Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 3

[Lightsabre]

New thread as Part 2 about to fill.

Thank you Mumsnet!

DC has an Oxford chemistry interview next week. If not for this thread, I would not have asked about tech, he wouldn’t have followed up on “Level 3 Technology” and he would have been unprepared. He just assumed it would be like his Imperial interview. He needs an iPad and stylus. School said they would work it out. (which I find a wee bit worrying but DC confident)

Phew. He is a super organised kid and missed this detail, which would have been a high stakes mistake.

DS has an interview for Maths. I'm so pleased for him. He has ASD and school has been challenging for him from the day dot. His initial MAT resulted in him sitting in exam conditions for six hours with no food, waiting for the internet to play ball. I know that loads of people were in the same scenario. It would have been a shame for it to end like that, and I feel rubbish for all the kids where that is their position.

He has a mock interview organised by a widening participation charity today, which is really helpful. We live very close to Repton school, so their teachers also give mock interviews to our students, which I am also very grateful for, as obviously they do this in their spare time for no gain.

Sending love to all those families dealing with a disappointed teenager, and good luck to those who are still in the game 🙂🤞

@SwottyDaisy glad he checked. DD has one interview at one tier, and two at another college at another tier, and hadn’t thought there would be a difference until she read the small print

DD finally heard from Oxford today. She’s through to interview. So, so pleased for her.

That’s great news @InvestedButNotOverinvested 😊

@zen1 i wonder if it’s worth dropping a group like zero gravity a line? They do free mentoring and I’m sure one of their mentors could do an interview practice session . It’s free. https://www.zerogravity.co.uk/

zen1 I would echo what H20 says about not worrying. Most of my DC went to interview with no interview practice at all bar a single one each at school along the lines of 'Why this subject? Why Oxford?'. This wasn't the fault of the school, simply that there weren't any Oxbridge educated members of staff in the relevant subject teaching at the time. The fourth DC was fortunate in that his biology teacher interviewed applicants for Medicine at one of the London unis, so that was much closer to the real thing. By the time it got to DD4 the school was incredibly supportive and a new member of staff asked a friend of his who taught Classics at an independent school if he would do an interview over zoom, which was definitely helpful. There's a lot to be said for looking at the official Oxford interview videos and going into the interview fresh, with no particular expectations. Overdoing interview practice could well be counter-productive.

@zen1 lots of colleges seem to be putting on webinars to give info and also dispel interview myths and create a positive atmosphere around the interviews; DD’s first interviewing college did one today and she said it was really nice. So worth keeping an eye on emails and also on the college’s social media as some are putting handy tips out each day for different subjects. Def YouTube is a good resource too.

DS got an interview at Cambridge, so pleased for him. We have 2 weeks to help him prep!

My son (Maths at Oxford) received notice of an interview today. Phew.

Great news @hardhat and @timetochangethering.
This time next week done and dusted for my dd. Asked neighbours if they could avoid any noisy building work and they have assured me nothing will be scheduled for that day. Then it's a race to get her final project finished by end of term! She's finding it hard to concentrate with interviews hanging over her head - she's reading the news, going over the books she mentioned in her PS, podcasts etc.

DS received an offer for maths from Durham at 17.10 - not like him to check his emails lol

My DS did too at the same sort of time

@Mirrormeback congratulations - which subject is it for?

My daughter has been told only 20 students have been shortlisted for her course at her chosen college for 7 places. So a 1 in 3 chance of being accepted, unless she is pooled out for more interviews elsewhere.

Maths like your DS

My daughter had an invitation to interview at Oxford for engineering this afternoon too. She had been downplaying her chances and we've been putting it all in to perspective, but there is no doubt she is beyond happy. We've no firm date yet for interview, but the invitation is in line with published schedule.

How do you find this information out @catmomof3? I think ds course odds are around 1/4 but I could be totally wrong..

There have been a few shocks at ds school today for Physics. Very, very able, National competition winners, Oxbridge residential invite applicants not getting interviews. Makes me so curious to know what they look for when they shortlist.

Ds feels lucky to have got to this stage and feels everything from now on is a bonus.

@WutheringConniption congratulations - that’s fabulous news

Thank you - I don't like this process at all, in the slightest. It encourages you to invest at each stage, and so you do, but with no increased probability in real terms of outcome (yes I know the pool is smaller now, but see below, who knows what they actually want). We are now very invested in this and the disappointment if comes in January will be greater.

Good luck to everyone interviewing and I'm really sad for able children who have missed out; it seems arbitary.

My daughter has been told only 20 students have been shortlisted for her course at her chosen college for 7 places. So a 1 in 3 chance of being accepted, unless she is pooled out for more interviews elsewhere

3:1 is the bog standard rule across all subjects (but sometimes colleges seem to nudge the numbers interviewed up).

There have been a few shocks at ds school today for Physics. Very, very able, National competition winners, Oxbridge residential invite applicants not getting interviews. Makes me so curious to know what they look for when they shortlist

Aptitude test cut offs. You can be a competition winner but you still need to get above the PAT cut off on the day.

it seems arbitary

If it truly was arbitrary then the Oxford people who sieve must be a great deal less clever than one would hope. I reckon these guys know what they're doing.

You must be right, of course. It just can feel that way seeing incredibly able peers in the cohort being rejected.

@Lightsabre I assume it is for Physics at Oxford?

As @goodbyestranger says, for Physics, if you are at a selective independent or a high performing grammar, then pretty much the only criterion to get through to interview is doing well enough in the PAT to make the automatic interview cut-off point. To put this in perspective, last year less than 20% of all applicants were at or above this level.

DD thought this year’s PAT was easier than recent ones, so it is quite possible the marks were more bunched and that just a few careless errors could have been the difference between getting the required score or not.

As I’ve said previously, I do agree the process is not arbitrary. But there is still a substantial element of luck involved for the many applicants of similar level, some of whom will just perform better on the day (in the aptitude tests, and also when it comes to interviews).

Yes, I've seen that a number of times. Generally it means the applicant had a bad day taking the aptitude test. In most cases the really able ones have reapplied in Y14 and been successful. That's just extrapolating from one school over a decade or so.