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 🙏

That’s great, well done to your DC.

Durham definitely gives out a number of offers in November/ December, across the humanities and social sciences too, not just the sciences. Usually to applicants who look very strong on paper. The idea is that those early offerees will decline/ accept after the Oxbridge offers are out and then the numbers going forward for Durham are clearer.

And well done to DC.

Such a lot of nonsense about 'very competitive'. At Oxford, across all subjects, the numbers interviewed are roughly three applicants per place available. So once invited to interview all subjects are by definition equally 'competitive'. Why it matters to certain parents goodness knows. I never feted my Law/Medicine DC. Nor did they ever think they were a cut above their siblings or peers (very sensibly: they're no smarter for sure).

For debating only!

Definitely Maths with Trinity, Cambridge is the hardest in one’s assumption. Its the place everyone in the UK international teams wants to go(my daughter went to an ukmt international camp for the selection). I dont know about other subjects. I would have thought a Philosophy course in Oxford is harder to get into than Cambridge because of higher rank but that was my only assumption ofcourse.

‘You may think because your DC is not state comp educated they are superior, doing a subject that socially cleanses these people out so they don't steal your place, and no way would those other applicants taken their place but those pesky comp students who you look down on for doing vocational subjects can outperform private and grammar sometimes’

I’ve been on this thread as my DC are looking at Oxbridge (not for ‘26). I can’t believe this post. What’s going on??

This thread is about supporting applicants and others, it’s really helpful. Comments like above are not in the spirit, surely.

Yes Trinity is known to be the hardest college to get a place at Cambridge for Maths though it will get evened out overall with pooling elsewhere. So if you put Trinity for Maths you'll stand same chance of getting an offer from a Cambridge college as putting any other one first just much more likely to be reallocated.

There have been 4 years of comments attacking Economics students on these threads by the same poster who name changes. We are fed up of them.

Well I can say categorically that I've never ever commented about Economics. I have nothing particular to say about Economics other than my father was an economist and that a partner of a DC did interviews for Economics as a DPhil student then subsequently, at both Oxford and Cambridge. I never had a clue what they were talking about on the economics front except at the most basic level. I know to keep quiet when I'm clueless :)

I don't think I'm your target.

I'm also very confused by what this means. Both about anyone too narrow minded not to know that thousands of comprehensive school students will have way more potential than their privately and grammar educated contemporaries. And also about which subject socially cleanses people out?! Too cryptic for me (and not relevant, given that my DC chose widely different subjects at uni).

I can't actually think of a poster who fits the criteria, but I haven't really tracked the Oxbridge threads recently. I tend to find the parking threads and the charging for Christmas Dinner threads at least equally engaging.

SilkiePenguin you are completely misdirecting your ire. Please calm down. I have never once referred to E&M. Other than one of my youngest DD's best friends having read E&M I know absolutely nothing about it.

Perhaps name the most recent username of this poster you want to have a go at. For sure it isn't me. Not one of my DC has ever had the remotest interest in Economics and as I said, I have literally no views.

I think be a little careful before you come out all guns blazing. Good to get facts straight first.

DS still waiting for Physics and Phil. They seem to be the last ones to come out.

If they're bored with waiting, encourage them to take a look at https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Logic-Manual-by-Volker-Halbach/9780199587841?srsltid=AfmBOorHIIeFF5mll56jP3t61UxzQEVAioV59fPmEYqp7K2cFsZxfUKZ

The author tells successful applicants that if they claim to have understood beyond the first few chapters, they are probably lying!

It's a bit sad how this thread has turned recently. It started out as very supportive, with no sense of competition or hierarchy and without anyone flaunting their insider knowledge. It would be really nice to back to that

Thanks for this. Looks like one for the Christmas list.

Sorry, that wasn't a response to your message @HewasH2O

I have photos of DD looking utterly delighted unwrapping books at Christmas on the rise of Hitler!

@Mumski45 we're still waiting too! (Arc & Anth). Interview dates are 15/16 Dec. Thinking surely the first half of this week but it is a bit tortuous for dd. Just want to know now!

As a veteran of some past threads that have been derailed by people who seem to have some kind of bee in their bonnet, I would strongly suggest just ignoring those people. I know it's easier said than done and I have failed to do it myself many times. But it is probably the only sensible course of action.

congratulations to everyone who has heard over the past week. A week to go for interview for DS. He has had a practice interview and a couple of chats with his subject teachers. He has gone quite quiet and is reading a lot. Main issue is where to do interview. I’m wfh next Monday, normal wfh day so he wants to be well away from me and also somewhere that Dcat won’t be able to interrupt the zoom - a probability, but I did point out that Cam has a history of students with exotic pets

Also still on tenterhooks to hear from Oxford for DTwin2 .
It feels a bit like waiting at the luggage carousel when everyone else has collected their bags and headed for customs....have they lost my case? Has it gone to Brasov instead of Bristol? Have the baggage handlers gone on strike?

@Sevillian - ‘thousands of comprehensive school students will have way more potential than their privately and grammar educated contemporaries’ - this sounds very chippy and not particularly accurate. Oxbridge do a lot to widen participation but I think students from grammar and private schools are still disproportionately represented if that makes sense. Or are you suggesting that thousands of comprehensive students will have more potential but do not apply? If that’s the case, there’s no way of telling.

Also, I don’t understand all the squabbling over competitiveness. Oxbridge is, bottom line, very competitive- but if you want to dig into stats around numbers of applicants per particular course, just go look on the website!

Yes exactly this. Still waiting for Physics, hopeful for daughter that it might be today.

All fingers and toes crossed, @Haywire

I'm glad to see that the post from SilkiePenguin has been withdrawn. It was massively over the top, even for an Oxbridge application thread. The threads for current parents of Oxbridge students are always genuinely friendly and supportive. These threads are riven with another vibe entirely, unfortunately. But good call SilkiePenguin - even without a specific apology.

shelfred my comment isn't in the least chippy. Given the lack of access to independent schools for financial reasons and to grammars for geographical reasons, it's inevitable that there will be many thousands of comprehensively educated students who are at least as bright as the top students in the other two sectors.

As for the point about competitiveness: yes exactly, all courses are competitive. All I said was that claiming special status about 'very competitive' courses is on the face of it dismissive of applicants to other subjects. It's also much more than a numbers game. If it was purely a numbers game then other courses at other unis such as Durham would be far more 'competitive'. But probably time to move on because we've fallen into a pot hole here. If parents want to believe that their DC is applying to the hardest-to-get-into course and that makes their achievement superior, then that's fine by me.