Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 4

[Lightsabre]

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

@Rzim loads of info here by college for classics in this FOI request. In 2023 (overall for all classics courses) Oxford interviewed 92% of applicants, and 43% of all applicants got offers (47% of those who got interviews). I'm sure there are other ones that are more specific by classics course if you do some sniffing around!

Classics admissions statistics by college - a Freedom of Information request to University of Oxford - WhatDoTheyKnow

Many thx super helpful x

Why on earth do people make FOI requests for this sort of thing? It's so ott.

I'm surprised Oxford fulfilled the FOI, as surely the data is publicly available here

public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-CollegeSuccessRates2022/CollegeSuccessRates?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHome=no

Hmm. I guess the public data leaves out college level interview stats

I guess they are either hyper prepared types or applicants/parents hurting badly and looking for explanations.

I think some of it is displacement activity.

I am an FOI-er - wanted to know, for example what the offer rates for standard applicants were for english at Durham since the overall figures aren't madly illuminating, with internationals and contextuals mixed in. I wanted to have a realistic sense of DS2's chances. Can't say the answer cheered me much, but that's the price of asking ! But I do think that displacement is part of my motivation.

I'm not clear how badgering for stats will help heal any hurt though. There's potential to make it worse. The website is incredibly well put together and answers pretty much everything any reasonable applicant needs to know. It's not mired in obfuscation.

I think the import/export bit of that table is the most interesting aspect. A good reminder that the process is complex and not really susceptible to outside prediction.

The Oxbridge data availability is amazing - they clearly try to be as open as possible. Amazing contrast to other universities.

The figures look quite bleak for a lot of subjects although Classics odds seem better (but I'm no mathematician). Glad that the results will be out soon at least.

Happy New Year to all, whatever it brings.

I like this bit: "Extreme caution is advised in attempting to draw conclusions about any given individual's chances of success based on this information." 😂

Lightsabre yes although the smaller number of applicants doesn't say anything about quality and therefore 'chances'. Classical languages are taught in a very small number of schools therefore the pool of potential applicants is far smaller. And the number of students with the ability to master a classical language from scratch in the first year is limited too, for obvious reasons (tall order). That said, I think the number of applicants for Classics II (ab initio) is approximately 8:1, so not far off the more obviously popular subjects.

Anyhow, basically all those interviewed are now broadly in with the same chances statistically.

Hope it goes well, esp for those who are particularly anxious to get in.

@goodbyestranger i guess (and I’m not trying to be contentious here) because there are still parents/students convinced that because they did/didn’t apply from a state school is the reason that an offer wasn’t made? There is still on some MN threads the notion that switching to state for 6th form is somehow advantageous (even though the student sat their GCSEs at an indie school) which to me, denigrates the achievement of any of these young people who have won a place. Oxbridge isn’t doing anything other than to try and win the brightest kids for themselves, state and indie alike. As another pp mentioned, it is not a dark arts system, they deploy, they obviously know what they are looking for, and resilience might be one factor, hence the interview types. It is only fair to assume that the methodology they use tries to be fair to all applicants regardless of the advantages/disadvantages they may have experienced thus far. I know of one family whose DC is undoubtedly very clever but who did not get shortlisted for an interview on one of the most competitive courses. However, when you look at their A level choices, it was highly unlikely they were ever suitable for the course applied for.

We’re a long shot here and probably more so after one of the interviews but just like the fact that you can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket, I’m proud they’ve given themselves a chance and got this far.

I’ve never submitted an FOI for anything but I can think of ALL sorts of reasons why people might want to – it doesn’t remotely follow it would be to compensate for disappointment.

I’m belatedly pitching in to counter the nonsense earlier on the thread that cathedral choristers are the only ones capable of properly contributing to a college choir. My DD is a choral scholar at an Oxford college, having gone from a state school. There are plenty of ways to have a rich musical experience and be qualified for these choirs. In my DD’s case, her school had a fabulous musical tradition, and she belonged to out-of-school choirs and orchestras for many years. Pupils at her school achieve choral and organ scholarships every year. But maybe, since they’re state school plebs, they’re contributing to the obvious decline in choral music at Oxford?

@Lightsabre My DD is a 2nd year Classicist at Oxford- 2022 entrant for 1A as she offered two classical languages at A level.
She had to move schools for A level as neither language was being offered at A level at the school she held a 100% Scholarship to attend to GCSE- Ancient Greek was taught as extra curricular.
At Sixth Form she was in a cohort of approx 170 where 3 took Ancient Greek and it was single figures for Latin.
I guess I’m saying that even where offered not many take up ancient languages as is the case for MFL.
At interview, as Goodbye has mentioned the ‘odds’ are roughly the same.
@Rzim good luck to your DC 🍀

@hunderground I love an FOI (not for Oxbridge or anything educational), but when you look at some of the FOI requests for both, there are cases which do look like someone who is trying to make sense of their original odds. I agree not everyone is though.

@hunderground agree - haven't done one ever either.

FOI info has been informative as one of the inputs for (a very analytical) DC making their UCAS choices (applying for economics). With odds of 1 in 20 for E&M, similar @ LSE, and now looking like 1 in 40 for EFDS at Imperial it was important for them to look at offer rates for a range of unis (from FOI requests or recent uni published info where available) when making UCAS choices. Given the odds DC has opted for two much 'safer' options (albeit one of those is still 1 in 3).

Insight can be gathered from lots of different places - FOI requests, family members at Oxbridge, previous school experiences, this chat etc etc. Nothing wrong with that.

Happy new year to you all! May all our young people be happy and successful regardless of university.

Thank you ProggyMat x

In the 2022/2023 admissions cycle, the % of people interviewed for Classics I was 97% of applicants with 42% of applicants receiving an offer - a ratio of 2.4 to 1 from applicants to offer. The % of people interviewed for Classics II (ab initio) was 98% of applicants with 31% of applicants receiving an offer - a ratio of 3.3 to 1 from applicants to offer.

Many thx super helpful x

Where do you get those statistics Scoobyblue? In the few years prior to 2020 (not sure about 2020) it was eight applicants to each offer for Classics II. I don't doubt that you're correct (it would indicate the access drive has taken off) just interested.

Obviously the ratio on your stats is also interview to offer - so the three: one ratio holds good.