Oxbridge applications 2027 entry

[Justlurkingmostly]

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

Cambridge told us at the open day that they try to give 2 weeks’ notice for interviews but I don’t think I know of anyone who has had that much notice!
Our local schools do an interview practice evening where all the Oxbridge candidates are given a mock interview by a teacher from a school other than their own but I’m not sure what else is available.
DD is currently away on a school trip so no prep is happening for anything at the moment!

DD says there is marking of essays and harmony being done in preparation to hand in. Nothing for interviews though - I guess that's still a way away.

Her subject has no entrance tests (Cambridge), and she's just got her predictions which are fine, GCSES too. I think for music they interview most who COULD be offered a place, so she is prepping on the assumption she's likely to be able to sit in front of someone and do the in-person tests. Whatever happens after that is in the lap of the gods.

Might be being overconfident there.

Music seems to have gone back to interviewing in person this year at many colleges, which makes sense I guess. We did help her pick on that basis, as I think she'll find online actually more stressful and it gives you less of a feel for the place.

Back in the day when I interviewed at oxford I had a fabulous three days 9 (!) interviews at different colleges - weird joint honours subject.

It was a lot of fun and the students looking afer us put on drinks parties every night. Sometimes I miss the 90s.

Idk about C but Ox has some good info on timings of when interviews will take place by subject on the website, see below — I think notification can be anywhere from 2 weeks to a few days beforehand, depending on department or college.
DD will have a mock interview at school and if any Welsh SEREN programme YP on here they have a mentor scheme linking them with a current undergrad on their target course and I think DD’s will also do a mock interview with her. Other than that there are lots of question banks online so she will start having a look at those and practise talking through her answers once UCAS goes in. I can’t be of any help with her subject and I don’t think she will want me listening in and putting her off haha

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/interview-timetables

Can I join please? DS applying for Physics at Oxford. Finished his personal statement last night (his sixth form deadline is today) and will now be locked in (apparently) for ESAT practice. It's a lot isn't it?!

DD is on second draft of personal statement, I’ve done a line edit for general sense and tense consistency which she always has an issue with. It’s going to her History teacher next but they’re not looking to submit until the week of the deadline so a few weeks and few more revisions yet.

Interview prep - sixth form college organise practice with another college. I have also suggested she do some Teams calls with adults we know simply because she hasn’t done any Teams calls and the basics of talking on camera could help make her more comfortable. Ideally she’d watch back a recording of herself but obv that feels very cringey. Good for spotting any odd things one does that practice can iron out.

Still not quite decided whether to apply to Magdalen as it is the most popular so has the lowest offer rate. Wadham looking like the next favourite.

Her other choices are
Durham (first choice if no Oxford offer as asks for Astar so higher than Oxford’s 3As)
York
Warwick
Bristol

No interview prep provided by school. He's had one teams meeting with a friends son who went to Oxford. But for maths, they said it would be entirely maths based, so not sure what prep, outside of maths, would be needed.

All prep at the moment is TMUA based, as bad TMUA score would mean no interview anyway.

No school interview prep here either and no friends who went to Oxbridge. ESAT prep is the priority as I don’t think there will be an interview with a low score anyway.

DS is applying for Engineering and I think the interview (if he gets one!) would be all Maths and Physics which he loves talking about anyway!

My DDs interview prep is arguing with her dad at the dinner table about politics. I’m not sure what else really although I guess when she’s chosen some work to submit (if asked) then we could talk with her about that.

She wants to do history at cambridge so no admissions test or exam. I haven’t seen her personal statement although she assures me it’s under control and she plans the show us the last draft.

I dont know how she will fare to be honest. She’s bright and thoughtful but not super committed or focussed.

We shall see ….

I think his college do some interview prep with them. I don’t think I had appreciated though how close to the actual interview dates they’d find out, so no idea whether college prep them anyway in case.

He’s got a meeting on Monday to go through his form then hopefully submit if it’s all ok I think, their internal deadline is next week.

He’s hoping he might get some quick offers from some of his other options, I don’t know what the normal timescales are.

Oh, heavens.
Ive just discovered the "My Cambridge Application" mandatory supplementary form. The version i saw was 47 pages, most of which was already on ucas....
The joys!

What is this hell of which you speak?!!?

@BumpyaDaisyevna get yourself a glass of wine before you start
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/how/cambridge-application

Most of the form won’t be relevant. You’ll only get the bits that are relevant to your application and you can only put on there things that aren’t already covered by your UCAS application. Dd is expecting hers to be really short - just a few bits relevant to the Cambridge specific course (she’s applying for a different course elsewhere).

Thank heavens they won't see all of that! It looks most offputting. We had parents evening last night. Mainly positive - no problems we didn't know about except the comment that DD is 'the busiest person in the school'. Coursework heavy plus conservatoire apps means a lot of balls to juggle this term. By the time she gets to the exam hall she'll already have finished the equivalent of one and a half of three and a half a levels (three and an EPQ).

Anyone else feel this is the crunch time.. she's terrifed she's going to get sick, or miss something.

Yes me! Dd is also busy. A grade 8, a vocal competition, the school play and the ESAT just in this half term! Another grade 8 and two concerts in the second half.
She’s currently away on a field trip but as she’s the only FM student away they are continuing with the syllabus and so she’ll have 13 periods of maths to catch up on over the weekend! No coursework or EPQ fortunately but she does 4 A-levels.
No sign of her slowing down. She dances outside of school and I’m hoping that she will drop tap after this term - she’s the only one at her level left and they’ve moved her to be with some younger ones which she’s not enjoying so much - the rest of her class have all gone to uni this month.
I’m not sure how to help her manage all her stuff with the academic workload too. She loves to be busy but struggles to say no and then gets overwhelmed.
DS just played one sport so was much more manageable!

Hi 👋🏻
2nd year in a row of dealing with the oddities of oxbridge applications here!
Eldest applied to Cambridge last year (ESAT and interview, pooled but didn’t get an offer - which was a shame as she did achieve the grades. Moving into Durham this weekend)
I took her sister to the open day at Oxford last week… and now we’re going through it again! Currently trying to come up with a good insurance choice for her application (English) as her current list has very similar entry requirements! Sheffield is on the list as she really enjoyed the open day and we’re going to Warwick in a few weeks time. Durham is now out because her sister will be there 😆

A closer look at entry requirements mean we've had to rethink the Insurance destination if no aspirational offer transpires to firm up.

Sheffield fits the bill. We'll visit next month which we hadn't planned on doing (wish we'd gone in the summer). Would you mind sharing what your DD liked about Sheffield @NurseRunner ?

She really enjoyed the English subject talk; the structure of the course, and the speakers - including a newly graduated student - were clearly very enthusiastic about their chosen subject!
Also, the vibes (her words!) Even though it’s a city university, everything felt close and very walkable. She liked the library - very important to her. All the student ambassadors she met were great, answered questions easily and felt genuine in their replies!

I have a foster daughter at Sheffield doing linguistics - they've been great. It's a fun city, nice and near lots of hiking - climbing is a big thing. The accom is good and very affordable and she's made friends.

I'd recommend.

I’d be interested to know the range of “standard” offers that people’s DCs are applying for as I’ve just had this conversation with dd. She’s
predicted 4 A stars so what would be a good insurance level? She’s applying for STEM with Cambridge/Imperial likely to be the highest offers (subject to getting them of course!) with York as her “backstop” at AAB. I think this is probably plenty “disaster territory” enough although she’s wobbly about it.
When I did this with DS (not an Oxbridge candidate but also a stem subject) his offers ranged from AAA to BBD!

We also have York as the backstop @QueenMabby - three a star prediction but I think one of the predictions is aspirational.

AAB is as low as hers go. I think you also have to think about whether the other choices with high grades often actually take lower ones - so for example both my other DD and my foster daughter didn't hit their offers (one did on remark) but they both got straight in. Most of their friends did too even when they didn't get their grades.

Mind you conservatoire is two Es- which is quite an extra insurance if DD is offered a place at one. One of the kids at DDs school still did not work and missed it though!

and if it all goes wrong, there's always clearing...

DD will get a reduced offer of AAB for her likely insurance, and says she’d rather resit (may have a look at clearing) if she doesn’t achieve that

I'm curious too!

DD2 is also predicted 4 A stars. She will be submitting her UCAS application this weekend* with just Cambridge and Durham, says she'll add her other backups later (choices depending on how ESATs go and whether she gets invited for Cambridge interview). She's thinking of Bath and Leeds, amongst others.

*Still hasn't let us read her personal statement but promises it has been OKed by her teachers.

Dd really liked York. She’s applying for the BSc rather than the integrated masters course so as to get the AAB offer. I’m just twitchy as DS missed his firm offer by one grade in one subject and they didn’t take him! He ended up in clearing as he decided he didn’t want his insurance and actually got his original second choice which he hadn’t put as his insurance as the offers were too close together. Serendipitous as he’s very happy there but an anxious time.