Help me understand Brighton College

[4U2]

Please help me understand Brighton College, as it continues to remain an enigma in our books. Its ethos tends to be similar to that of Wellington, with a strong PR push and very good GCSE and A-levels and Oxbridge rates.

Normally there is a good correlation between a given school's performance at inter-school competitions and Oxbridge/Ivy/medical school acceptance rates, as one would expect that these universities would look beyond grades only. E.g. Winchester gathers around two dozen medals at science olympiads, and medics are around 9% of leavers, Merchant Taylors and Sevenoaks around a dozen medals in science olympiads, and medics are around 6-7% of leavers. A similar pattern holds in Model UN results, which tends to translate well into Oxbridge/Ivy acceptance rates in humanities.

I am not aware of BC getting any special recognition at these large inter-school competitions like Model UN and math or science olympiads, or at least they don't seem to advertise it (and I am sure that if they had they would🙂). The pupils we have seen at BC don't seem to come across any better than those at other the top schools, and seem to be more in league with Wellington than Eton. How it is possible then for BC to beat most of the top schools in terms of Oxbridge and medical school acceptance rates is a mystery to me.

It makes sense that if a school focuses strictly on the curriculum, then there will be stellar results in the GCSE and A-levels league tables. But surely Oxbridge/Ivy and medical schools will be looking for more in a candidate than just top A-levels?

In my opinion, I won't send my kids to BC prep school, It is just a big block of flats. So much stress for kids and parents who are trying to get into the senior School, not worth that stress. But once you pass the 11+ or 13+ you are safe in BC. They don't cull students in senior school especially the first 2 years before GCSE. Some day students who leave school after their GCSE mostly move to the local selective state Sixth Form called Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC) to save a big lump of cash. Every year BHASVIC receives more than 40 offers from Oxbridge. In 2021 there were 56 offers from Oxbridge. It is ranked 5th in the UK. Some of the pupils with an Oxbridge offer actually come from BC with their beautiful GCSE results. So BC are not really culling students. Those pupils just move to a better place for free education. I attached a form here for anyone who is interested about Oxbridge offers in 2021. Then you can make your own judgement.

Thanks for sharing the data table. May I ask, can you share the link to it or the source? Thanks so much.

This table I downloaded form a foreign website. It might be out of date already. Here are two English links where you can see the source of the information.
www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-oxbridge-files
whichschooladvisor.com/uk/guides/which-state-schools-get-the-most-students-into-oxbridge/2

At BC students are asked to leave if they're not doing well. The students that do not go on to do their A levels there have generally been told they're not good enough. The DC are worked very hard at BC which is why they get good marks. Lots of relentless HW. I know this for a fact from parents and teachers there.

Thanks for sharing

That's exactly the point @West66 . WinCol boys take home dozens of medals at science olympiads every year, which is the only objective way to differentiate within the A* top sets. I really don't think that the top sets at BC get anywhere near science olympiad medals, in spite of being a 2x bigger school. Same pattern holds in other inter-school competitions like debating and model UN.

Academically speaking, the top sets at WinCol seem to wipe the board. Kudos to the teachers and the boys. Which is why it seems really unfair that WinCol gets fewer boys into Oxbridge (18 pupils or 12.4%) than Brighton College (28 pupils or 13.8%). WinCol boys also come across as more mature and well-spoken, so that cannot explain the difference.

Did I miss something?

If you want to compare success in the competitions you mention vs Oxbridge acceptances at the two schools, then you might have to looks more closely at the applications of students. You seems especially focused on the Science Olympiads. So for example, do we know how many students from each school apply specifically to Oxbridge science subjects? Or are BC students applying to proportionately fewer Oxbridge science subjects?...and therefore getting in to Oxbridge via non-science subjects? I'm just saying we need to get very granular if you want to do this analysis.

Olympiads were just an illustration which is easy to follow due to their scale, concentration and widespread recognition. The same pattern holds in debating and model UN contests, you can check on google if interested in details: there are no meaningful BC achievements in these well-recognised inter-school competitions. Yet the Oxbridge offers rank BC really high... but why?

@4U2 , you will never know the full reason but the Oxbridge applications process should be taken into account and BC has a lower profile than Winchester. You may be interested to know that currently Eton won't let their pupils apply for PPE because no Oxford college would accept an Etonian and Eton has the same issue with Law - it's many years since Eton had a Law offer from Oxford regardless of the quality of the candidates. Winchester may have the same problem when their students apply. I'm sure you are aware if the main aim of your dc's education is to gain an Oxbridge place then they should be in the state sector.

Good to know @hockeygrass this is valuable and intriguing. Thanks for sharing. If this is true then it is also rather unfortunate, as I would have thought that the idea of 'more state' is to promote ability not background.

I also realised that WinCol doesn't publish the number of medical school leavers, although I am hearing around 9% medics (once again ag BC's 11%) but that is hearsay so cannot be sure really.

Do you think there is a similar reason lurking behind the scenes?

(Off topic, but when I grow old or if I have an accident, I would want the most able to be my potentially life-doctor, not the most politically favoured...)

It is true for the current lower 6th Etonians.

Anything you read and if you follow the Higher Education section on MN you will see everything is being done to give the best pupils all over the U.K. equal opportunity to apply to Oxbridge whatever their schooling and opportunities to enter external competitions. Even today The Times has reported that the Newnham college Cambridge essay competition will be open to state school pupils only in future.

Agree, if the aim of a parent and student is to go to Oxbridge, isn't it obvious that you go to state not independent school? I would always recommend to someone to go state if they want to go to Oxbridge more than anything else.

There are plenty of threads and articles on state vs private re Oxbridge. What I am more keen on is to understand the enigma of Brighton College, which has the same (or better) facities, resources and provisionings than many other highly academic independent schools.

BHASVIC isn't selective, in case any one is interested. People probably think it is because it gets such brilliant results.

Actually BHASVIC is selective in that you need to achieve certain grades to get in for certain subjects, there is an interview process and if you don't do the set work you get thrown out.

The "enigma" is they don't have many outside awards but send many kids to Oxbridge. Fair enough. How does the outside awards/Oxbridge ratio look at Westminter, Kings, SPGS etc? Is there also such a discrepancy?

I wonder if the focus on Oxbridge is where the analysis falls down. Schools like SPS will soon be sending almost as many to the US as to Oxbridge, and I know it’s often the same children who have offers from both. Perhaps Brighton is a less international cohort so is more focused on Oxbridge?

Schools like SPS will soon be sending almost as many to the US as to Oxbridge, and I know it’s often the same children who have offers from both

True that many UK private schools are encouraging Ivy League applications. Increases in UK fees and a perception (well founded or not) that Oxbridge will take a state school applicant over a private school candidate if at all possible make an application to an Ivy League more attractive. Ivy League also factor in extra curriculars which can give some applicants a distinct advantage.

But it is actually quite hard to get an offer from both while still in 6th form as the application processes are pretty demanding and it would be hard to do two in parallel.

I had two at bc that went to oxbridge, one humanities and one science . One with four A ** star at A level and one with four A star and an A. I don't remember the science olympiads being a big thing, certainly not something that was pushed for. Ds had been on a debating team at prep school that won a national competition but at bc it wasn't really a massive thing, they did a bit but it wasn't pushed again.
Music, sport and drama are much more pushed, talked about but assume that's the same anywhere.
There isn't a massive intake of clever kids from abroad at sixth form, super wealthy maybe ! It is very selective at any intake though and academic students from abroad are sought that's for sure.
The workload is intense from 11 onwards , mine often had several hours. Night of work to do despite not finishing school till 5.30, again would assume same at any of these schools being talked about.
Really don't believe admission tutors are naive enough to think that these are students from an underperforming school , the head is very active in the media, as was the previous head. It has won loads of school of the year, decade, universe type awards, it's quite clear that it's as pushy as anywhere else.
So I don't know what the answer is in short !

Many thanks for your insights @Lolabalola and congratulations to your DCs, looks like it worked out really well for them and they were at the right place at the right time. Could you please enlighten us a bit more about your impressions of Brighton College, certainly the best and the greatest but also the not so good and the not so pretty? Happy to also PM if too intimate or sensitive to share on a public forum.

@4U2 sorry I can't work out how to pm you on the new site 🤣
If you know how, pm me and I will reply.
Otherwise if you are looking for a secondary school I'd say you can't go far wrong with Brighton College,whatever your child's interests are. If oxbridge really is the be all and end all, you might be better off in the state system but it depends what kind of education, academic and life , you are looking for for your child really.

It is a lot of work to do a parallel UK & US uni app process. That said, we are talking about highly capable students. And in London at least, the American uni push is significant and definitely growing. Longer term, clearly some of these British students that go off to the States for uni, they will decide to stay and not return. Good for America, not so great for Britain.

OP you seem to think Oxford and Cambridge tutors are stupid, ill informed and naïve. Why you would want your child to be taught by such people is a mystery.

Perhaps, instead of assuming what they must or must not take into account, and what must or must not influence, them you could do some research? Maybe even speak to some at open days for Oxford and Cambridge colleges?

Admissions selection in sciences focuses on GCSE and A-Level results, a demonstration at interview that the applicant can think critically and problem-solve, and that they have the capacity to benefit from the tutorial system.

Pick the best school for your child. Support your child to be the best person they can be during their time at that school. Celebrate them whatever Higher Education establishment (or none) they end up at.

Not at all @BeBesideTheSea don't think you have understood at all what I meant and I must categorically refuse your hidden allegation. I am still trying to find an explanation for what seems to be a mystery to me, for which no-one could provide a satisfactory explanation thus far. Tongue in cheek humour is simply meant to emphasise only that frustration, and it is miles apart from what you seem to claim to read into it.