Oxbridge minimum 8 A* GCSE results ???

[rhubarbmum]

Is it true that Oxbridge require a minimum 8 A GCSE results for applications? I know a very disappointed 16 yr old who thinks he hasn't got high enough GCSE grades - he got 7 As and 3 As. Please advise. I looked on their website and it looks like they base their offers on A level (and AS level) alone.

Cambridge certainly interviewed DS1 with just 4A* at GCSE last year. He didn't get in, but he did get a long explanatory letter that said, in the end, that his maths was not quite strong enough on his AS score and that he had a tendency to shoot off at a tangent in interview (how true).

Some useful advice on personal statements from the Cambridge website:

www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/teachers/personalstatements.html

But again, we are very conscious that different candidates will have had lots of different sorts of advice about personal statements (some useful, some well-intentioned but largely mistaken), and so we bear this in mind. 'Extra-curricular' activities (if that's the sort of thing you are wondering about?) play only a very minor part, as ways of demonstrating various personal qualities. But there are lots of ways to do this - I am just as likely to be impressed by candidates who are juggling A-levels with a part-time job, for example, or with other sort of family commitments or illnesses.

If there are particular circumstances which are relevant, do encourage the school to explain these in the reference or in a supplementary letter - this can be really helpful to us as tutors.

None of this takes away from the fact that admissions are very competitive, but if applicants have the necessary intellect, talent for their subject and potential, they should not rule themselves out because of any well-meaning advice about what we are looking for. Each subject will have a detailed list of criteria on their Faculty admissions website, and we really mean what we say in those criteria!

Thankyou all, especially virelai, this is extremely helpful and reassuring. I went to Oxford 20 years ago and sat the entrance exam and was offered 2 Es! How things have changed. My nephew, in a state (selective) school was just starting to think ahead to Oxbridge (by which I mean either Oxford or Cambridge) and like many others today he did less well in English Language than he expected. These messages are all reassuring. He wants to do PPE and his A levels will be in English, History, Politics and Physics. He was predicted A*s for History and English and yet these were two of the three subjects that he got an A, although reading the news headlines makes me think he won't be the only one who got a slightly lower grade than expected for English. But that's another matter :)

I'll take him along to an open day, that sounds like an excellent plan. He's dyspraxic and has dodgy feet, so no chance whatsoever of any sporting achievements and little chance of him organising any activities out of school. He's very bright though and has an old head, IYKWIM. He's eccentric (he likes to wear a top hat), and he's been interested in Law since he was three (he used to come to my law lectures when he wasn't at nursery. I didn't go to Oxford). 12 years later he's still asking me about law cases and judgements. I have MS, he helps me when I'm unwell. He's not at a state school, the ones here are too large for him and he struggles to walk any distance because of his feet. He's also a bully magnet as his conversation skills don't quite match his age group, he'd rather talk about semi colons or grammatical errors on menus than girls or football. He wants to be a human rights barrister.

There's one in September Sybil and two in July. Parent are tolerated rather than encouraged and talks tend to be separate. Also accommodation isn't offered to parents - but perhaps you live near enough to travel there and back in a day? Or if that's not possible you could opt for one of the good and reasonable B&Bs.

Thank you, I'll take a look. His school encourage people to apply, so I'm hoping they will go. It should give ds the boost he needs (probably won't help him organise his homework though!)

I went to Oxford in 2003 with 6A*s and 4As (from a terrible comp) and three As and a B at AS level (from an excellent sixth form). I sat a language aptitude test at interview and received an AAB offer. I did get AAA at A level [smug].

As others have said, it does depend on school and subject, but those results make it worth a shot!

DD got 7 A* , 2 A, but a B in English.
She wants to study MFL at Oxford and is very disappointed at the English result. (Having been predicted A).
It seems that the English grades are down this year.
Does this mean she shouldn't apply to Oxford?

virelai - do you have any advice?

DH seems to think I should DOING SOMETHING. I am not sure what - if anything TBH.

I am really proud of her and I don't want to pour cold water on her achievement.

My children's school, which is a well known, selective independent has had no one accepted with fewer than 6 A for the past several years. *

Maybe that is because of the context of your school?

My Ds 'only' got 6A*s .They were in the 3 sciences, maths , FM and astronomy.But he got 100UMS across the board apart from one module of one subject, and I think that says more about his STEM ability than a B in Home Ec

before some pedant mentions it.That is apart from FM where he doesn't know his UMS but got A^ which I believe is higher than A

sorry missed the point, that he is still p[lanning to apply to Oxford.

3littlefrogs - that is still a very strong set of results, especially if she has A*s in language GCSEs. I'm not a MFL tutor, but we do deal with them quite a lot because of the English and ML admissions process. Here's a useful bit of the MFL website which explains the criteria:

www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/faqs#13

(see also the section immediately above on entrance procedure)

As you can see, GCSEs play only one part in a whole set of criteria. Her AS grades, A level predictions, written work, language tests and interview performance will be the decisive factors. One rogue B at GCSE would not count her out, even in English, if the rest of her 'portfolio' met the necessary standard (and if the school felt strongly that the B was explained by particular factors, they could say that briefly in the reference). I can't make any promises, but it is all still in her hands and all to play for.

She might like to cheer herself up by starting to explore this site:

staircase12.univ.ox.ac.uk/

Essentially, there is no point making a final decision until you have the AS grades and A2 predictions. Dealing with the disappointment might be the key thing here - if she does apply in due course, she will need to accept that we turn down far more than we accept, and she may be in that majority of disappointed applicants (who were just beaten by candidates with yet more potential). But she may not, and the only way to know for certain is to apply if it seems realistic to do so.

Thanks virelai. I will show her those links.
Apparently most of her friends got lower than expected English grades.
It seems to be the same in many schools.
Several people got all As and A*s but B in English.

3littlefrogs honestly, a B is fine.The absence of a B at GCSE won't count her in nor will the presence of a B rule her out.

Thanks molio.
I didn't go to university so it is all a bit baffling to me.

Also your DH is being daft and panicky and not in the least a help. How absurd - tell him so; what a girl.

Just to wind him up (as he deserves it), our school increased its A* count in Eng Lang, so not all exam boards plummeted. Nevertheless I still don't reckon that does your DD out of an Oxbridge place, per se.

If you intend to study MFL at Oxford, it is important to have an essay based A level so you can submit something from this subject for your written English piece. This has to be done by mid October and DD agonised over what to send as she had very little A2 work marked at that stage. Schools who know what they are doing give their students a big advantage here because they advise on what piece of work to send in. This counts for a lot. She needs to show strong writing and reasoning in a piece of work and that is impossible in an MFL A level. So doing Maths and Biology, for example, would be a problem in addition to MFLs.

Sorry, cross post. A B is fine. But tell the Dad to stop fretting because that could hinder your DD more than anything else. Over anxious parents are bad, end of (as my eldest (Oxford) DD would say).

He will settle down.
He is just accustomed to me being able to sort everything out.
I have told him we need to gather information and remain calm.
He will be fine now because I have told him I am doing lots of research and information gathering. (I haven't specifically mentioned mumsnet, because he will want to know a whole lot about that too).

a friend of my dc got into cambridge last year with just 1 A* GCSE (from a bog standard state school).

This is such a useful thread, I've only just found it!

Virelai, your information is so interesting, as my DS is hoping to apply to Oxbridge. He's just got 9 A*, 3 A and one B, so has done well and we're hugely proud of him, but I was particularly interested in what you said about extra-curricular activities not being that important, as this has always worried me a bit with regard to Oxbridge entrance.

DS is utterly unsporty and utterly unmusical and has considerably fewer activities than some of his mates who seem to play every sport under the sun whilst tootling on a clarinet with one hand and sawing on a violin with the other. But he's bright, extremely articulate and passionate about science so maybe he's in with a chance!

LadySybilLikesCake your DS sounds absolutely fab! I love the thought of the top hat!

Obviously you find a cross section of people at Oxbridge and if no-one was sporty there would be no teams. If no-one sang, there would be no choirs. Most able young people however, do more than just school work. Oxford won't ask you about it at interview but an awful lot of their students will do more than just study for A levels. Paid or unpaid work, volunteering and doing other things to support their application are all worthwhile. So I do believe something extra is a good idea, and if it is relevant, it adds to the application.

"My children's school, which is a well known, selective independent has had no one accepted with fewer than 6 A for the past several years. *

Maybe that is because of the context of your school?"

Well yes. That was my point exactly.

"a friend of my dc got into cambridge last year with just 1 A* GCSE (from a bog standard state school)."

But presumably with 8/9 As.........

a word of warning on the extra curricular side - i don't quite agree with milly about the personal statement showing other interests.

it is demonstrably true that the students at oxford and cambridge have many talents at national and international level - but thats not why they get in. time and time again both universities say they don't care about the extra curricular unless its relevant to the subject. so volunteering in a care home if you're applying for medicine or teaching in a school in South America if you're wanting to do spanish but if its rowing or NYO and you're applying for maths, they just don't care. the admissions process is entirely focussed on the subject you want to study.

so any extra curricular stuff should be relevant to your subject. or you just enjoy it for what it is.