Oxbridge a possibility?

Thanks. What grades would I be expected to get in STEP, and which papers would they make me do?

I'm not sure but one thing I can tell you is that GCSE grades probably contribute least to your application. Your school and college performance is also taken into account. For example, Lets say you had 4A*s and 6As for GCSE. That's really good but if you came from a school that has GCSE average of 4A*s and 6As then you wouldn't really stand out!!! Someone else can have 2A*s, 5As and 4Bs for GCSE which isn't outstanding but if that was by far the best GCSE from that secondary school then they can stand out!! Here is how I would list it;
1) A2 Prediction + AS grades
2) Personal Statement + Reference
3) Interview/applicant test Performance
4) School and College performance
5) Your GCSE grades

And what are you basing that on? You seem to be saying that the quality of your school has a bigger impact than your GCSE grades?

For Cambridge I'd probably agree. If your school is truly dire and you still manage to get good UMS at AS then they'll care much more about that than how many A*s you got at GCSE. Even Oxford who don't use UMS would probably be similar.

And what are you basing that on? You seem to be saying that the quality of your school has a bigger impact than your GCSE grades?

I'd say that's UMS performance that they're caring about, not how good the school is. I guess I'm not entirely clear what the person meant by "school and college performance". I presumed he didn't mean individual performance, since he'd listed that elsewhere.

At any rate, it's very fashionable on TSR to say that Oxbridge don't care about GCSEs. I don't really see what evidence people have to say that. The Christ's Admissions Tutor has commented that GCSEs are important, although of course not as important as UMS.

This isn't intended to be a comment about the OP though. Of course people get into Oxbridge with less than impressive GCSE results. I'm just not sure how helpful/accurate statements like "Oxbridge don't really care about GCSEs" are.

Thanks. If you had to list all of the factors oxbridge take into account (PS, Interview, AS, A2 predicted) Which are most important and which are least important. For example, do oxbridge put a heavier weighting on certain aspects of the application than others, or are all of the different aspects equally weighted?

I'm not sure but one thing I can tell you is that GCSE grades probably contribute least to your application. Your school and college performance is also taken into account. For example, Lets say you had 4A*s and 6As for GCSE. That's really good but if you came from a school that has GCSE average of 4A*s and 6As then you wouldn't really stand out!!! Someone else can have 2A*s, 5As and 4Bs for GCSE which isn't outstanding but if that was by far the best GCSE from that secondary school then they can stand out!! Here is how I would list it;
1) A2 Prediction + AS grades
2) Personal Statement + Reference
3) Interview/applicant test Performance
4) School and College performance
5) Your GCSE grades

For Oxford the MAT and interviews will be the most important, then AS grades. A levels won't really matter so long as you are predicted the standard offer. Personal statement and reference don't really matter at all (certainly far more minor than the others things).



Your order is totally wrong, see above.

Maybe for Oxbridge but for most universities this is most likely the case.

Yeah but this thread is about Oxbidge, and you were replying to a post asking about the order of imprtance for Oxbridge.

Reason why I chose the interview/applicant test part as third is because well according to their websites 'some' students get into 'some' courses at Oxbridge without having to take an Interview or applicant test e.g. Oriental Studies. Their AS Grades + A2 predictions and PS + reference alone was enough for them to gain a place (Their GCSE also must have stood out). So from there I was assuming those factors were more important.

Very few courses have no interview. The subject the OP is applying for has both an interview and a specific test (not a general test like some).

His original post didn't mention anything about what he wanted to study at university. He said a few posts later that he was planning to do Computer Science or Mathematics which both require tests and interviews. I didn't read that post before.

If you didn't know what course he wanted to do, why give advice based on how a very small number of courses work? In the vast majority of cases, the interview/entrance tests are the most important factor and the PS is very insignificant.

Looks like there's more to learn about Oxbridge, but wouldn't the A2 Predictions + AS grades and PS + Ref determine whether you even get called in for an Interview /Applicant Test or is that only for some courses at Oxbridge?

Looks like there's more to learn about Oxbridge, but wouldn't the A2 Predictions + AS grades and PS + Ref determine whether you even get called in for an Interview /Applicant Test or is that only for some courses at Oxbridge?