Is it harder to get into Westminster School than Oxbridge?

[ramennoddles]

I heard a rumour it is more competitive to get into Westminster than Oxbridge? Is that true?

I would say it's much harder to get into Oxbridge as a 13-year old than it is to get into Westminster... I would also say that schools like Westminster attract a high proportion of aggressively competitve, arrogant parents who like to throw around ridiculous rumours to boost their already over-inflated egos if their children get in, and make themselves feel better if they don't, and that is what this rumour demonstrates above anything else...

The tough bit is having the money to fund it -Oxford university on the other hand costs no more than other universities and you get student loans.

Because comparing it with Oxford is conferring on it a status which it does not deserve, especially when the first question for getting in is, "How much money do you have?"

anniehm and JustRichmal - your comments are far too sensible for this thread.

DD1 didn't even get an interview for 6th form entry at Westminster and has recently graduated from Cambridge.

That answers the question, then.

Oxbridge places are also open to people who aren't very rich, so no.

DD1 didn't even get an interview for 6th form entry at Westminster and has recently graduated from Cambridge.

Conversely, a friend of DD got into Westminster for 6th form and didn’t get an interview at Oxford!

So the thread must go on!

So the thread must go on!

Unless - twist! - the person at Westminster didn't apply to Oxford, and as a result didn't get an interview!

Unfortunately I can confirm that she did indeed apply to Oxford but no interview was forthcoming.

Umm Westminster isn’t just for the very rich. I’m pretty sure Westminster still has a substantial bursary fund plus Queens scholarships. In my day, there were even kids who not only paid nothing to attend but also had a grant towards uniform and extra curricular stuff and I am led to believe that is still the case.

Bythebeach:
But you haven't answered the all-important question: did you get in to Oxbridge?

Nope

I hear it from a friend QuaterMiss and I also saw it on another mumsnet thread.

*heard it

I recently read Andrew Lloyd Webber's autobiography (picked it up for £1 and very interesting in fact).

He went to Westminster and described a system in um late 1960s or so where almost everyone from the school was admitted to Oxbridge via special closed scholarships (!). He was too engrossed in am dram or similar to apply for these in time so had to sit the entrance exam for Oxford like the hoi polloi and he was the only person in his year at Westminster who went via this route.

Do they still have these closed scholarships? If so, there should be an outcry!

I

There is certainly no longer a relationship with Oxford whereby Westminster pupils are automatically admitted. That went many many years ago!

My DD went to Westminster for the 6th form. In her year about 50% of the pupils got into Oxbridge. However that still left 50% who didn’t get in. In fact, if anything, I think it can now be a disadvantage applying from a school such as Westminster.

In fact, if anything, I think it can now be a disadvantage applying from a school such as Westminster.
Are there other schools where more than 50% get in?

I don't think any other school can claim 50% Oxbridge but QE (a state school) does very well too but it is a super selective.

Ha, I did enjoy that JustRichmal - ‘a feeble 50% got into Oxbridge. It’s kind of a disadvantage to go to these exceptional schools.’

www.westminster.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Further-Information-October-2018.pdf

Of the remaining 50%, 25% went to top London universities, and 10% went to top US universities. Of the ‘50% who didn’t get in’ I would wager a fair chunk didn’t apply to Oxbridge in the first place as they were going somewhere either better, or better suited for them.

Hi everyone, do any of you know roughly how many boys apply to Westminster sixth form on any given year?

I read somewhere 20 new boys joined this year vs around 10 in the past. I am curious what the competition is like for boys as there are far fewer places than 90+ places for girls?
DS is aiming for 2020 entry and will sit their entrance exam next year. Any insight would be helpful and most appreciated!

bambinomom that is a really good question that probably deserves its own thread - this one is mainly filled up with puns and the like! You may have better luck asking it in the forum under its own auspices.

Good luck to DS!

Surely the relevant question is not 'what percentage of Westminster kids got in to Oxbridge' but 'what percentage got in compared with the number of those same children who would have got in if they'd gone to school elsewhere' - which is of course much harder to answer. Also, I think this Oxbridge obsession is misplaced. A friend of mine works at a top indie, and they're constantly trying to persuade kids against applying to Oxbridge as a default - because it doesn't suit everyone, because sometimes the course you want to study is taught better elsewhere, because sometimes studying in the States would be the 'gold standard ' option. Oxbridge is not the be all and end all.

Absolutely Brisklady.

DD did not apply to Oxbridge as she wanted a medical degree with a more hands on approach. Similarly we have known people opt for the Courtauld for History or Art, Northumbria for Product Design, and so on. One of DS' peers went straight into acting, another into Forumula 2 racing.

A good number of their peers who did not get places at Oxbridge despite applying, were aiming for the more competitive degrees: Cambridge NatSci, Engineering, and Economics, or Oxford E&M or PPE, and and medicine at either, and preferred to go elsewhere rather than opt for a less competitive subject. And certainly for DS and some of his friends their preference for Cambridge over London was not that large, if it existed at all.

As a pp suggests, the school put a lot of emphasis on pupils doing their own research into courses, and not automatically assuming that Oxbridge was the be-all and end-all.

I do not see them not getting Oxbridge places as a failure of the school. Instead I see it as a sucess that both went to University well prepared for the step up and the different style of study.