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.

DC received their Manchester offer yesterday so v happy. No news from Oxford but I don’t know that they are expecting to hear this week. 🤞

@HappiDaze

That's the issue with the ELAT is that once the timer ends you have no idea if what you wrote actually got submitted due to all the technical issues. Could explain one of the reasons why they won't mark them.

My daughter said her exam officer emailed oxford when it was crashing etc but heard nothing back. He actually emailed her asking to forward her email from her college to see what it said about the special circumstances form. It's all a bit of a shit show tbh.

I just don't see any good reason other than penny pinching for a test which involves reading, comparing and annotating text passages, then writing an essay, should be online at all.

For some tests being online adds features, such as ISEB and GMAT where the questions change according to the candidate's answers, and it makes sense where marking can be made automatic, such as multi choice formats, but when there is no marking advantage and not having paper texts makes it clearly harder to do, it is a stupid idea.

And that's before the provider fails to deliver it.

Plus the guidance accompanying specified no touch screens for the ICT. Annotating with a mouse is clunky. Some may feel the need to print the passages out and annotating them with a pen before answering online. If they’re going to use all online tests, they should be allowed to annotate on screen with a stylus.

I never understood why they moved the elat to computer, in all honesty that annoyed my daughter the most because she prefers to actually write during timed exams etc so she spent her summer practising typing in timed conditions only for this whole situation to happen.

Either way I hope they learn from this so next years applicants don't suffer.

The whole situation with tests is terrible. All very well to say that they won’t be used to decide but for the DC who have been working for them and for whom tests are a strong point this means that they are being disadvantaged by them not being used.

DDs HAT and MLAT seemed to have gone OK but shall have to wait and see.

Shes had an email from the college she’s applied to saying about written work. Not sure whether they asked for a photo or not.

The Cambridge supplemental form asks for a photo. Felt it took as long to get that right as writing the wretched PS! It will go on their student ID though (🤞🤞) so she felt it had to be exactly right!

Now wondering if the lack of request for a photo means ds is not looking likely for interview. Anyone know from last year?

I think it's more likely that some colleges only ask for a photo from people they are interviewing. (As they should, really, shouldn't be collecting data they might not need.)

I think it's highly unlikely that they would know who they are interviewing yet given that the deadline for written work still hasn't passed for most subjects.

‘Brasenose update via email today;

‘I would like to correct one mistake regarding the sentence about the Maths Admissions Test (MAT) in yesterday's email:

Mathematics was included in list of abandoned tests by accident. Candidates for Maths and/or joint honours and/or Computer Science should await further news from the departments later today. Anyone who suffered technical issues with the MAT should still ask their test centre to submit a Special considerations form explaining the issues experienced.’

So basically still waiting for the maths update hopefully today.

The request for a photo is of absolutely no consequence. Some colleges/ subjects request a photo, others don't. It's to remind tutors who they are talking about when they get together at the end of the interview sessions.

My DC hasn't had any emails or anything from Oxford since the MAT.

I just think that given the number of applicants, it's going to be very difficult for Oxford to choose between them now. MAT was an extremely important piece of data.

My child has not even had contact from the college yet.

No contact from college here either though still to emerge from room atm. 😂 Can't imagine the photo would mean anything either way, I think they will still be shortlisting and may vary by subject and college. Though in my day there was a college were all the girls were slim with long blonde hair in my subject.

I wouldn't worry, they haven't even gone through written work yet. Some colleges ask for photos and some don't it seems. Nothing to do with if they've been shortlisted for an interview.

My DS looks like a madman in the photo he submitted! He is not remotely bothered about stuff like that and made no effort whatever. He has not heard about submitting his essays yet either. I wanted him to sort them over half term really but there is still one more day.

@Silkiefloof wrote
Though in my day there was a college were all the girls were slim with long blonde hair in my subject.

!!!

How many students was this? (Too many to be a coincidence?) Was this a college which also took males, and was it just your year or all undergraduates taking that subject at that college?

MAT update coming tomorrow apparently;

’It's coming tomorrow, James stated its a long announcement and have taken legal advice, will be released tomorrow now.’

I only knew my year No and was 4 out of 4 girls from that college for my subject thin, pretty, long blonde hair, was a mixed college, at my college history had 8 out of 10 male, homosexual professor. Think there were some dicey admissions things in my day. My professor also generally only took girls in a two thirds male subject, all pretty and had married one of his previous students.

Thanks for this info - will it be on a website or do you know if it's coming by email?

I’m going off the Reddit thread, but it reads like the University of Oxford/Mathematical Institute admissions test page will get a ‘very long’ update. No idea if that update will be reasons for total cancellation or a bonkers rationale for keeping the MAT in play somehow? I’m not going to try and guess what these guys are going to do next!

👍

Who is James and who has taken legal advice?

I imagine Oxford University Maths dept has taken legal advice, and I believe James is James Munro who is the admissions person for Maths at Oxford - we saw him speak at the open day in that dept.