Early prep for oxbridge?

[Thingsthatgo]

DS is 13 years old, and has already decided that he wants to study history at Oxford. While I fully support this dream, I have also told him to have a back up plan.
He is academically able; he got the top CATs score in his year of 250. He is also confident and articulate, loves performing and reads about history in his spare time. He has joined the local historical society, and loves chatting with the archaeologist at our local museum.
However, we are not an oxbridge family. No one in my family went to a high ranking university. Plus, DS will probably go to the local sixth form in our town, which doesn't send many students to Oxbridge.
I know that Oxbridge is not just about exam results, and that students need something extra. So I think we are going to need some help!

1. What can DS do between now and A levels to increase his chances?
2. How can he prepare? Is there such thing as a Oxbridge tutor, who can help?
3. I am guessing all this is in online, but how do we get the inside info? For example, how do you know which college to apply for?

I am by no means an expert haha. And there are lots of threads on here which may help.

But here’s what I know:

Oxford looks for good GCSEs – my understanding is that you will be looking ideally for eight at grade 7+

It looks not for extra curricular – playing the oboe, captain of the footy team – but supra curricular – in other words, work outside of school relating to what you want to study.

You and your DS should also be aware of what Oxford is like. It’s not for everyone, even if you are very bright and dedicated. The terms are very short and very intense; the structure of study is quite particular and challenging to students. It’s no easy ride. I would certainly look into it and make sure DS understands why he wants to go and what it would be like.

There are ways of finding out more through insight days at Oxford so I would look into that.

The Oxford colleges have carved the UK up for outreach purposes and different colleges target their outreach efforts in different regions. Have a look at which college covers your region:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/oxfordforUK

Each “Oxford for UK” region has a website showing the resources available to local students, their families and teachers. It gives details of the outreach activities Oxford colleges run in your region and in Oxford.

Good luck to him! He sounds great.

Just to add: I’d suggest he keep a diary of his supracurricular activities (i.e. history-related stuff he does beyond the school curriculum). Books he’s read, what he saw at the museum, what he learned from the archaeologist, events he’s attended at the historical society, how each of these things has helped to shape and focus his areas of interest. When the time comes for him to complete his UCAS form it will all be part of his “journey” as a young historian.

Yes brilliant thought.

The things he is doing already sound great but it's amazing how details escape you when you need to write it all down :)

@clary I have had a lot of eye-rolls from my DD about my pressing her to keep her “diary” (actually a Google Doc that we share) updated with such things, but now that she’s in Y12 and UCAS is looming she grudgingly admits I was right all along!

Just to add, I would strongly encourage you as a family to talk up various other universities too. The competition for oxbridge is immense and every year there are thousands of applicants with straight 9s at GCSE and all As/A stars at A level who do not make it to offer stage. There are then hundreds who get an offer, think that's it and it's in the bag and then don't make the grades. This can be incredibly difficult for them if it's been made out to be some amazing holy grail to life long success (which it really isn't btw). He sounds like he has a real interest but the statistical chances are that he won't go. It's really important as parents that we emphasise other options. Not just Durham and LSE/Imperial either. Any of the top 15-20 or so ranking Universities are really excellent Universities.

I would try to get ds interested in a range of history courses. Durham eg, St Andrews etc. Oxford is great and so are many unis including Cambridge.

If this continues to be his plan he will need a real passion for history - watching history documentaries and reading books about history is a great start. Trips to historic places are really helpful and subscriptions that encourage the reading of excellent analytical writing - The Week Junior eg at 13 is good.

BBC history magazine might be a good present in a year or two.

Great ideas above, particularly @JessyCarr ‘s. As a former admissions tutor in a School with a number of students rejected by Oxbridge, I agree with PP that it is important to emphasise that that majority of well qualified applicants will not get places. Everyone who applies to Oxbridge must do so robustly.

And you have more than one chance! If DS continues to love history he can apply again for an MSc (or even a (funded) PhD).

With that out of the way, his chances are no worse than anyone else’s, from everything you’ve said. He is already doing many things right. Although keeping a diary of activities may sound mechanised, it is really just a memory aide. He will have the clearest, most genuine voice if he continues to follow his historical interests wherever they lead and to think about the thread that ties them together.

@clary is correct that Oxbridge isn’t for everyone. Should DS get an interview, the interviewer will be assessing amongst other things how likely he is to thrive under the tutorial system, which is unequalled in the opportunities it provides students for intellectual growth but does not focus on sparing their feelings. He can read up on this and learn more during outreach opportunities.

He can also research which combinations of A levels are historically the most successful, and whether History applicants must sit any kind of exam (I know many STEM applicants do). If so, he can give himself plenty of time to practise, because the exam mark is likely to be a significant factor in who gets interviewed if not in the actual admissions process.

Best wishes to DS

At 13 things are likely to change quite a bit between now and the time he applies, but if it helps, these folks (link below) are excellent at both exam prep PS prep, also interview prep. We used them for both of our children (only one applied to Oxford) and it helped enormously, partly because both kids have been schooled entirely overseas and not in a UK system, and for us it was needing to get into the UK mindset for university applications and the expectations of the admissions people. My DS got into all his choices - Bristol, Edinburgh, York, Warwick and Kings London, for History. Anyway, this is rambling, here's the link:

https://oxfordtutors.com

This is all such brilliant advice - thank you all so much for taking the time to help me. I shall definitely suggest a journal - he will enjoy that.
I also will encourage exploring other university options - maybe we could do some city breaks over the next few years
Is there any benefit in him refining his interest at all over the coming years? (He loves all history, from all over the world since the beginning of time). Would there be any advantage in focusing on on what specifically interests him?

Good for him, but I think you need to manage his expectations slightly. I would imagine competition for History at Oxford is very high. Don't let it ruin his life if he doesn't get in. He needs a plan B.

I mentioned “focus” not because he needs to start narrowing down his interests, not at all. More that, because history (and ancient history, and archaeology) courses vary so much, when he is scouring websites in a few years time to see what modules are on offer at which institutions he will have a sense of what would best suit him. But for now, a wonderful breadth of curiosity is perfect.

One of our DC is doing a humanities degree (not History but very close) and has years and years of related super-curricular activities to draw upon. Didn't even get an interview at Oxbridge but is absolutely flying at another university where half the students tried but didn't get into Oxbridge and are really passionate about their interests. It's the subject, not Oxbridge, that ought to be the goal. Indeed, someone in my wider family was obsessed with getting her children into Oxbridge and engineered their learning and and extra-curriculars in the extreme to do this and it didn't work out. Her elder son is now not only not at Oxbridge but has decided he doesn't want to pursue the subject his mother chose for him and tbh I'm worried that he is up against a brick wall. So, sure, have Oxbridge out there as a goal but there are other fantastic universities, sometimes with better opportunities (esp. in London) for humanities.

DS’ early love of subject is wonderful and I agree he should be left to follow his interests.

I also think it is a good intellectual exercise, which he may enjoy, to start thinking about in a couple of years about how the dots connect: what links together the themes in the study of the aspects of history that he likes best? Figuring this out for himself will be much more impressive than saying ‘I love 19th c British history’ along with everyone else. Also much more fun. Admissions tutors everywhere will pick up both the fun and the creativity.

@poetryandwine Definitely - "history" covers a massive range of subject areas. School curricula are by definition a drop in the ocean of the possible areas of interest. Fortunately history is a subject that lends itself quite easily to early independent research as the heritage/museum/archive sector is really quite accessible to even young children.

Thanks, @ceramique.

I am glad your DS is thriving.

And thank you for posting the cautionary tale from your wider family. We see far too much of this

Good for him, he sounds great!

I really don’t have any advice but just wanted to say that ds1 got into Oxbridge from his very average sixth form attached to his very average secondary so it is possible. We are not an Oxbridge family at all and although a few applied in his year, he was the only one who was successful. Ds1 got 9’s in all but one of his GCSE’s and A*’s at A level.

As someone else said though, it’s tough and definitely not for everyone. Terms are very short and intense, it was tricky initially for ds1! We have had some ups and downs but he’s nearly at the end of his 4 year Masters now and hopefully it will be worth it for him!

It is all about the super curricular. Do local history research, go to museums, read books, find a way to study, understand and enjoy history. The ideal thing is if it’s fun rather than a slog as this will give your ds some certainty that history is the subject for him.

Just read a lot about all history and a bit of politics

Watch the news

Read the broadsheets, Private Eye

Watch Question Time

Watch Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg (Sp?)

Listen to Today and Saturday Live on radio 4

Confidence - he needs to be a confident at presenting himself, discussing topics of interest

Is there a debating society at his school or UN or anything else that required speaking about topics in front of others

Listen to 'In our Time' on BBC SOUNDS and You're dead to me and

watch Lucy Worsely on BBC iplayer

At 13 DS wanted to be an architect. DH and I supported this interest by taking DS to look at buildings he found interesting, to drawing classes and so on. At 16, he became focussed on engineering and chose A Levels accordingly. By upper sixth his passion was politics and debating. He toyed with the idea of applying to Oxford for PPE but at the (very) last minute decided on economics at Cambridge. It does not matter if there are twists and turns along the way rather than a solid single minded interest. Admission test result and interview performance matter more, alongside exam performance in context of cohort.

Ask what his school does in terms of university outreach - won’t necessarily be with Oxbridge but there are some great widening participation history activities he might be able to get involved with. Things like summer schools or insight days.

I would also recommend History Today as it is more academically focused.