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[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 don’t think I’d encourage DD to ask for feedback (having had her MLAT (very good) and HAT (below average for an interview) scores back she seems to feel she was lucky to get an interview! But will leave it up to her.

have discovered Bristol and Belfast offer holders days clash so she’s going to do the Bristol one once they send her an invitation.

@Lightsabre my DS has interviewed at Imperial for chemistry and it was a much different experience.

I’ve name changed loads but have been around the threads for a bit.

Imperial asked about his statement and took him through some problems he could solve. It wasn’t the “let us see how well you cope in the intellectual abyss” vibe that Oxford uses. It was a good experience.

He found his first Oxford interview difficult, the second was positive, and the third was a disaster. Imperial has pretentious, but they are more straightforward and mathematical 🤣

Thanks @catmomof3 and @ScribeSev .

@Waitingfortulips

DS is Maths so I have no idea if he's expected to interview or not for Imperial

I know he'll be really disappointed if he doesn't get an offer from Imperial but I will be ecstatic because i don't want him to go there

All I'm hearing is that it's cold, toxic,impersonal with rubbish halls, too much work thrown at them and no social life set up there

I hope someone can tell me this is not the case

Thank you for that feedback @Waitingfortulips, really hoping it will be enjoyable, well, as enjoyable as an interview can get! Did your ds get an Ox or Imp offer?

There was a separate thread about studying at Imperial recently which sounded mostly positive. We have a friend with a son there studying an engineering course and he loves it.

@ScribeSev

My DC1 is 2nd year at Imperial and it is amazing. There is so much opportunity. The work is hard but he finds it manageable.

He has friends on his course, has a society he likes, and lives with friends from home at UCL. His first year halls in Acton were clean and safe, if somewhat lacking in charm.

We weren’t that positive on Imperial before the offer holder open day but it was so impressive. There is simply lots of money there and they are generous with undergrads. The budget he gets for course projects is more than most academics see in a year at other UK universities.

@Lightsabre DC did not get an Oxford offer. He is fine - his school has sent no one to Oxford in recent memory so expectations were low.

Imperial said offers will come in March after the equal consideration deadline - so we wait.

DS did not get through to interview at Cambridge - Engineering. Bit disheartened, but he's now got offers from all his others. Unconditional for Edinburgh, Glasgow, Strathclyde (we are in Scotland), 3A at Advanced Higher for Durham. Going to have a look at the Durham offer holder day, but currently most likely to choose Edinburgh.

Not having to do Cambridge runs will make my life easier 😂

thanks for the thread @MirandaWest. I started the Oxbridge 5 thread so now I can’t escape it 😁!

My DS seems relieved and a lot less deflated than I [quietly] am. He was advised by his school last year to go for MFL but decided quite rightly to pursue what he really wanted to do (French and Philosophy). He applied with grades in hand 4xA* and 99% in his French A Level, lots of super-curricular etc etc (as many others will have had) so was hopeful that he was in with a decent chance but it was not to be.

There doesn’t seem much point in asking for feedback as he wants to move on and it’s unlikely to provide any information applicable elsewhere or make clear “what went wrong”. I guess it’s different if someone will be applying next year. Anyway, that’s up to him.

Only spanner in the works is that his two favourite choices (Edinburgh and Bristol) have not yet made an offer and I gather that if they do it could be late in the day. He has two unconditional offers already but is feeling it’s all a bit up in the air.

My DD only asked for feedback because she's curious, she won't apply for next year but will try for her masters. But she has moved on, she thinks it has been a blessing in disguise.

I said on the other thread my dd was here 2 years ago and with the added pain of an older sibling at C already that made things very tough for a short while. We had all the confusion a lot of people are experiencing here as dd had higher than average test (and we later found interview scores) and some ppl at her school with lower scores who’d applied to other colleges were successful. A lot of what ifs.

She was pooled and feedback encouraged her to reapply but she was adamant she would not. I have to say that although I initially thought she should, as the year passed the idea of doing ANOTHER PS, then entrance test, interview and waiting again for the results, pl us all the other offers to come in seemed really unappealing, and the idea of two rejections was just horrible, especially as she had an offer from a uni she really liked.

She went to Edinburgh. Now in y2 - very happy. Last year a handful of her friends reapplied and I don’t feel even the slightest pang of sadness for dd when I heard about the lucky ones who got offers (others were unlucky) because she was so obviously happy where she was. Dd could not have cared less and was happy for her friends.

Oxbridge is an imperfect process and there are no guarantees, even for the very best of the best. I think it’s like a video game - one answer that one interviewer doesn’t like and it can be game over, despite all the candidate’s very obvious credentials. The idea that these academics have super powers in ultimately selecting the “right” candidates is nonsense; this is to take nothing away from successful applicants.

If anyone has any questions re Edinburgh please DM me. They do tend to offer late and that is frustrating but dd loves it there. Interestingly all her dc at other unis seem much happier than the Oxbridge lot - including my older dc whose time at Cambridge was fairly meh.

Hi guys! I was a bit absent on the Oxbridge thread towards the end as life got the better of us 😂 But I was previously mummylife123 if anybody remembers. Dd was rejected post interview for Spanish. She felt her interviews went well, but hey ho, she really isn't too bothered and was starting to mention towards the "big day" that she was a bit nervous that Oxford wasn't for her. I think the reality of the high workload/little time for partying/inability to have a part time job was making her wonder. So I think it's for the best really! She has two other offers: Bath (a favourite) and Aberdeen (will likely be an insurance). But what she really wants is St Andrews, however we will likely be waiting ages. Also waiting on Edinburgh although I don't think she's particularly keen. Best of luck to our fantastic young people in all their future endeavours

DD has asked for feedback but mostly because school want it (almost no offers and some v unexpected rejections ); wont go again i think. Lots she has realised she could have done differently but hindsight is a wonderful thing! V. Keen for Bristol to send out offer day invites though @MirandaWest !

My DD is debating whether or not to ask for feedback- she isn't planning on reapplying, but thinks it might just be useful to know anyway? What are your DC doing about it? :)

That's interesting because my DS did not have the passage before the assessment, they were presented the passage during the assessment.

The recording, although frowned upon, could happen as JCQ rules don't apply.

Hi all, my dc are much younger, but I used to teach in a Russell Group uni (teaching a lot of former Oxbridge applicants who didn’t get places at Oxbridge) and attended Oxbridge myself. Recently helped someone (recent Oxbridge grad) prep to do mock Oxbridge interviews for disadvantaged candidates.

My take is that it’s a bit like international sports championships. If you are up against 15 runners who are all wonderful someone has to come first. On the track the edge on the day in the first three places might be down to a mix of variables - training/diet/altitude preparedness depending on location/what trainers you are wearing etc etc. Whoever wins all are marvellous athletes just by virtue of being at that level.

Similarly, who gets through to Oxbridge will often be down to the individual interviewer’s perceptions of how questions are answered, originality/analytical level of content, fluency of expression etc etc. Obviously key variables will vary very much by subject. I taught some incredibly bright people who didn’t get places but who would have thrived at Oxbridge. But on one day at an Oxbridge college, based on not very objective criteria someone decided a very academically able peer was a preferable candidate.

I don’t personally think it’s worth asking for feedback. It’s so subjective and I would be surprised if they would reveal very much. I think it’s unlikely to help with further interview prep.

I now work in the City and our senior leadership team is full of graduates from all the top UK universities, not really with any leaning to Oxbridge.

@Umbilicate Good to hear your DD is loving Edinburgh. My DD really wants to go there, but is having to wait to see whether she gets an offer. They have said they are hoping to get offers out in March, but after submitting her UCAS application in October it does feel a long and torturous wait!

@Waitingfortulips

Thank you for that I really needed to hear about imperial from someone who is there now and enjoying all its benefits

@brawhen can you please update your thoughts on Durham when you go to the open day please. I don't think DS wants to trek up there. We are the complete opposite side of the country. But Durham does intrigue me with all the different views I've heard about it. Not entirely sure what to make of it tbh.

@Foxhasbigsocks so here's a question for you.

Looking at the people you work with how are your feelings towards those who have chosen Warwick, Durham or Imperial? Would you immediately think they're all much of a muchness and the same as each other or do people rate them secretly in their heads. Like oh Imperial or Warwick would have worked you hard for instance. Be honest here please

I have popped into the Durham thread but I can't find what I need from it

DD was pooled for C but didn’t get a place. She ended up in Durham after achieving 3A*. She is having the most fantastic time. Now in Yr2 and totally convinced this was the place she was meant to be. (She was devastated at the time).

Having done the open day I was Durham all the way. Felt very much like a community and she would be looked after.

Downside - having to find accommodation for the next year so early.
Upside - she is thriving and having the time of her life!

@Heatwavenotify that's lovely to hear thanks.

I have two kids currently at university and their friends are scattered all over the place at different universities. The one place that seems consistently fantastic is Edinburgh! Everyone is having a fab time there. It was one of my children’s insurance offer as they loved it. It is just a bit far from us!

@ScribeSev I’m going to be completely honest and so my answer may not reflect well on younger me! When I graduated I’m afraid that while I would definitely have said all top unis are much of a muchness, I think at some level I had a sense of subconscious superiority (totally misplaced) that I had gone to Oxbridge. I was quite surprised to find that when I started in my City job there were relatively few Oxbridge people in my cohort. I had stupidly expected Oxbridge would dominate. There were say 60 of us at the most junior level and only say 5 max were Oxbridge. Young me was really shocked to see that one was from a 1992 uni! In fact that person was very able indeed. By contrast, I can think of three Oxbridge graduates I have worked with who were unable to flex to apply their academic abilities to the real world.

Over time I have seen that university attended is not a good predictor of ability to use intelligence in the workplace. Of our most senior team people have degrees from a range of good universities.

I have oversight of a lot of graduate recruitment and I can honestly say that university on the form is nothing more than a tick in a box for me. Any good university and I think yep ok they went to Warwick, Nottingham, Leeds, Manchester, Durham, Imperial, LSE etc. I am much more interested in what they say in person.

I know in previous jobs I’ve had there was (of course) filtering that went on before I see CVSs/the candidates selected for interviews. So, for example, and I appreciate this is probably very unfair to individuals, you would I imagine be much less likely to be put through with a degree from say Greenwich rather than Reading. I would be surprised though if any university which was in existence pre 1992 would be treated any differently from any other in these processes.

@ScribeSev yes will give thoughts after Durham open day - it is in mid Feb. Durham as a city seems so small, I'd like to know what students do there other than be fully immersed in the uni.

For us, Edinburgh would be free and Durham would be fees (though 4 yrs instead of 5) - so it has quite a high bar to hit!

Thank you @Foxhasbigsocks and @brawhen

DD told me that DS is more upset than he's making out to the world