Oxbridge 2025

[SnowFairy2000]

Let's start the journey here !!!

the very best of luck to her. She sounds extremely impressive. I can completely understand why you would feel narked given the context and how hard she must have worked. It doesn't detract from how brilliant she sounds though!

So the interview invite just came through (hurrah) but it seems to have come very late, as it references a pre-interview test that he hadn't been notified about and the date of which has already passed.

I don't blame you for being peeved @jowanga. All I'll say is amongst the medics I know Oxford isn't considered the best place to study, its course is very theoretical and old-fashioned compared to many others and doesn't confer any particular advantage as all med school places are so highly sought after.

@ontheturn Thank you for your kind words. It was more the pastoral support and financial support that Oxford could offer that was the main draw to applying but it always was a long shot ! Brilliant news re the interview that's karma for you ! A good turn and all that . Fingers crossed it converts to an offer 🤞

FFS - what are you going to do? Can the school make a complaint?

@periodiclabel I have heard that about Oxford and my child did look into the course structure and actually likes the look of the traditional method of teaching and the heavily weighted science research, but also would like some hands on patient contact before the 3rd year so probably for the best ! The financial support would have come in handy though !

Ok it's sorted.

He's got his invite.
phew!

Thank goodness!

Amazing, hooray @ontheturn

Fingers crossed for you now

They'll do brilliantly, she's obviously a fantastic applicant!

Thank you. It is what it is. As a PP said, if he goes to Cambridge he will be stuck in his room working and anxious that he’s not up to date on his work load. If he goes to another uni he will have a blast which is probably better for his character development.

Another old-timer here - just wanted to say solidarity to you all, the waiting is awful and the disappointment (if it comes) is horrible for parents even if the student is fine with it!

For what it’s worth, one of mine got an Oxford offer at the same time as being outright rejected by Bristol and Bath, which means that right now in Bristol and Bath there are a couple of hundred students who were judged by academics to be better applicants than my son was, possibly at the same time that Oxford decided he was a better applicant for them. All of them will all have been predicted a clean sweep of A stars at A Level and they’ll all be in the running for strong degree performances. None of which, tbh, would have consoled me much at the time if he hadn’t got an offer - but true nevertheless.

There is definitely something in this. I have no skin in the game as my DC1 is not applying for Oxbridge, but I know friends' kids who are and when looking at our selective, high performing independent school, there are every year a dozen or so applicants with straight 9s and 4 x A*s who don't get an offer or often not even an interview, despite competing in national maths/computing etc exams and scoring very highly.

I just had a look and the ones from more recent memory who did make it (on competitive areas e.g. computing, engineering) all had the following in common:

4-5 x A stars (for single science e.g. Chemistry I think some had Astar Astar AA - contextual/ethnicity)
11-12 x 9s
Top 15-20 nationally in certain competitions (e.g. maths Olympiads etc), taking part and reaching final stages of global engineering competitions.
Most would have probably been top scoring (top 180 or similar) in regional/country grammar exams.
Many were 'Head Boy/Girl' and academic + something else (e.g. Music, Sports, Drama) scholar

All I'd say would be extremely hard workers with not much of a social or extracurricular (i.e. not referring to supra curricular) life.

Saying that, I do think if you're from a comprehensive, the grades required would (understandably) not necessarily be as above but lower / contextual.

I think the competition is fierce out there currently and I do feel that there must be some real brilliant minds that just won't get selected as the bar is so high and the work you need to put in is relentless. I do hope that admissions professors somehow look at 'potential' too as if you work to a very high level academically, how much room is there to grow - some of these kids working all hours must absolutely have hit their ceiling of potential? However, this must be very difficult to assess even with interviews now - entrance tests help - as there is so much information and courses you can attend to get interview help.

I guess many unis, and Oxford more than Cambridge, place emphasis on 'achieved' grades (which for most are GCSEs) as predictions are generally so inaccurate. I think around 80% (if not higher) of UCAS predictions nationally are inaccurate, and usually upwards!

Oxbridge won't be right for everyone. There is something to be said about enjoying your university life, growing as a person socially without that intense pressure which would allow this to happen and for the student to easily fit in extracurricular stuff, work and socialising. Of course, there are some students out there (I guess the top 1%) with exceptional minds and memories who can combine both but, for most, I think Oxbridge is a place where you just have to work extremely intensely and putting in long, long hours (short terms, mind!).

My DC attended a specialist school where the focus was not on academic brilliance but on what they were specialising in. I hardly saw my DC studying during his time there even in his GCSE year. That means...while he did very well for someone in the environment, it was not all 9 x 2 digits number of subjects as you see often on this kind of thread.

The school didn't offer the subject he wanted to do for A level so he moved to a local 6th form. Now he is doing 3 A-level subjects (not 4) and got all A-star predictions. I know he is doing extremely well as a late starter but we were aware that his background was a bit unique and might not be the usual Oxbridge standard. But yesterday he received an invitation to an interview.

It's not an offer yet so it's not like we are dancing around but thought someone might find it useful, especially those whose DC's GCSE results are not straight 9s, 4 x A star etc.

Absolutely, and as mentioned above, my example certainly was from the independent sector and offers for state / comps often lower (for obvious reasons).

Good luck to your DC! :)

Btw did your DC have to sit an entrance exam?

Just out of interest, how many kids apply from your schools each year? Just thinking about @lbwagain comments about a dozen straight A* students being turned away.

At my DD's state school I think 6 have applied to Oxford and 2 to Cambridge. They usually don't get anyone into Oxford, but got 1 last year for the first time since anyone can remember. They seem to have slightly better odds for Cambridge. Most applicants are not predicted straight A*s and don't have perfect GCSEs.

Just flagging, as has also been flagged to me, that thatllbethrday posts about Oxford / Oxbridge admissions under different names, sometimes in the same thread.

Can you report these please @ontheturn - and are you able to suggest the other names (even clues) so that we know what info to take in good faith or not.

I don't find their information inaccurate. Just relentless!

As for admissions, my son's friend has a Cambridge humanities interview with GCSEs including four 5s - balanced out by four 9s in their favoured subjects. I guess it's harder to quantify and evaluate critical and creative thinking through standard exams and I respect the college for recognising this in their admissions process.

Cambridge make a bigger deal out of the "holistic" view it seems, and GCSEs matter less and entrance tests/personal statements more. At least until interview, where the interview becomes the most important thing (with many more being interviewed too).

I was amazed to see that for Oxford medicine they blankly weight GCSEs at 50% and UCAT at 50% and shortlist from that and nothing else.

@tortoise18 Cambridge would have been a safer option in hindsight for my child but that's life !

@ColouringPencils Good interesting question.
It's 3 Oxbridge applicants that I know personally at our school (DC included) but both the others joined from elsewhere in 6th form.
There'll be a few others across other disciplines but absolute maximum of ten Oxbridge applicants per Y13 I'd say.
And no, no way do they all have all-stellar GCSEs!
Less sure about A level predictions. DC & friends all maxed out there. 🤷🏻‍♀️ But they are all STEM candidates.
It's a small/average-sized good inner London non-selective comprehensive. 6th form is academically selective - A levels only - but not exceptionally so.
They get one or two in to Oxbridge most years I believe, sometimes onto the Foundation year. One exceptional year a few years back I believe they had 6 offers!
So we know it's a v long shot, and though rejection always hurts, will be happy I believe with alternatives.

@@lbwagain
No, no entrance exam. This was why I expected GCSEs would weigh a lot for the selection.