English, History and PE A levels, potentially for Oxbridge

[Drangea]

DS is considering the above combination. Aiming to read English or History. Teachers are recommending he applies to Oxbridge. High achieving kid at a super selective boys grammar that send lots to Oxbridge to give context.
We have not discussed with teachers yet, wanted to get a feel first.
Thanks in advance
(also posted in further education, but was advised to move to here)

My sister is a lecturer at Cambridge for English

This year at Cambridge (cannot comment on the years before) most of the students who got a place had 5-6 a levels. I will say loads of people drop out after starting so it’s worth son putting his name down for Oxbridge as a clearing choice.

@OneGiddyRubyViewer I take it she's no-contact with you?🧐😄

Was it English or History you had direct experience of, from the admissions side?

Right, so you've no direct experience.

I am probably very immature, but that made me absolutely cackle.

She was not in the admissions committee as such however lecturers at Cambridge also have a lot of input on whether students are a good fit for the subject. What I don’t think people understand is thousands of people apply for Oxbridge, and there’s a limited intake for these courses. Personal statement counts for something however an application for English where someone has passed over other more suitable a level subjects for PE would not be considered as much as someone with a different subject such as languages. History is less picky but would also want an a* in PE- something that 5% or less of Pe pupils at a level achieve. Hope that helps

Oxbridge doesn't participate in clearing ...

I have no skin in this game as I know nothing about Oxbridge but my son has just done PE A level and it seemed pretty academic to me. What makes it not academic? Also the person who said there is nothing in the syllabus that would be relevant surely all the stuff about governing bodies and ethics and whatnot would be relevant?

Ok - I'm calling it.
We have a hairy handed bridge dweller in da house!

What's so great about Oxbridge anyway? My partner went to Oxford aged 17, to please his parents. He hated it. I went to Sussex late after working with an A and 2 Bs. It was fun but I didn't like the competitiveness and frankly I am working class. I am so glad that my parents both left school at age 14, so there was nothing to live up to. You only have 1 life. Part of that is understanding who you are and what's important. Uni should foster that but academic life is these days very competitive to the point of destruction. You can't live your children's life for them.

English the top choices of a level - other than English itself- were drama (oddly), politics, history, languages, psychology, and RE.

for history it would be politics, anthropology, sociology, economics.

I would be prepared to bet there is not a single student at Oxbridge reading English or History with that combination of three A levels!

Happy to be proven wrong.

This happened a lot. Many pupils who got into Cambridge went because of the prestige or to make their parents proud. No sane person who got into Oxbridge would turn it down surely. This is also the case with Edinburgh. You’d be surprised (or maybe not) at the amount who drop out within the first month.

Oh, you are talking such bollocks.

She's either done admissions interviews or she hasn't. She probably has if she's a CTO or has a college affiliation. Some years PhD students do them too. It's not about having 'input'. You do it or you don't.

Having done it, multiple times, I think I probably do know that there are lots of applicants. But Cambridge is unusual amongst UK universities in having the capacity to choose to interview most people who apply. They won't reject an application for something like studying PE; they will interview. And that interview - plus grades, plus PS (but honestly, the PS is more about having something to talk about, unless it's glaringly obvious there's an issue) - is what will decide the matter.

'Hope that helps'.

Oh I love the Oxbridge in clearing comment 😂😂. And you need 3 A levels, majority of state schools don’t offer more & Oxbridge is 75% state.
PE is a great A level. V time consuming and has a big cross over with biology and psychology. Some hairy bridge dwellers just talk a lot of poop.

It’s academic for sure! It’s just considered not quite the “right” a level if you want to do English or history at Oxbridge.

PE is definitely academic and shouldn’t be looked down on, many jobs require pe knowledge.

It’s called the reconsideration pool rather than clearing.

@OneGiddyRubyViewer I know students who’ve studied English at Oxbridge to have had a wide variety of A levels. Can’t remember if PE but know one had Textiles and another DT, and they got in. One historian had Astronomy. And several medics had PE.

@OneGiddyRubyViewer and it’s only open to
certain students on results day,

Op’s son doesn’t want to do biology or psychology. They want to do English or history.

History and astronomy can be related in a career. As can medic and sport.

The pool is totally different from clearing.

Why is drama odd???

Again, less than 200 people sit 5 or more A levels per year. Cambridge has over
12 000 undergraduates. Even I, with my obviously inferior red brickie degree can see that it is therefore impossible for the majority of those admitted to have 5-6 A levels.* *