Oxbridge 2025

[SnowFairy2000]

Let's start the journey here !!!

I didn't know you could submit different personal statements if you add optiosn later to the total of 5 on the UCAS - I'd like to hear more.

Also, I understand that if, e.g. you have applied to 4 courses you can add the 5th at any time until the Jan deadline.

However, on UCAS it says:

If you didn't use all five choices, you can add more choices one at a time from your application as long as it's before 30 June and you've not accepted any offers or been made unsuccessful by your choices.

What I don't fully understand is the '...or been made unsuccessful by your choices'.

To me that reads as if you can't add further options (to the max of 5) if one of the other 4 have rejected you. I did contact UCAS on the chat and they said that's not the case and that as long as you haven't accepted any offers you can add options.

Also, assuming that you can still apply the 'extra' if any of the 5 (if if 1-2 were added later) rejects you?

Anyone else able to shed light on the above queries?

Apologies, take the word of PP if the UCAS PS can be changed. Fairly recently one had to do what I suggested

Just checked the Ucas website and you cannot change your PS. It says you can contact unis directly if you want to explain a change of course.

Like @lbwagain I am confused by the wording on adding choices. I would have assumed you only get 5 choices and a rejection doesn't free up a space for another choice? But maybe it does for the later entries?
First child, so this is all new to me...

Is anyone else thinking of encouraging their DC to just get the whole application in in one go? I don't know if it is wise, but to me Year 13 is such a busy year anyway, and it would be very easy to keep going back and forth on the merits of similar-sounding courses.

No, to be clear I’m not sure that the UCAS PS can be changed - i’d love some input if anyone knows differently as that would be amazing if it could be. What I was talking about – and this is very specific to our situation – is some universities accept a supplementary PS. DC is trying to find out which those are and, if unsuccessful with Oxford and the other choice, could then contact them to apply for another subject with a different PS – i don’t think it’s worth all this hassle of them doing this right now when they already have a lot on, so am encouraging them to delay it.

My understanding was uou could add extra if somebody rejects you but it has to be before the January deadline. That means if you’re rejected by Oxford, you would have time to add one other to the list. After Jan I am not sure.

I’d also say, if there are doubts it’s worth not filling in the form all in one go – every year I see people whose kids have made these decisions in a rush (mine included) because of the early September deadline and then end up often with insurance offers (in particular) from universities they don’t really want to go to and that causes a lot of stress. Worth taking your time

@periodiclabel is the deadline not October rather than September?

I do know that you get only five choices total. Getting rejections doesn’t affect this

If you are rejected by all five, you can use UCAS Extra

https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/after-you-apply/types-undergraduate-offers/extra-choices

Sorry, yes, dc’s school make it September (thank God because dc writing a PS is agony)

I am pretty sure that if you have received rejections before the January UCAS deadline you can fill those ‘spaces” on your application. I know this because DC did this after being rejected by Oxford in early Jan, even though it was for somewhere they had never been and had no interest in going.

You only get 5 choices. If one rejects you it doesn't open a space to add more. You can only have another go if all 5 have rejected you. It's certainly not unheard of for stellar applicants who have (say) applied to Oxford or Cambridge, UCL, Durham and the like to find themselves only holding 1 or 2 offers and considering clearing to broaden their options again if neither of the offers appeals to them in the end.

Is the benefit of adding a course in Jan just to give you more time to decide really? My DS is having a real issue with the PS. He wants to apply for modern languages at Cambridge, and the language and management joint honours at Bath and elsewhere. He is really worried that including his reasons to do management will weaken his Cambridge application, but if he doesn't Bath etc will just reject him. I was hoping that the option of adding choice may help but it seems it won't!

He can add a supplementary statement for Cambridge, as they understand that PS's are for 4 other universities as well, which may require different things. I believe this is added, if the applicant wants to, after application.

@lbwagain the process you quoted was for UCAS Extra, which normally opens in February and as PP have said, can be used only when all five 'slots' have been used up and no offers currently held (either due to five rejections, or the applicant having turned down any offers received. In Extra, only one new application can be made at a time a d you have to ait for the outcome before adding another if its a No, or you turn an offer down.

If less than five 'slots' have been used, the remaining ones can be used to add new universities / courses at any time up to 30th June (and you have to have done this before you can use Extra). Any added before the January deadline for equal consideration will be treated in the same way as if they had been made earlier in the application process, but universities which won't fill places from on time applicants will offer to post-deadline ones.

@MarchingFrogs Thanks, I did get reassurance from UCAS via their chat function but it's still unclear on their website (see below).

The quote I had shared earlier up this thread was from the section if you hadn't used up your 5 choices.

But in fact if you had only put 3 down, you could put another 2 options down in one go and as long as before the January deadline, will be treated the same as if you had applied in Oct/Nov e.g.?

Adding more choices
Extra is a free service – available for you to apply to one course at a time between 26 February and 4 July 2025.

If you didn't use all five choices
you can add more choices one at a time from your application as long as it's before 30 June and you've not accepted any offers or been made unsuccessful by your choices.
If you accepted an offer and are made unsuccessful by the uni or college before 30 June, if you have not used all five choices, you can contact our Customer Experience Centre to add more.

If you've used all five choices
you may be able to use Extra if:
you've received decisions from all five universities or colleges
you weren't accepted or you decided to decline all the offers you received

Anyone off to Cambridge open day on Fri? DS planning to apply grades in had for History. Is it best to consider the college choice as halls of residence ie personal pref rather than having any academic relevance ?

Hi, this was a few years ago, but I do know of two unis that let you amend your PS after you apply.

The first is Bath. This is because they recognise that a lot of their courses are less traditional or slightly different to other unis. So they can apply with the normal PS. Then, when their application is acknowledged, they phone Bath to say they would like to send in an updated PS for the specific Bath course. Admissions ping them a link and then they submit the new PS via that. @cupboardday this is what your DS will be able to do for the joint hons course at Bath.

The second uni is Durham. This is because they know so many applying for their courses are also applying to Oxbridge and therefore having to write a PS that is 100% academic in focus. Whereas, Durham do want to hear a bit about their extra curricular snd how they balanced this with academics - I think it's recommended to do something like 80 / 20 for Durham (academic v sport, music, hobbies, D of E or whatever). So, they can request to submit a Durham-specific PS after the original PS goes off. I guess they could also do the same for joint hons or slightly different courses too?

Those two unis definitely did this 3 years ago and there are probably others too.

Hi all,
DD has finally decided that she's going to apply to Oxford, so joining you for mutual support and advice.
Sixth form college internal application deadline for early applicants is approaching rapidly. How are your kids choosing which college to apply to? I know loads of people don't get their first choice and pretty much everyone loves where they end up, but still...

Has she been to look round? We live an hour away so my dd has been 3 times so looked around a few colleges - she chose one purely because she thinks it’s prettier! They nearly all do what she wants to study so it was just a case of choosing one she thought she’d like to live in the most. Like you said, it often gets changed anyway… I’m not sure it matters too much outside of checking there’s more than one or two of you doing your course there, as that might be a bit limiting (especially if you don’t really get on with them!)

Yes, we managed to get around seven or eight different colleges at the open day, which was definitely helpful in getting a feel for how they vary. DD is trying to be very ordered and logical/strategic about it, but I think your DD probably has the right idea and you just need to go on feel and not get too hung up on it. (I chose my college primarily on the basis that it didn't have a 'keep off the grass' sign on the front quad (you weren't actually allowed to walk on the grass, but I didn't find that out until later!))

hi, may I join? I’ve read through the thread - my dc is applying to C for economics (one of their most competitive courses 😫). Anyone’s dc booked in for the TMUA exam next month? My dc is dyslexic so they get 25% extra time however they weren’t able to choose the slot! It’s at 8am! 😬

Also dc seems to think they’ll be less nervous with an online interview… anyone know which colleges tend to still only offer online? Tia

Most are online for C - just a very few are F2F - you can check per college on their website....well thats for History - might be different for different subjects?

Things you might want to consider for college choice:

• obviously and most importantly does the college do the course you want
• does the college provide accommodation for all three years - some students have to live in private rentals for one or more years
• college location - do you want busy and central, bit further out and quieter, near the sports centre, near the science park etc
• how many students are in the college cohort? Do you want a larger cohort or a smaller more intimate feel?
• things like college choir, college sports, societies etc - do they have what you want on site or nearby
• modern or old
• general feel for the students you meet at open days etc
• formal dinners, balls etc

and then remember that you might be reallocated before interview or after interview, and that generally people end up loving their college anyway!

Talking about accommodation, we visited York uni on Saturday and were surprised at how expensive and grim/unloved some of the student accommodation blocks were (although lovely grounds !). Definitely not as nice as my room at Liverpool uni back in the mid 80s. Otoh he had an overnight stay at St John’s (C) as part of a school visit earlier in the year and was gobsmacked at the difference in quality. One of his friends was allocated a room with some kind of duplex arrangement and pretty roomy, unfortunately his was like a box room in comparison !

That surprises me, as this is the room DD moved into today for her post grad @Thekatzenjammerkid. I wouldn't call it grim or unloved! Far nicer & bigger than one of the rooms she had at Oxford.