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.

@singingstones that is a bit rubbish if the school. My DD’s school provided predicted grades at the end of the summer term (based on performance over the year and the end L6 exams); those who were unhappy with them were actually given the opportunity to write additional papers at the start of this term to provide a justification for the school to predict a higher mark.

We did quite a few open days in the summer; DD is applying now for all 5. Oxford, three she would be very happy to go to (and has visited) and one insurance choice with a slightly lower offer.

That's what I thought, Invested, most DC have had their predicted grades by now. They have an excuse for waiting until after AS results but I was expecting her to be told at the beginning of term without needing to ask.

DD is a bit behind with the open days because she has changed her mind about course (twice, I think 😬) since we went to the summer ones.

But I would rather she took her time than make a rushed decision (speaking from experience of her brother who is starting Y1 again next week having switched course after a year of something completely different 🤦‍♀️)

Hopefully her predicted grades will be appropriate for an application to Oxford, but we don't actually know that yet 😬

@singingstones but you will need the predicted grades to add to the UCAS application so they must know them surely?

They must know them but apparently don't share them with the DC unless they ask individual teachers. The college add them to the form and DC don't see that bit so I guess lots of them at DD's college might never know their predicted grades 🤯

@singingstones that makes no sense at all. If my kid's school did that I'd be on to the head - and really it seems so outrageous I can't believe there hasn't been an uproar about it! How can a child know where to apply without knowing their grades??

@singingstones That is crazy. She must have the right to know her predicted grades. They’re hers to guide her through choosing the next step of her life, they ‘belong’ to the applicant. I would not hesitate to get involved and demand to know the grades.

I know, it's mind boggling!

The only thing I can think of is that maybe the teachers haven't had to submit them yet, so what the tutor should have said was, you'll be told at the end of next week but if you want to know sooner, ask your teachers.

They have only been back 2 weeks so may still be figuring them out? Doubt it though, it's a huge college but I think only a handful of early applicants, I would have thought they'd be sorted by now.

Yes, I don't think there's any suggestion that they won't share them, it's just that DC have to ask if they want to know. But of course they want to know, right? They need to know, otherwise how would they know which unis to apply for?

The other slight complication is that DD is doing 4 A levels at the moment and has 4 x A at AS. She is hoping for ÅÅAA predictions, but one of the As could easily be a B. In that case she might decide to drop it to remove the B from her form and help her nail the other grades. At the moment she has all 4 on her form at A2, so that would need to be amended.
(B would be a fair prediction tbh, she got the A at AS by one UMS mark 😅)

Also DD probably won't want to ask, she's someone who doesn't like to cause a fuss and rolls her eyes when I get all indignant. So I need to not go off on one 😬

Perhaps the weirdest thing is that her tutor, who told her she needed to ask individual subject teachers, is also one of her subject teachers, you couldn't make it up 🤦‍♀️

@singingstones so if students aren’t told their PG’s without asking for them does this mean they would allow a student to apply to a uni with PG’s that don’t meet the course requirements?

I hope not!
Maybe they have already thought about that for the early entries and would have said if predicted grades meant an Oxbridge application was a waste of time. I wouldn't like to bet on that though.

Just imagine if your DC applied for a load of courses that were completely unrealistic, it's hard enough when the grades match!

@singingstones it all sounds a bit 1980’s/90’s? My DC is aghast that I had to apply without knowing my PG’s. Ironically, my school files were returned to me just before lock down because they were doing a GDPR clearance. The reference I got was not only unfair it was actively likely to prejudice my chances of getting on the course, which thankfully it didn’t. The University admissions people must’ve been 🤔 It was written by the deputy Head who had never taught me at the school, ever. I was like WTF? Reading it back 30 years later.

Thankfully these days schools are held accountable and destinations of students matter so I’ve no doubt your DD’s school will not be allowing her to apply for something she stands no chance of success in attaining. You’d be right to check though if you are worried.

Gosh that's astonishing about PGs. On a slightly different note do DC ever get to see teacher references or are they on an undisclosed part of the form? My DS has now submitted his and he hasn't mentioned it to me so I don't know if they see them or not.

@lifeturnsonadime my DC says they don’t get to see them. Would’ve thought that’s pretty standard?

Does anyone know what happens if you get a reduced offer because of your EPQ but then don’t get the grade? Does that lead to the offer changing upwards again?

They can request to see their reference from UCAS at any time after it's been submitted. Just call UCAS and ask - they will ping it through almost immediately. Loads do this and why not? It helps to know what info the interviewers can see.

Probably not meant to but my DD was shown hers. One teacher had left and emailed to her and told her to give to another teacher to edit as it was twice as long as should be 😂

@Rollergirl11 ds had an EPQ offer from Bath. He needed AAA plus an A in his EPQ. Or Astar AA. The offer covered both options.

As a heads up, DC says UCAS is down until 6pm tomorrow…

DD noticed that last night too

@lifeturnsonadime my daughter says they allow them to see it at her (old) school. Just as well as you might be asked about something on it at interview (as one YouTuber said he purposely left something out as he didn't want to talk about it but he saw it was in his reference and the interviewer did ask).

Ds wasn’t ‘allowed’ to see his when he applied in 2017 which I thought was bonkers. He didn’t bother following up the UCAS route of asking to see it.
dd is at a different school so wonder if she will see hers.

Durham is lovely - It may be far away but is definitely a good choice.

DS was sent his reference and asked for any comments. It's a sixth form school so it seemed appropriate to me - they won't know the pupils as well as a school that someone has attended for many years.