Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 3

[Lightsabre]

New thread as Part 2 about to fill.

Congratulations to everyone who has been invited to interview. My son is waiting to hear from Oxford for langugaes, nothing yet and no other offers either. The positive being there hasn't been a rejection yet either!

This is exactly my DD! Also applied to Ox for languages with no offers yet. Maybe unis are being slow with languages.... but it is quite disheartening for her seeing all her friends who applied after getting offers!

We also have no offers nor rejections though DD has only applied for two so far, both who accept around 5 percent. Doesn't seem bothered by others getting offers but only an 18 percent interview rate for Oxford course and nobody at her school got LSE economics offer last year and she's not doing FM.

Congratulations to those who have heard about interviews. If you haven't, remember that O/C work to their own timetable, and invitations can take a while to trickle through. DD knew people online whose rejections arrived on the same day as her invitation to interview, so try not to anticipate a negative response on the basis of not hearing your DC's application is going on to the next stage. Because until they hear, they're still in the game.

Wishing all applicants the best of luck, DD was on this journey last year. I couldn't remember when she heard about the interview so went through the family group chat and it was today last year, 15th November, with assessment day on 23rd November and interviews first week of December. However as others have said it varies by college so fingers crossed for those who haven't yet heard.

@PettsWoodParadise hello there 👋! If I remember rightly your DD is doing English lit at Cambridge? How is she finding it? Did she have an interview in person or remotely? DD has her assessment on 22nd November and her interview on 7th December in Cambridge.

Wow @Silkiefloof kudos to her for aiming high. What's the plan if neither of those offer?

I think she will go for a year out if Oxford reject but it's 5% acceptance rate. LSE will depend if she gets a place and a scholarship but it's dicey on that with 5% accepted without FM and it was offered. She's a very strong applicant for Oxford but would have thought so might be 50% of applicants. I think for UK applicants it might be 10% but still and it's going to hit her very hard if no interview. Only 18% interviewed. She interviews very well. A year out would be fine, she does really well working though works far too much, does around full time on top of her A levels. She is earning lots, saving lots and lots of foreign holidays and good experience but it's too much overall. I am hoping she will add somewhere like Bristol as that offers around 80%. Though she will be fine whatever she does.

Yes, those Oxford economics courses are super competitive (assuming she's going for E+M or PPE). Not for the faint hearted but she sounds very impressive!

Good luck to her, shouldn't be long now before they hear about interviews. DD also waiting, but she got an offer from Birmingham yesterday and would be happy to go there I think, so the pressure is off a bit, although Oxford is her favourite, course-wise anyway. Just waiting for Warwick and UCL now.

Yes it's E and M. I didn't realise it was such bad odds, I did Econ at Camb years ago and think it was 1 in 4 then. Think it's not until very end Nov she will hear. She said she's adding more in Jan though also says she won't go to them. I've told her to add them anyway but she's very determined she's going to Oxford. I am worried about her getting an offer then not the grades too as she's working too much though at least only doing 3. LSE seem to reject first and not make offers until next year. She seems happy and chilled though so leaving her to it.

Hi @Rollergirl11 yes English at Cambridge. Congratulations to your DD getting an interview. Interviews were both online. Assessment was at school and online.

DD is loving it! Her DoS is lovely and she is enjoying the supervisions and lectures. Some of the other students on her course are not as into attending in person as she is so she had made friends with people mostly on other courses but that is easy with the college system. DD doesn't get online access as she doesn't need it but students who have the need (MH issues etc) can get access to most lectures online but I think it is good the access isn't given out too easily as it does seem to help with getting students out of their rooms. She has embraced a number of societies and seems to be thriving. College has lots of swaps and bops so there is a good balance of social life too. She has got 'engaged' to a fellow student ready to be a college parent next year. Home on the 2nd of December! The time goes so quickly.

Dec 6th I think is the cut off date for Oxbridge interview offers according to DS.

He says if he hasn't heard by then then he can forget it

Hi everyone. Glad I found this thread. Know no one waiting on an Oxford interview and first time uni application clueless parent here!

Have noticed my daughter is super stressed right now and it's definitely the waiting getting to her! Applied to do Spanish and beginners German at Oxford. She's extremely capable but so is everyone applying!

@PettsWoodParadise what a lovely update. I thought the parent system was a great idea!

I've heard of a rejection today from Cambridge, pre interview and following assessment. He had other offers so I think is ok about it. I'm fairly realistic about my ds chances, the number of places available is so tiny.. he could get an interview but after that I'm not sure.

DS has been invited for a taster day at Leeds in February. It’s a good opportunity to get a good feel of the place, to make an informed decision when making the final two choices.

Just a reminder that if DC don’t get an interview they shouldn’t be too disheartened, it can vary higely across subjects (90% vs 15%) so don’t go down the rabbit hole of comparing to friends.

I sometimes think it would've been a lot easier if DS2 hadn't applied for Cambridge. He has a very high UCAT so could've applied for another safe option rather than going through all this waiting for interview and then waiting for offer. I know you have to for other universities as well but this just seems more intense.

What course is that for @Redhotchillipeppers and is there a choice of dates?

My DS has an offer from Leeds and could really do with attending a taster day as it was a while ago that he went to the open day and the course he has the offer for is totally different as he has changed his mind so many times.

My DD also got an email about an offer day in March at Leeds. She's waiting on 3 other offers before making a decision if she wants to go to it.

@spacechimp79 It’s for maths. The dates were 7th, 14th and 21st. 14th is half-term, so I told him to pick that. He also has offers from Warwick and Manchester, so if they offer same dates, he will have to choose or swap to another date if possible I guess. No point speculating.

Thank you @Redhotchillipeppers My DS’s course is PPE so hopefully they will offer something similar. I’ll get DS to keep an eye on his emails.

Keeping motivation question - DS applied to Cambridge for Maths. Just had rejection via UCAS - bit brutal as no email. He signed up to various Cam and other uni STEP classes and predicted 4 x A* and top GCSE grades across all subjects; state school.
Now wants to drop STEP as says no point - quite deflated tbh. He has offer from Warwick and waiting on Imperial (thinks MAT went well so fingers-crossed). I thought they might also make lower offer if he sticks with STEP and that it's useful to do regardless? Just wondered if that's correct?
[as aside - little surprised re: Cambridge as hoped he might at least make it to interview but wondered if it was a mistake applying to poss most competitive college (Trintiy). He also did PS himself but wondering if should've sought advice on same - although good enough for Warwick etc?] Thanks

@Angharad01 so sorry to hear that, completely understand that he expected an interview. He may get an email from Cambridge as there tends to be a delay between UCAS & email.

If it helps, I don't think PS makes a difference as C said they tend not to read it. Did his A levels include FM? Trinity is the most competitive but I don't know if you'll ever know why - other than they simply get so many applications.

Did Warwick offer lower if he gets STEP grade? It's a notoriously difficult exam but the prep could help his studies in Uni so some study could help but not sure if sitting the exam is a major help. When does he get MAT result?

@Angharad01 i’m sorry to read this. Please don’t dwell on the ‘what if’s’ he threw his hat into the ring using his own words for his PS. Someone has to get into Trinity so no shame in trying to be the lucky one there either. He sounds like he has other marvellous opportunities to pursue and has already achieved some amazing results. Plan something lovely for him at the weekend to take his mind off it all.

Sorry to hear about your ds @Angharad01 and no useful advice unfortunately. It could have been the PS but the system isn't very transparent so it's hard to know. Going by last years thread, I think you can request feedback (but I'm not sure whether that's only given after interviews). Perhaps his teachers can put in a request for feedback too. I'm assuming he took FM if he's doing 4 A levels?