Continuation of Oxbridge 2025

[BananasAllofIt]

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

DD has been offered an interview but not at the college she has set her heart on. The email says 'To even out the numbers and quality across the colleges, you have been reallocated to Somerville College for your interview. They will be in touch in the next few days' Does anyone know if that is the end of the road for her chosen college and they will no longer consider her or might they still be be looking at her application?

Also, if anyone has any information about Somerville that would be very helpful - it hasn't been on our radar at all.

Congratulations, @pistachioicecream - well done to your DD!

And thank you for thinking of us.

My DD has received an email but decided to wait to open it until she's home tonight... So now the waiting agony is self-inflicted!

@biscuitytrousers I think (though I hope people with more experience will correct me if I'm wrong) that that does mean she's not going to be considered by her chosen college. I hope she's not too disappointed.

We visited Somerville at the summer open days. It's very slightly out of town, but right next to Little Clarendon St, which is lovely and has the original G&D's ice cream shop. The grounds are beautiful, and you can sit on most/all of the quads/grass, which is really nice. Lots of accommodation. Strikingly friendly. DD and I both really liked it.

Congratulations to all those who've got interviews on here over the last couple of days. Your DD has great willpower, @MathsUni - I hope it's good news when she does open it.

DD is in her final year at Somerville @biscuitytrousers and I agree with everything @maybemedmum has said. She was also reallocated to Somerville for interviews, but has been extremely happy there. It's in a perfect location for her subject, but also very close to Jericho where there are lots of cafes and restaurants, as there are in Little Clarendon St, and three supermarkets within a 2 minute walk or so. Also close to Port Meadow for walks and picnics and getting a break from Oxford. Somerville offers accommodation to undergraduates for all years too - a definite bonus as far as I'm concerned. PM me if you'd like any more information.

Great news, well done to your DD.

@maybemedmum and @FaerieQueene thank you so much for replying, that is so reassuring to hear! She is checking it out online now and feeling good. Very happy to have been offered an interview at all of course.

Congrats to your DD for getting an interview 👏

@biscuitytrousers DD has applied to Somerville and has an interview there. She chose it because it seemed egalitarian (all rooms cost the same and are allocated by ballot), offers rooms in college for all 3 years and, in her words "wasn't full of oil paintings of dead old men".

What's her subject? Because the other attraction for my bone idle offspring was that it is right next to the new MFL building and so she will barely have to move to get to lectures.

It also has a really huge college library, because, when it was a women's college, its students weren't allowed to use any of the other ones...

@expandabandband congrats (and good luck) to your DD! Mine is applying for PPL so I think proximity to the MFL building will be good for her too! She adores a library - we've just been looking at it on the website and it's gorgeous.

My dc is at Somerville. It has lots of advantages. Accommodation is available on site for all years (some colleges offer accommodation for all years but it is spread all over the city). It is relatively laid back and you can walk on the grass and sit on the quad to revise in the Summer months. It is slightly away from all the tourists. It is in Jericho which has loads of cafes and restaurants and a cinema. It is only a short walk from town, the science faculties, the maths department etc. It has good pastoral support. Good luck with the interviews!

To be honest, most students seem to love their college and think their college is the best!

No interview, unfortunately, so the tearful end to DD's love affair with Oxford Maths came tonight. It was worth a try; she gave it her best, no regrets, no hard feelings. Best of luck to everybody with interviews!

Sorry to hear this.
Where else has your DD applied for maths?

Sorry @MathsUni It’s such a roller coaster. Hope she bounces back quickly. Best of luck to her too. There are so many fabulous choices for maths and great opportunities for them afterwards.

sorry to hear this, but hopefully it will become quite freeing and she has plenty of other places to choose from?

we are still waiting to hear. My DD has almost lost interest in the whole shebang whereas I'm now permanently logged into her email during the day!

Interesting the number of people being called to interview at different Oxford colleges from where they applied - this didn’t come up once on last year’s thread (and we don’t know anyone irl this happened to either). Second interview after the first one at chosen college, yes, but not rerouted from the off. Maybe this is an attempt to make it fairer for everyone by spreading out the applicants more evenly!

@biscuitytrousers My DD was redirected to Somerville 2 years ago and was so annoyed she nearly went to another Uni. She loves Somerville and wouldn't be anywhere else.

Do DM me if you like as I've lots of experience of the college but don't want to out DD.
Good to see lots of enthusiastic parents of Somervillians on this page....

My DS ended up at a completely different college (at C) as he was pooled but only knew after he got his offer.(I know it's a different process at C to O).

As I think I said on the earlier thread, he's very happy where he now is and says he is glad he didn't get offered his original one...but he would say that!

Commiserations to those who haven't been invited for interview - they will thrive wherever they now go, and can enjoy their break from school without the Sword of Damocles in Jan....

Good luck to all of those about to interview, and don't be surprised if there aren't many niceties..DS was (a bit thrown) that there was zero chit chat, just straight into maths/physics problems.

@irregularegular thanks so much for replying. She has not been consulted there was just a follow up email sent after she completed her survey to say..I am just reaching out to draw your attention to your invite to invitation letter which notes you have been invited to interview for history (single honours), not history and politics the course you applied.
Unless it is that the course is just too oversubscribed, and they've ruled her out for that but not altogether yet. She's over the moon to have an interview but doesn't want to question it incase it comes across like she's not willing to do just history.

I think being called to interview at another college at Oxford is fairly normal. Both DS1 and DD were interviewed at colleges they didn't apply for and received offers from them. And both ended up loving their colleges.

My son got an interview at Oxford, he went to a comprehensive in special measures. He didn't get a place, however he went to a different university and thrived. He still has fond memories of staying in Oxford he was only 17 at the time.

STILL nothing here, despite interviews starting on Monday. Very stressful for the kids, and gives a very small amount of prep time. I'm not impressed!

Oh no! Are you waiting to hear about Maths?

@Gina555 MFL. I know they say 5 days notice at the latest, but you kind of think they might be a little kinder than that! Looking at the spreadsheet that pp shared, there's still about half the colleges to go. There aren't even that many applicants compared to other subjects so no idea why it takes so long.

@Hiddle1976 I think in some ways it's a real shame they don't do the overnight stays anymore. I have fond memories of my own two-night stay in Oxford at 17 (quite a few years ago!). I think it does make you more invested in it though - maybe the greater distance of online interviews are a good thing in that sense.
DD says the Cambridge applicants at college have strongly skewed towards the colleges doing F2F interviews - I wonder if that will turn out to be an actual trend...
Solidarity to those still waiting to hear anything.