Redirected from Oxford and Cambridge 2024

[MirandaWest]

Thought I’d start this thread in case anyone else with a DC who didn’t get an offer from Oxford (or Cambridge in a couple of weeks time) wants to say anything - I feel a bit out of place in the Oxbridge thread now but could be good to have somewhere to talk about how they are and what their plans are now.

I think that it is possible that students may feel encouraged to apply if a parent went there but I don’t think other than that there is any advantage. DDs friend who got an offer is the first from her family to go to university. And my mum and dad met in a maths lecture at Cambridge and I got rejected from there.

I went to Oxford and met DH there. We have one DC there and one who has just got an offer. I agree that it demystifies the process but it also demystifies the place and their perception of their ability to cope with it which is just as important. There's a bit of "well if my parents managed to get a degree there, why wouldn't I" although they probably wouldn't admit that 😉

I am still a bit concerned about how DD will be when Cambridge offers come out depending on how others at school do. But we’ll face that when it comes

Last night my DD was looking up doing a Japanese course on top of her degree at Kings or UCL (if she gets an offer) which really got her excited as you can't do those type of things if you went to Oxford. She is 100% over being rejected, she said she's got better things to look forward to now while being busy preparing for her mocks and then the actual A-Level exams.

In all honesty I think she wanted to go Oxford based on the aesthetics on the place and because Oscar Wilde studied there, because before Leeds changed it's modules on a course she loved that would of been her firm over any other uni even Oxford.

I think the process has been very beneficial to my daughter and she's learnt a lot from it. And we all need to remember getting a place at Oxford doesn't make you any better than a student that has been rejected.

I agree @catmomof3 . There are far fewer places at Oxbridge than there are strong candidates and despite the best efforts of the clever admissions people, there is a big element of luck in who gets the offers once they get to interview stage. It is good to remember that they are only two universities. IMO my middle DC is my brightest and they didn't even apply to Oxbridge as they didn't like the course structure there. All your young people will flourish at other universities and be alongside other excellent students, some of whom will be just as clever, if not more so, than their Oxbridge contemporaries.

When we think of US Universities such as Harvard, Yale, MIT or Princeton we know they are perceived as supposedly excellent but if someone then went to Cornell or CalTech or wherever similar then I would perceive the students as being equally accomplished. There is no difference to my eyes anyway.

So I suppose we are giving too much emphasis on Oxbridge because they've created this mystique when in fact of course they are just a university who just happen to be old, wear very old fashioned gowns to give that air of traditional superiority. It's just clothes really. Emperors clothes perhaps.

Let's not forget this is a thread for parents of DC who did not get into Oxbridge so i wish that PP would stop popping on re their DC who did get in as there are other threads for you.

I'm intrigued by the Cambridge offers because they over offer then manipulate the % boundaries to whatever they want to then decide who gets a place after A Levej results day

So I believe lots of students will be very disappointed and heartbroken to have firmed their offer then not get a place after all

Do students automatically get their insurance place so long as their A Level results are ok

Equally there will be plenty of students with Oxfird offers who don't get the required A Levels so that's going to hurt

Can you explain how this works?
So they don't give an offer based on achieving say 3 x Astar?

My son was rejected from O pre interview and my other son is waiting for the C outcome. Even if he gets an offer there's no guarantee he'll secure a place. The A'level results shouldn't be a problem but sitting an additional exam alongside his A'levels will be the hard part. He's not settling his heart on C and is happy to go to one of his other choices if he doesn't get an offer or a high enough score in the step paper.

Yes I know a lovely student who didn’t get their a level grade so missed an Oxford place by one grade. That’s hard as by then there has been a lot of build up to it. But I guess not that many really as these are mostly students who are very good at exams

@ScribeSev - I don't understand what you mean.

Cambridge typically make challenging offers to candidates.The grade boundaries are set by the individual exam boards. The two are completely independent of each other.

I think @ScribeSev must be talking about offers which include STEP exams, where grade boundaries are set so that the number of successful applicants matches the number of places available.

Do students automatically get their insurance place so long as their A Level results are ok

@ScribeSev Yes, as long as their offer is conditional on just A level grades, if they get those grades then they're in.

Cambridge offers with STEP grades as well mean that some students will get the A
level grades but not the deciding STEP grades. Is the opposite of having entrance exams where at least you don’t get an offer in the first place and instead have more exams to take alongside A Levels.

Which courses require STEP? There aren't that many I think. Maths and Engineering? Anything else?

Way back in the day when I did the entrance you had to do STEP for languages. Is that not the case anymore?

Let's not forget this is a thread for parents of DC who did not get into Oxbridge so i wish that PP would stop popping on re their DC who did get in as there are other threads for you.

@ScribeSev that is quite rude. I was only trying to be supportive and if you read what I wrote it was certainly not that Oxbridge is the epicentre of the world, quite the contrary actually. I'll leave you to it though.

Yes it is rude. But also, weighing in with the idea that some conspiracy theories are even more incredible than others is not something which has to be restricted to parents of this year's disappointed applicants.

I don't see any parents of current students or offer holders posting merely to make that point.

Yes sorry for any confusion it's the Step I meant

DD just got her UCL English offer and she's thrilled. Her friend at UCL said they must of really liked her as they don't usually give offers for English this early and everyone he knows at UCL that does English had an interview and has friends that got rejected post interview.
This really made her feel so much better post Oxford rejection. I'm so happy for her, first time I've seen her properly smile in a week.

That’s great news @catmomof3 , congratulations! As I said up thread all it takes is not in offer from the uni they really want to turn everything around. DC3 is going to UCL if they get the grades so who knows maybe they will be friends? :)

Brilliant news @catmomof3 . My DS also had to make a decision between KCL and UCL and has decided to firm UCL.

Seems like a few of our DC @Umbilicate will be going there (assuming they get the grades!)

That’s great news @catmomof3 😊