prediction **** up

Right. Got rejected from oxford couple of weeks ago without interview invite. I had gone through my mourning period and accepted my fate. I was mad for the next few days but mostly at myself.

Now I found out people are being predicted As and A*s eventhough they got Bs and even Cs! at AS level. And these people are gettin interviews!

I got All As and got predicted Bs.

Believe me when I say I am FURIOUS!

After taking this to the Uni thingy coordinator she kinda called the college I applied to and sent an e-mail but......is it worth it?
would they even reconsider my application after making a decision?

I really don't want to make a big fuss about it if there's no point.
Anyone had a similar experience?

And if there's no point in arguing the case now...would it even be worth taking a gap year to re-apply?

I have the feeling I'll live the rest of my life swallowing all my what ifs if I dont

Thanks
and sorry for it being so long

Reply 1

hobnob

14

Original post by R3L4Y

Right. Got rejected from oxford couple of weeks ago without interview invite. I had gone through my mourning period and accepted my fate. I was mad for the next few days but mostly at myself.

Now I found out people are being predicted As and A*s eventhough they got Bs and even Cs! at AS level. And these people are gettin interviews!

I got All As and got predicted Bs.

Believe me when I say I am FURIOUS!

After taking this to the Uni thingy coordinator she kinda called the college I applied to and sent an e-mail but......is it worth it?
would they even reconsider my application after making a decision?

I really don't want to make a big fuss about it if there's no point.
Anyone had a similar experience?

And if there's no point in arguing the case now...would it even be worth taking a gap year to re-apply?

I have the feeling I'll live the rest of my life swallowing all my what ifs if I dont

Thanks
and sorry for it being so long

It's really unfortunate that your teachers predicted you Bs without telling you about it, but I think at this stage it's probably too late to do anything, as interviews are already underway. :frown:

For what it's worth, though, there's a good chance that you actually were rejected purely on the basis of your predictions, as that's one of the easiest criteria for pre-interview 'deselection'. So if that is what happened, it might make sense to reapply, but you should definitely check with your college first, to make sure that it really was the reason for your rejection.

Reply 2

Woostarite

9

What course did you apply for?
Your invitation for an interview is not based solely on your predicted grades but also your GCSEs, and possibly most significantly, any Oxford aptitude test that you took. If you had done well in the latter, your college would have probably given you the benefit of the doubt when observing the low predicted grades.

EDIT: And yes, I can imagine it will almost certainly be too late now.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 3

hobnob

14

Original post by Woostarite

What course did you apply for?
Your invitation for an interview is not based solely on your predicted grades but also your GCSEs, and possibly most significantly, any Oxford aptitude test that you took. If you had done well in the latter, your college would have probably given you the benefit of the doubt when observing the low predicted grades.

I'm pretty sure that will depend on the subject, though. If a subject gets relatively few applicants and they can afford to interview pretty much anyone who applies, they may give someone the benefit of the doubt, but for the more competitive subjects, tutors have to reduce the numbers. And rejecting those applicants whose teachers (for whatever reason) apparently don't believe they will be able to meet the standard offer requirements makes perfect sense in the context of hundreds of applicants who are predicted to meet those requirements and a university policy of hardly ever accepting people who achieve less than AAA... The application FAQs pretty much state that unless the reference mentions extenuating circumstances (which I expect wouldn't have been the case here, considering that the OP didn't underperform at AS) the chances of someone who has, or is predicted to get, less than AAA are close to nil (see answer to question #6).
So I'd still say it's quite plausible that it was the predicted Bs which tipped the balance for the OP. :dontknow:

Reply 4

R3L4Y

OP

1

Original post by Woostarite

What course did you apply for?
Your invitation for an interview is not based solely on your predicted grades but also your GCSEs, and possibly most significantly, any Oxford aptitude test that you took. If you had done well in the latter, your college would have probably given you the benefit of the doubt when observing the low predicted grades.

EDIT: And yes, I can imagine it will almost certainly be too late now.

I applied for maths. And yes I had to sit the MAT but I managed to somehow logically answer all the questions. I don't think I did brilliantly but I also dont think it was as bad as to reject me only based on that either.

I do have some GCSE problems since I had to take the german equivalent within a year of gettin to germany. Which is why I'm paying to see my references cos I told my tutor and teachers they should mention that (I didn't have enough space on my PS)

And I was hoping to stay a bit optimistic at least til friday cos the interviews for maths start on sunday. But I know what you mean - slim chance. Yet ..I feel like I still need to fight for this.

Original post by Revolution is my Name

What exactly did this email say, then?

It was asking for feedback as to why I got rejected cos they didn't even mention any reasons in the rejection letter.

Original post by hobnob

I'm pretty sure that will depend on the subject, though. If a subject gets relatively few applicants and they can afford to interview pretty much anyone who applies, they may give someone the benefit of the doubt, but for the more competitive subjects, tutors have to reduce the numbers. And rejecting those applicants whose teachers (for whatever reason) apparently don't believe they will be able to meet the standard offer requirements makes perfect sense in the context of hundreds of applicants who are predicted to meet those requirements and a university policy of hardly ever accepting people who achieve less than AAA... The application FAQs pretty much state that unless the reference mentions extenuating circumstances (which I expect wouldn't have been the case here, considering that the OP didn't underperform at AS) the chances of someone who has, or is predicted to get, less than AAA are close to nil (see answer to question #6).
So I'd still say it's quite plausible that it was the predicted Bs which tipped the balance for the OP. :dontknow:

It says that 80% of ALL applicants get shortlisted for interview. So don't know. And I did tell my tutor and teachers to mention why my GCSEs weren't the greatest (3A*, 6Bs and 1C) but since we are not allowed to look at our references there's no way I could make sure they did.

Reply 5

hobnob

14

Original post by R3L4Y

It says that 80% of ALL applicants get shortlisted for interview. So don't know. And I did tell my tutor and teachers to mention why my GCSEs weren't the greatest (3A*, 6Bs and 1C) but since we are not allowed to look at our references there's no way I could make sure they did.

... meaning that one in five applicants doesn't get invited for interviews, and they have to find some way of determining who that is going to be. :dontknow:

Again, practically everybody who applies is predicted at least AAA, which makes sense, because that's the standard offer. In a few cases, that may be an optimistic prediction, but for the most part, people probably will end up with those grades. So to be fair, there's not much of an incentive to take a gamble on an applicant who isn't predicted to achieve those grades by inviting him to interviews, unless he did exceptionally well in the admission test or submitted the best written work samples they've come across in fifteen years, or something...

Obviously this is all just speculation, though. There's nothing more you can do at this point except wait for feedback from your college, I'm afraid.

Reply 6

Az00123

it'll be closer to 50% for maths applicants interviewed this year if they follow the trend of the last 3 years
http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/facts_and_figures/undergraduate_admissions_statistics/courses.html

Reply 7

R3L4Y

OP

1

Original post by hobnob

... meaning that one in five applicants doesn't get invited for interviews, and they have to find some way of determining who that is going to be. :dontknow:

Again, practically everybody who applies is predicted at least AAA, which makes sense, because that's the standard offer. In a few cases, that may be an optimistic prediction, but for the most part, people probably will end up with those grades. So to be fair, there's not much of an incentive to take a gamble on an applicant who isn't predicted to achieve those grades by inviting him to interviews, unless he did exceptionally well in the admission test or submitted the best written work samples they've come across in fifteen years, or something...

Obviously this is all just speculation, though. There's nothing more you can do at this point except wait for feedback from your college, I'm afraid.

I know right?! And I was so happy with accepting I wasn't good enough until my friends told me they got interviews..grr...Even if they don't reconsider my application I still want to know Why. I mean WHY tha fck you know...thanks for the advice anyway. x

Reply 8

stacey93

Original post by R3L4Y

It says that 80% of ALL applicants get shortlisted for interview. So don't know. And I did tell my tutor and teachers to mention why my GCSEs weren't the greatest (3A*, 6Bs and 1C) but since we are not allowed to look at our references there's no way I could make sure they did.

Unlucky mate you must be gutted. Just so you know, it looks like it's more like 60% who get interviewed for maths at Oxford:

"Applications will be shortlisted on the basis of the test score, together with information from applicants' UCAS forms, and those shortlisted in the UK and Europe will be invited to Oxford in mid-December for interview. Around 3 applicants per place will be shortlisted for interview (which, currently, represents around 60% of the field)."

That's from http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/specimen-tests btw
So hopefully that makes you feel a bit better :biggrin:

2 in 5 people don't get an interview xxx

Reply 9

Doubledog

8

Original post by R3L4Y

Right. Got rejected from oxford couple of weeks ago without interview invite. I had gone through my mourning period and accepted my fate. I was mad for the next few days but mostly at myself.

Now I found out people are being predicted As and A*s eventhough they got Bs and even Cs! at AS level. And these people are gettin interviews!

I got All As and got predicted Bs.

Believe me when I say I am FURIOUS!

After taking this to the Uni thingy coordinator she kinda called the college I applied to and sent an e-mail but......is it worth it?
would they even reconsider my application after making a decision?

I really don't want to make a big fuss about it if there's no point.
Anyone had a similar experience?

And if there's no point in arguing the case now...would it even be worth taking a gap year to re-apply?

I have the feeling I'll live the rest of my life swallowing all my what ifs if I dont

Thanks
and sorry for it being so long

I'm curious about why you were predicted B's when you say other people who had as low as C at A/S were predicted A's.
Was it just a mistake or was there some other reason?
It sounds like a very bad mistake on the part of your school, unless there was a good reason for predicting lower grades.
I'm not sure how someone with C at A/S is going to get an A at A level unless they resit everything.
I can understand why you fell bad about it.

Reply 10

Xhotas

13

Well you might want to think about having a bad personal statement/your progress throughout the year. I doubt your teachers have it in for you and I'm sure the admissions staff would see your all A's at AS Level then think about your A2. You probably didn't do so well with the MAT (sorry if you think I'm being harsh, this is probably the only logically reasoning I can think of!) and your personal statement might not have been that great either :/ I think if the A.S. saw you had all As at AS you should be able to get As at A2 like I said, but this is only what I think it could be m'fraid. :/

Reply 11

R3L4Y

OP

1

Original post by Doubledog

I'm curious about why you were predicted B's when you say other people who had as low as C at A/S were predicted A's.
Was it just a mistake or was there some other reason?
It sounds like a very bad mistake on the part of your school, unless there was a good reason for predicting lower grades.
I'm not sure how someone with C at A/S is going to get an A at A level unless they resit everything.
I can understand why you fell bad about it.

Yes, you get my point. My B was for further maths...even though I had a higher grade in further maths at As and a lower one for core.

Original post by Xhotas

Well you might want to think about having a bad personal statement/your progress throughout the year. I doubt your teachers have it in for you and I'm sure the admissions staff would see your all A's at AS Level then think about your A2. You probably didn't do so well with the MAT (sorry if you think I'm being harsh, this is probably the only logically reasoning I can think of!) and your personal statement might not have been that great either :/ I think if the A.S. saw you had all As at AS you should be able to get As at A2 like I said, but this is only what I think it could be m'fraid. :/

I've gone thru all the possible reasons and yes the MAT does seem the most likely. My personal statement was spotless tho. I had it reviewed by oxford and cambridge lecturers and graduates giving me lots of advice. In the end I managed to use most of these but still make it sound like it was mine so I really don't thin my PS could have had anything to do with it.

What I'm scared of is that they looked at my predicted grades and didn;t bother with the rest of my application. esp cos of all the other AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA applicants

prediction **** up

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