To set the scene, I was, in the past, a very capable student at the beginning of my GCSE course with predicted A*s and As all over, with reports now to provide to universities if necessary. As things transpired, however, a number of events led to a medical absence of around 5 months, plus affected performance in year 11.

Due to these personal circumstances that have, this year, resulted in 3 months worth of ongoing police investigations and a severe knock to this years exams my school is putting special effort into constructing an additional reference explaining these circumstances. My question to you is, in your own experiences, how sympathetic have Russell Group/Oxbridge universities been to circumstances that could potentially leave me with A-levels at a C/D grade when my school is certain that otherwise I'd have achieved more?