Oxford/Cambridge and abstract thinkers

[bruffin]

We had Yr9 parents evening last week for DS 14 last week.
DS is doing really well especially in Science, Humanities,Maths, technology and ICT.

He has just been assessed to see if he can get extra help for GCSEs because he has dyslexic type problems mainly with spelling/writing.
DS's school is one of the most improved comprehensives in the country and have had got 5 students into Oxford and Cambridge in the last 2 years. This was a school that 7 or 8 years ago only 13% managed to get 5 A-C gcses (not necessarily including maths and english)

Now Ds hasn't even chosen his options yet and we weren't really thinking beyond yr9 so we were quite shocked when his science teacher started talking about university, His teacher feels that he is Oxbridge material. It is very clear from nearly all DS's teachers that he thinks differently from the others, he shows keen interest and asks thought provoking questions.
I get the impression that although there are other children with slightly better results they see DS as "different" and seems to stand out from a class of very bright children. His teachers know him well as most of them have taught in Yr8 and his science teacher taught him maths in Yr7 and science Yr8. I didn't get the impression this was a "standard" talk either.

Are abstract thinkers what the top universities are looking for?

DS doesn't really know what he wants to do for a career yet but it will probably involve science\technology\engineering.

"he shows keen interest and asks thought provoking questions."
DH (Oxbridge physicist turned engineer) would say that these were signs. A real interest in the subject and an ability to develop thoughts/arguments should be very attractive to an admissions tutor.
DH is dyslexic and and was the first from his school to get into Oxbridge. He had problems with writing and reading at school and didn't get wonderful O Level results but excelled when he did A levels.
Good luck to your DS, but don't forget that there are other very good universities apart from Oxford and Cambridge in science and engineering.

Obviously it's early days bruffin but I think you should take the teachers seriously. It's true that there's often "something" about the children with greatest potential, the way they think about things or the kinds of questions they ask, that marks them out at exactly that sort of age even if their actual results are only good in a fairly unexceptional way (there are after all limits to how probing or creative you can really be at GCSE).

Also - keep an open mind about his particular disciplinary strengths. Ime the very brightest are often capable of excelling in many areas, and sometimes what catches their attention is more to do with where the best teaching is at a given point, or which subject best accords with their particular level of maturity/interests at the time. Don't let him be labelled too rigidly as a scientist so early. Creative abstract thinking applied to specific data is the key skill behind excellence in all disciplines (e.g. history, linguistics, philosophy, economics, law as well as maths and sciences).

(I am an academic btw - at Cambridge currently but have been at Oxford and elsewhere too.)

Congratulations. I think you should take them seriously, and I second what arionater says about not letting him be labelled as specialising in any one area too early - there's time to thinka out that when A-level options come around.

Hi thanks, we do get similar comments about his thinking from his humanities teachers. His RE teacher last year said he would love to teach DS for history.
The only academic subjects he doesn't do well in are MFL which I think is mainly down to lack of confidence because of the dyslexic problems.

Your post makes sense aronater as I could never quite understand why his history teacher would say he is outstanding at history yet others in his class were getting higher levels. His writing abilities just need to catch up with his brain I suppose.

His interests have always lay with science and technology but he really doesn't know what he wants to do yet.