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 think History "magazines" have their place, they are like coffee table books for people to dip in and out of, or to introduce a subject. I think a student of history is much better placed to be reading solid, academic books on history, as these are what they will be expected to read at university and discuss / compare and critique.

@LaundryFairy i tend to think of History Today as more 16+, or would you say it’s ok for younger teens?

I was adding to the comment that suggested bbc History in a couple of years, so yes 15-16 maybe. It depends on how advanced the young person is.

And I would add that the fact that they introduce a wide range of topics is exactly what makes them good starting points - the opportunity to explore very diverse (and, importantly, up-to-date) thinking on a wide range of topics. Further reading in ‘solid, academic texts’ can follow on when interest is sparked.

I’d be considering what he wants to do with that degree. Not so many jobs in history.
Obviously it’s early days but my friend’s offspring has not found their Oxford masters in History so great.
Has ended up in law but at a disadvantage to the people who chose to study law in the first place.

nonsense

@MMAMPWGHAP just to be clear, about 50% of people who train in the top 50 UK law firms don’t have law as a first degree. It’s really common for them to have done history, politics, economics etc and then go into law. Lots of people in the City generally have history degrees.

My DD is currently in her first year doing history at Oxford. All she had on her personal statement by way of supercurriculars was the books she read on her area of interest (medieval) and she wrote about three or four of them in some depth. Plus she did classical civilisation for A level so linked in some ancient history too. All of it came up at interview, plus the essay she’d submitted. So I don’t think you necessarily need loads of different stuff, but you do need to be able to talk interestingly about what you have got.

Your DS is young yet and may well change his mind, but he sounds like an excellent candidate. Of course it’s important to look at other unis too but for history Oxford is really not that unattainable - the acceptance rate in DD’s year was 25%, which actually is not that different from, say, St Andrews or other good unis. It’s not like computer science or medicine!

My dd is also at Oxbridge doing a history related degree from a very ordinary sixth form. We’re a very ordinary family! She’s bright and a hard worker, but she didn’t decide on her degree until the summer before she applied- (a did an unusual mix of A levels) so your ds has loads of time yet.

I really agree with this. I went to Cambridge way back but didn’t even think about it until 6th form. So many excellent students won’t get in. I have a teen DS and would be worried if he got his heart set on it, I’d be telling him there are pros and cons and many other great unis out there.

Also there is a lot of information online to help applicants through the application process (and the open days are excellent too).

My DD is in her 4th year of modern foreign languages at Oxford. She was in 6th form before she had the idea of applying, although she had visited both Cambridge and Oxford to see friends since being about seven, so u like your DS, it wasn't a long-held ambition to study at Oxford. She also came with me to a lecture given by a friend of mine who has co-authored a book on the language used in First World War advertising and publicity about women. We met the friend and he introduced us to the academic who had invited him to give the lecture and who is the series editor of the Oxford Short Introduction To series. We met in her office and she was very friendly to DD, who was 14 at the time. I think it's quite important to go to a college open day when your DS is 16, because it demystifies things and makes it possible to imagine yourself there (or not!).

You DS is not short of ideas for demonstrating his enthusiasm for history but here are a few more. Are you members of English Heritage and/or the National Trust? Plenty to explore and delve into, plus events that bring aspects of history to life. I also wondered about volunteering or work shadowing at a museum in the school holidays in a few years time. There are also a number of history essay competitions open to sixth formers (again, in three or four years time) www.libraeducation.co.uk/history-essay-prizes.

@Thingsthatgo I teach a related subject at Oxbridge. Don’t worry about not being an “Oxbridge family” - that kind of thing doesn’t matter. Nor do you need to worry yet about extra courses and taster days and outreach stuff and so on — that will all come much later, from 16/year 11 onwards. We also don’t care about extracurricular activities and hobbies, so don’t worry about that either.

The main thing your DS needs to be doing is to READ. It doesn’t even really matter what: a wide range of things that interest him and are around the subject he likes (and related subjects): popular history, broadsheet newspapers, current affairs, a bit of proper classic literature, some history of medicine, science or philosophy, non-fiction — everything that interests him is good. The thing is go beyond narrow subject confines and get him reading across disciplines and thinking about broader issues — not just “history”, but all sorts of things about how and why people think what they do. He might enjoy some introduction to historical method or historiography (start with an oldie but a still-good introduction: EH Carr’s What Is History?, and go from there).

Watch the news, Panorama, documentaries about important events, listen to discussions on Radio 4 and programmes like In Our Time. Some classic history series by people like Simon Schama. Talk to him about politics, recent history, international affairs, what he thinks about big issues. Debate different points of view. Talk about your experiences of historical moments in your own life (what it was like to experience 9/11, the Millennium, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Obama being elected, etc. etc.)

And, though at Oxbridge we don’t take any notice of extracurriculars and so on, what IS super useful and helpful is if you can get into trips to museums, looking at things like historical and archaeological sites, and so on — doesn’t have to be huge amounts or expensive, we’re lucky in this country that there are plenty of them and plenty of free museums around the place. See some theatre, go to art galleries. You may be doing all of this already, in which case, great! The idea is not to look “cultured”, but to get him cross-comparing a range of different kinds of historical and social experiences and thinking about how they broaden his knowledge of the disciplines he enjoys. Get him thinking about big questions like: what effects does museum curation - how you display objects - have on how we think about history? What kinds of relationships are there between history and literature? What kinds of ways do we think about very recent history - eg. within our lifetimes - that are different from how we think about “older” historical periods? What’s the difference between current affairs and history? Is there a philosophy of history? Is archaeology history, or something else?

There are no “right and wrong” answers to these kinds of questions, but just thinking and reading abut them and debating them is getting towards the kind of thinking that prepares you for an Oxbridge degree (and higher education in general). None of this has to be expensive, and you certainly don’t need to pay for courses or tutoring or preparation of any kind. Free museums, the library, iPlayer and so on are great resources. It’s all more about getting into a habit of mind than anything else. Also, it will tell you and him if he enjoys this kind of thinking and intellectual debate: it’s above all absolutely essential to be passionate and engaged with your subject, and to really love the learning process.

Good luck to you and your DS, OP; and enjoy!

Did you go to Oxbridge? The tutorial system sounds good but it’s laughably far away from being “unequalled in the opportunities it provides students for intellectual growth” 😂😂. Whilst not all, most tutors are so busy that tutorials are things they have to do (sometimes do really enjoy!) and the students are trying to get over their hangovers, and remember what they wrote in their essay at 2am that they half copied off someone else and handed in late…..

I agree. I have experience of oxbridge and of two other university systems. The oxbridge tutorial system is not unique. Neither is it an unrivalled academic learning experience. It’s not really much different to any other university tutorial session.

It is incorrect that all universities offer tutorials.

Era didn't say all universities offer tutorials. She said it wasn't unique.

I couldn't agree more that the tutorial system isn't always an glorious intellectual exercise. Honestly the disdain and boredom of some tutors was something to behold - we were just impediments to their own esoteric research. And yes, we were usually not firing on all cylinders due to the ridiculousness of churning out an essay every week. They were also very much atuned to a certain sort of intelligence (confident, bluster, public school) that lots of us don't possess.

Obviously my experiences were a long time ago, but I really flourished in small group tutorials (I think there were 8 or so of us) as it allowed for discussion and sharing. I honestly think the reason I did well in finals was because my brain belatedly got switched on by these lessons in my 3rd year as opposed to stressful tutorials and irrelevant lectures. That and a female tutor who didn't seem to hate me.

In response to the OP, please don't silo your child. Mine were obsessed with history in part due to sticker dolly dressing books and Horrible Histories - they can still recite all the kings and queens of England. But they've gone in completely different directions except for the child who was obsessed with science but has taken up history thanks to the flexibility of Scottish universities.

Great post.
Lots of useful information here OP

Groan. Acceptance rate on its own is irrelevant. (Anyone looking at Oxbridge should be able to understand this.)

It all depends on the competition - for STEM you will be competing with those who have ten or more GCSEs at 9, plus at least four A stars at A level. Plus head pupil at school and a host of interests. Think longer term - think jobs.

I think at 13 years old is a still a little young to be so certain about a direction. He might be, but I would also encourage exploring more.
to answer your questions, there is already good advice and studying will be paramount, but as you said, oxbridge candidates bring something else.
I would recommend talking to a consultant, honestly, insider info, chances, interview prep, and realistic chances.
My DD was obsessed with Cambridge and was planning to apply, but because she was also applying to other countries and unis, we had to hire a university consultant for extra support. After a couple of sessions, she sat me and DH down and told us that realistically my DD could apply, but she doesn't stand a chance at oxbridge even with good grades etc. (she didn't say it specifically like that, but that was her message). It was hard to hear but something we needed. My DD ended up in UCL, so obviously things worked out, but maybe talking to a consultant could help clearing some of these things up?