women should be encouraged into stem if they choose that. I assume most of those applicants had the grades

@fancyfanny 50% would never happen, well not in my lifetime anyway lol. But my daughter said she might feel a bit more positive if it was around 30% at the very least. Even if she doesn't get in she always feels proud to see students who look like her at places like Oxford.

Isn't maths one of the most competitive courses, I swear I saw a video where it said the offer rate was like 10%.

Females are really under-represented in economics and seem to have lower shortlisting (14% vs 19%) than males at Oxford…seen no evidence they are trying to address that. For maths you see girls summer schools etc at least. Warwick do seem to be engaging with this.

But why should it be 30% when that doesn't reflect the population?

Nobody said it should be 30%, she was wishful thinking. If your part of a minority group of course you'd like to see more people from those groups get accepted regardless of official statistics. It's called representation.

I think Oxford at least tends to focus on groups that are significantly under-represented. They do very poorly in the nations for example, and have had a big drive to encourage DC from areas of low participation and socio-economic disadvantage.

@stoneysongs That I agree with, my daughter was invited to Hertford in June for a residential as part of their outreach program within our area which really made her decide to choose Oxford as before she had that preconceived notion it wasn't for people like her but she came away from that experience feeling a lot more positive. She also did one with UCL which she also enjoyed.

My dd also went to an outreach day for state school girls so we appreciate that. It did influence her decision to apply. We shall see if it works out.

I'm not sure it's true that the offer rate is lower for BAME. Oxford can only consider those who actually apply and it's definitely true that some groups are underrepresented in terms of applications. But, if you do apply, the odds are actually slightly better, relatively speaking.

You can go down a rabbit hole with male to female ratios; ethnicity, etc etc. it is also true that offer ratios are slightly higher now for the state sector due to WP - eg. for HSPS, it's 1 in 6 for state applicants, but 1 in 10 for independent school applicants (although it will be more nuanced than this).

@catmomof3 I think it's 1/13 for Maths at Oxford. This is why the whole MAT mess is such a problem, as all of the candidates will have high GCSE and predicted A level grades.

Quick question?

Has anyone's DC made an Open application to Oxford and been told which college they've been assigned to yet?