Oxbridge = Inaccessible to most students?

This is very very true. I have a family friend who got his PS written for him last year (including an SAQ statement) by some Oxbridge website. He also had 5 preparation interviews 2 were with Oxbridge tutors and 3 were with his school teachers who attended Oxbridge. He was also provided with 5 mock admission tests and MCQ preparation.

Then there's me, writing my PS alone guessing at the type of things they want to hear about. No interview prep except talking points through with myself and talking to one teacher who barely knows about Oxbridge. For the admissions test, I have 2 past papers available online.

I'm in the dark about everything. Definitely some injustice
Btw he got in and I bet I won't.

This is somewhat OT, but TSR has a lot of helpful resources regarding PS and admissions tests (depending on subject). Have you had a look around the relevant forums?

This is very very true. I have a family friend who got his PS written for him last year (including an SAQ statement) by some Oxbridge website. He also had 5 preparation interviews (I thought this was a bit excessive..) 2 were with Oxbridge tutors and 3 were with his school teachers who attended Oxbridge. He was also provided with 5 mock admission tests and MCQ preparation.

Then there's me, writing my PS alone guessing at the type of things they want to hear about. No interview prep except talking points through with myself and talking to one teacher who barely knows about Oxbridge. For the admissions test, I have 2 past papers available online. Probably why in my schools 50 history no-one has been accepted to Cambridge. 1 student got into Oxford 6 years ago and it's like an urban legend at my school as its so unheard of.

I'm in the dark about everything. Definitely some injustice
Btw he got in and I bet I won't.

Sorry, I take trying to help a real applicant, with real, immediate concerns, over point-scoring. Your priorities apparently differ.

But that's not the point is it? With all due respect, it's not the same as being helped by actual Oxbridge tutors.

Do you think that it is fair that some people just because of who they are, and who they know, get all the help I mentioned?

Perhaps this happens but is very rare and will have cost your friend a few thousands and if they needed that amount of coaching to get in then they will come a cropper when they actually get to Camford.

Of course it takes a place from a genuine applicant but I really think it's a tiny minority. Personally I think Oxbridge should stop allowing them to use university or college facilities. It implies they are condoned and affiliated to the universities, when they aren't.

By the way, the success rate for regular uses of the TSR Oxbridge applicants thread is better than those admissions "consultancies".

This is somewhat OT, but TSR has a lot of helpful resources regarding PS and admissions tests (depending on subject). Have you had a look around the relevant forums?

Yeh to be fair TSR does give me help in talking to other applicants, but I probably could use it more effectively.

Many comprehensives/sixth forms pair up with local private schools to arrange Oxbridge assistance for their pupils, including mock interviews with Oxbridge tutors. By no means all, but many do.

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I don't think they should need to pair up because the teachers should be able to do it themselves: the state education budget is huge. And the £millions Oxbridge spend on outreach would be better directed to training teachers in all aspects of the Oxbridge process so they can pass it on to all students who look to them for advice now and in the future.

Instead Oxbridge spend a lot on expensive initiatives like running Summer Schools for a week for a privileged minority (you said yourself the other day that it was harder to get onto a Summer School than into Oxbridge!). The help provided at a Summer School is limited to those lucky few who get to attend, whereas by training teachers properly the knowledge can be used to help students for many years to come.

The TSR is really great but students shouldn't need to rely on you.

Those who take on the challenge of working in under performing schools probably have to worry more about getting their students as a group to turn up regularly and get a C in Maths/English. They will have bigger fish to fry than getting kids into Oxbridge.

The resources are there - some will have to work harder to find them rather than being told where they are. The issue for many is knowing where they are, knowing whether they are reputable, and having the confidence go even try and find them in the first place.

Training teachers isn’t as easy either. High turn over of staff and teachers who are already overloaded with work means the ability for there to be a dedicated knowledgable resource in a school is difficult. The problem is exacerbated by good teachers generally choosing to go to better schools. Those who take on the challenge of working in under performing schools probably have to worry more about getting their students as a group to turn up regularly and get a C in Maths/English. They will have bigger fish to fry than getting kids into Oxbridge.

You seem to be CAN'T DO person: stop making excuses all the time.

All schools should be good. If not, why not?
All teachers should be capable of learning the Oxbridge process.
No child should just aspire to get a C.
Students by and large turn up to good schools.

Mossbourne Academy would never have been turned around with thinking like yours.

Pick your battles! You seem to have forgotten J-SP has been consistently critical of Oxbridge in this thread...

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Please tell me you are being sarcastic.