The Student Room Group

Official Cambridge Parents of Applicants thread 2023

Hello Parents! In order to ensure that the applicants thread is for applicants, I'm requesting that - short of good luck wishes on deadlines - the applicants' thread is kept applicants only. The enormous presence of parents last year, as well as their general contentiousness meant it didn't really feel like a thread for applicants.

However, it's only natural that many of you would like to discuss your childrens' applications, so this thread is now that place. Also check out the Cambridge Parents' Association.

Happy chatting :smile:
(edited 2 years ago)

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Original post by Theloniouss
Hello Parents! In order to ensure that the applicants thread is for applicants, I'm requesting that - short of good luck wishes on deadlines - the thread is kept applicants only. The enormous presence of parents last year, as well as their general contentiousness meant it didn't really feel like a thread for applicants.

However, it's only natural that a lot of you would like to discuss your childrens' applications, so this thread is now that place. Also check out the Cambridge Parents' Association.

Happy chatting :smile:


Posting for later @Reality Check in case you haven’t seen :smile:
Original post by Theloniouss
Hello Parents! In order to ensure that the applicants thread is for applicants, I'm requesting that - short of good luck wishes on deadlines - the thread is kept applicants only. The enormous presence of parents last year, as well as their general contentiousness meant it didn't really feel like a thread for applicants.

However, it's only natural that a lot of you would like to discuss your childrens' applications, so this thread is now that place. Also check out the Cambridge Parents' Association.

Happy chatting :smile:

A great idea! I'll be keeping an eye on both threads so can answer questions if people have them :smile:
Original post by _Rusty_
Posting for later @Reality Check in case you haven’t seen :smile:

Thank you for the tag :smile:
Original post by Theloniouss
Hello Parents! In order to ensure that the applicants thread is for applicants, I'm requesting that - short of good luck wishes on deadlines - the thread is kept applicants only. The enormous presence of parents last year, as well as their general contentiousness meant it didn't really feel like a thread for applicants.

However, it's only natural that a lot of you would like to discuss your childrens' applications, so this thread is now that place. Also check out the Cambridge Parents' Association.

Happy chatting :smile:

I'm glad this came to fruition. Hopefully we can get the applicant thread back on track for 2023, and keep it for applicants and their questions, rather than their sharp-elbowed parents trying any which way to push their child to the front of the queue by some bizarre and misguided attempts to compete with one-another.

The behaviour of a large number of parents in the 2022 cycle was a disgrace - only ameliorated by their far more chilled, insightful, rational, and sensible sons and daughters who worked to support one-another, rather than engaged in unnecessary competition.
did not observe any issues on the Oxford 2022 thread.

That’s because Oxford and Cambridge are different unis
Thanks for the clarity. I did not know that there are specific characteristics that define and differentuate people whose children apply to those unis.

No its not that there are specific characteristics there just seemed to be less attention paid to the applicants as the parents were quite dominant and occasionally misinformed. Just how it was that cycle so we created this to pre-empt it:smile:
did not observe any issues on the Oxford 2022 thread.

Original post by _Rusty_
That’s because Oxford and Cambridge are different unis


Cambridge's chat thread has been worse-behaved than Oxford's since I joined TSR and I don't know why. Hopefully, measures like this can change that.
(edited 2 years ago)
did not observe any issues on the Oxford 2022 thread.


That's because there weren't any, relatively speaking.

interesting...has anyone been able to identify reasons? Could it be that Oxford shortlists proportinately far fewer candidates for interviews than Cambridge?


Not really. It's because the thread kept going off the rails and there wasn't a presence like @Oxford Mum keeping it all together and on track. When it had @Doones patrolling it, it was the best thread on TSR, and we never had behaviour from bratty parents like we did last year. @Theloniouss did a great job in trying to contain the worst of it last year, but it shouldn't have been necessary for them to devote so much time to try to get adults to behave appropriately, aided by the perceived imprimatur of @Peterhouse Admissions - who are here as (superb) official reps and do not want to be treated as mods or unofficial referees.
ok if it is just for last year then I can understand that it is more of an exception and can happen anytime for any uni. From @Theloniouss response it sounded it is a perennial issue specifically for Cambridge thread.


I'm not sure where you're going with this... It isn't really relevant to this thread. The issues have been largely different each year, though - and as you can see, I've only been here fore 3 years.
Original post by Reality Check
That's because there weren't any, relatively speaking.



Not really. It's because the thread kept going off the rails and there wasn't a presence like @Oxford Mum keeping it all together and on track. When it had @Doones patrolling it, it was the best thread on TSR, and we never had behaviour from bratty parents like we did last year. @Theloniouss did a great job in trying to contain the worst of it last year, but it shouldn't have been necessary for them to devote so much time to try to get adults to behave appropriately, aided by the perceived imprimatur of @Peterhouse Admissions - who are here as (superb) official reps and do not want to be treated as mods or unofficial referees.


As has been pointed out by @Theloniouss let's not go over the same ground and focus on instead admissions. I do want to help on the Cambridge 2023 thread where I can, but this is mostly with encouragement and the odd forwarding of a Cambridge Demystified chapter. I can never give the detailed advice given by Peterhouse College. All I can do is cheer the students on.

@Theloniouss is absolutely amazing and has really stepped up to the plate since Doones left. @Peterhouse Admissions , are just busy being their awesome selves.

This new thread is a great idea. As a parent of former Oxford applicants, I wanted to ask loads of questions but daren't because the stars of the show were really the students.

@Reality Check
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by Oxford Mum
As has been pointed out by @Theloniouss let's not go over the same ground and focus on instead admissions. I do want to help on the Cambridge 2023 thread where I can, but this is mostly with encouragement and the odd forwarding of a Cambridge Demystified chapter. I can never give the detailed advice given by Peterhouse College. All I can do is cheer the students on.

@Theloniouss is absolutely amazing and has really stepped up to the plate since Doones left. @Peterhouse Admissions , are just busy being their awesome selves.

This new thread is a great idea. As a parent of former Oxford applicants, I wanted to ask loads of questions but daren't because the stars of the show were really the students.

@Reality Check

100% agree with this, OM. :smile:
Reply 11
Didn't realise the parents' presence was that massive last year. But it obviously makes sense to separate the threads. Just wondering how well the separation will work though - I expect overambitious, overprotective or controlling parents still sneak in to the applicants' thread. Oh, well, one can always hope.
As for me I am neither fish nor fowl but kind of involved so would be interesting to follow. Thank you for opening it.
Didn't realise the parents' presence was that massive last year. But it obviously makes sense to separate the threads. Just wondering how well the separation will work though - I expect overambitious, overprotective or controlling parents still sneak in to the applicants' thread. Oh, well, one can always hope.
As for me I am neither fish nor fowl but kind of involved so would be interesting to follow. Thank you for opening it.

I started the Oxford parents association as a kind of safe space for parents to get support from other parents who have gone through the same experience. It has worked well and it’s a very cosy thread. There is a similar thread for Cambridge parents but it used more infrequently.

The trolling by parents got so bad last year that I just walked away from it, even though I get an enormous amount of joy by helping the students. I am grateful to TSR for taking these steps to help protect people like me. As you say, there may well be other angry parents on the main thread, but what can you do.
Beyond proud-officially a parent of a successful Cambridge applicant
Original post by Anonneemouse
Beyond proud-officially a parent of a successful Cambridge applicant

Yay!!!
Original post by Anonneemouse
Beyond proud-officially a parent of a successful Cambridge applicant


Congratulations to them
Reply 16
Original post by Reality Check
Thank you for the tag :smile:

I'm glad this came to fruition. Hopefully we can get the applicant thread back on track for 2023, and keep it for applicants and their questions, rather than their sharp-elbowed parents trying any which way to push their child to the front of the queue by some bizarre and misguided attempts to compete with one-another.

The behaviour of a large number of parents in the 2022 cycle was a disgrace - only ameliorated by their far more chilled, insightful, rational, and sensible sons and daughters who worked to support one-another, rather than engaged in unnecessary competition.


PRSOM :wink:

I wonder if this was a contributor to the % of applicants posts that are anon now...
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 17
@Theloniouss :wavey:

Sorry! But the 2022 applicants thread seems to have hit the post limit and closed the thread, instead of automatically starting a part 2.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6655586&p=97536938&page=501#post97536938
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by Doones
PRSOM :wink:

I wonder if this was a contributor to the % of applicants posts that are anon now...


I've been wondering the same myself...
Original post by Doones
PRSOM :wink:

I wonder if this was a contributor to the % of applicants posts that are anon now...


Is it my imagination, but were there far fewer ( if any) anons in the Oxbridge threads when I started out in 2017?