Oxbridge applicants 2026??

[Justlurkingmostly]

Is there a thread for this year’s applicants - I can’t seem to find with a search. Thanks for signposting 🙏

Same here, playing the waiting game. Your DC has done amazingly well to get an offer from Warwick with and without a good TMUA score 👏👏. My DC will pop Warwick on UCAS if their TMUA is ok. Their friends have to Warwick too and they haven’t heard a thing!
Great to hear of interviews coming through, good luck everyone 🍀

Many congratulations to everyone with interview offers, great achievement in itself indeed.

Waiting game for us too!

Hi everyone I am new to this thread. My son has applied to Cambridge to study MFL. It is his dream. He attends a state school and has worked very hard to get to this point. I have supported him as much as I can but I am no academic!
He has to take an assessment via zoom on the 19th of November. I guess we wont hear about an interview until after that? It seems that the process differs between colleges and subjects? Well done to all those who have secured interviews already and good luck!

I would love to hear from anyone who has also applied to Modern Foreign Languages ☺️

The college he's applied for do all their interviews remotely. Not ideal - feel he comes across really well in person so think that would have benefitted him. But you can't have it all - they only asked for one essay to be submitted so that's a plus!

Not going to be specific about the subject as it's potentially a bit identifying (if he were to actually get through!) - it's one of the slightly obscure courses that Cambridge does with a pretty small cohort of students across the whole uni.

Good luck to all who are waiting to hear!

Good luck to all those waiting for test results. That was us last year waiting for the TMUA for DD1. It was v stressful. And her result wasn’t great but she hadn’t applied to Oxbridge (and I’m happy to say she’s v happy at Warwick). This year DD2 has Cambridge interviews in early Dec. They will both be online. Got lots of detailed instructions about how it will work with an assessment for each interview done beforehand on the day. She also has an additional assessment next week but that clearly won’t affect her getting an interview. It is quite a process.

Very many congrats to all those who've secured interviews already - a really great achievement and they'll always have that

He has to take an assessment via zoom on the 19th of November. I guess we wont hear about an interview until after that?
my impression was that for the college administered assessments they only had to do the assessment if they were going to be interviewed. But that could be specific to DD’s subject so I’m not 100% sure but hopefully a good sign!

Ah! Sorry thats absolutely fine, I now have read the previous Oxbridge thread, they had offer from early Nov to 29/30th for Cambridge. It seems that it really depends on college and subject. It would be good to know from someone with past experience about in person interviews. DD is adamant that it will be in person, if she gets invited.
last thing I want is to ask her multiple times a day about email 🤪

Well done to all those who have Cambridge interviews! I must admit though it's set up a nervous squirling in my stomach, although we are awaiting ESAT results on Friday. DS2 'assumes' that interviews will be offered after that, but I'm not sure...

Watching with interest as expect to be in this position next year with DD1 who wants to do history.
Any insights from parents of aspiring historians much appreciated, especially around why your young person chose oxford over cambridge or Cambridge over oxford.
Best of luck to all your brilliant young people waiting.

I was expecting news about (Cambridge) interviews to be later in the month but DD says some friends have been invited to interviews already. Now I'm starting to feel nervous for her.

The colleges move at very different paces so I wouldn't read anything into it. They also send invites out earlier on courses that have another assessment element. It's still relatively early so gotta hold our nerve for a good while yet. Every day not getting a rejection ahead of interview is a win.

We have just heard that DD has an admissions interview at Cambridge for MML at St Catherine’s. I’m ridiculously excited and going to do a lot of supportive research. Anyone else in the same boat?

@LadyCrumb well done to her! V exciting

@BumpyaDaisyevna re Oxford over Cambridge, I think different factors for different young people. For DD it was mostly the course (which is broader and better suits her areas of interest) and also the fact that it's a slightly bigger place. For her friends who applied to Cambridge it was the same (they preferred the course and like the cosier feel of Cambridge).

Also agree with @pinkdelight that colleges and faculties will move at different paces so, nerve-wracking as it is, best not to read anything into not having heard yet. Good luck to all your DC!

Thanks @deathbyprocrastination that makes sense. I was at Cambridge (years ago though now and I am sure the whole admissions process has changed) so feel I know something about that but Oxford a bit of a mystery ...

I think it's one of those situations where the majority of applicants think everyone else knows more about the process but in fact all but a select few are working it out as they go along. At least these days there is less assumed knowledge and a lot of information around online to help them navigate it all.

DD has been invited to interview at Cambridge. Super excited for her.
She doesn't want me to broadcast it IRL because she doesn't want everyone to know if she doesn't get in. I respect that but it is difficult. Friends and family all want to know where she's applying and I don’t want to lie.

DS has been invited for an interview at Cambridge in mid-December. Really pleased for him. And glad he has a few weeks to do some preparation too!

Good luck to all our DCs receiving various test results tomorrow. Hope they all get the score they need 🤞.

The Tmua result time has been bumped to 3pm now instead of 6am, after yet another screw up by UAT - a massive data breach where people could log on and see other candidates emails, addresses, log ins etc. it took them almost an hour to patch it. That company is an absolute joke! Let’s hope things are smoother at 3pm though it seems unlikely, given how it’s been from the booking fiasco onwards. As if our DC need the extra stress.

But all that aside, good luck to everyone expecting results today.

@pinkdelightwow. They really are incompetent. Last year was an absolute mess too but this year seems to have been even worse. And a total lack of transparency.
But yes, good luck to all getting results today 🤞

Where has that information been published @pinkdelight?

I know it won’t change their results but it feels like an unfair and unnecessary delay in what is already a stressful time for our dc. Added to that I’m itching to know but doing my very best to play it cool!

There’s lots of posts about it on Reddit 6thform, ucas and similar subs. The UAT site is also asking people to only log in on one device, presumably because the site will fall over or do some other botch otherwise. I just hope it works and people get the correct results on time. And that the results are good ofc 🤞🤞🤞

eg: https://www.reddit.com/r/6thForm/s/rd6dPd2mZu