Continuation of Oxbridge 2025

[BananasAllofIt]

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

Have a great Christmas children and parents alike. And good luck for the offer days in January.
we were going through the process last year.

@NewBatteries I just wanted to reassure you that DC who haven’t attended summer schools, didn’t have interview practice, don’t “know” tutors and had interviews shorter than an hour - do receive offers. For my DC, being well read and good at exams was enough to secure offers and to thrive in their degrees.

No doubt most DC are currently distracted by New Year celebrations and mock exam prep but I wish all your DC well in the final wait for outcomes.

Totally agree with @ofteninaspin. Although DD was lucky enough to have a place on the UNIQ summer school, she certainly couldn't claim to know any of her interviewers or enjoy her interviews. I remember encouraging her to go around the Oxford Christmas market after one, so she at least had something positive from the experience! I got a jar of Freda's peanut butter as a result.

DD4 attended an outreach summer school at Wadham where she told me a particular student made a huge deal of how she followed a particular academic who was also teaching on the course, interrupted classes wherever possible to make clear that she'd read all his work, applied to his college the following Autumn, was interviewed by him, enthused about her interviews (wrote all about it on whichever form of social media).... and was never seen in Oxford again (she posted about life in Durham after a while).

To be fair DD was actually interviewed by another one of the tutors who had taught on the summer school but she certainly wouldn't have claimed to know him. That was at the faculty interview as opposed to the college, so there was no conscious effort on her part to seek him out.

Let's face it, everyone here has been able to offer their kids advantages of one type or another, and said kids have had to deal with disadvantages too. No summer schools here, and a non-selective state school, but parents with a background in education, which brings hidden advantages. Happy new year all! Looking forward to a mutually supportive January.

Good luck to everyone waiting for Oxford later this week. It's a tough time for those not getting through but, rest assured, they will enjoy wherever they end up or have the option to go again. There is a redirected from Oxbridge thread for support.

Do Oxford offers come out this week @snowsjoke ? I thought they came out on the same day as the Cambridge offers at the end of the month...either way, such a nerve wracking time!

Also wondering if anyone's DC has been called to be re-interviewed by a different Cambridge college from the one they applied to? I think this happens quite rarely from what I've heard, but just curious...

My DD (applying for Experimental Psychology at Oxford) was told 14 Jan for the decision. Her cousin (applying for Maths) was told the same.

Oxford is the 14th, Cambridge is the 30th.

ah I see. Good luck to all those waiting and fingers crossed!

Trying to remember what time offers from O arrive. I know from dc1 it was the morning but it was a week earlier that year and school hadn’t started. Dc2 is adamant she won’t open any email if it arrives in school hours. It’s going to be a long day

@ValentineBlack last year's equivalent thread, Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 4, which you should be able to see if you scroll down this page, has lots of info about this, from memory. There is some talk about teachers sometimes spilling the beans and foiling plans of people like your DC. Also some talk of ways of avoiding this by retrospectively changing the settings on the UCAS screen. (I spend far too much time on these threads 😂)

Sorry no, I think it's part 5, not part 4

I looked on the part 5 thread from last year and it looks like they should hear in the morning (on 14th), but emails are sent out by colleges so they won't all hear at the same time.

I do think its tough to receive this news at a random time in the school day for those who dont get an offer and equally for those who are delighted. I can imagine the teachers and other students being on eggshells if their friends have applied. Dont know why cant be set to send at 5pm or on a Sat am.

Yes, a Friday after school would be good! Teachers don't know in advance, do they?

My recollection is that UCAS updates at some point in the morning (I'm sure there's an email from colleges too but I don't remember that). Teachers can see from UCAS. Bloody dreading it as I'll be in a work meeting at around the time dc will probably find out

Joining this thread as DC is waiting on Cambridge interview in a couple of weeks, after what sounds like a challenging interview (in person - he had a lie-down in my office wellbeing room after the session! - fortunate to have an office in Cambridge, although we had travelled from the north). Hoping that DC is not too demoralised by a rejection, despite great grades and PS, rejected after interview at Imperial and feeling pretty low (and felt Imperial interview went better than Cam). I keep talking up other universities at the moment - but DC is 'on hold' for all options....!

We are waiting to hear from Oxford and Imperial. DS told me Imperial would be slow to send the result, so he would not hear from them until March-ish. But it seems some people have started receiving the results already. DS doesn't share the UCAS with me, so I wouldn't know unless he tells me if he has received it or not.

DC heard back from Imperial shortly after the ESAT and was interviewed in November. Did not get an offer 😔despite strong ESAT performance and from applying from a contextual area (Bradford), but they know their course is very competitive and also takes 60% of international students which is highly attractive from an international fees perspective. Everything crossed for other options!

@Imogen710 similar boat here. DC has offer from his 5th choice and not heard from anyone else.

urgh it’s hard.

Mine has 3 offers, but of course is only interested in the ones she hasn't heard from.

It's quite interesting about the psychology of offers! Her first 3 all came very quickly and that almost seemed to put her off. One in particular is the highest of the 3 in league tables, but they keep contacting her and inviting her to things and she is rapidly losing interest in them, like they are just very needy rather than running a recruitment campaign (at least it's interesting to me as I used to work in marketing).

She is also flagged for contextual at some unis but not at others, and I think this may change how they communicate with you. She was really annoyed to be invited to a Teams talk for contextual candidates.

@ColouringPencils DD was put off one of her options for exactly the same approach. Exeter offered the day after she submitted her application; a month later they dropped the offer grades and Admissions sent countless emails. It had been an insurance contender but the “neediness” devalued her offer in her eyes and put her off entirely.