Continuation of Oxbridge 2025

[BananasAllofIt]

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

V similar position here in all respects regarding ESAT, managing expectations etc.
Two Oxford offers apparently at our inner London comp/moderately selective 6th form, which I find impressive - but English and MFL, ‘not STEM’, kid points out, meaning I think less competitive.
The Oxford STEM kids didn’t make it.

Commiserations to everyone whose DC just missed out on a place. My oldest DD was rejected 3 years ago and is thriving now at another university, so while it’s painful, it’s also the start of a new adventure which can also be very rewarding.

Youngest DD was so-so in her ESAT. So we are realistic and only cautiously optimistic about her Cambridge chances. Her boyfriend was offered a place yesterday at Oxford and it is much deserved. He is a wonderful young man who I am sure will do well. She is thrilled for him.

The two pupils at my DC’s school who have Oxford offers are both STEM (Maths, Chem Eng), but my impression is STEM is so competitive due to international applications. The one international student at DC’s son (moved from China for Y12) has 9,9,8.7 for ESAT which he says is fairly common for his old school friends…..😳

Sorry for jumping in here, I haven’t been part of this thread up until now. My dd received an Oxford offer yesterday. Obviously we’re thrilled but it’s far from a given that she’s going to accept. She’s actually pretty keen on Leeds at this point!

My son is actually in his 3rd year at Oxford so we know a fair bit about it all. We knew nothing about the Opportunity Oxford thing though (and it sounds like what my daughter has been offered…she told me about a two week residential in September with £350 spends?!!) Is this only offered to 200 students? I suppose my daughter could be classed as under represented as she’s from the North East.

Hello all, jumping back in as my ds received an offer from Christchurch with Opportunity Oxford. Neither of us expected him to get in tbh!
Congrats to all those who have a place and commiserations to those who missed out. Oxford is where my ds wanted to be so I'm very pleased for him, but I hope others can see they will have a very wonderful future.

Well done on her offer.

It's a great opportunity for them to get their bearings and get support with things like study skills. I was chatting to one of DD's tutors at her graduation who couldn't praise the scheme enough. DD was in the covid cohort which didn't finish their A levels. He felt that some students were playing catch-up through out their degree, because they had never been shown how to write an Oxford standard essay or how to build confidence in the tutorial system. They catch-up by their finals, but they could get much more from the experience at an early stage and potentially suffer from less imposter syndrome.

Suggest your DD grabs the opportunity. Dd benefitted from Uniq, but would have undoubtedly have found her first year easier with more initial support.

My DS is disappointed but OK it was fairly obvious to me lack of FM was likely to be a decider I am pleased as despite having ASD he has blossomed in the past couple of years with a great group of friends and moving away from Maths/ Computing enjoying creative studies. I am
hoping he will go for a joint hour degree

Hi all
No here for DD (STEM). Do you know if they get any feedback on the test and interview scores. Would be useful to know for future applications. Thanks.

Popping in as the parent of an Oxford fresher. Congrats to all the young people who took the plunge in applying, and I hope they are all excited for their future, whatever the news has been. My DD had an OppOx offer, based on where we live not sending many people to Oxford. There were also young carers, people who are returning to education after a break, international students, as well as underrepresented backgrounds. She loved it, especially the all expenses paid residential. It fully confirmed that it was the right place for her and removed any imposter nerves she might have had, as well as providing a ready made group of friends so she could feel immediately at home. Important for someone with anxiety.

However, she did spend most of the summer studying. The OppOx work is about 2 weeks' worth, which she spread out. But she also had a lot of pre-reading, and together these meant she didn't have time for a summer job (having had a term time tutoring job). She's a humanities student (joint degree) and so had two reading lists and prep which she diligently worked through (not everyone did but she felt the need to get a head start and was glad she did so she could spend more time socialising when she got there).

As @HewasH2O says, it's a really good opportunity that I feel would benefit most students in managing the transition to uni, regardless of background.

If you look back up this thread a few pages, you’ll see I posted on the day before offers came out….all about when test results are received, admissions report data and obtaining further feedback, with some thoughts and timescales for making decisions.

At DC’s school there were 2 interviews for Oxford and one place offered.

Congratulations to all those with offers and a hug for those whose paths will take them to different places.

No, it's not related to being from an ethnic minority or disability. It is all socio-economic factors: characteristics of the school and the home post code; eligibility for free school meals. That sort of thing. And not everyone who has those factors will be given an Opp Ox offer, though they will all be able to access the online material.

What is Opportunity Oxford? | University of Oxford

Hello,
I have been reading all posts but not posted yet.
Firstly congratulations to all who were offered places and I really feel for those of you who did not get offered a place.
My DC was so disappointed to be rejected earlier this week to study Maths.
The MAT score and details came out yesterday and DC scored 89.
School thinks DC should reapply, any advice would be great.
DC has 12 9s at GCSE
Predicted 4A*s (Math, Physics, Further Maths and Chemistry)
Is ranked top the state grammar school.

Sorry, I have to put this on here as I can't tell anyone in real life. This was DD's french MLAT results.

Meant to add DC thought his interviews went well.
I’m just wondering if any of you know how successful students are second time, do you let them know you have applied before?
I believe DC would have to keep on top of Maths during the year, a good thing as
I think DC lacked super-curricular.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.

@R50 Has your DC asked for interview feedback? Feedback on admissions decisions | University of Oxford

WOW!
Did your DC get an offer?

DC (and school) have. Waiting to hear back.

@R50 I think that Maths is more concerned about gap years than many subjects because of the risk of mathematical skills deteriorating on a year out. That's not to say that it can't work, but your DC will need to show very clearly how they are keeping their maths up in a structured way during the year out. It would be a good idea to stress this in the personal statement. See here under 'deferred entry':

https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduate-study/our-offer

The application won't be flagged up as a second attempt so the tutors won't know that it's a second try as opposed to someone who chose to apply post-qualification, though the website linked above does show that they will scrutinise gap year plans carefully and may want to discuss how effective they are at keeping maths going.

Just remembered that your DC did. Amazing score, well done to your DC. 👏

Thank you for this advice and information.
I think should DC just move on but it’s up to them.

R50 - sorry that your DC didn't get an offer. I would ask for feedback and consider reapplying next year. If it's any help, I have heard some truly baffling stories about outstanding candidates not receiving offers....

I do know of one student who had a similar set of incredible GCSEs and A-level predictions and tried for a humanities subject at Cambridge. She didn't get an offer... but reapplied the following year, got in, and is now thriving there.

(Worth mentioning though, in her case, she did feel that her 'first-try' interviews didn't go particularly well - which doesn't sound like it was the case for your son, so that's even more confusing I know...)

@R50 I'd agree with you (though of course it is your DC's choice). In general I worry that taking a year out just to reapply to Oxford or Cambridge puts those universities up on a pedestal and puts a lot of emotional investment into them. If it doesn't work out on attempt 2, it can feel really crushing if they've put their plans on ice in the hope of it all working out, and now face having to get through a gap year they didn't really want (while their schoolfriends are all moving on with their lives and enjoying student life).

Of course people do get in on second try, and taking a year out can be enriching and lead to great experiences.

Your DC doesn't need to decide now. In your position I'd be encouraging them to wait to make the decision of whether to reapply to Oxbridge until A Level results come out in August. In the meantime they can visit other departments on offerholder days, accept an offer and an insurance, and see how the feel when they have more distance. At the moment it is all very recent and raw, but in a few months time they may have fallen in love with a different university and feel excited about studying there. If in August they nail their A Levels and still think they want to give Oxford a go, they can decline their firm offer and reapply for Oxbridge in October.

Thank you for this info, it’s good to hear that you know of someone getting Oxbridge on the second attempt.
I know, really baffling. We’ll wait for results of the interview but I think the fact that DCs super-curricular was weak may be a reason.