I was wondering if anyone could give me their opinion? I dont really know what to think about what's happened.
I applied to study English, having obtained AAAAAB at AS Level, and was predicted A* A* A* A A at A2 (one of those As is general studies) My GCSEs were all A*s and As too, and my submitted written work was worth full marks ( as was my other piece which I could have sent)
Naturally, my teachers were really optimistic for my chances- the only blip in my application being that I resat year 12 after some pretty horrendous extenuating circumstances that included, but was not limited to, family death, the extremely bitter and aggressive divorce of my parents, and my own struggles with serious health problems that affected my sleep, concentration and memory (down to the point where I couldn't remember the content of a page after reading it)
My first time at year 12 I got an A in general studies, a C in maths, Ds in Biology and Chemistry and a B in Art. At the time I wasnt applying for English, but something more science based, because my parents had pressured me in that direction- I come from a family of doctors.
As part of resitting, I decided to switch Art for English Literature (which I'd always loved, but hadnt thought matched with what I intended to study at the time) and after just one lesson, I was reminded of how much I loved it, and decided that I wanted to apply for that instead.
My English teacher said I should apply for Oxford, but I wasnt sure about their policy on resits, so I emailed that and recieved a reply saying
"You would be welcome to make an application when applying under the below circumstances, we would very strongly recommend that your references mention these in their reference, but also that your academic projection would be on track for the entrance requirements. To ensure that you application was strong in the other areas, you would still be required to have achieved (or predicted) AAA, one of these subjects should be English Literature or the combined English Language and Literature subject."
I went on to achieved As in all my subjects the second time round, which is a truer representation of what I can do, seeing as my health problem had been sorted by the time I went back to year 12 in September. I was thrilled, as you can imagine.
I received a pre-interview rejection from Oxford, on Saturday the 28th of November. On Monday the 30th, I managed to get in contact with the Admissions office, and was told that they were reconsidering my application because of the information I'd sent when I originally asked them about resits, and that they would get back to me either that afternoon, or Tuesday morning. Wednesday came and I'd still not heard anything, so I rang them on wednesday evening, only to find that they had yet to contact the English Department- so my application had not been considered yet. This morning, I was told that the English Department had recommended my rejection not be changed, and they refused to tell me any more in the way of feedback. I'm feeling really mucked about, and rather humiliated, because I dont get the feeling my application was ever really reconsidered, given the quick turn around from Wednesday to Thursday. They have told me I can wait for feedback in January, but if I have any more concerns (given they've already messed up my application once) January will be too late to do anything about them.
None of my teachers can think of any reason that my application would stand out for rejection, especially before interview, and I'm really confused as to what's happened. If anyone could give their opinion I would be really grateful.