Do Oxbridge like to see a MFL at GCSE?

[kitnkaboodle]

My son, Y9, is choosing options now. He's possible 'Oxbridge material' in Maths/Science/Tech as long as he keeps on the straight and narrow. His school are advising all top sets/kids with their eyes on university to take French as a GCSE option. DS does fine in French, is top set, but doesn't like it. With all the other subjects he's going to be doing, I can see him possibly getting 'only' a B in it (or new equivalent). For A levels he'll almost certainly be doing Maths and Sciences - currently has vague ambitions to be an engineer.

Does anyone know if Oxbridge actually care what subjects kids have at GCSE level, or whether they are only interested in their GCSE grades, or if, in fact, they don't look at GCSEs at all and are only interested in your prediction A level grades?

I took Oxbridge entrance over 30 years ago, and I know that then they required you to have a Science O-level. I didn't have one, but I had Geography, and that was allowed to count.

I'll post this in Further Education board as well - thanks!

I'm not sure you have to live and breath a particular subject GinandJag.

Has she considered PPE? (aka "The Passport To Power!")

What Oxbridge actually care about is excellence in and passion for the subject chosen for study. I've seen kids with quite a spread of grades get offers when they show they are really outstanding in subjects relevant to the proposed area of study. I used to do Maths admissions for an Oxford college and an MFL was not on our list of things to worry about, nor do I suspect it is now, nor the friggin' EBACC, which would be regarded by many admissions tutors in tech subjects as an arbitrary list of topics that M Gove liked and of no relevance whatsoever to admissions. Computer Science is a good choice now it's a real subject rather than playing with Office. In any event a couple of Bs outside the main area of interest is not going to hurt that much.

Schools obsess with the EBACC only because it affects their league table standing. This is not a remotely good enough reason to let if affect your kid's choices!

The trouble with PPE is that it is one of THE most competitive courses to get onto. The competition from the top independent schools is fierce. You do, truly,have to be very bright and dedicated to get onto this course. However there are other courses that are less competitive. No-one has to be one dimensional about their subject. My DD loved lots of things! Art, drama, singing, history, politics but academically was strongest at MFL. Being confident at interview was a help. Also,there is no pre test for MFL. The tests are done at interview.

The stats show it is not necessary to have all A* at GCSE but more than 5 is good. No need to have 12 or 13 though. Taking GCSEs early is not counted in Best 8 either. 3 sciences, 3 Maths and Computer science sounds like an overload of stem to me and not a broad curriculum. Where is design technology? This is possibly more useful than stats to an engineer.

A candidate does not get eBacc without a MFL or ancient Language so whether computer science is in it or not makes no odds. DH is a Civil engineer and they employ specialist computer staff for their IT and buy off the shelf programs. Everyone does. Industry standard procedure. Aeronautical engineering is not available at Oxbridge. Bristol and other RG universities do it.

My DD will probably apply for Economics, but I think she is a bit too modest for PPE. :). In February of Lower VI, she is undecided, so probably not Oxbridge. DH living vicariously through her so pressure encouragement.

In any event a couple of Bs outside the main area of interest is not going to hurt that much

I think that may well be the case. DS1 had a couple of Bs, ironically both in MFLs which peeved him greatly, and possibly on at least one perhaps I should have supported a remark on a highly questionable paper. Was not a barrier however to a place at Cambridge to read a subject rated 1st in all 3 of the league tables and at one of the high ranking colleges. May well get the boast in early and not be remotely stealthy about it either I'm not convinced having MFL at GCSE made any difference whatsoever.

That said this was a couple of years ago now. With the effective demise of AS things are increasingly different. Cambridge have announced today that they will be (re-) introducing pre-tests across the board for 2017 applications, so by the time your DC gets into any potential application cycle the picture may be different again.

I have been involved in Cambridge admissions in the past and we didn't give a toss what subjects GCSEs were in as long as they looked sufficiently bookish and there was a clutch of some good grades in there.

I would add it is perfectly possible to get into Cambridge with no GCSEs as it is not an admission requirement and obviously the UK is the only place they are usually done (apart from Singapore etc still sometimes doing O'Levels). So no overseas students have GCSEs, and mature applicants sometimes don't have many 16+ qualifications either. In such cases we looked at things like Access courses and so on.