Aiming for Oxford/Cambridge universities for my daughter

Yolina

A friend of mine got into Cambridge about 25 years ago and is from a working class background. However it's something that he really wanted and worked hard to get, rather than something his parents pushed him towards.

justme111

Person_one wrote: »

Its saying that the wealthy and the privileged are massively over-represented at Oxbridge. 7% of school pupils i the country go to private schools, but nearly half of Oxford students went to them! Personally, I don't believe the children of the well off are just that much more intelligent and talented than the other 93%. Do you?

Of course not. Buy neither it says that to get there you have to be a member of a clique. Don't you really understand why statistics are as they are, that it has to do with nurture rather than nature? What is so surprising that children that had half of pupils in the class , resources, environment and ambition are doing better academically ?

ashtray_heart

I can't comment on Cambridge University but I went to Oxford University as an undergraduate and I'm from a working class family and attended local state comprehensive. Yes it is true that there are very privileged people there but they are not the majority. I met people from all walks of life, from all different social and ethnic backgrounds. What we all had in common was a passion for our subject and doing relatively well in A levels. Many people did average in GCSEs and I know of several (including myself) who did not get straight As at Alevel. If your daughter wants to go there it isn't too early to start thinking about applying as depending on her subject there are many things she can do to give herself an advantage. If you are interested send me a PM and I can give you some ideas. There are also FREE wudening participation courses run in the Summer by Oxford. Going to Oxford was the best thing I ever did. I made amazing friends, enjoyed my subject and I'm still in touch with my tutors now. The most important thing is that it is an environment that your daughter will be happy in as it is academically very intense and you need to love your subject. There is little time for partying and you aren't allowed to have a job in term time.

FBaby

Person_one wrote: »

Its saying that the wealthy and the privileged are massively over-represented at Oxbridge. 7% of school pupils i the country go to private schools, but nearly half of Oxford students went to them! Personally, I don't believe the children of the well off are just that much more intelligent and talented than the other 93%. Do you?

Yes, but the article doesn't conclude that it is directly related to money and privileges.

Most academics recognise that this is a bad thing, but see little that they can do about it. They are operating within a system that increasingly constrains their possibilities. Private school students obtain higher grades, on average, than those in the state sector (it would be pretty embarrassing for them if they didn’t, given their greater resources and smaller average class sizes). Combined with ever-stricter centralised admissions criteria – at Cambridge, for example, the offer made to almost all candidates is now A*AA – this can make it difficult to admit representative numbers of state school students. Many of those state students who do achieve top grades do not apply to places like Oxford or Cambridge – perfectly understandably, given the toff-heavy demographics of those universities and the huge burden of debt that studying at any UK university now entails.

I do believe that those with higher income do tend to have higher intelligence, so that's probably one factor. Then there is the fact that private school will provide more pupil centered education so that each are much more likely to be challenged to their best ability, the one thing that unfortunately, state school don't have the funding to do. Then of course there is growing up with values such as ambition and competitive mindset.

duchy

One of my friend's sons went to Cambridge - He was very bright and quite quirky and fitted in very well. They certainly aren't wealthy or upper class - but the ambition for Cambridge specifically came from him.

I think had the OP posted that their daughter was wondering rather than they were wondering about an Oxbridge degree the responses may have been different !!!

theoretica

Person_one wrote: »

Its saying that the wealthy and the privileged are massively over-represented at Oxbridge. 7% of school pupils i the country go to private schools, but nearly half of Oxford students went to them! Personally, I don't believe the children of the well off are just that much more intelligent and talented than the other 93%. Do you?

That is true, but the more detailed statistics look to me like the big challenge for evening out the student representation is getting more people to apply (and to a lesser extent improving some state schools for the higher academic achievers) - not that the selection system is skewed with the applicants it has. With all the pressure put on Oxford and Cambridge to have a more representative student population they are very keen to encourage more applications from state schools. Except maybe from Hills Road Sixth Form College. This means they will have outreach people who would love to talk to you OP.

Spendless

My friend's son had an interview for Cambridge some months ago. He has been classed as outstanding for Maths since he was at Primary school. He wasn't offered a place, he is shy and was very nervous during his interview. He had ignored the advice of his own Maths teacher who had told him to try for Oxford instead as she was confident that he stood a really good chance of getting in there instead, but friend's son had his heart set on applying to Cambridge.


It's a few years old but here's an article about the process.


http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/10/how-cambridge-admissions-really-work

Tigsteroonie

I was one of half-a-dozen students from my VI Form encouraged to apply to Oxbridge, many years ago. I did, but dared to put Cambridge as my second choice as they didn't offer the exact course I wanted :rotfl: It got me an interview as they were curious, but I wasn't offered a place. It didn't matter - I didn't even go to Uni in the end.

SavingPennies_2

OP - in another post you talk about getting your 14 year old son to do a Duke of Edinburgh award to help him get into a top uni - even though by your own admission he is not keen to do it. I really think you should be encouraging your kids to do their best and to do what they want to do, rather than focusing on how to get them into the best university in 4 years time. Going to Oxford/ Cambridge isn't for everyone and it isn't the be all and end all. If they want to go and are capable, that's great and do everything to support them, but if they don't or they can't - well surely that's fine too.

lostinrates

Person_one wrote: »

Its saying that the wealthy and the privileged are massively over-represented at Oxbridge. 7% of school pupils i the country go to private schools, but nearly half of Oxford students went to them! Personally, I don't believe the children of the well off are just that much more intelligent and talented than the other 93%. Do you?

And look at responses here from those like dom ravioli and others compared to ashtray heart.....its at least as hard to battle inverse snobbery.