Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 4

[Lightsabre]

New thread as our dc start the rollercoaster ride of interviews.

I agree @WombatChocolate, it seems an odd process that all of the colleges deal with history applicants differently. Out of interest how many were on your DS's panel?

I hope your DS starts to feel a bit better about it, my DS seems to be much more philosophical about it now than last night.

The typical requirement of STEP is 1,1 for Cambridge maths. Each year about 3000 will get these grades. So it is not only the STEP to stop the offer holders from converting but also A-level results. Cambridge does ask higher A-level results (2A stars A) than Oxford (A* AA)

@WombatChocolate is your DS doing a history application at O or C? If it helps, mine (History at O) said nothing was asked about the PS but the interviewer was an expert in the subject matter of the submitted work. The next interview is the source one. There will be therefore no personal questions asked - purely interviews based on knowledge of the subject matter which is fair enough i guess!

There were 4. All the Qs were about the document shown during the interview. I don’t quite understand how they would give a mark for all of the categories they assess on, without asking some Qs related to topics they have on PS or submitted written work.
I wonder if they ran out of time, or DS needed lots of prompting which took up time and mean three just didn’t move into the other aspects. Or it could be that they don’t ask any of their candidates about PS/essay topic and issues those could springboard into. I guess on one level, they are competing against the other applicants for that college, so if they are all tested in a similar way, it’s fair. However, given some colleges have better/worse applicants than others and so send/receive applicants to/from other colleges, if you’ve only had such a narrow interview and applicants from other colleges had something quite different which gave them better/more opportunities, it doesn’t seem quite a level interviewing process.

I guess the HAT is really good. They all did the paper and it’s marked according to a standard mark scheme. There will will still differences if interpretation, but as an exam, it feels pretty fair. But I’m feeling the interviews might not be and especially if you only get one, those who get asked about written work and a source have 2 opportunities to show knowledge, but anyone who only gets asked about either/or the written work or source, really only gets one opportunity.

Oh well. I suppose I don’t have a problem with DS saying it was really hard or not doing well, but I find it difficult if he wasn’t given the same kind of opportunity that other candidates were given. But then of course, we don’t really know how he did and as people say, people are often pleasantly or u pleasantly surprised and couldn’t accurately judges it. But I suppose it’s not that that I feel uncomfortable about but a possibly very uneven and unequal process, which makes me question how properly valid comparisons between candidates can be made.

It’s O. But my understanding is most applicants only have 1 interview for History now they are online. This was the case last year - maybe 10% had a 2nd interview. Fine if written work/PS and source covered in that one interview, but what about if there’s just 1 interview and this very narrow coverage in it?

So dd has another interview tomorrow making that 3 this week. What does that mean? That her first choice might be over subscribed? This is Oxford btw. Or is that entirely normal?

Which subject Newgirls?

My DC didn’t feel that the HAT went particularly well so that could be a factor for 2 interviews or it could be that this is the process of the college applied to. I guess we’ll never know if one or two interviews is better or worse for their chances at this point, but it could be that the more niche the subject matter of the submitted work the more likely that a second interviewer is required to test the knowledge?

Trying not to read too much into it all really……!

Newgirls is the third interview at the same college or a different one? Was she notified about it this afternoon? Sometimes an applicant can be called at short notice for an additional interview at their first college if the tutors aren't quite sure. If it's at a different college then the most likely thing is that your DD hasn't made the cut at the first college but is thought to be good enough for Oxford so another college wants to consider her.

Subject is a bit niche so worried about revealing too much. Not maths!

Thank you. It’s at a different college. So in total will have been interviewed by tutors from 3 colleges. Was notified about them all at start of last week.

RIPMatthewperry it's extremely unlikely that a college would give candidates for the same subject different numbers of interviews. The exception is where they're not sure. Between colleges it varies but not within the same college.

DS had his third interview today (PPE). He was happy with two (enjoyed them even) and felt the one on the least familiar topic was the worst (though he seems less down about this than he was yesterday).

He wasn't asked anything about his PS - in all cases he was shown material on screen and asked about it.

I'm glad it's all over - and am ever so proud he's got this far through. As many others have said there are far many more students with the potential to go than places - and as there is no perfect way of selecting them, there is a large element of chance involved.

Good luck everyone whose DD/DS are still to be interviewed.

Ah it must be one of the subjects where interviews at two colleges is standard.

Oh just seen three interviews across three colleges. That sounds as though one of them is a standardisation interview.

@WombatChocolate DD has had two interviews so far, one to go; no one has asked about submitted work (she had to submit quite a few things) nor her PS. But she wasn’t expecting them to as those are marked differently I believe - it is said in the guidance they can come up in interview, it is equally usual that they wont?

@mummylife123 i can’t remember if your DD has applied to Oxford or Cambridge. My DD has applied to Oxford for History and Spanish and had her Spanish interview yesterday. She was surprised by there not being any Spanish conversation at all although she did do some grammar I think.

A friend of hers has had a first interview at Cambridge for French and another language and her interview started in French. I imagine different colleges in both universities do things differently so who can tell.

DS feels ok about his interview. He said it was stressful and enjoyable at the same time 😂

Thank you. That’s helpful. And maybe this is the case here. I think though you are maybe a different subject and your DC is having 203 interviews, not just 1. For History, everything I’ve seen and read on the website etc indicates some questions will arise from something in the PS or written work submitted - it might be loosely linked or those previously submitted things just be a springboard to further Q. I think there is something g about making connections between what you know to other concepts/being challenged
/flexible in your thinking about an area you already know something about/applying across to other topics.

Anyway, whatever is the case, it’s what has happened and I do t really think there’s anything to be done. I really hope DS gets called for another interview. I think 2 is definitely better than one, especially if the interviews might be extremely narrow. But I suspect he won’t get a second interview. Most don’t.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and support. I’m sure DS won’t the only one who comes away feeling a bit deflated, not just by not feeling he did put do well, but feeling the opportunity he had in interview was quite different to what others being interviewed in that subject had. But then it starts to sound like sour grapes doesn’t it. We will see if he gets another interview and move on. It’s what we all have to do isn’t it…accept it all and accept the process ist always entirely transparent …and we know that when we go into it.

DS had a French interview at lunchtime which went well and he wasn’t too thrown by anything. He had two sources one in French and one in English but I am not allowed to ask too many questions so I am not sure how much French speaking was involved.

He had a Philosophy interview earlier this pm, 45 mins of tricky and challenging disputation of his every utterance while he struggled to get across the point he was trying to make. He found it very tough and felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights but actually positive, though he isn’t sure he performed very well at all. Still, barring any other calls for interview that’s it, he’ll just have to see!

Now he’s got to go to work until midnight and he’s shattered!

It is heartening to hear the tales of those who thought they'd done badly but got an offer.

@WombatChocolate, sorry to hear your ds was a little deflated too (and others). I still feel so disappointed for ds today whereas he seems to have moved on which is good. I wonder if they only explore the unseen History source to try to level the playing field?

I wonder if they only explore the unseen History source to try to level the playing field?

It's exactly for this reason.

Although different colleges have different approaches.

Thanks. But how is that the case when other students for the same subject were asked about their essay or topics mentioned in their PS? Is that then a levelled playing field?

I totally get the thing about the source being unseen and chosen to be something no-one is likely to know about and then their ability to think and respond to prompts etc can be seen. I can see that makes it fair for all and those who’ve had help with their essay or PS or interview prep have less advantage. Fair enough if everyone was just asked about the source. But why isn’t that the case? Why do the interview assessment criteria refer to showing good knowledge if the topics they have submitted on?

Sorry, I think my issue is taking up too much space on this thread.

I’m pleased to see many have come out feeling the interview went well, or they found it stimulating, or even that it was very hard and they think they did poorly…if they feel they were interviewed and given similar opportunities to other candidates. I’m glad to see few people raising what I am. But I’m not sure there’s an answer to it really. I suspect we will never know and of course we won’t know how DS would have done if he had been in one of the other interviews which covered not just the source, but the other aspects too.

Thanks for all your attempts to help and explain it. And I hope all the students who had their interviews in the last couple of days can move forward and those for whom it’s in the next few days, are feeling okay. For what it’s worth, DS has a small sense of ‘it’s odd that others being interviewed for the same subject seem to have been asked Qs arising from their written work/PS and I only had Qs on the one source I was shown’ but he isn’t dwelling on it and is fairly relaxed about it all and is just pleased to have got to this stage. I think students go with the flow more and actually are used to all kinds of things in education not being quite within their control or entirely fair and go with it. It’s probably me who feels a sense of it not being quite right more. That’s my sense of wanting to defend my DS and protect him and fight for him….but of course this is all about him and him forging his way and I have to let go when things don’t feel quite right.

She is Oxford too. Thank you so much! This is very helpful