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 🙏

Good to connect with other maths parents. My DS is also happy to give it a go and fairly robust emotionally so will hopefully be able to deal with whatever the process throws up.

My older DS didn’t have a happy time studying a STEM subject at Oxbridge so I’m as worried about DS2 getting in as not getting in! Bottom line is that I’m an incorrigible worryguts.

Results out on November 14th this year: esat-tmua.ac.uk/test-results/

Are all the results out next week?

Info's on the link "Final test scores for the October sitting of ESAT, TMUA and TARA will be made available to candidates as planned on Friday 14 November."

My daughter sat the TSA.

@ArchitectureMumwell done on getting the portfolio in, when I applied for Architecture many many years ago that was more nerve wracking for me than the interviews.
I didn’t apply for Cambridge back then because when I visited I didn’t like their teaching style, My uni ranked higher than them at that pointand they also nearly lost their registration for the subject whilst I was at uni, but they overhauled the course and now it’s unrecognisable.
I remember having to haul my A1 portfolio all over the country back then so I think the system has definitely improved.

Oxford stress is thankfully on the backburner for DS as he has mocks next week, followed by his driving test and then his interview at Manchester… all nicely filling the gap between his PAT and finding out whether he’s got an interview - it feels like a lot but he seems to be taking it in his stride

Not yet sat TMUA until in Jan so no lurking for us. I think we wont hear from Oxford until December and MAT score wont be release until next year after acceptance/rejection. Mine has moved on (I think), so much to catch up for her on other 2 A level essay subjects rather than Maths/FM.

🤞 and 🍀 for the TMUA (and all other results) next week. DC is hoping for a 5 or above for a chance of a Warwick offer.

@Countrylife2002 sorry, only just seen your question. Yes she was feeling a lot better, and felt as though if she has done badly it won’t be because she was ill. So that’s something! Think I might have got the name of the test wrong, as she hasn’t studied Latin or Greek previously either. We are very hopeful for an interview on the basis that as you say most of them seem to get interviewed. Interesting to hear that some people are talking about test results, I thought that you didn’t get the results until after you

This link landed via email today, really useful and includes the link to interview dates by subject
https://newsletter.admin.ox.ac.uk/q/17F1ndXrLuodYIJhgypJEJ/wv

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/guide/interviews/interview-timetable2

I’ve just posted a link with some info 😊

TSA results you get just after the Oxford offer day in January.

Interviews DD for E&M was given just over a weeks notice and was around start of December she was told. PPE interviews are just before so I'ld say end Nov / early Dec for hearing if an interview. Interviews and rejections come out same time so if its a school with lots of applicants there will be some getting good news and some bad news at same time.

DD heard on 25 Nov for interviews a week later for PPE. We were driving to Cardiff about to go through the M5 tunnel at Newport when she refreshed for the millionth time and squealed with excitement

They are also released by college with some being days after others. Don't give up until the actual email arrives

Great info thanks all!

I’ve just been belatedly reading through the interview info for maths. I really have been asleep at the switch. As the rest of you already know, they need specific equipment in order to do the interview. DS’s school rarely gets anyone in to Oxbridge for maths AFAIK so I don’t know if they are geared up for the specific requirements. Given the stats I don’t really want to be hassling them about it at this stage but if they need to get hold of equipment I don’t want to give them the week’s notice that is all that DS would get. I suppose I could just ask DS rather than fretting!

@mathsapp I'd email your son's maths teacher now to find out if they have the equipment. If they don't, I suggest reaching out to other schools or asking if the maths teacher can do so - if there is a nearby school that has more Oxbridge experience they might well be prepared to loan the equipment temporarily to your son's school. You will feel a bit calmer once you know there is a plan! And if the equipment is not available at least you can let Oxford know immediately once any interview comes through. I am sure they will have encountered this type of situation before.

Good luck to all applying

If anyone's DC are applying for languages I scrapped a whole load of potential interview questions from various websites that I'm happy to share. (DC2 is currently 3rd year at Oxford. One ab into language, one at A Level.)

I also have some interview questions for Geography - (DC1 graduated from Oxford a year ago.)

And don't worry if your school doesn't do many mock interviews - watch some on line and as a parent you can help - doesn't matter if you don't know the answers - ask the questions and get your DC to practice responding to unexpected questions. If you can persuade a family friend or colleague to help even better.

Yes, I agree, don’t worry about mock interviews. My DC’s school doesn’t do them either. DC1 (this time last year) just watched some from Oxford’s website and YouTube. Each of the three interviews were the same-solving four math problems in each but on different areas of maths-no questions based on their PS. Questions were like the ones from the Math Challenges, Olympiad questions and finding alternative ways to solve them. Hope this helps.

We have decided that we could do with some new tech anyway so I am looking to get a new ipad, Black Friday and all that.

What is best for a prospective maths interview, does anyone know? Would a standard 2025 ipad for £299 be enough?

@WhisperingAngelisnotbad I think that would be more than good enough. A universal stylus should be fine too. Black Friday is 28th November. With the usual delivery chaos that comes afterwards I would only go for something that late if you can shop in store.

Turns out school is on the case and so is DS — he’s already planned to use his big brother’s fancy iPad and stylus. Panic over!

@Muchtoomuchtodo Thanks for getting back to me! John Lewis have their Black Friday tablet deals available now, and Which seems to think that the basic entry ipad is good value (though in fact it isn't particularly reduced right now). So I am thinking of ordering one and having it to hand, we can always take it back unopened if we change our mind by any chance in the next week or 2.

I think someone upthread was asking about Classics interviews. My DD had interviews at three different colleges and they asked her lots of different things. One of the most memorable was quizzing her about coins. They showed her a picture of a coin and asked her what you could learn from it. She felt she fluffed that and plenty of other questions but she got in.