Oxbridge Rejects 2025

[CrouchingTigerMum]

Any other parents feeling really down about their DC's Oxford rejection?

Just looking for empathy or thoughts on how to bounce back and build up DC's motivation for A-levels now... (especially when my DC's second-choice university doesn't demand high grades – it's not a highly competitive subject).

If they were doing a course with even a tangential vocational element, we'd be happy with them studying elsewhere but for their niche subject (within arts, humanities & languages) the "next best" university feels leagues below Oxbridge – it's not as though there is an equivalent institution on the level of Imperial (or, say, Warwick) for STEM.

NC as it's possibly outing to be handling the rejection so poorly.

The thing is, most Oxbridge applicants are predicted pretty much all A star. Far more people are predicted it than achieve it. It’s therefore not a great discriminator for those looking to short list, especially as some schools or colleges are far more generous than others with predictions. GCSE achieved grades are a certain and more concrete measure. Admissions tests and interviews count for a lot. The predictions might help you get to interview, but are less important in getting an offer.

In the end, many Oxbridge students do have all A stars, but a decent number won’t too….but often just dropping one or two. Of course, for humanities, if they meet the standard offer of AAA at Oxford, they will be in, but very few will have ‘only’ achieved that.

@glittergogo - I would think, all things being equal, that having three or four A star predictions probably makes a candidate appear as less of a risk, in theory at least, because they could drop two grades and still meet entrance requirements. However, everything is contextualised, so someone with the minimum grade predictions from an underperforming school might be considered on a par with someone with all A star predictions from a top school (state or independent). On top of this, they know that predictions are guidelines only - so someone with 2 A stars and an A could well end up with three A stars and vice versa. No way to know really,

As it turns out, I think it's less than 10% of students actually at Cambridge who 'only' have A star A, A (the minimum requirement). Across STEM subjects (which ask for 2 A stars, A) the percentage is lower than that. What their predictions were is not published, as far as I know.

There will also be some Scottish students applying, who will have their Nat5s and Highers to go on, with predicted Advanced Higher results.
Potentially 6 to 10 A1s at Nat5 (actual number varies depending on how many school puts them forward for, as it varies by region, 8 is most common), at least 5 A1's at Higher, and predicted 3 A (or B) at Adv. Higher. Of course it's not just grades that matter but Scottish students will have more actual results if going after S6.

As a general point, I think the number of Scots applying to and going to Oxbridge has gone through the floor post-tuition fees. Something under 2% for both for Oxford and the last figures from 2023 have Cambridge admitting 45 Scottish undergrads in total.

Thanks again everyone.

I agree it's probably not many, but there will be some applications.

Those asking for more data…. Have you looked at the website whatdotheyknow? They post all the FOIs about admissions. So for example this shows the offers for economics by predicted grades in 2023 (if the link works!):

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/offer_statistic_2024_cambridge_u/response/2754886/attach/2/FOI%202024%20765%20Patel%20data.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

Hi,
I know how you feel my DC was/is very disappointed but I know so many are in the same boat-having looked at the data for 2025. I too was/am hugely disappointed for them. My DC got, 89 on the MAT, 12As and 4 predicted As (but I think all the applicants had the same) and all DCs teachers expected DC to get an offer. School has requested feedback and advised DC to reapply. I have encouraged DC to move on select and one of their other offers. Similar offers to you DC, Imperial, Warwick, Bristol and Durham.
I am sure with a bit more time and visits on offer days they will soon be looking forward to studying at another great Uni.

That's great data. Basically, if you aren't getting all A* predicted, your chances of an offer are very slim indeed!

For that course, with A star, A star, A offers, there isn't a lot of leeway. There's a bit more in humanities with A star, A, A,

You can see acceptances by achieved grade from the last published cycle on page 19 here. Surprisingly there are a few who are let in with slipped grades, but they may foundation year candidates or mature applicants with older A levels and subsequent experience, I don't know.

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publications/ug_admissions_statistics_2023_cycle.pdf

I think this is one of the problems, when school 'expects' you to get an offer. Do they know the calibre of the other applicants that year, what exactly that tutor is looking for etc etc. I think schools should take some responsibility for managing expectations and helping manage the result whichever way it goes.
I'm sure all the DC are not just upset they've let themselves down but also teachers etc.
My teachers told me I wouldn't get in. But I was playing a very different stats game in the 90s. I've just looked at my prospectus and I had 1.6•1 ratio of getting in in my subject! Times have changed.

My dd was rejected and struggled a bit, especially as the only other applicant from her school got an offer. There was a lot of attention on the two of them throughout the process and now she feels very exposed. She is moving on though and is pleased to have received an offer from Durham last week, though I do have a question about it as it's for a humanities subject and is quite a bit lower than their standard offer. We are in quite a deprived area but haven't been a part of any outreach type stuff and dd is taken aback by it - partly pleased and partly wondering if it's a bad reflection on her, which I'm sure is not the case but what do I know (thinks dd!). Does anyone know how the contextual offers are arrived at by Durham?

To everyone saying it won't matter in the long run: do you also go on breastfeeding or weaning threads to tell people their current issue will feel irrelevant in a few years? I'm not popping up on potty training threads to say that my DC happened to breeze through that stage.

I think people are just trying to reassure you and your DC that things will work out rather than belittling the current perfectly natural feelings of disappointment.

Honestly, her other options are great.

Is it classics, by any chance?

I imagine it will be done on the basis of your postcode @lurchersforever

Classics isn't really niche. It's quite likely to be this: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/asian-and-middle-eastern-studies

It's similar to the Classics course in that it can require learning a language from scratch. Whereas courses at some other unis miss out that requirement. And that's why a student rejected from Oxford but going to another uni may well feel the course at the latter is 'dumbed down', for want of a better term.

The OP hasn't specified the gender of her DC so it's odd that people are determined it should be a DD. Boys get told no too, just about as much as girls.

Anyhow, OP hasn't specified the course either but I do completely see why with certain courses rejected applicants feel that there's a particular gulf. This is a good example of a course where that feeling might be justified.

Anyone have DC at Imperial and can tell us what it’s like…
My DC wants to firm up his offer but I have heard that lots of the accommodation is in Acton, 40mins on the tube!

I meant 12 9s and 4A*s 🙄

They've built a load of accommodation in Acton and there are also lots of private student blocks going up in Park Royal. There are still halls in South Kensington, but it's not like they can put any more up there even while student numbers expand.

It's London though, being half-an-hour's tube or cycle away is part of the package, unless you get lucky.

Experiences of Imperial College www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/5022215-experiences-of-imperial-college

@AsTearsGoBy Anybody thinking that non-Oxbridge courses in AMES are “dumbed down” really hasn’t done their research.

See e.g.:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4744524-arabic-middle-eastern-studies

Thank you.

I haven't done any research re AMES. None of my DC have read this course or ever applied to it but it does have similarities to other very broad courses which one has very recently completed. I was more using this example - since we don't even know if this is the course in question - as an illustration of how the specifics of a course can possibly justify feeling that one - for the applicant - is more challenging than another, and feel especially deflated because of that. Some Oxford and Cambridge course do have stand out features. NatSci would be another example, arguably.

@AsTearsGoBy Fair enough, and to be clear I wasn’t meaning to have a go at you. More to make the point that AMES (and specifically Arabic-based AMES) is in fact an excellent example of where top-rated courses can be found beyond Oxbridge. The University of Exeter is my Y12 DC’s top choice for such a course, and they offer:

1. Higher contact hours for language learning than any of their rivals, including O and C.
2. Dedicated dialect support so that students achieve fluency in colloquial Arabic as well as Modern Standard Arabic.
3. Their own bespoke Institute on campus, with teaching/learning, research and social spaces, which is about to be extended so as to roughly double in size.
4. Scholarships specifically to assist travel to the Arabic-speaking world.
5. (Forthcoming) a satellite campus in Cairo, just announced.

All of which may be of interest to someone lurking out there!

Interesting to me too, not even lurking. But it also goes to show that the surface needs scratching I guess.