With Oxbridge taking less and less private school students, is it still worth it??

[SillySmart]

stats shows that the number of private educated students Oxbridge enrolled has dropped 1/3 in the past 5 years. Any thoughts?

From personal experience of sending DC to different schools- academic private schools which are selective to get into create an ethos of hard work- where doing well is expected and children strive for this and take pride in success- you’re not called a nerd or a swot. I think it’s easier for children to slot into working hard within a framework like this.
Some comprehensives may also create this learning atmosphere for their students and if a child can do it for themselves- that’s brilliant. I imagine parental support is also key.

Sorry I thought she used fewer

A young woman I know went to Cambridge and left with a first. She was home educated, never went to a school of any sort.

It’s not looked at negatively- they are just, rightly, redressing an imbalance. Given that only 7% of children go to independent schools the % at Oxbridge and top unis still far outstrips this. I say this as someone who teaches in a v academic independent.

Good how smug would you feel if you home educated and your kid got a first from Cambridge!

The universities are aware of this trick & look at where GCSEs are taken.

I agree with @ProudToBeANorthener. All that is happening here us that 'state' schools generally means 'selective' by academic ability (like that school in London) or by house price. The middle classes with the sharpest elbows, who can afford tutoring etc. I have no skin in this game, my 2 aren't Oxbridge material but are at private school.

The real shame is for the very clever really disadvantaged students who won't get the opportunity. It would be easy to filter this properly but it isn't being done - now I wonder why that is? Laziness/arrogance on the part of the unis?

The other real shame is that the education and exam system in this country is not allowing the cream to go to the top. The layer of cream is now half the glass. Too many are getting the 'gold standard' 9 at GCSE and A star at 'A' level. More rigour is required although I dread to think the hand wringing if little Jonnie 'only' got a B or C at 'A' level, people forgetting that this was the norm back in the 70's and 80's.

To answer the OP, people send their children to private school for many more reasons that top grades and getting into Oxbridge. Life isn't just about exam results.

I feel smug enough that my DC was home educated for most of junior school, joined Y6 just 3 weeks before SATs (long story - she wanted to take them!) & got the highest marks in the class. And that is really quite insignificant compared to university 😂my head would explode from the swelling.

@Nimbostratus100

going state for the last two years doesn't get a student classed as a state school applicant any more

Is that actually true? So a student who attended private school until GCSE but switched to state for A level is counted as a private school applicant in the statistics?

There was a survey in Cambridge a few years ago which demonstrated that the students with the highest likelihood of getting a place (about 1 in 3) were those who’d done exactly that (so state school only for final 2 years) versus approx a 1 in 4 chance for everyone else. Which is just one of the reasons people keep doing this.

Yes the GCSE results will be compared against the average for the school you attended at that time (not your new state school) but I was under the impression that you were still counted as a state school applicant if successful in gaining a place.

Oxbridge are very mindful of increasing the proportion of state school students so if you have 2 applicants both of whom attended the same private school for GCSE with identical results, the one who switched to state for A-level is perceived to have the advantage. This is definitely the perception among the many families I know doing this here in London. But happy to be corrected!!

I just want to add that it’s not just Oxbridge. There’s a general feeling among families I know here who send their kids to private school that all universities are discriminating against them and I’m seeing many switching to state school for A-levels in an attempt to get around this.
But I have no clear idea of whether it’s actually true or not or just a perception pushed by the media

There’s a general feeling among families I know here who send their kids to private school that all universities are discriminating against them

Oh this is absolutely delicious, sorry.

Playing the worlds tiniest violin here

Yes, exquisite.

@cosmiccosmos the main problem Oxbridge have is that the truly bright kids from non selective state schools just don't apply. They can't select them if they've not on the UCAS application in the first place. This is what the outreach work is all about to try and convince those not in the know that Oxbridge could be for them too.

It's a competitive world out there and just getting the best of the kids in the selective schools is not enough- they need the best from everywhere to keep their status. It's partly levelling up but also economically essential.

@pleaseandthankyou45

what a twatty comment!

you're making out that students at private schools don't work hard. They have to earn & deserve their places too.

yes, class sizes are smaller at some etc, but they still have to study & work hard to achieve good grades.

I’m a bit worried that private education might be looked at negatively by top universities

I hope it is. I’m all for an equal society myself.

@TheaBrandt
agree it is the world’s tiniest violin 😂 (& my DC are at state school so not an issue that personally affects me) but I’m curious as to whether it’s true or not.
The perception is that it is true and so these families are switching to state school for A level or looking more at the US for university than they would have done previously.

I’m not sure what to think about it all but I guess one good thing is that perhaps the perception that Oxbridge is now positively discriminating in favour of state schools might dispel that old idea of ‘Oxbridge isn’t for people like me’ that used to prevail

Yes @carben I agree, it's not reaching the children it should. I wonder how rigorous the outreach is, it just seems strange that there is no desire to really get the brightest, they just seem to want to control the filtering of the 'bright'. The exam results alone should be filtering and it isn't.

Imo the UCAS process is also not fit for purpose.

@WinterMusings Students at private school are privelidged. They start at an advantage to any state school student. One tiny example, you are allowed graphical calculators in A level exams. Where I teach, no students can afford them. So before walking into the exam, private school students with the better calculator are at an advantage.

This whole thread doesn't reflect well on private school attitudes.

Buying a child an unfair advantage isn't really a level playing field is it. I think the Tory's did drop levelling up though.

Why shouldn't more and more children from state school get into Oxbridge? Is so awful.

I agree

No. It’s pretty unblushingly ‘I’m not getting the advantage I paid for’.

Totally this - "This whole thread doesn't reflect well on private school attitudes."

"There’s a general feeling among families I know here who send their kids to private school that all universities are discriminating against them"

😂😂The discrimination of being privileged 🙄

🤣🤣