Oxbridge deadline panic

Did you read the OP? I submitted on the 13th to make way for things going wrong. My personal statement was practically ready on the 10th. My school said they'd get to it in the morning and give me my references. They didn't until the afternoon, nor did I receive references. It's a good thing I did submit it ahead of time.

I also have a hell of a lot on my plate right now besides Oxbridge: work, fundraising, amongst other deadlines to meet. So I really can be spared the sermon.

To clarify - I'm not blaming the school here. A set of unfortunate circumstances led to this debacle, but I did everything I could reasonably do to get this in on time.

The 13th is far too late to leave it. If you're on a gap year why didn't you have everything ready a month ago?

Reply 21

nexttime

22

Original post by elen90

Did you read the OP? I submitted on the 13th.

I wasn't going to make a big thing but...

I'm sorry just one day in advance of the weekend is way, way too late.

My personal statement was practically ready on the 10th. My school said they'd get to it in the morning and give me my references. They didn't until the afternoon, nor did I receive references. It's a good thing I did submit it ahead of time.

Yes, and that's my point. Draw a line under this time, you got lucky. Its a mistake we've all made I'm sure. In the future, for something so important, you can't just assume that people are going to be able to drop everything else they've got and attend to you, nor can you assume they are going to be competent individuals. Nor that nothing else will go wrong. One day is nowhere near enough.

This will not be your last important deadline. Hopefully you will have realised I'm right by then.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 22

elen90

OP

12

Original post by alow

The 13th is far too late to leave it. If you're on a gap year why didn't you have everything ready a month ago?

I have more work to do on my gap year than I did in school. I also didn't plan to be applying to Oxbridge until a month ago. Combined with all of my other stuff, it's been a squeeze. Trust me, if I could have done this any sooner I would have but you don't know my situation.

Reply 23

elen90

OP

12

Original post by nexttime

I wasn't going to make a big thing but...

I'm sorry just one day in advance of the weekend is way, way too late.

Yes, and that's my point. Draw a line under this time, you got lucky. Its a mistake we've all made I'm sure. In the future, for something so important, you can't just assume that people are going to be able to drop everything else they've got and attend to you, nor can you assume they are going to be competent individuals. Nor that nothing else will go wrong. One day is nowhere near enough.

This will not be your last important deadline. Hopefully you will have realised I'm right by then.

But there was absolutely no need to write a snarky 'I hope you've learned your lesson' post when the issue was already resolved. I'm all too aware of what happens when stuff gets left this late and I had to do it anyway. That isn't going to stop me from making a post at 11 at night when I enter the state of panic that I knew was probably inevitable.

And see above: you do not know what else I've had to sort out. This application can only take up so much of my time.

Reply 24

alow

19

Original post by elen90

I have more work to do on my gap year than I did in school. I also didn't plan to be applying to Oxbridge until a month ago. Combined with all of my other stuff, it's been a squeeze. Trust me, if I could have done this any sooner I would have but you don't know my situation.

That's no excuse. When I applied to Oxbridge on my gap year I had a full time job, >10 hours of volunteering a week and was studying another A Level but still managed to get everything done before the start of October.

You need to step up your organisation levels if you do get into Oxford. Completing the application takes no more than a few hours.

Reply 25

dropoutbear

1

Original post by alow

That's no excuse. When I applied to Oxbridge on my gap year I had a full time job, >10 hours of volunteering a week and was studying another A Level but still managed to get everything done before the start of October.

You need to step up your organisation levels if you do get into Oxford. Completing the application takes no more than a few hours.

Damn, relax mate, why contribute if all you're gonna do is tell OP off like your their parent?

Reply 26

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Original post by elen90

My head of sixth replied this morning. I submitted the UCAS application and he's pasted in the reference and sent it off.

And breathe.

All's well that ends well. Thanks again!

Yay

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 27

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Original post by nexttime

I wasn't going to make a big thing but...

I'm sorry just one day in advance of the weekend is way, way too late.

Yes, and that's my point. Draw a line under this time, you got lucky. Its a mistake we've all made I'm sure. In the future, for something so important, you can't just assume that people are going to be able to drop everything else they've got and attend to you, nor can you assume they are going to be competent individuals. Nor that nothing else will go wrong. One day is nowhere near enough.

This will not be your last important deadline. Hopefully you will have realised I'm right by then.

Original post by alow

That's no excuse. When I applied to Oxbridge on my gap year I had a full time job, >10 hours of volunteering a week and was studying another A Level but still managed to get everything done before the start of October.

You need to step up your organisation levels if you do get into Oxford. Completing the application takes no more than a few hours.

Just

OP was indeed ready to go a number of days early but I delayed in reviewing her statement - tiz partly my fault :redface:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 28

nexttime

22

Original post by elen90

But there was absolutely no need to write a snarky 'I hope you've learned your lesson' post when the issue was already resolved. I'm all too aware of what happens when stuff gets left this late and I had to do it anyway. That isn't going to stop me from making a post at 11 at night when I enter the state of panic that I knew was probably inevitable.

And see above: you do not know what else I've had to sort out. This application can only take up so much of my time.

I am only trying to ensure this process turns into something productive. I wasn't expecting a reply tbh.

I have seen loads of people approach important job application deadlines or other deadlines which rely on other people and leaving it to the last day, or even last week, NEVER goes well. At the very least it's lots of stress. At worst they've lost the job/course. Yes, completely gone. It doesn't matter that you were waiting for a reference - you should have sorted it. They will not give you any sympathy. They will not care that "the application can only take so much of my time". You will lose out.

I'm just making sure you realise what happened here. To be honest your subsequent comments make me think perhaps you haven't, in which case maybe you're someone who has to learn the hard way.

Good luck with your application.

Reply 29

ertzgrand

8

I started applying the 12th and finished my last draft today but after a stressful 3 days it was finally ready. So I proceded to the pay section but there were difficulties with my visa so after calling my bank and ucas I had to phone my uncle to get his card details and go to my grandparent's house to finish the application in their 15 year old computer whose keyboard didn't work. That meant I had to copy and paste every number 5 9 7 3 and 1 wrote. But even though it took me 2.5 hours to pay for it it's already been procesed.

Reply 30

elen90

OP

12

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Just

OP was indeed ready to go a number of days early but I delayed in reviewing her statement - tiz partly my fault :redface:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Thank you - I don't think it's anyone's fault and it was incredibly kind of you to find the time to review it twice! Like I said, just a set of difficult circumstances. :smile:

Reply 31

elen90

OP

12

Original post by alow

That's no excuse. When I applied to Oxbridge on my gap year I had a full time job, >10 hours of volunteering a week and was studying another A Level but still managed to get everything done before the start of October.

You need to step up your organisation levels if you do get into Oxford. Completing the application takes no more than a few hours.

I'm gonna stop replying after this because it seems a pointless argument and I don't want to come across as rude.

To give you more context: all of my application bar the personal statement was done before October. Like you said, it took me a couple of hours. The rest was just finishing my personal statement. The only problem was a five minute fix which I didn't know about until the school checked my UCAS (and they weren't able to until Thursday-Friday due to the storm of other UCAS applicants).

I also had simply not been intending to apply to UCAS until midway through September. I had my insurance offer ready but declined it after facing a - as you can imagine - huge dilemma. So I've had to complete this within just over three weeks while facing other stuff. Correct me if I'm wrong but I imagine that you'd intended to apply to Oxbridge long before that and had more time to prepare.

Oxbridge deadline panic

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