Oxbridge applications 2027 entry

[Justlurkingmostly]

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

If your DD is open to it, start discussing some of what she's reading. It may help her feel more comfortable discussing academic content, using appropriate vocabulary, and eventually challenging one another —all of which will help in interviews.

There’s a real danger to overthinking the college thing, particularly with the pool system. Lots of people end up at colleges they didn’t choose and go on to love them.

DD applying for engineering and was going down the same hole. In the end I asked her to consider the three things most important to her and she came up with 1) centrally located 2) interview in person not online and 3) the way she felt when she walked in, including the whimsy factor and people and it then made things very easy. We also went and looked round Newnham and Murray Edwards as there’s always a chance of being pooled to them as all girls colleges.

She’s pragmatic. Of course she’d love to go there but admittance rates are only about 15%. She’s going to give it her all and if she doesn’t get in then it’s just not the right place for her. She’s invested in giving it her best shot so she has no regrets rather than getting the place.

I just said to him "which college has given you the feels when you visited" and he answered with no hesitation! So yes, I think we (possibly me!) were over thinking it.

If DC are struggling to choose a college they could do an open application.

DS knew that going to Oxford was more important that a specific college so did an open application.

His subject has a lot of students though, so there were plenty at his college.

DD’s subject was much smaller so she chose the college with the highest number of students doing her subject.

DS is considering whether or not to reapply to Maths at Oxford with grades in hand.

The sticking point is whether or not he’ll be in the country to sit the TMUA as he’s working all around Europe during his year out!!

I'm confused. What do you mean by your last sentence? Everyone has a firm & insurance place, whether that's at Oxford, Cambridge or Plymouth.

The big risk with Cambridge maths is Step. Around half meet their A level grades but lose their place because Cambridge fudge the Step results.

Students applying to universities via UCAS select their firm and insurance choices. Unfortunately for students applying with A-levels (as opposed to IB or AP tests), A-levels aren't released until after students make this choice.

So, applicants receive their A-level predictions > make applications > receive offers and then need to make their firm and insurance choices (before they have their exam results). So if a student has their top 5 choices ranked A to E, and university A gives a conditional offer of AAA and uni B gives the same or A*AA and the offer from uni C is AAA, a student might firm uni A and make uni C the insurance choice (to increase odds of not completely losing all their top options). In this process, unis B, D and E become irrelevant.

I find it a bit of a backward system. I can see why it works for universities to predict enrollment, but I think it adds unnecessary stress to the process.

DS is applying for engineering at Cambridge. I’m not completely convinced it’s the uni he is best suited to, but he wants to apply and he’s realistic the odds aren’t high anyway. His personal statement is nearly there I think, but currently slightly over the limit the last I heard.

He looked at quite a few colleges in July but hasn’t made a decision yet.

Err, yes, slightly patronising.

Perhaps you could do what DD did. Accept an Oxbridge offer and put your second choice in as the insurance place, knowing that getting the A level grades is the easy bit, but STEP will probably be the deciding factor.

Just learning to navigate a whole new world. Certainly can't work out where I was patronising.

I presumed insurance would be the safe bet. The one with lower grades... But, as an example, he could choose Imperial as insurance even though it offered same grades, but doesn't rely on STEP? (As he will already know TMUA by then as he's sitting that in October)

@justteanbiscuits Insurance is the safe bet and you're correct that Imperial is likely a safer bet than Oxbridge as he'll have TMUA in hand. However, a lot of 'what ifs' come into play. What if the Oxbridge offer and Imperial offer are nearly identical? Let's say both require A*AA. Is he certain he'll reach those marks? Certain enough that he's willing to risk having no offer in hand if he doesn't?

I think it's a matter of how safe he wants to be in this process. In the above example, if he selected his third choice uni as his insurance, that might be much, much safer. But, is that what he wants? There will be many decisions to be made. I hope all goes smoothly.

Thank you so much for this.

I will definitely take the advice on board and start this with her.

I think it all comes down to how “safe” any particular child is for their UCAS grades / offers they hold. If Astar A A is likely to be comfortable (and presumably would be for someone applying to Cambridge for maths and taking the Step) then Imperial would be fine as an insurance even if the A-level offer is the same.

Subject to liking it next week dd may also have Imperial on her list and is likely to be in a similar situation. We’ll assess in the Spring term once offers are in and she’s done mocks.

If it’s helpful, my ds picked his firm and then had his insurance as a lower offer. He missed his firm on results day (not Oxbridge) and decided he didn’t want to go to his insurance uni. He ended up going to his original second choice uni via Clearing which was still at the original offer they gave him (one grade down in one subject from his firm offer)! Still a top 10 uni for his STEM subject so it can be flexible albeit possibly not at the top-most institutions!

Sorry for additional questions - this is all very new to me.

So, they choose their 5 to apply for in October / January, then wait for offers and choose their firm and insurance on the back of that?

He has done visits already to all five, and study days at 4 of them, so is pretty set on his choices! I've been trying to get him to visit others just to broaden his horizons, but like I say, very set on his choices!

Yes. Firm and insurance choices don’t need to be in until May sometime so plenty of time to see how work is going and to go to offer holder days etc.

Hi, joining. DS is applying to Oxford to read English. Not decided on a college yet. He is predicted AAA but has ‘good but not amazing’ GCSEs so who knows. He is naturally good at english, always has been, not so good at talking about it atm but he’s getting lots of practice and has been on an intense reading and thinking regimen over the summer including entering a couple of essay competitions. We are going to go to Oxford and walk around in a couple of weeks. Luckily no entrance test for English! DD did ESAT last year and is about to start at Imperial, so it’s all coming thick and fast!

Hello, DS has just started Y13,
To support him with his uni application and TMUA prep, we found a tutor online. Unfortunately that tutor has been unreliable. I have asked on his year group whatsapp and got no recommendations (large comprehensive).
i dont want to pick another random tutor from Google.
can i ask if someone has a good TMUA tuutor to recommend? Please DM me Thanks in advance.

My son's tutor is a maths student at Cambridge (doesn't have any spaces though I'm afraid) - so that might be a good route for looking for one. Son found him on youtube!

On youtube?!! God i feel old!!! 😅
i went onto a new tutoring platform and contacted tutors who had 5 star ratings… hopefully no disappointing surprises this time around

Opinion please! TMUA is booked for 3.15pm, about 30 mins away. Would you let him take the whole day off for revision / warming up the brain cells? He has double further maths that day which would get the brain cells running though :D

Definitely go to school for the morning. Come home at lunchtime. Eat and drink well and then head off.

Hello all, my son just finished his GCSEs and really want to go to Oxford for a very certain programme that is not offered anywhere else, it's not very popular and very few positions as well. Alternatively, a MFL program there. He got his GCSEs and got 6 9s, 3 8s and a 6😔. I am really worried that this six is going to cost a lot. He is in a private school and is going to do IB instead of A levels. Do you think the 6 is prohibitive?

What subject is the 6 in@Beenthere02 and which course is he interested in? He could email admissions to ask for clarification.

As long as the six is in an unrelated subject @Beenthere02 it shouldn't be too much of an issue, especially if his A-Level predicted grades are good.

I thought I saw on this thread but maybe it was elsewhere that oxford treats 8s and 9s the same and then gives 8 points for an 8 up to a total of 64 points and by that measure your DS would have 64 points. I didn’t make it up but can’t find it now….