How many members of your immediate family got into Oxbridge?

Poll

How many member of your family

So, something that I find quite odd is that people seem surprised when it comes up in conversation that quite a few members of my family have gotten into Oxbridge (4/5 kids) but whether you believe in nature or nurture surely it would be more likely that if one member of a family has been to Oxbridge then its more likely that the other members would go as well, or am I over simplifying? We have the same parents, have been to similar secondary schools and got very similar gcse results (8*s 2As-10* (no Bs)) so I always thought it would make sense if we all ended up at similar universities, no?

Along with oxbridge, i'd be interested to see about other top universities, Imperial, LSE etc.

I hope this doesn't come across like bragging :s-smilie:

, that's really not the point of this thread; I don't really think its something to brag about to be completely honest.

Edit: poll added, for current offer holders, let's saying having an offer is the same as going to Oxbridge. To neggers, sorry if i offended you :s-smilie:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1

MangoFreak

17

To me it does seem odd, although I'm sure there's a reason behind it; I've actually heard about more siblings all going to Oxbridge than one might think.

I don't think it's more likely though. I know more people who will probably go to Oxbridge (myself included, hopefully) without siblings who seem to have a chance than people with. Still, this is based on what people think, rather than what's actually happened, so it could turn out differently.

Reply 2

cant_think_of_name

15

Sister is there atm, I got rejected. Parents both got rejected as well :wink:

Reply 3

Donald Duck

15

A poll may be good? (you may want to include the option: I've not been to oxbridge, as people may otherwise misinterpret).

Reply 4

rawragee

11

My mum went to Cambridge, my dad was accepted to Oxford but didn't go, my sister got rejected and I didn't apply as I want to do a course not offered :smile:

Reply 5

username129099

15

I'm the first generation of my immediate family that have had the option to go university, I would think that would be a large part of it. Kids generally grow up in similar circumstances to their siblings, go to similar standards of school, same parenting. Also parents tend to pass along any benefits to their children.

This current generation is the first where really anybody within reason can go to any university. Before the support was lacking for people not in the know, not financially able to support themselves, or in some cases not of the right background. Both my parents finished school at 16 and got a job, because that was what you did. I think that attitude has changed now.

Reply 6

Robbie242

Well if this counts my cousin is the first to go Oxford this September for Law, and my Auntie is a professor at Warwick except from that none of my core family actually went to uni

Reply 7

Redolent

10

Most of my family never went to university at all, let alone Oxbridge.

Reply 8

RibenaRockstar

14

It's also in part due to attitudes to education. My family went from being very working class to very middle-class over the space of one generation thanks largely to education - and the grammar schools of Birmingham.

Both of my aunts on that side of the family went to Cambridge - and in general we have a huge emphasis on learning in the family, at least four teachers in my immediate family.

It only makes sense that someone who's always encouraged to read and find out about stuff would be more likely to get into Oxbridge than someone for whom there is no emphasis at all on learning in the household.

I got an Oxford rejection, btw.

Reply 9

tooambitious

OP

16

Original post by Donald Duck

A poll may be good? (you may want to include the option: I've not been to oxbridge, as people may otherwise misinterpret).

Is there a way to add an option for people to fill in themselves because otherwise there are too many options :lol:

Reply 10

tooambitious

OP

16

Thanks so much for the responses so far, really interesting :smile:

Reply 11

AvadaKedavra

One of my parents didn't even go to uni, and no one in my family has gone to Oxbridge before... As someone before me mentioned, in this generation the financial help will ensure most can go to university - not an option that was really open to my parents, my dad just got a job right away.

I think there is likely to be a link though - one family I know has sent 2 out of 3 children to Oxbridge (the third applied but rejected)...
Probably though once you've got one in, you know how the system works etc. Here's hoping said nurture helps my little brother get a place in a couple years' time :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 12

Octohedral

16

Only me. My parents were the first in their family to go to university, and never really had it as an option, and my sister is too young.

But yes, it wouldn't surprise me if a family unit all had similar attributes. Getting into Oxbridge isn't a random draw.

Reply 13

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

My older sister did her PhD and undergrad at Oxford and I did my undergrad there too. My younger sister didn't get called for an interview but ended up at Nottingham Uni's med school, which we're incredibly proud of her for :yep:

She's just about to graduate!

My dad went to LSBU when it was called North London Polytechnic or something like that and my mum went to music college, in the days where they gave out diplomas rather than degrees.

I do know of people whose whole nuclear family are Oxbridge-educated :eek:

Reply 14

AvadaKedavra

Original post by RibenaRockstar

It's also in part due to attitudes to education. My family went from being very working class to very middle-class over the space of one generation thanks largely to education - and the grammar schools of Birmingham.

Both of my aunts on that side of the family went to Cambridge - and in general we have a huge emphasis on learning in the family, at least four teachers in my immediate family.

It only makes sense that someone who's always encouraged to read and find out about stuff would be more likely to get into Oxbridge than someone for whom there is no emphasis at all on learning in the household.

I got an Oxford rejection, btw.

Oh I like this :smile:

I'm one of those products of a Birmingham grammar school myself - although my parents were quite working class not long ago, and weren't expected to go to university at all, they became keen readers and theatre-goers later on in life and gave that emphasis on learning to me from a very early age, which I am pretty sure helped me get into grammar school and now Oxford :smile:

Particularly when my parents were young (I'm not sure about now, really) there seems to have been a big difference in attitudes to education across different groups of society - it wasn't even considered that my parents might go to university, even though in hindsight my parents' A-levels/BTEC scores weren't bad and they could have gone to decent establishments.

Reply 15

Tabzqt

Almost none of my family went to Uni.
My mum went to Leeds to do Linguistics, that's about it.
not at oxbridge but thinking of applying if things go well.

Reply 16

AspiringGenius

15

Lol none of my family went to university. :smile:

Reply 17

RibenaRockstar

14

Original post by AvadaKedavra

Oh I like this :smile:

I'm one of those products of a Birmingham grammar school myself - although my parents were quite working class not long ago, and weren't expected to go to university at all, they became keen readers and theatre-goers later on in life and gave that emphasis on learning to me from a very early age, which I am pretty sure helped me get into grammar school and now Oxford :smile:

Particularly when my parents were young (I'm not sure about now, really) there seems to have been a big difference in attitudes to education across different groups of society - it wasn't even considered that my parents might go to university, even though in hindsight my parents' A-levels/BTEC scores weren't bad and they could have gone to decent establishments.

Yes, we have grammar schools where I grew up in Buckinghamshire, and I was always a dead cert for passing the 11+, it's designed for bookish kids like me :tongue:

And of course I was taught to be bookish by my family members who were teachers.
And that's, I think, why teachers have the most important job. My great-grandma (I thiiiink) would have finished school at 13 like most people of her age, only her teacher saw she was bright and went to persuade her parents to let her go to the high school where there was a scholarship. She went to teacher-training college and the rest is history.

Reply 18

-raisa

I'm the first person in my family to go to uni (so obviously the first person to get into Oxbridge)! My parents were immigrants, so they never had the chance to go to uni at all.

Reply 19

HK786

11

zero

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