Zoom call with Cambridge admissions?

[Biscoffisthebest]

Is this a common thing? My DD’s school went for a look round one of the colleges last week (dd didn’t go as didn’t sign up in time) - one of her teachers chatted to someone in admissions about dd, and one of the admissions team gave their details for dd to contact them for a zoom chat about applying.

Is this normal practice? I hadn’t heard of that level of help before, it’s great they are that keen to help but I wondered if this was the norm or (probably wishful thinking) they are particularly keen to recruit her… She is very good at her (not massively popular) subject so guessing that helps…

Colleges are remarkably helpful & they all have outreach programmes. It's a quiet time of year, so they probably have some spare time. Everyone applying will be very good at their chosen subjects. Don't overthink it! There will also be lots of help on the website if she decides to apply.

Thank you, that’s kind of what I thought. Yes the websites are really helpful, much more so than some of the other unis (St Andrews, looking at you!) - I just wasn’t expecting this level of help for someone who hasn’t even been on an open day or anything. Thank you 🙏

Which year is she in?

Cambridge have HE+ which my DD was part of. https://myheplus.com/. Applications have closed for year 12s for this summer, but Oxford's UNIQ programme is also great. Definitely try to go to the open days for both universities. They have very different vibes.

She’s year 12 - didn’t think she was going to get the grades initially so hadn’t considered it, so feel a bit behind. Thank you, I’ll look at those. Booked an Oxford open day for her subject in May to compare and contrast! I think she’s keener on Cambridge as further away from home as looking to branch a bit further out.