Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 4

[Lightsabre]

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

I can hear voices so they seem to be up and running.
An Openreach van turning up would freak me right out at this point!

Good luck to everyone today. Hope the wifi behaves @stoneysongs!

This is why I’m kind of glad that DD’s interview is in person. Driving for 2 hours each way still seems less stressful than troubleshooting failing tech!

I was just musing to dh last night about whether ds would have done better in person rather than online. He was certainly flustered by the tech issues but I don't think it would have made any difference to the content of the interview if you see what I mean )although it didn't help either).

Ha @Revengeofthepangolins I have two Maine Coons! The male is a giant and such a cuddly bear - pretty much a homebody and very curious about everything. Sheds like mad. Our female more aloof but as sweet as anything, and not so big. I recommend 🥰!

Yesterday we did a trial run - she's decided my office and Mac more reliable than her (relatively) ancient laptop (an upgrade will be her 'going away to uni' present) which meant I had to tidy it so nothing appeared on camera. Even the printer had to be moved out of sight - and it's a tiny room just 6ft wide. Then I 'interviewed' her from the kitchen to test it out. She talks with her hands which she said you couldn't see when using her laptop but can now and it does 'animate' what she's saying, making her seem more engaging iyswim.
I don't think any other interview in her life will carry as much weight as this. She is aware that there's a slim chance of an offer, is fully prepared in her head that she will be going to either Durham or Bath, but still...but still!
Very best of luck to others. Life resumes after it's over!

Hmm, not sure that was the best experience, she's not saying much 😬
Hey ho, one down, one to go. Hope everyone is having productive days!

My DD just finished her 1st interview and the first words she text me 'I LOVED IT' lol she has her 2nd one at lunch so not sure if she'll have the same reaction lol.

Aww @catmomof3 that’s great. Mine has the first after lunch at school. It’s taking all my strength not to text 😂

DD has now managed to string three words together - "really, really bad". Job now is to bounce back for tomorrow, which is with the college she actually wants to go to 😬

Glad to hear your dd had a great experience @catmomof3 but sorry to hear about yours @stoneysongs. It is deflating when things haven't gone as well as hoped. All we can do is keep their spirits up and hope for a better experience on the next one. So much of it is down to luck re; the topic at this stage.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better now that she knows what to expect. She seems to have recovered and is actually pretty tough - she won't want to go down without a fight 🙂

In my DS subject only some colleges have more than one interview so he doesn't get a chance to make up for his bad interview yesterday.

I do think that that's a bit unlucky/ unfair but I guess that's life.

lifeturnsonadime only one interview is very unusual for History. So they did the source thing within that same interview as asking about his written work? How long was the interview overall, do you know?

Ds (C) had his mock interview yesterday which he said highlighted how difficult it was to get the right words out so its given him something to think about. His interview isn't till next week but collage has only offered the one practice session. I'm feeling deflated about it all since other DS (O) didn't get offered an interview. I guess its just to luck of the draw, we knew that O offers less interviews due to the early admission test (which was a shambles!) but it still feels unfair when you have two DC's that are intellectually identical and have a natural talent for their subject.

goodbyestranger yes source and written work in the same interview. From the little he has told me the source was fine it was the written work, the first question they asked was on a tangent he hadn't gone down and he was flummoxed and I'm not sure how much he came back from that as he's not really wanting to talk about it. He also had 4 interviewers which is full on for anyone but probably more so for someone like my DS. I just feel for him, he really has put himself out there by applying with his back story and for him to come out of it feeling he hasn't had the chance to demonstrate is a shame.

He is also someone who would have benefitted from face to face as the technologies do not suit his needs very well.

But it is what it is, we are immensely proud that he has got this far.

Perhaps in a few days he will be able to explain in more detail how it went, but then i wonder if it is a good idea to try to analyse it!

Sorry for those who thought it went badly. If it's any reassurance, my DD had three interviews for O, the second one went so badly she cried all evening. And to be fair, it did sound pretty bad, she misunderstood something easy and they spent the rest of the interview trying to point it out but she didn't listen. She picked herself up by the next morning though, got ready for her third interview which went better. She got an offer and is now in her second year. So it genuinely is hard to tell how they've done.

For my DS, his interview is tomorrow, and he's only got one (45min), which I think is harder, no chance to do better next time. I'm so nervous for him today, I keep thinking I feel stressed and forgetting why, then remembering! He's definitely feeling the pressure, especially with a sibling who was already successful, but he's prepped hard for it, so has done his best. Just looking forward to it being tomorrow evening and all done.

Good luck all those still to go today.

Goodbyestranger I think it was 30 mins plus the reading time for the source.

Does anyone know if the interview questions are the same or not for the different interviewers of a college for the maths subject?

A panel of four is heavy lifeturnsonadime but that makes more sense with only one interview. My History DC all had two, but with two tutors. They seem to put more weight on the source part of the interview since it's the most level part of the playing field bit of the interview. Your DS may also have smashed the HAT.

It's rubbish if they come out feeling as your DS does but I would never ever predict the outcome of an Oxbridge interview from the student's own analysis afterwards, good or bad. I've had a very upset one who thought she'd completely screwed up, didn't get pooled so thought that's it - then got into her college of choice. My Medicine DC came out of one of his interviews saying he told the tutor he literally didn't have a clue what the tutor was talking about and the tutor just kept saying keep going followed by I can't, I haven't got a clue etc etc. He also got into his college of choice. I think it's fair to say they often (always?) ramp up the difficulty of questions with the more able students, so they can therefore be the ones who think they've crashed and burned.

All the best to him.

A panel of 4 does sound like heavy going @lifeturnsonadime. Due to his background, I think they'll give his application special consideration though. I've been told they look for positive scoring. Also, I guess, with those subjects that test, the test results and the rest of the application are also taken into account when making decisions.

I really feel there's a massive element of luck in the interview process. Lucky if you come from a supportive school or have resources to support like paying for mock interviews. Lucky if you have a family background of Oxbridge which means you're more familiar with the process, or if the topics you know well and can fly with come up at that particular college on that particular day for some or all of your interviews.

Interviews done (for PPE). Now just a waiting game.... Well done to all the kids interviewing this week, it is all very intense for them.

all done here. I listened in a bit and the questions were very advanced to my mind. Dd said that very little on personal statement and right into technical questions. The interviewers were nice tho.

Sorry to hear your DC’s aren’t feeling confident @lifeturnsonadime and @stoneysongs but you never know!

DD only has one interview for English at Cambridge. She has 2 interviewers and they gave the names in the email. I’m not sure she could cope with multiple interviews. I know it means you only get one stab at it but I think she will just want to put it behind her, however well she does. She does have a tendency to catastrophise too so she won’t be especially reliable at gauging how well it went!

Thanks for all of the supportive messages. I've just had a long chat with DS in the car (we were in a traffic jam which was usefully timed). He says he feels even if he got full marks from the HAT they wouldn't take him, when I queried him it seems that they were trying to challenge him and that he was talking (just not as coherently or with the confidence he would have wanted) so perhaps not as bad as he thinks, who knows? At least he won't be shocked or disappointed on decision day which is good! He doesn't regret applying as he thinks there are advantages to early application and he is talking very positively about his plan B.

So all well, he can just concentrate on mocks now!

Am I right in thinking they bring the interview scores together and average rather than taking the highest? Or is it not that clear?

My DD got asked nothing on her PS nor written work either. Maybe that will be part of her 2nd interview. Hoping she comes away from this one positive as well. She said even if she doesn't get in she's really enjoyed the experience (will see if that's her stance later lol)