Continuation of Oxbridge 2025

[BananasAllofIt]

I for one still have a kid waiting to hear about interviews. Thought I'd carry it over...

Thanks for setting this up. Just checking in.

Oh 😅 I thought it was just my DS. The tension is running high in Coldilocks Cottage.

And thanks for starting the new thread.

Just posting to offer some support. I went through the process with DC2 last year (and DC1 two years before that). I remember this period of waiting to hear about interviews being particularly hard.

DC2 applied for Physics at O. If it’s helpful to know, interview invite arrived on 30 November, first interview was exactly one week later.

O’s process of calculating contextualised GCSE scores is very opaque; it’s not at all clear how much weight is given to absolute versus relative cohort achievement. DD was at a high achieving private school and did not have perfect 9s, but did get through to interview.

Good luck to all those still waiting.

@Coldilocks How frequently are you / your kid checking their email inbox? I have gone a bit silly now, this week for some reason!

About every 90 mins - plus spam/junk/hidden folders 😬

DD applied to C for engineering. No response at all. No invitation. No rejection. Her classmates have all herd. The school tells her to assume rejection, if she doesn’t hear by the 29th.

Is just ghosting the DC what C do now?

Please can I join?
DS heard this evening that he has an interview for Cambridge. He did a cheer and a whoop!

Well done @ladybee2 DS!

Have they all applied to the same college? 🤔

As far as I've ever heard, applicants never get ghosted, they get told one way or another. Quite a few Cambridge college/subject combinations came through today, but also quite a few haven't come back yet, and invitations/rejections come at the same time.

I have a DD still waiting to hear from O here too. For a subject where they only interview 30% of applicants so we’re not holding out much hope, but it would still be nice to know either way. It’s been a long week ;-). Far too much refreshing and checking here too.

Waiting (im)patiently here too

@Coldilocks I feel a lot better now!
@ladybee2 congratulations - that's exciting!

Probably not helpful, but just to note the Michaelmas term at O finishes pretty late this year (7th Dec) whereas it was 1 Dec last year. I think many interviews are done the week after the end of term - so it is possible that interview invites could still be coming out well into next week.

🙏 Thank you. He's in good spirits this evening!

Thank you 🙏

@InvestedButNotOverinvested We have been told invitations to interview at Oxford can come any time between the middle of November and the end of the first week of December, as you say. Interviews for DD would be 16th or 19th Dec if they happen. But also we've been told you can hear as close as 24 hours prior to them taking place...so its anyone's guess.

Still waiting here too! DS applied for Geography - based on what I've seen I don't think offers for that course have gone out yet. Just wish we would know either way so we can move on!

I thought the other thread had gone quiet - here you are!

Thinking of everyone still waiting for news and hope it will be soon. For the courses with interviews wc 16th, I wonder if you won't hear until next week. Anyway, no news is still good news at least, but the waiting feels hard.

I have just been wondering what people do around their interviews now that they are online. In the old days you would have had the train journey/ overnight stay/ morning in college to get into the right frame of mind (and to unwind afterwards). Now, do they just leave a lesson for 30 mins and go back to it when the interview is over? Or will your DC be taking the day off and logging on from home? In a way I like that it takes a bit of the hype out of it, as that can make you nervous, but I would still want to get in a good headspace before the interview, and afterwards would want to go for a walk or something, not go straight back to A level class.

Still waiting for O here.

@ColouringPencils I think it largely comes down to personal preference. DD’s school were quite flexible last year. Some stayed home for the day, some came in and did the interview at school. We live minutes away from the school, and DD decided it would be better to be at school and distracted than sitting at home getting anxious, so she just came home a little before the interview, and went back to school once she was ready to do so afterwards. For her subject there was some IT to get to grips with too, as she had to be logged on to a whiteboard type app as well as teams so they could see her calculations etc while she worked through the problems in the interview.

Very hard as a parent to leave them to it when it’s in the house. I had to very determinedly not eavesdrop.

@ColouringPencils My DC2 who is now second year at O did her first round of interviews at school. They found her a quiet place and she went there and all worked well. (though the year before there was a fire alarm during some interviews due to boys vaping in the loos!!).

For her second round of interviews the week later (only happens for some at O and not at C) she had a bug and looked very run down in the morning. I kept her at home so she didn't exhaust herself during lessons and she had enough energy after resting much of the day to get through the interview in the late afternoon.

After being quite skeptical I am now a fan of online interviews for O & C- As you say it normalises the whole process, there isn't the cost and hype of spending 2-4 days in college that can raise expectations which could then be dashed if an offer isn't forthcoming.

My DD was offered a place at a college she hadn't applied to and she was a bit skeptical but they had an offer holders day a month after the offers. She had a brilliant day and was meeting others not in a competitive environment but knowing they all had offers. And having said she would never apply to that college she is now a huge fan...

My DC who applied previously did their interviews at school. They needed a quiet place for a few hours as C did a tech check some time before the main event. In practice school wasn't very quiet which they found distracting. They came home afterwards as weren't terribly well and needed a rest- I'm not sure this was the best thing as it allowed a lot of overthinking!

This year's applicant is on a gap year and working six days a week in a foreign country, so will have to pop out of work and hope for the best assuming that they are called for interview. They'll then go back to work thus hopefully avoiding the overthinking issue! We are also trying to organise a decent local data plan as the wifi in their accommodation is rubbish.

I really thought they would hear this week for the ones starting on the 9th December - my poor dc is finding the uncertainty really tough. She doesn't know whether to prep or not - she doesn't want to waste her time as she has a lot of coursework due soon, but on the other hand doesn't want to be unprepared if she does get one. I'd like to think they may come out by tomorrow but of course none of us really know and are just speculating pointlessly! She hates the uncertainty and I don't blame her. Horrible business.

I agree @Misfitkickedoutonthestreet I’m getting quite pissed off now. DS is in a bad mood and his friends have had an extra two weeks to hone their interview technique.