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.

I was fished from the pool, but totally lucked out. I hadn't considered applying there as I'd been at an all girls school, but was so glad I went, as the Director of Studies at my first choice turned out to be a sexist pig, and I got Mary Beard. So it not being her first choice can be a good thing.

i think it is misleading to brush off the differences, and just say 'its Cambridge' - I have no doubt the students are absolutely wonderful, but its not going to be the same experience as a mixed, rich, central college with too many heavyweight professors to know what to do with. There are reasons why it leans so heavily on applicants from the pool. Its also a question of very unequal resources which you can see in the cost of accommodation and the number of professors they can employ. Yes the gardens are pretty, but the Brutalist architecture is not designed to be. Cambridge could easily ask in their additional questions if people are happy to be pooled to a single sex college, but they don't.

What a snooty thing to say, Having attended one of the rich, mixed, central colleges - it wasn't all it cracked up to be: incredibly stuffy place and anyway a lot of the accommodation at those colleges is ugly and out-of-the-centre, which you don't see on open days. My friends at New Hall, as it was then, had a fantastic time. It IS still Cambridge, you're taught by people from all over the university and you have no problem mingling with boys, if that's your sole purpose for being there.

While some of that is true (and ME has a fair wodge of cash these days, much more than it did in the 90s) , being in a further out, or a same sex college, can mean you become less insular and make more effort to meet other people rather than staying in a bubble. I had town friends as well as gown, for example.

Er... because Cambridge isnt snooty or elitist...hello....if what you say is true, why does it have the lowest application rates and the highest pooling rate? @Angelicart
the website starts with - its not a traditional cambridge college - or some such - if people want to go there, good for them, but I dont see why adults are not asked in advance if they want single sex.

They do have the right to reject the offer you know....it's not compulsory.

yes of course, and they are only girls so who cares...right?

The low application rate will be because it is single sex and Newnham is prettier and nearer. Murray Edward’s cares very much about girls - that’s the whole point. Plenty of men and women are pooled to Girton (very far away) or Fitzwilliam/Churchill for example ( modern buildings.). Does no one care about those people? I applied to an old college and went to a modern one after the winter pool. Had a great time and wouldn’t change it.

It’s an offer, lots of people enjoy their time there. It is not compulsory to accept.

Honestly why be negative about Murray Edwards! It’s a great college. DD very much didn’t want single sex and hates brutalist architecture (fool-she’s young!) but said if she was pooled there she would definitely go and leave at Christmas if she hated it. In the event she got into her central, mixed, traditional blah blah college and found that there weren’t enough women to form a college hockey team! So she played with the Murray Edward’s team and they were a very sociable and well adjusted bunch! It IS Cambridge.

The point is - you don't see posts saying - my daughter was pooled to fitzwilliam/churchill and is unsure. If people were asked ahead of time, and they are top picks in the pool, they might get a place at a mixed college. Or they might not. But at least they would have been respected enough to have been given the choice.

@OMiDaze this is meant to be a supportive thread. Your comments seem to be negative and confrontational and I wonder if it would be better to start a separate thread to discuss the issue you have with Cambridge

i have massively appreciate having this thread at an extremely nerve-wracking time. There must be some corners of MN which don’t need to turn nasty?

Oldest daughter got pooled to Murray Edwards three years ago. She was a bit disappointed when she got the offer but honestly she’s had a great time since she’s been there. Spacious, comfortable room each year, lovely DOS, big group of friends, and as she’s doing a stem subject, spends most of her day in lectures on Downing site anyway. The college clearly isn’t loaded, and the social events can be a bit hit and miss, but it is comfortable. And for drop off/pick up, very convenient for the M11 and you can always park there!

(Just for comparison, youngest DD is at an old central college in Oxford, has had a chilly, poky room each year, zero pastoral care and not even a kitchen. OK, it’s prettier than ME but I still think she’s got a worse deal)

Maybe not on here, but on WIWKAU I’ve seen a few with people complaining this son has been pulled to Fitz, Robinson or Churchill – they will always be snoberry about the newer colleges. If people are silly enough to think it’s going to make a significant difference then they can reject the place. Many others will be happy to have it.

It's obviously not a 100% guarantee, but most people end up enjoying their college even if it wasn't their first choice.

I hate that snobbery, it's really pointless and makes people look like idiots. A tiktoker my daughters follow is at St Johns and he was filming himself asking the question 'oh what's the worst college' and it was all modern/distant/women's and I thought, really, what a dick you have to be to start looking down on people who aren't some old prestigious place. Take a look at yourselves and find some perspective in the broader world.

What's the point of asking people if they'd be prepared to go to a single sex college beforehand? They can always say no if they get an offer and I suspect that the majority of them accept the place, as mine would have done.

That said, I wonder how many people turn Oxbridge down? The acceptance rate is approx 3/4 of the offer rate. How much of that is:

1. not getting the grades
2. choosing somewhere else, say one of the London ones or if you're Scottish wanting to save money
3. International students who might want to stay in the States or wherever?

From what I can see the acceptance rate at Oxford in 2024 was 85%, but for Cambridge was 76%. Not surprisingly Oxford makes less offers.

Anecdotally amongst my dd's friends Cambridge have higher offer grade requirements, at least for humanities. Typical offer from Oxford seems to be 3 As whereas Cambridge require one or two A stars. So I would imagine the major issue with Cambridge acceptance rates is not getting the grades? Happy to be corrected if others know better.

I would also be interested to know how often Oxford and Cambridge take applicants who get a B or not quite enough A stars? DD's friend has been offered a Cambridge humanities degree but with 2 A stars and an A. Seems a big ask!

Yes Cambridge offers are much higher and they also give more leeway to colleges to make higher offers if they want. Oxford, as far as I can see, always give the same offers (ie 3As for humanities/arts, an A star and 2As for STEM).

Yes one of DD's friends has to get two A stars and an A for English offer at Cambridge. That's hard I think, you're much less able to guarantee an A star in English or history than in maths - certainly judging by my kids' experiences.

So I'm sure more Cambridge kids don't meet their offers and then there's the maths thing where only half get the Step, which is brutal.

As to whether you're accepted with lower grades, it's mixed. Boy I know got a B and was let in for history (state school, but v affluent). Girl got A star, A and a B but wasn't let in for languages. Boy I know needed A star A star A for natural sciences and got A star AAA and wasn't let in. It's half and half. Lots of parental begging which I'm sure doesn't make much difference.

It seems harsh but on the other hand there are lots of kids who do well at A level who aren't given an offer in the first instance. All goes back to my strongly held belief that a pre-qualification admission system is MADNESS.

@Vargas My understanding is that Oxford offers for the candidates it wants at grades they ought all to meet/exceed. Because there are very few who miss their offer grades, Oxford doesn't factor in a big drop out rate. Cambridge uses the A Levels as more of a differentiator, making a higher number of offers but setting more stretching targets that a bigger % of applicants will miss. I wonder whether this approach is intended to keep students on the boil through their final year in school- an AAA offer for an AAA* student could lead some to take their foot off the proverbial gas. That was certainly my experience with an EE Oxford offer (a million years ago).

Moving away from discussing/being bitchy about different colleges … how good a singer do you have to be to consider the choir audition? Not choral scholarship but DS got email re choir and you get free food when singing and some fab trips. Does he bother trying as more amateur or not with it as he hasn‘t done any singing exams? And his singing was for school productions only

No harm in trying it. I auditioned for one of the university orchestras, and we had great free trips. That got me into the College one automatically which was also fun. Good to meet people from different courses too, and have something planned thats not work.

@OMiDaze - come on! What is the point in your comment? You go to Cambridge, you go to Cambridge - that's what's important, not which college. The majority of girls don't apply to the women's colleges because they are 18 and, you know, interested in boys! But of course they will meet/socialise/work with/make friends with boys...they can have overnight guests and will come to realise the advantages of not sharing bathrooms with men 😂

FWIW my DS is at one of the very pretty, central colleges and has friends across various colleges and without fail, everyone seems to love the college they end up at and thinks it's 'the best' (including those at women only colleges) - but no true snobbery re 'this one is better than that one'.

@lanadelgrey - would also be interested in this.

It definitely looks fun - not sure but I guess some choirs are more prestigious than others. It came as second email after the offer. So not sure if that is particular to Magdalene

I would rather be at ME than Kings.

Oo why @Lobbygobbler ? Friend's son's first year room (actually rooms) at Kings was insanely lovely.

DN got an offer for HSPS at Corpus Christi. Very unexpected as he didn’t think he would. Plan was he would stay at home and travel to a v.good RG uni where he already has offers. From a state school in one of the most deprived areas of UK.. Dsis is bricking it now due to costs (she doesn’t live in E or W so uni fees were she is are much lower).
DN needs A star A star A.