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[LeDix]

I am starting this thread in response to my DD's not receiving an offer from Oxford yesterday. She is disappointed, but hasn't taken it too badly, so that could be worse I suppose. Trouble is she gave so little thought to other universities, and her UCAS application was so specific to the course at Oxford we are a little bit worried that she might not even get other offers. Her second choice would be Durham but the course there is very very different to the one at Oxford, so we could imagine them reading her personal statement and rejecting her out of hand!

The college DS applied for said the feedback gets sent to the school by the end of Feb so I guess it’ll be there by Monday but hoping/assuming they’ll hold off on sharing it till mocks finish at the end of next week so it doesn’t dent his focus. Am not expecting any detail but interview score would be interesting. If it’s lower than those who got offers - which I suspect DS’s may be - then will assume that was a deciding factor so something to work on for internship process etc. If it’s not that, then with DS it may be entrance exam score. I think overall the answer is always a version of ‘other people were stronger options’ but will report back if we get any more detail.

Also I believe they take into account nature of school attended

Indeed but private schools’ main selling point is ‘we will get your child to university, to the best ones if they are bright and to decent ones if they’re average.
What they do is give the students confidence, articulacy and the ability to do well in interviews.
I had a good clutch of A levels and even an S level but was tongue tied in interviews, couldn’t sell myself at all.
I went to a uni that made me an offer without an interview.

My DC got feedback. Genetic. Very good interview scores and one excellent score. Exceptional MAT score and that was it. Unable to provide any more detail than this!

Perfect GCSEs and A-Level results.
State school, non-contextual.

I believe they are not too keen on gap year students and felt he was not the right fit for their style of teaching, despite very good interviews 🤷‍♀️-it’s still a mystery to me 😆.

I don’t necessarily agree.

Some of the very brightest people underperform in interview as they are used to their exceptional paperwork proving how good they are or they are running many scenarios in their heads and triple guessing/anticipating questions.

Some average candidates (and their parents) get accustomed to the self promotion that interviews demand. Very clever people see more of their own flaws so it feels very false to boast and they don’t want to do it. Average candidates can transcend all this.

Imperial Math offers have started to come out today. Still waiting here.
Good luck to others still
waiting too.

Finally good news for us, Dd got offer from LSE to study law today. Massive relief after Durham rejection last week.

Huge congrats to your DC, amazing. Is this their preferred?
My DC just got ICL 🙂

congratulations to your DC AprilMay 75! Well done 💐
She is very happy and relieved, she wanted to go to London so very happy to receive offer from any London university!
I must admit that we didn’t realise how competitive Law admissions are.

Congratulations! So much better to go to LSE than to Durham!

A bit more good news here… DS received an offer ( for CompSci) this eve from Warwick, strangely enough while in Durham for offer holders day on Saturday. Hope the wait is over soon for all of us and our DC, seems like a lifetime! And congrats to all who have their long-awaited offers.

Congrats @Nuffalreadyon the Warwick offer! My DS was there for OHD recently and it swung him over to making Warwick his first choice for compsci. Is yours favouring Durham or elsewhere? All great options!

@pinkdelight DS will be choosing Warwick as first preference, but did love the Durham college environment. Warwick trumps his other options for CompSci in terms of reputation of the course and we had a really positive open day there, but unfortunately he’ll miss later offer holders day as it clashes with an exam (he’s doing IB). Exams really are just round the corner so it’s all getting quite real!

CS at Warwick, great choice. My DC has mates there, loving their course and loving Warwick Uni.

@Ceramiq Absolute rubbish for law. Makes no odds at all!

@AprilMay75, @ProfessorLayton1, @pinkdelightCongrats to all your DCs, seems they’ve all got great offers now, disappointment of January does seem light years ago, for us at least! I can allocate my stress quota to just worrying about achieving the grades now…

And thanks for Warwick positivity @AprilMay75!!

Well done all great outcomes. I have to admit some relief at not having the pressure of achieving the Cambridge grades which would have been likely A*AA compared to Kings AAB

Yes, all offers in now and Oxbridge forgotten about. My DC has grades as a gap year student so just needs to make up their mind and firm an offer. Good luck to all your DC for A-Levels. Keep updating as I’d love to know where they all end up 😀

Great to hear the Warwick positivity. And thats' fantastic about the lower grades @BurnoutGP esp for a top uni like Kings. It must help a lot to ease pressure.

Hesitate to mention as don't want to reopen any old wounds, but we've belatedly realised DS qualifies for the August reconsideration pool at Cambridge. He didn't read his rejection email properly - stopped after the bad news bit bless him, so only just noticed the ARP bit. Anyway, it's extremely unlikely to lead to anything and all advice is just to treat it like a super longshot raffle ticket and commit fully to firmed uni, so that's what he'll do. Gotta get the grades for Warwick anyway so all focus going on locking in for revision. Good luck to all DC swotting away!

I wasn't commenting on the course but on the university.

Why do you think law is better at LSE?

Please don’t worry about reopening old wounds @pinkdelightwhen reconsidering Cambridge for your DC. Obviously I can’t speak for all, but this is a really supportive thread and I’m sure everyone would be delighted for you and your DC whatever choice they make. Feel free to share your woes and triumphs here!

Thanks for that @Nuffalready, chances are it’ll just be a weird bit of extra tension on results day for no gain then onwards as planned. Just another part of this strange experience in which this thread is so helpful. 🙏

I don't, I think LSE is better than Durham.