Continuation of Oxbridge 2025

[BananasAllofIt]

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

Just to explain: Oxford term started a week later than last year. This means the interviews are also a week later and so are the deadlines for notifying candidates of interview. The university says that people will have at least 1 week’s notice of their first interview (see the main admissions website) so the deadline is the start of next week. Some courses/ colleges may have notified before the deadline but not hearing yet doesn't mean anything.

A lot of people are in a state of stress on The Student Room because they are looking at the calendar dates for last year’s invitations and not noticing that the interview dates are later than last year and so the whole process is operating slightly later.

Still waiting here, a bit nervous and jumpy when they get an email but they're coping ok. I think they get more stressed at school because everyone is talking about it! They've been doing interview prep at school for a few weeks now so feeling confident they're as prepared as they can be if they get invited to interview which helps.

My DS applied for O and still waiting. He has two offers but hasn't heard from O or his other (London) choices. I hope he hears before his 18th birthday next week!

Also still waiting for O (same potential slots as @BananasAllofIt )

Another DS waiting to hear from O here. Has offers from all his others though, and seems far more chilled about it all than me! Plus he has his driving test on Monday next week.

DD waiting for O (Psychology).

Ds waiting for O for physics. Also waiting for Durham but had offers from the other three.

Hope we all have good news soon.

We are waiting for Durham for Eng but have had offers from the other 3

We're waiting on Oxford, Durham & LSE with offers from other 2.

My older DS - applying for a different set of unis & different course, had all offers in by now.

It's a long, brutal process going down the Oxbridge route! Good luck to all our wonderful YPs!

How did your YP find the PAT? Ds said he felt rushed at the end with not enough time to really think about the last few.

I wish they had their results earlier than Jan for it like the tmau but I suppose it's a bit of a double edged sword before the interview if they get one.

Best of luck to your dc.

DS said it was 'weird' and that the "easy" questions were hard and the hard questions not so hard. I don't think he has any idea how it went, really.

I think that sounds quite positive, as more marks for the harder ones so hopefully his score will reflect that. Best of luck, I hope they hear soon.

Hi, I’m also waiting for O. In the last thread some posts were talking about straight 9s at GCSE, but I read somewhere else that Oxford doesn’t differentiate between 8 and 9? Does anyone know for sure how is GCSE results viewed at Oxford? My DS has roughly one thirds 9s and two thirds 8s, total 11 subjects. I’m now nervous that his GCSE is not good enough 😅

My understanding is that O views 8 and 9 as the same because Wales still uses letter grades so 8 and 9 are equivalent to the top welsh letter grade (not sure if it is A star or A in wales!)

Another one waiting for Oxford -MFL + Linguistics.

I’m assuming that there’s less weight on GCSEs in subjects where there are fewer applications. But do tell me if I am wrong. DD is ND which did have an impact but is now forecast 3 A stars.

It's in the physics admission report from last year saying 8's and 9's are treated the same, I'll see if I can get you a screenshot.

https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/study/undergraduates/how-apply/physics-aptitude-test-pat/physics-admissions-reports

The footnote to how contextualised gcse is calculated at the bottom of the page.

I think I posted the one about straight 9s but this was from a particular institution (high achieving/selective independent school). It was just the type of person that applied from our school. Plenty of others with 8/9s who don't even apply to Oxbridge (my DC had 50/50 8s/9s and has predictions of Astar Astar A but did not apply e.g.) for whatever reason. Yes, I understand O treats 8/9s the same... good luck!

So someone with all 9s at a very high achieving school will be considered to have done "worse" than someone with 8s and 7s at a lower-achieving school? Have no problem with taking things in context to bump up the latter group but you can't get better than perfect scores...

That you everyone. That’s so helpful!

Am I the only one waiting for Cambridge?

C interview in a couple of weeks here. Very independent DC determined to do it all themselves so I know almost nothing about it all!

In terms of O interviews, DS1 and friend didn't get interviews for STEM subjects 2 years ago.

Both had perfect GCSEs and 4x predicted A stars plus good PS etc. DS friend had a number of serious "contextual" triggers. Pupils at non-selective state school.

There is just SO much competition out there.

Good luck to those still waiting, it's a long slog

DD had 4 x 9s, 3 x 8s, 2 x 7s & 1 x6 plus a D for FM. This was from a school where she was the first to apply to Oxford or Cambridge for around 10 years and less than 30% in the area achieved 5 GCSEs including maths & English.

She graduated last year in PPE and is now doing a masters elsewhere, so I'm a great believer in their ability to see potential beyond perfect GCSEs.

I agree! And that's why interviews play such a role for Oxbridge. Was just thinking it's a bit harsh on the all 9s club, because - whatever school they're at - what more could they do?

Having said that, Oxford Physics marking anyone down for getting a 6 in Art or RS seems a bit absurd as well.

Did your DD also do very well in the aptitude test for PPE?