Oxbridge applicants 2026 - thread 2

[ArchitectureMum]

Someone has to be the OP and I have no fate to tempt now in this journey.

Congratulations to all the Oxford offer holders. Some lovely stories yesterday afternoon.

Comiserations to those who had different news yesterday. I hope your DC are doing ok and beginning to look positively towards their other options.

Good luck to everyone waiting for news from Cambridge on 28th January.

And hello to all the Oxbridge observers - alumni, parents of past and future applicants. It is always a thread of highs and lows and it was a privilege to be a small part of it for this cycle.

Congratulations to your DS! What a brilliant position to be in.

For those with DC planning to firm Oxford (or hoping for a Cambridge offer to firm) where are they thinking of insuring?

My DC is currently leaning towards insuring a rather niche Bristol course with an integrated masters degree. I'm somewhat worried about the cost and availability of accommodation at Bristol, but perhaps if she isn't at Oxford then she'll be able to take a PT job?

I had heard that - especially for maths - reapplying wasn't advised?

I heard that too @WhisperingAngelisnotbad on grounds that admissions don’t like applicants to lose momentum in a ‘gap year’, but it’s a balance isn’t it . . I was also worried that without the discipline of daily school and peer competition, DC wouldn’t keep his level up sufficiently after A levels but in the event he was entirely self-motivated, as to be fair he has been since Y7.
But mainly I believe it was the A level swotting esp for Further Maths which raised his game over previous year. The point being that it is entirely possible.
The other noteworthy thing is that neither DC nor any of his friends actually applied for pure Maths, afaik. All other STEM.
That would make a difference I expect.

DS has decided not to look at his emails til Friday when he finishes his mocks. He could definitely manage this. Can see the advantage as a no might put him off and I’m not around Weds but the anticipation … his Dsis was fine when pooled but not picked. She had a big cry then got on with it. But one of the trio that applied at her college completely lost the plot and found rejection really hard

DS is taking engineering and wanted to defer but was very strongly advised against it by the Cambridge admissions tutor who did a 'pre application' Q&A talk to the sixth form.

He said that he was glad he hadn't had a year off because they had gone beyond his FM capability (he got A stars in maths and FM) by about the end of week 2 and he said even having had the break post A levels and before the pre course learning was set, he felt his acuity wasn't as good. He really felt that after a year he would have struggled. But I guess if you are an 'innate' mathematician it may be different. He is obviously good at maths but does have to work at it.

Good luck to everyone nervously waiting for Cambridge offers ..I can't believe how fast it goes - DS graduates in the summer and I feel as though he only just started 😁

UK must scrap the Oxford/Cambridge selection rules, allowing students to apply to all Universities(but no more than 5) and knowing the results has to be on a fixed date for all Univs(such as during Easter holiday). Universities can freely choose and design their selection tests, interviews based on some checks and regulations for fairness and purely Merit based.

My dream!!!

P/S: I feel for the Cambridge applicants who have to wait 2 weeks more and for those who didnt get offer partially because the rule only allow to apply either Oxford or Cambride making these 2 universities becoming “special” while them being special should only based on their merit and ranking and other Universities are free to compete. Its so redirection, many cases, its Oxbridge loss.

Mine has moved on, she is awaiting for her US application results too to consider between Oxford and one of them if there is offer. There was BMO2 test last week, always the only girl in the room. Good luck to everyone waiting for Cambridge news next week, 1/3 of my daughter school is also waiting to hear.

Does anybody know how the winter pool for Cambridge works? Would they know if they've been pooled already or on the 28th, when offers/rejections are given?

Unless they needed to have an interview for the new college, in which case they'd have heard by now, I believe it's just revealed on the 28th - so the comms either says you've been pooled to the new college and have a place so that's an offer, or you were pooled but didn't get a place so that's a rejection (but a slightly more rollercoaster read to get to it). So most people don't know till the 28th. As an anomaly, someone on reddit says they've heard already because they were pooled to a mature college which was different as they had their place confirmed already, but for our purposes, if you've not heard yet, it'll all be out on Weds.

Useful post from TSU on the pool and such just now. Nothing to do with me, but reposting as covers a lot of handy stuff for Weds...

"Just to cover the usual questions offers will start coming out from 8.30 onwards and usually finish about 1.30pm.Emails will be sent from colleges either saying you have an offer or you have been unsuccessful.Sometimes the UCAS update will come first.
Rejections and offers are sent out from each college at random times as admissions staff work their way through lists of applicants.So offers for Biology from Clare College will come out at a different time from say Kings College.
Your letter will state whether or not you were placed in the winter pool.You will receive offer emails from the college who is making you the offer.Rejections will come from the college you applied to.
Some people in the Winter Pool will have been picked up by another college,others will not.If you are placed in the Winter Pool you will have been seen as a strong candidate but your original college has filled up their spaces.Other colleges can see all your stats and PS ,interview scores,admissions test results and will select strong candidates to fill places at their own college .
Not everyone in the Winter Pool is fished.
Some people from deprived backgrounds or areas may be unsuccessful but their letter may offer them a chance of entering an August Reconsideration Pool on results day if they meet the typical offer for the course or exceed it.If you are offered this you need to check on the website if there are places available in your subject and then fill in a short form saying you wish to be reconsidered .Places become available when people miss their offers.
If you are a near miss you will be placed in the Summer Pool and colleges will then decide if they want an ARP candidate or a Summer Pool candidate.
Okay those are the basics so hopefully you can have a read and get an understanding of what your email means."

Thanks @pinkdelight .
Stupid Wednesday.

Thanks @pinkdelight- that’s so helpful.
We’ve managed to put it from our minds pretty successfully so far (it does help that DD has another uni that she thinks she may even prefer to C, plus C was always a long shot so knows chance of an offer is low). However, she has been mainly worried that her teacher will know before she does. On Wed she has 2 lessons with this teacher, who was also her assigned uni application checker. DD and this teacher have a bit of a bumpy relationship and DD thinks he’ll give away the outcome in one of the lessons. She wants to wait till she gets home to find out.

Glad to find this thread. My DD2 is going to be disappointed sadly. Cambridge has always been her dream and one particular college. Very niche subject, only 1-2 students per college. She had an interview which seemed to go ok. But had the dreaded pooled email. Very abrupt email from a college not even on her radar offering her an interview from the winter pool. But likely only for deferred 2027 entry. Very short time scales. Email late Friday afternoon, to reply by monday lunchtime. Mock exam monday morning so no time to talk to her UCAS tutor. State school so no no teachers on tap. She decided to do it anyway.
She is still holding out hope for original college though this is not possiblle from all I've read. So the best is likely to be a deferred offer from a college she isn't keen on. She knows she cant do a gap year definitely not for her. So is going to be disappointed. She has 4 other very strong offers from excellent unis so has pretty much decided where she will go. But she is so gutted and trying to put a brave face on. I have told her how amazing it is to have been interviewed twice so is clearly Cambridge material and sometimes things work out how they are supposed to. But so hard to see the years of dreaming crushed.

@BurnoutGP at this point I'm praying for the Cambridge winter pool 😂

It's been a bit of a mindfuck tbh. Nothing from her original college but we know they wont offer her. Random college. Deferred entry. Another interview. Feels very much like dangling a carrot now. She says that will be it. She definitely won't do reconsideration or summer pool but if she declines a deferred offer then that wont even be an option. I'll be glad when its all done and she can firm somewhere else.

Things could so easily be so much worse @BurnoutGP Are you happy to give the name of the other college? It’s very common for a college you hadn’t ever contemplated to become somewhere you love.

Pembroke her original choice. Fitzwilliam from the pool. It's the deferred entry thats the issue really. She cant wait a year. Honestly I would have preferred a straight no. This way shes likely gong to have to decline a cambridge offer which is absolutely gutting.

I can understand the frustration. A year feels like a lifetime when you’re ready for university and all your friends will off there. She must feel like she’s jumping through constant hoops. Hopefully she has some other options in the bag. I think I would probably suggest she goes through the process anyway an review how she feels if she does get an offer.

@BurnoutGP I can't tell you how much my DD has benefitted from her spontaneous gap year - she's in the middle of it now. It's not like she's spent it campaigning for Mamdani/writing a novel/learning a language/building a village. She's been working in local pub! She's grown up, learnt the value of money, developed previously lacking executive function... honestly think her chances of flourishing at university have been exponentially improved.

The worst thing has been having to do her UCAS form and with it apply to Cambridge. A year off with a deferred place in the bag? That would be a wonderful thing.

You do have my sympathies for all the cards being thrown in the air though especially if she's in the middle of mocks. The uncertainty is very destabilising. And how do you know original college won't offer?

Thanks all. Shes had years of MH issues and school refusal with finally a diagnosis of autism and ADHD and correct medication. Which has changed her life. It's amazing we are here at all. But she thrives on routine and structure and she feels a year off would impact badly on her MH and undo all the forward steps. I have to respect that.
She has 4 other very good offers one for King's College London with a relatively low offer and they rank really highly for her subject.
We shall see on Wed and go from there. She may feel differently if she actually sees a firm offer even a deferred one.
As to her original college my understanding was if you were pooled it was because your original college didnt have capacity for you so a definite decline. She is almost hoping they change their mind or even some other college offer but I cant wrap my head round it. Cambridge do their own thing.

DS was pooled (although only knew about it when he got his offer on the same day as everyone else - was it during the interview stages that your DD got a second interview?!) and now absolutely loves his college despite originally having his heart set on somewhere else. It ain't over til it's over.....(there's a song in there somewhere 🤣)

Fingers crossed for tomorrow for everyone.

Oh gosh I can see that would be particularly destabilising for her. My DD has also had lots of issues (really bad ED for two years, ADHD and generalised anxiety). Obviously everyone's different, especially those with issues, but I think that DD might have dropped out if she'd gone to university Autumn 25. This extra time to grow up and learn ways to regulate and organise herself has been invaluable. I was really worried she'd sit at home and get depressed.

But of course you need to respect her decision but if you would like to know any more about a gap year with a child with issues then please send me a private message.

PS is it humanities or STEM?

She got an email on the 16th from the 2nd college saying she had been pooled and they wanted to interview her. Emailed late Friday afternoon to respond by monday. Interview wed online. All mid mocks weeks. Very stressful.
As I understand you can be pooled and not interviewed and then will only know on offers day. So she is still holding out hope that a 3rd college might offer 2026 entry. Who knows 🤷‍♀️

Thank you so much. I may do so when we get outcome tomorrow. It may just be a straight no.