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Know anyone who should've gotten into Oxbridge but didn't?

I know someone, possibly the most intelligent person I know, who applied to Cambridge but was rejected. She took a gap year and applied to Oxford and was accepted and is currently in her final year.

Reply 21

Ugly Duckling

Kittten

I think getting in with abitur is really really difficult. I considered staying in Germany to do abitur but decided to come homw and do IB because abitur isn't really ideal for getting into UK unis. Maybe your friend didn't have the same sort of back up for his PS as schools give in the UK? or maybe the referance just didn't know the right things to say. I'm not sure running is really very important (they usually don't care about sports) but the languages and 1,0 should have got at least an interview!

Ah, I don't think so... His reference was written by his Latin teacher and translated by his father (who studied in Oxford) and I suppose he also had a look on my friend's PS to check if it included the relevant things... He probably would have noticed any flaws.

I agree, however, that there is a wholly different approach at UK schools than at schools in Germany concerning the PS and reference. While I was writing my PS I was looking for help online and I remember being surprised at how much advice some of the applicants got from their teachers and how dedicated most of their school were... I had to do the PS alone. It worked out for me (King's College London), but I guess it's quite a bit harder to do everything just right if you live outside the UK.

Still, I don't suppose that was the reason for my friend's rejection from Oxford before the interview (I still can't seem to get over that :wink:

)...

Reply 22

DannyBoy123

15

Yeah I know more than a few people who would have done fantastically well at Oxbridge (I am reluctant to include myself here but I will anyway) and easily had the aptitude for it. By the same token I personally know others who should never have got in having known them personally for 5 years and yet they did (not that there was anything wrong with their grades, they were just a bit dim and didn't really think for themselves). I can only conclude that they fluked in the relatively short (and IMO crap) interview process and those who didn't messed up somehow.

Reply 23

Pillar of Autumn

15

Some guy in my business class who applied for BA Economics at Cambridge. Rejected without interview. He was predicted 41 for the IB diploma including 6/7 in HL Maths. I suspect they rejected him because he takes HL Business.

Reply 24

User188463

17

ye my friend for ppe - 10A*, 5As, 4As at a level and did loads of work experience, extra curriculars, really interesting, lovely person etcetc.

She went out the night before the interview so unsurprosingly she was probably a bit drowsy :biggrin:

Reply 25

SylverStrike

10

Yup, but she didn't even get an interview! This was for Oxford, for Physics. The girl I know is VERY intelligent, got the 4 As at AS and all of that at a pretty poor state school where only two or three people got straight As at AS. She's got offers at other good universities, though.

yes - me

made_of_fail

yes - me

Curious - with what circumstances?

Reply 28

02mik_e

14

Yeah my friend this year had 10A* 1A, AAAA at AS level (Biology, Physics, English Literature & Maths) and got rejected without an interview at Oxford. This was for physics btw. He said it's because of the entry test, but I don't know what it's called.

Reply 29

Efreisone

OP

DannyBoy123

Yeah I know more than a few people who would have done fantastically well at Oxbridge (I am reluctant to include myself here but I will anyway) and easily had the aptitude for it. By the same token I personally know others who should never have got in having known them personally for 5 years and yet they did (not that there was anything wrong with their grades, they were just a bit dim and didn't really think for themselves). I can only conclude that they fluked in the relatively short (and IMO crap) interview process and those who didn't messed up somehow.

I know some people like that as well, and agree that the interview process as a whole isn't always the fairest indicator of ability. I have a friend- who is really mediocre for Oxbridge standards- who got asked surprisingly easy questions at interview and was treated in a very friendly manner. I also know someone else who read a lot more on the same course, but wasn't asked a single question on the areas he was best in. They focused on his weaknesses a lot. And he got rejected, although he was really much better at the subject.

Reply 30

alex_hk90

19

Yes, one of my friends should have got in, but just had a bad interview. :sadnod:

Reply 31

maxzara

1

At the end of the day, the competition is going to be extremely tough, on some courses it gets as bad as 100 to 1. That means for every 1 person that gets in there are at least 99 brilliant individuals and a short chink in the armour could mean they don't get the offer.

Reply 32

billyboymccoy

1

Guy I know could easily have managed the academic side. But he had some mental health problems which got worse into A2. He had the interview and didn't get in. He held an offer for bristol computer science but in the end decided to do an open university course.

Reply 33

alex_hk90

19

maxzara

At the end of the day, the competition is going to be extremely tough, on some courses it gets as bad as 100 to 1. That means for every 1 person that gets in there are at least 99 brilliant individuals and a short chink in the armour could mean they don't get the offer.

100 to 1? Which course is this? :confused:

Reply 34

Efreisone

OP

billyboymccoy

Guy I know could easily have managed the academic side. But he had some mental health problems which got worse into A2. He had the interview and didn't get in. He held an offer for bristol computer science but in the end decided to do an open university course.

Actually, I think the statistics are higher for other top universities such as the London unis. However, the people who apply for Oxbridge are generally better applicants, and thus more intellectually competitive, if not numerically

Reply 35

DannyBoy123

15

Efreisone

. I also know someone else who read a lot more on the same course, but wasn't asked a single question on the areas he was best in. They focused on his weaknesses a lot. And he got rejected, although he was really much better at the subject.

LOL this exact thing happened to me; the interviewers for SPS asked me questions on stuff to do with work place psychology (or something) that I had done little to no reading on while I was hugely interested in political theory and sociology. I tried to relate my answers back to my reading but it seems I failed epicly.

In retrospect it was my fault for applying to a college where the tutors were specialised in areas that were totally different to mine and given that SPS is such a wide ranging course, it can make a huge difference come the interview.

I don't bear any resentment towards Cambridge at all - in fact LSE is far more suited to me as a person and is in fact a better place to study politics - I just think that the interview process could be a lot better than it is.

Reply 36

im so academic

15

maxzara

At the end of the day, the competition is going to be extremely tough, on some courses it gets as bad as 100 to 1. That means for every 1 person that gets in there are at least 99 brilliant individuals and a short chink in the armour could mean they don't get the offer.

WTF?

Where did you get this? What courses? How come?

And I swear it is usually 1:4-5, not 1:100?????? :s-smilie:

Reply 37

maxzara

1

I know that for most courses it's about 4-10 to 1. 100-1 was probably a silly exaggeration, but there still exist courses where it's as bad as 15-30/1. If you look at Masters particularly it's generally 10+/1. Plus it's also important to take into consideration foreign students as well.

Reply 38

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Not really. When I was applying, there were people in my school who I thought should have got an offer (I was the only one to get an Oxbridge offer). Equally, there were loads of girls at the interview stage for Music at Worcester that year who seemed more likely to get an offer than me. Now that I'm here, I just accept that they look for all kinds of things and maybe the people that I thought were the obvious candidates actually weren't :smile:

Reply 39

im so academic

15

maxzara

I know that for most courses it's about 4-10 to 1. 100-1 was probably a silly exaggeration, but there still exist courses where it's as bad as 15-30/1. If you look at Masters particularly it's generally 10+/1. Plus it's also important to take into consideration foreign students as well.

Like for example? :s-smilie:

Know anyone who should've gotten into Oxbridge but didn't?

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