Oxbridge applications 2027 entry

[Justlurkingmostly]

Starting up a new thread for anyone whose YP might be applying this autumn for entry next year!

Can I ask about work submissions for Cambridge.

There’s a deadline, early November apparently?
Anyone know when in November?

And are people already clear on what they are sending??

I don’t know if the same for all colleges / subjects. but for Pembroke (history) it is 4th November.

my Dd said she has discussed with her history teacher whose also head of sixth form and she knows what she is doing. This teacher has sent her some essays to do in the half term holiday and then I will guess they will choose two.

I don’t think the essay has to be perfect it’s more a starting point for the interview which i guess is basically like a history supervision would be each week.

I’ve just said to my Dd whatever you send in make sure you can talk about it 🤣

4th for everyone, dd says. I know the work has to be marked by a teacher so basically something they've been working on in school. For DD it's an essay and a harmony exercise. She's probably sending something from English or history as she says music essays are a bit formulaic. Or some of her EPQ.

Once again seems like we are on the back foot coming from a school that doesn’t have much experience of Oxbridge applications.

DS has not been given any help from school or History department…

@namechanged221
Could he have a word with his history teacher the Monday he goes back?

I guess if he sends in his best two bits of work so far he should be fine. I do think it’s supposed be a bit like going along for your supervision and seeing how you can develop what you’ve written, think further about it. I am not really sure why my dd is writing any more essays to be honest as I’m sure a couple she’s done already or her EPQ (which was on a history topic) would be fine. However I’m not interfering!

I think my DD has been really lucky with her school (rural comp in the northwest) - they only send probably one kid to oxbridge every other year but they do have a “competitive courses” offering for those applying to oxbridge vet and med, one of the teachers took a group of them
ovr to queen’s oxford on an outreach thing and they’ve clearly helped with personal statements, choosing essays etc and I think they will do a practice interview with her if she gets one. They’ve got four kids including my dd applying to oxbridge this year so let’s hope they all get offers 🤞

She’s been really lucky that the two teachers who are the heads of 6th form and who lead this small competitive courses stream are also the lead teachers in her two main subjects, history and English.

has your ds seen this video which I think is a helpful example of what the interview might be like.

The essays are just meant to be ones done in the normal course of their A level work that show annotations and mark from the teacher. Can be homework essays or ones done under timed conditions I believe. My dd is choosing ones she did last half term that she’s happiest with.

I can empathise. DS had to advise DD and it was a lot better than she had from school. DS school started their personal statements in May and they were advised, revised etc by subject specialists. Then he spent the summer holidays prepping it further. DD had hers read by Head of sixth form the Friday before it was due in and got negative feedback. It was pretty bad but I didn't really know how to help. Luckily DS advised her (completely different subject, he's Chem and she's English) and she rewrote it herself - wouldn't even let me me see it. Her school has never sent anyone to read English. So... I don't hold out much hope for interview prep and I'm not sure DS's Chemistry help will be particularly relevant.

Thanks!

Yes, he’s been to an outreach and learned about the interview process etc.
It was great, Jesus college paid for a coach from the north east and 4 children went from his school along with children from some other schools. They got to stay in the college and were shown around and given their meals etc.

They had a great experience!

But his school haven’t been too helpful, no one has mentioned anything about getting essays ready or anything.

You're right, he can choose some he’s already done. But as it’s half term now he’s not got access to all of his marked work

Hope we can get it sorted in the first two days back after the half term holidays….

He’s thinking he should write something especially for this though!

Guidance from the school would be helpful.

I think as @Cheeseandquince said, they don't need to be written specially - this is from one of the college websites....

"You should submit essays that have been written as part of your normal school/college work."

Well this is what’s confusing. DS asked for clarification, and they said that what they want to see is evidence of essay writing ability, synthesis, analysis etc. And that it’s easier for them to judge if the content is in their subject, balkywick, purview etc.

As DS doesn’t need to do essays for music A level, he thinks what he needs to do is submit a couple of marked existing essays - including EPQ - and write one on music too.

Honestly. Working this stuff out is another way of sorting wheat from chaff!

The admissions teams at the colleges are so helpful. If anyone has questions about essays, what certificates/exam information to submit, have issues accessing essays over the holidays etc they will help and all have direct telephone lines too.

@herbaceous - what exam board does he do? There's a 15 mark question on Eduqas that apparently 'counts' as the essay, but DD says it is dull.

When we asked the student showing us round at the college DD has applied to what she had submitted she said an English Lit essay.

The Director of Studies for Music at another college said he would have been happy to see her essays from other subjects - Trinity Hall - the only DOS we actually met for the subject. He was SO nice.

He also indicated he would have liked to see a performance recording, if she had cared to send , which the college she has actually applied to doesn't want. So music does really seem to be a bit of a world of its own in terms of what each college wishes to see.

Is his EPQ music? DD also considering a bit of hers. It's not music analysis - more history, but musicy history IYSWIM.

Thanks all. His music A level exam board is AQA, which doesn't have any long exam questions annoyingly.

And yes - music seems to be an outlier re what admissions actually want, and what's more it varies from college to college. For example, Clare would have wanted to see a performance recording, but John's wants essays and composition.

DS's EPQ was about the impact of AI on the creative industries, so is tangentially relevant!

anyone else applied for clare cambridge?

No - Pembroke here! I asked DD if she had looked at Clare as looks lovely to me but I think it was just one of those she never got round to! What subject is your DC going for?

DS loved Clare. I wanted him to apply for it, but his heart was set on St John’s because of the choir. He wants to be a choral scholar.

We loved the Clare library - and the accom. Seemed like a really nice college. and we were shown round by some really lovely students. DD was a bit scared by its musical reputation to be honest. She's easily freaked out.

DH went to Clare and it’s a beautiful college. DD preferred the “still pretty but without being fancy” vibe at Sidney Sussex.

@RatherBeOnVacation when I was choosing whether to apply to oxford or cambridge, Sidney would have been my cambridge choice. Not just because of Sainsburys. It is pretty and a nice size! But to be honest, I'd have taken any of them - as would DD - she's very pragmatic when it comes to it.

As well as the choir, I think DS chose John's in the end because it's bigger, with more people doing music. So more chance to get in! And would get pooled somewhere similar, whereas as Clare was smaller he could end up somewhere else entirely. I can't entirely remember his logic but it seemed to make sense at the time!

Offer number 2 here, from Bristol, which it’s unlikely DD will firm but made her feel good. And Magdalen have acknowledged her application.

She’s finishing off a history essay for her teacher to look at tomorrow and having a video call with him on Friday to go over it. Half term eh!

Magdalen is beautiful! My DD loved it at the open day and would have applied there I think if she’d gone for oxford. Good luck to your DD! Great that she has a Bristol offer, they can be quite hard to get I gather!

My DD is writing an essay today too. She is very fed up she has to do it and upload it with all the teacher comments digitised and entered rather than just uploading a photo of it or pdf etc (is this all colleges or just Pembroke).

I asked her why she was writing essays and surely she has some already? But apparently it has to be an essay from her a level history course, not one based on “sources” and one that a teacher has marked and commented on 🤪
And while she has one good recent one in that category for one part of the course the last one she wrote for the other part was a long time ago and not the greatest.

So it seems Pembroke have been quite precise about what they want to see in terms of history essays.

Johns is lovely. They definitely win the prize for best cam college website - it’s amazing! It makes all the other college websites look like they date from the 2000s!

@BumpyaDaisyevna r.e. the essay - these are the same reasons DD is doing one too.
And thank you for your comments on Bristol and Magdalen. The downside of Magdalen's beauty is it's the most popular Oxford college so has an even lower acceptance rate (8ish % which does feel harsh), but I know we're all happy if they're pooled.