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lower 33% of oxbridge candidates score 87-90%?

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Reply 40
2 weeks is a heck of a lot longer than i'm giving myself for the finals... how long do you people revise for?!?
jismith1989
I'm sure that I heard that they've included a space for them on the newest application form (i.e. the paper one, not necessarily UCAS).


nope, they don't even have a separate application form anymore for Oxford, its just the UCAS form, and we had someone in the other day to talk about Oxbridge applications, they said only Cambridge ask for them seperately
My modules in my top 3 subjects at AS

Maths: 77, 76, 93

English Literature: 85, 90, 95

Economics: 85, 90, 95

If your personal statement's good and you get an interview it's then down to you. A levels don't suit everybody for various reasons-they have very strict assessment objectives or someone might hve had an off day or personal problems.
master roflcopter
nope, they don't even have a separate application form anymore for Oxford, its just the UCAS form, and we had someone in the other day to talk about Oxbridge applications, they said only Cambridge ask for them seperately

Fair enough, must be mistaken.

Good news for Clements then!
I was talking to a teacher in my school about applying to Oxford, and she said "they expect 10 A* minimum", i think that sums up what teachers know
zafaru123
I was talking to a teacher in my school about applying to Oxford, and she said "they expect 10 A* minimum", i think that sums up what teachers know


This made me laugh :smile: especially as I only have 2. Maybe my offer was in error...
You don't have to get 90+ in EVERY module! I got a D in one of mine and still got in. True, it was effectively for a 6th AS level and I still got an A overall but it was a D! Oxbridge do expect your grades to be generally very strong but it is by no means the only criterion and they shouldn't be too fussy about a one or two of your modules to be weaker. An impressive interview performance is more important than 5 A's at A-level. The numbers back it up as several thousand applicants with 3 strong A's got rejected whereas some people with even 2 B's got in in the same year.
Reply 47
leala4628
This made me laugh :smile: especially as I only have 2. Maybe my offer was in error...


Ha I keep thinking I'll get a letter in the post saying "We apologise for our administrative error... you didn't get in, stupid girl, of course you didn't."
leala4628
This made me laugh :smile: especially as I only have 2. Maybe my offer was in error...

I also have 2 lol, I was worried for a second when she told me. Then i saw a graph on oxford site, which showed that a small % of people with 1-2 A* have been accepted for medicine
Melz0r
Ha I keep thinking I'll get a letter in the post saying "We apologise for our administrative error... you didn't get in, stupid girl, of course you didn't."


I just keep thinking that people will go ''she's the most stupid person ever to get into Cambridge''! It really doesn't feel real in that sense...

zafaru123
I also have 2 lol, I was worried for a second when she told me. Then i saw a graph on oxford site, which showed that a small % of people with 1-2 A* have been accepted for medicine


Wow for medicine?! That's great! I only have 3 GCSEs overall so it would have to be a big mistake if it was true!!
Reply 50
Load of crap (87% to 90%). Apply by all means if you get an A overall, that is what they care. AN A IS AN A. Only places like Hong Kong look at the bloody scores which I think is ridiculous
Reply 51
leala4628
I just keep thinking that people will go ''she's the most stupid person ever to get into Cambridge''! It really doesn't feel real in that sense...


I know what you mean (although I'm sure you're far from stupid). I'm doing French and German and it's going to be so obvious once I get there I'm not as good as everybody else.

But, er, yeah, everyone, apply to Cambridge! :rolleyes:
Clements-
Your teacher is wrong by the way. My friend got into Oxford Law with a D in English Lit, As in Geography and Psychology and possibly a B in Biology (might've been an A - not sure but I know she got a D in one of the modules), so AAAD/AABD so the 87-90% in every module is ********.

At cam, they are supposedly more UMS focused. My reason for rejection was for getting 86% in Physics (for an Economics degree by the way) which was apparently a 'worrying underperformance' yet they accepted overall that I had extenuating circumstances (ill throughout the year) so what I found weird was that they were fine with my relatively low Economics grade since I'd missed a whole term.

Oh my

Did they really reject you for that? How is 86% a worrying underperformance?
OK, I can safely say this thread has scared the crap out of me. In January I got 90 and 78 in C1 and C2 and I'm retaking S1. I got 72 in History - I'm not retaking. I'm beginning to think my Oxford dreams may be over already :frown: *sob*.
Reply 54
Martin_Kellogg
OK, I can safely say this thread has scared the crap out of me. In January I got 90 and 78 in C1 and C2 and I'm retaking S1. I got 72 in History - I'm not retaking. I'm beginning to think my Oxford dreams may be over already :frown: *sob*.


I got a 68 in S1... I left it. Worse things happen at sea.
Reply 55
Martin_Kellogg
OK, I can safely say this thread has scared the crap out of me. In January I got 90 and 78 in C1 and C2 and I'm retaking S1. I got 72 in History - I'm not retaking. I'm beginning to think my Oxford dreams may be over already :frown: *sob*.


See my previous post, and lots of other people's...

And I'll say it again...

Just apply! And good luck! :smile: :smile:
sleekchic
Oh my

Did they really reject you for that? How is 86% a worrying underperformance?


Yup. Apparently everything else was great. They were even happy about my Economics grade so I was left completely confused. OH WELL.
cpchem
I got a 68 in S1... I left it. Worse things happen at sea.


Haha, I think I got an E, not sure though. Something horrific but I still got an overall B. I blame it on turning up late to the exam. Thanks for the support though, it's good to know some Oxford people are human.
It does seem a lot of the scary posts are coming from people who are not actually attending Oxbridge and those who are there seem to be talking more sense. Which is comforting. Time to put some hours in I suppose. Man, it's 9 already and I've done nowt.
different uni, similar system though - got an offer for cambridge with two high UMS subjects but average/middle A's in French and German, which were the one's I needed. Don't fret.

They recognised my speaking was lower and didn't seem to mind, they don't expect you to be perfect! But this was more with the arts, if you wanted to do something like sciences they might be a little different.

You've got nothing to lose in applying though. If you don't try you don't get!
Vazzyb
Don't agree with that. People always make it a point to mention 300s (or close ones) in their PS to Oxford. I don't think anyone is stupid enough to ignore the fact that a student finds AS level (a lot more advanced than the saturated world of 10A* GCSEs) really easy and gets all their module scores over 290.


Tutors I've spoken with about this sort of thing have said that their reaction to someone getting 300/300, or close to it (especially in non-mathsy subjects) is more along the lines of "well, that just shows how meaningless A-level scores are getting", rather than "cor blimey O'Reilly, strike a light, they must be really really clever". They still want A grades though! - as the counter side of that attitude is they are even more inclined to think that anyone who can't get some kind of A-grade can't be very good at the subject.

DtS

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