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.

Just scanned the thread - DS goes back to C for his second year at Cambridge (engineering) next weekend.

He wasn't asked anything about his PS at all, had 2 online interviews (with 2 interviewers each time) and there was NO preamble, just straight into questions/problem solving which he found a bit disconcerting, so if you have DCs doing STEM interviews, it may be worth warning them about that..also, he was grateful to have practised with doing equations etc on a whiteboard and pen on Zoom/Teams or whatever they used.

(The admissions tutors who did pre application talks online from C said that they were only interested in supercurriculars but obviously you need to weave them in somehow, even in a line or two for the other choices on your UCAS form).

Good luck to all of this year's hopefuls - it's such a hard process!!

@Panicmode1 a friends son applied for Math (who ended up at Durham) froze when they asked him the first problem. Instead of voicing his thought process or asking if they could come back to it he just sat there looking at them. It was the only place he got interviewed snd the only one not to offer him a place. So good idea to go over the basics and how to use the board!
For DD: PS done, sample essays chosen. You're right it is such an involved process so hard not to get totally invested. I found myself looking up the most popular A levels taken by successful HSPS candidates to reassure DD that not all applicants will have taken Sociology and Politics! History the winner by far and English Lit and Politics on par. Even a few rogue General Studies A levels!

@mondaytosunday it is such a lottery....DS' best friend, 4 A star predictions, 1st XV cricket, rugby, grade 8 music etc etc got an interview but no offer. We were all stunned - both of his parents, his brother and sister were all Oxbridge, but he fluffed his interview (and knew he had), but we all thought he was a shoe in. So I admire any child putting themselves forward, because the competition is SO intense, they all have stellar grades, amazing super and extra curriculars and they are also competing against foreign student entrants who are equally brilliant - and there aren't places for them all!!

There is no such thing as a shoe in and not sure why cricket, rugby and music would help very much. If anything it just flags a privileged background. In fact how would they have even known around 1st cricket and music grade 8? Did he put on PS? My daughter touched on music but deliberately didn't go into detail.

Of course there isn't, @Hertsessex but my point was that he was the sort of child who everyone thought would be exactly what O and C were looking for, but there are always surprises, because things go wrong on the day, and the competition is so fierce between the applicants who get interviewed.

In my cackhanded way, I was wishing everyone luck, but trying to be realistic about the odds. Sometimes, I think the admissions tutors must have to flip a coin between so many amazing young people!

First draft PS done to general relief. Looks good to me; can see where she can tidy up the phrasing a bit, but everything's covered. The thing DD found hardest was conveying her passion whilst writing formally. Naturally all my helpful advice was bluntly rejected 🙄 I suggested an ice cream break...Lo and behold, after ice cream, a chat with her BF and some mindless YouTube for a bit, everything was fine and she finished it without a problem. Realised she'd been a moody so and so and was extra nice to us all evening.She's not herself when she's hungry!

*not herself!

It's so competitive now and they get such conflicting advice. It was really unusual in my school in the 1990s for people not to get offers. I still have my draft UCAS form (in my RoA!); DD said my PS was good, but wouldn't cut the mustard now 😬 (all mine were RG and most were low offers by modern standards). Credit to all the young people still giving it a shot.

My DD just had her meeting at her old school with the guy that advises them about PS, interviews and written assessment prep - an Oxford grad who did PPS.
He has gone against what I've seen by the admissions people on YouTube - he says that she has to appear confident enough that she will get in. Her PS needs to be for the Cambridge course, and focus directly on a few of the first Year modules. She has to be able to say why she wants this one course. As it's a unique course - it has sociology which is the degree she's applying to at others (possibly Sociology and Social Policy at Bath, possibly Sociology/Anthropology at Exeter, or just plain Sociology at both). But Cambridge course covers Sociology, Anthropology, Politics and International Relations. After the first year you specialise in one or two areas, so she thought that's fine I'll concentrate on Sociology with a little bit of politics to cover the three courses as that is the area she's interested in. But he literally said you have to write it like the Cambridge course is the only one! So she's doing draft 3 (though really more like draft 5). Is this daft advice? She will really have to finesse it now.

I would follow the advice of the Cambridge admissions people, it's designed to help the DC give them what they want.

It might be different at Oxford but fwiw his advice is the opposite of what an Oxford tutor said at an open day talk.

How do Cambridge decide who to interview? At Oxford they use a combination of grades and test scores, so the PS is less important and it would be better to have the other unis in mind when she's writing it.

I think the confidence thing is a bit of a red herring too - she has to be able to say why that course and talk about the modules at interview, but they know their courses aren't the same as others. They won't expect a PS just for them, and you risk pissing off the other unis if it's too obviously focused on Cambridge.

? I thought Cambridge had its own version of a personal statement which you submit to Cambridge only, in addition to doing a general personal statement for your UCAS form. I therefore don’t see a conflict - she must keep her UCAS personal statement general and must make her comments to Cambridge course-specific for the Cambridge course she is applying for. Cambridge will see both statements, all other universities will only see the general one.

This is definitely different to the advice I have listened to from Cambridge admissions people. The my Cambridge form is where she can go into the focus in their course only. I think her original plan is the best way forward.

Yes that's my point @Walkaround - he's saying to make the general PS more specific to Cambridge. He knows about the SAQ obviously. This is one of the people who will sign off her UCAS form.
Both of the people who have looked at it are Politics teachers (her head of sixth also said to add more about politics) - the one area of HSPS she's not that interested in (though there are overlaps as she is interested in social policy). She feels a bit like they must know as this is what they do....

But the advice is patently ridiculous. Cambridge would not do a separate form if they wanted the general PS to be Cambridge-specific. It may be advisable to talk more about politics for all of the courses applied to, but it’s just plain wrong to waste other universities’ time waffling on about the Cambridge course.

Yea that is a little bit daft. You certainly don’t need to cover all three aspects. My DD is starting this year. She didn’t mention sociology at all as she has more experience and knowledge of soc anth and politics. Instead she talked more generally about social sciences and multi-disciplined approach to problems. This was also with a view to other places in where the courses were more specialised. You can always add extra in the supplementary PS bit of the application just for Cambridge although my DD didn’t even do that.

Sorry, I haven't read the full thread but wondered if anyone else was applying to the Ruskin for Fine Art? DD is struggling with her personal statement- she's being told by her tutors to make sure she writes about her Foundation diploma course- but how can she when she's only been on it 3 weeks! (and the first week was only an induction week) Also she's been told not to write about any very obviously famous artists she like such as Hockney etc.

Also DD didn’t address the course modules directly.

@FancyFanny you need @olafolaf - son started at Ruskin this year.
@Hertsessex rewrite tomorrow and will try and compromise without alienating other unis! Some of the other things he suggested do make sense. Deadline Friday and thank goodness for that.

@mondaytosunday at the open day for Durham there was a talk on the admissions process and the PS. They gave lots of good tips; one of which was that you must not refer to university specific modules if they are not offered everywhere you are applying to. Doing so would alienate the other universities and Durham would 100% reject the application based on this. This guys advice that your DD writes her PS as if Cambridge is the only place she is applying to goes against everything I have read anywhere! Is there anyone else your DD can check with for a second opinion?

This guys advice that your DD writes her PS as if Cambridge is the only place she is applying to goes against everything I have read anywhere!

Absolutely. Cambridge has a few pretty much unique degrees like hsps, and also lots of applicants for NatSci who would be applying for single sciences elsewhere, and for General Engineering with them but a specific field at other unis. That was the case for my DD - her PS focussed on her love of electronics, while her Cambridge extra thing explained why she wanted to do their 'generalise then specialise' course.

That makes so much sense. Actually possibly explains somebody we knew last year who had great grades but didn't get an offer from anywhere including Durham. It was baffling but I know she and her parents were obsessed with Oxford (mock interviews from a year before) and perhaps her PS focused on the Oxford course and pissed off the others. She really should have got an offer from somewhere else.

I know, right? She is sitting here trying to change as little as possible, just moving things a bit and maybe adding a sentance (which means deleting one - ouch)!
I totally agree with all of you. I think DD said the same to him but in the face of a teacher staring you down...
Anyway we'll make sure it's appropriate for all unis (that she is most likely to go to anyway 🙄🙄).

It's so difficult for them to do much about it when teachers are talking rubbish and insisting on things. I mean I know everyone means well but very frustrating, Cambridge's advice is easily available!

He graduated from Oxford within the last five years too - he should know better! He's giving this advice to anyone applying to Oxbridge (they don't have a great track record - no idea how many apply, but I don't think anyone got in last year - but more successful for Oxford than Cambridge).

It is incredibly frustrating. I don’t know how many times DD has shown various people at her 6th form where it says on UCAS that you can add other courses with different deadlines later. They are still having none of it! And I can’t even bring myself to think about the teacher that tried to rewrite her PS! 😡