Oxbridge - school preventing me from applying. Should I rebel against it?

Reply 40

Alan Smithee

Serves you right for doing 6 A levels.

:p:

Reply 41

thomasjtl

9

Serves you right for doing 6 A levels.

Another helpful post from platocrates :rolleyes:

Reply 42

7589200

18

RogueTrader

The whole point of the Oxbridge admissions process is to get past the illussion that grades can create. Some of the best candidates, who are passionate about and good at their subject will fail to meet their as predictions, yet there will be surprise candidates who get straight A's or those who train themselves to ace exams. The difference is, they will be shown up in what will be for them a highly stressful, probably almost painful interview, whereas if you truely are passionate about your subject, and love discussing it, you may even enjoy it, and as a result, will do much better.
(I also go to a private school)

In a perfect world...

The aim is for the most part of sixth form life - 'do well in ur exams'. The ones who 'train' themselves for the exams are actually the ones achieveing the aims. These people aren't morons who just have a knack for sitting exams. These people will realise how important the interview is and can simply 'train' themselves for that.

This 'training' you'll find is more of an ability to do well at any given task rather than some cheap way of doing extremely well at exams.

Reply 43

rec53

Vazzyb

In a perfect world...

The aim is for the most part of sixth form life - 'do well in ur exams'. The ones who 'train' themselves for the exams are actually the ones achieveing the aims. These people aren't morons who just have a knack for sitting exams. These people will realise how important the interview is and can simply 'train' themselves for that.

This 'training' you'll find is more of an ability to do well at any given task rather than some cheap way of doing extremely well at exams.

You can quite easily perfect what is required for exams by practise - I'm not going to bother to argue whether this is a good/bad thing. Interviews are a different thing. In my interview (for maths), if they asked me to draw y=x^2.sin(x) and I've already come across it, it shows, I give the answer, and the interviewer quickly moves on to find something I haven't come across, to make me think (maybe some probability question with a clever trick). The interview then gets to see the cogs turning, see exactly how you try and work out the problem - the most useful thing to know for admissions purposes. This leaves very little room for training, apart from just going off and doing some maths.

If the perfect world part is meant to prefix the whole of your post, I don't see how people worrying about 'training' themselves for the interview instead of just enjoying their subject would be a good thing.

Reply 44

7589200

18

No I meant that people being shown up for their exam techniques being good and not actually being very good at the subject, would only happen all the time in a perfect world.

I bet that if you practised the kind of things that interviews throw up as much as you worked for your A Levels, you'd be able to 'train' yourself for them as well. All testing has its limits.

Reply 45

lats

YES!! apply!! i got 4 A*s, 3As, 1 B and 2 Cs.. and im at oxford, your gcses are waaaay better.. my school didnt want me to apply either, but i did. if you got 6 places to choose from theres no harm in risking one is there?

Reply 46

lats

oh and i do law, and i have only 3 A levels in Maths, Psychology and Biology.. not very 'law' subjects... so apply apply apply!

Reply 47

me_102

As long as your predicted AAA . .and are actually good at your subject. i.e. good enough.

Reply 48

LatinMachine

1

VazzyB

I bet that if you practised the kind of things that interviews throw up as much as you worked for your A Levels, you'd be able to 'train' yourself for them as well. All testing has its limits.

My school paid for me to go on an "Oxbridge Admissions" day, where they claimed they would teach you the secrets of getting the interview right. They claimed they had specialist inside knowledge of these interviews. The day boosted my confidence, but the practice interviews we had were *nothing* like the real thing. You have no idea what they're going to give you to work on, everyone I spoke to said they were so different to what they expected/practiced. An exam is going to be a variation on a set syllabus, with many questions being the same. They are not confined to a syllabus in Oxford - they can ask you anything. To answer my interview/test questions 90-100% correctly, I think I would have had to have completed a Psychology degree in the first place!

Reply 49

RogueCrab

I'm in the same position too. Except I think I've buggered up my chances of applying. :frown:

I wanted to apply for medicine at Oxford, was advised by the deputy head in charge of oxbridge applications not to, and I missed the school deadline yesterday. My GCSEs were 7A*s 4A's, AS levels were AAABB. I am seriously thinking about going in monday morning and asking to change my application. But in all honesty, is it worth it? Medicine is already really hard to get in, and I only get 4 choices. I'm so confused!

Reply 50

Sweeney Agonistes

I applied, got an interview, got an offer, got in, with ABBC. So Go For It.

My teachers predicted me 3 'A's at 'A'-level, and wrote a lovely statement-thing (forget what it's called now).

The beauty of the Oxbridge system is that the tutors can asses you in person and in conversation rather than simply on the basis of a few letters. While it's très snob, it means that their final descision is far less arbritrary.

I look forward to hearing of your offer :smile:

Regards,

Mark

Reply 51

Robob

17

RogueTrader

Im in exactly the same position as you- except i have 6a*, 3 a's at gcse and AABBC at as level and am applying to oxford. Oxford arguably looks less at as results than cambridge does due to the other factors it looks at (subject specific tests, written work etc) and the fact that it doesnt ask specifically to see your results. Either way, my school has been trying to talk me out of it, saying I have no chance, but today I had my 3 A prediction confirmed, and said I am 100% applying. Its your choice, not theirs.

Best of luck RogueTrader (even though you won't tell me who you actually are :p:

)

To be honest grades are only a part of it, the interview is the most important factot IMO

Reply 52

RogueTrader

15

rpotter

Best of luck RogueTrader (even though you won't tell me who you actually are :p:

)

To be honest grades are only a part of it, the interview is the most important factot IMO

LOL i thought you did. Thanks anyway.

Reply 53

LatinMachine

1

RogueTrader

LOL i thought you did. Thanks anyway.

Let us know how it goes RT - have you persuaded your school to let you apply yet?

Reply 54

dani_88

14

I think you should apply (I know NOTHING about Oxbridge because I didn't apply) but I also think if you really want to go there then you've got nothing to lose if you try.. You try and you succeed - great! You try and you don't succeed - at least you tried! I don't think a teacher can decide your future for you..

My friend applied to Cambridge last year with ABBD at AS level and got an offer :smile:

So.. AS grades aren't the be all and end all.. Like I said I'm not sure how Oxbridge works but if you're predicted 3 As and you want to go there then at least try... you're school can't shoot you down for trying :smile:

Reply 55

Zinc11

1

I say you should apply. Its one out of 6 choices. If you get in, good. If not, then you know its what it is. Take the chance and see how it goes.

The school cant stop you from applying.

Anyway, your school is the opposite of mine. Most of my teachers encourage to apply to oxbridge. And when people say they're not good enough they go off on a rant about how you are and all that. Its quite funny actually.

Reply 56

Jigglypuff

16

Another thing to add.

I could tell my school weren't overly hot on the idea of me applying (I think just because my GCSEs weren't outstanding for my school, and it was a last minute decision of mine to apply) but some teachers backed me, and they were the ones who knew what they were talking about. I applied knowing I had a small chance but thought it was worth a go, and it paid off. So apply, because it's not as if you won't get any of your other five unis.

Reply 57

Clarks_snuffed

OP

lol. thanks ppl. But, I dont think I can apply because the teacher wont let me! all my other friends applying are having meetings about early entry all the time and I don't get any account. The school won't let me apply. The teacher is really horrible to me now. And even if I try to apply, shes already told me the statement that shes goin to write wont support me very much. Do you think its worth e-mailing a tutor at cam and explain my situation or is that a waste of time because they don't want whiney students complaining to them - they wanna teach! lol

Reply 58

Jigglypuff

16

Clarks_snuffed

lol. thanks ppl. But, I dont think I can apply because the teacher wont let me! all my other friends applying are having meetings about early entry all the time and I don't get any account. The school won't let me apply. The teacher is really horrible to me now. And even if I try to apply, shes already told me the statement that shes goin to write wont support me very much. Do you think its worth e-mailing a tutor at cam and explain my situation or is that a waste of time because they don't want whiney students complaining to them - they wanna teach! lol

I missed all of the Oxbridge meetings at my school and apparently they weren't even that informative anyway. They're not going to make your whole UCAS reference rubbish because that would affect your success in the rest of the applications (in other words, if they don't seem supportive on the UCAS reference all universities, not just Oxbridge, might see that and not like it). Instead, they might come across as lukewarm on the Cambridge Application Form. If this is the case, ask them not to write anything. Take your CAF, ask her to sign it, and walk away. Or, if she insists on writing a reference, contrast a lukewarm reference with a glowing personal statement (the CAF one I mean) so they basically see a discrepancy between the enthusiastic pupil and the unsupportive teacher. They can then decide for themselves at the interview whether or not they like you. I'm sure Oxbridge know that teachers are not infallible in their decisions. I wouldn't bother emailing by the way- again, the interviewers can decide for themselves at the interview whether or not they like you.

My view is that I'm sure the reference won't be THAT bad anyway.

Reply 59

thefish_uk

14

Clarks_snuffed

lol. thanks ppl. But, I dont think I can apply because the teacher wont let me! all my other friends applying are having meetings about early entry all the time and I don't get any account. The school won't let me apply. The teacher is really horrible to me now. And even if I try to apply, shes already told me the statement that shes goin to write wont support me very much. Do you think its worth e-mailing a tutor at cam and explain my situation or is that a waste of time because they don't want whiney students complaining to them - they wanna teach! lol

If I were to be e-mailing anyone it'd be the teacher's boss to complain... or I'd be getting my parents to!

I still say, don't stand for it. Have you tried another teacher?

Oxbridge - school preventing me from applying. Should I rebel against it?

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