The Student Room Group

Rejections

I haven't actually applied to Oxbridge myself coz I knew it wasn't for me but six of my friends have and out of those four have been rejected, one has been accepted and one still hasn't heard from them. Out of the rejected ones, three of them got 4As at AS-level!!!

I'm glad I didn't apply now coz I only got 2As and 2Bs...no chance...But I really thought one of my rejected friends would get in coz she is so smart and she does loads outside school e.g. she got into the National Youth Theatre (which only 500 auditionees out of 50,000 get accepted into) and she's applied for Drama and English.

Anyone else know brainiacs who didn't get in to Oxbridge?
Reply 1
There are loads of people with excellent results who don't get in who are extremely clever. The application ratio is high and almost all those applying have the potential to get 3,4,5 or more A-levels. And they don't really care about your extra curricular activities.
Bottekrank
she got into the National Youth Theatre


And how does that demonstrate intelligence ?
Reply 3
notyourpunk
...and they don't really care about your extra curricular activities.


Unless of course they're directly related to your chosen course. But yeah, loads of people who are "brainiacs" get rejected each year and like notyourpunk says, they might go on to get AAAAA and have 10A*s at GCSE, but just because they can learn facts (you don't have to have a deep understanding of many (not saying all) subjects at A-Level to get an A provided you learn lots of facts) and do well in exams, does not mean they have the potential to study their course at Oxford. These people will no doubt go on to great things at other uni's, but they just weren't quite what the admissions tutors were looking for at Oxford.

If you look at the statistics for the number of A's given out at A-Level you'll see that this is far greater than the number of places Oxbridge has, so it's only obvious that A-Level results are not a guarantee of a place at Oxford.
Reply 4
Bottekrank
(which only 500 auditionees out of 50,000 get accepted into) and she's applied for Drama and English.


The NYT only has 3000 applicants a year, not 50,000! Although on another page it does say 4000.
(http://www.nyt.org.uk/nytwebsite/flash_elements/main.html)

Also, the NYT doesn't offer courses in Drama and English as far as I understand...it offers courses in acting/performance and then technical aspects....definitely no courses in English. So I'm guessing she was doing drama at the NYT and English at Oxford?
Reply 5
On of my friend got 2As n 2 Bs n got accepted at St Johns... for Physiological Sciences...the offer was AAA though...

another of my friend already at oxford had AAAB at AS...
Reply 6
Please don't call us brainiacs. It makes me feel sad inside.
I know a boy who has an offer of AAA to do Arch and Anth at St Hughs but he has ABD grades at AS level. He's going to have so much work if he wants to meet his offer.
Reply 8
Yeah, the tutors must calculate how many they expect to have a chance of meeting the grades when they make decisions. Whereas if you got top As last year (as many with offers will have done) then you can get in with C-equivilents this time.
Reply 9
Hoofbeat
The NYT only has 3000 applicants a year, not 50,000! Although on another page it does say 4000.
(http://www.nyt.org.uk/nytwebsite/flash_elements/main.html)

Also, the NYT doesn't offer courses in Drama and English as far as I understand...it offers courses in acting/performance and then technical aspects....definitely no courses in English. So I'm guessing she was doing drama at the NYT and English at Oxford?


The courses are summer school type things, its not a university/drama school. Quite prestigious in terms of acting though, good to have when applying to RADA etc.

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