Do you need to start planning for uni in Year 11?

Yes. Year 11 is where it needs to start, but ideally, if you’re looking at a US or Oxbridge pathway, then Year 10 is great. When we work with students in Year 10 they can still be a bit exploratory without having a big to do list, also, we can gently contextualise how important GCSEs are. Oxbridge doesn’t want to see a mixed bag of GCSE results. Even if you’re applying for a Science, you can’t be looking at Grade 5s in French and Art.

What if they’re on target for a mixed bag?

If that’s the case it gives us time to put in support and tutoring if needed.

Why does the US process need to start this early?

At the end of Year 11 and Year 12 we suggest people really move swiftly if they’re looking at a US pathway because the universities look at longevity of involvement in activities and projects so there’s a degree of early planning needed. Being the hockey team captain might be important for a US application, and an early start gives us a chance to help a student work towards that.

But hockey captain’s not important for Oxbridge?

No, it’s not. At this point things like instrument Grades and DofE are extra curricular not super-curricular. We see crestfallen parents and students working their fingers to the bone getting Grade 8 cello when it has no bearing on the application whatsoever for English at Cambridge or Law at Bristol!

So ditch the extra-curricular?

Please keep going with things that give you joy – if you like them and they add to your life, then go to town, but when we think of use of time, if it’s something you’re only doing because you think it’s useful for uni, then reconsider. Though this isn’t the case for the US when you may want to keep it up.

Tell me about super-curricular

This is about building your subject knowledge and your application and doing things that further your enthusiasm and interest in a subject.

There’s a bit of confusion around this as many parents think what they need to do is buy expensive courses and experiences, then the students get to UCAS and just list out their super-curricular experiences rather than using them to talk about the subject.

So no to the expensive courses?

Firstly, admission tutors can see a very active parent in the background so they know when an application is not self driven. Secondly, they can see a socio-economic skew to more privileged children. As with extra-curricular, by all means do them for your own enjoyment, but don’t feel you have to do this or your child will be disadvantaged. For America, though, it can be important. With Columbia, if you attend their summer school, it is valuable in their process.

What would you advise instead of holiday courses?

Students can simply read books – Cambridge has free online books, and Oxford has a podcast library. There’s also free Moocs (Massive Online Open Courses), there’s TEDx, and so much more. Students should discuss their interests, not ‘Here’s what my mum organised for me last summer’. Even if someone came to chat to us in Year 10 and realised that we could save them £20k in courses, then it would have been worth it.

So it’s not a case of who you know any more?

No. The supreme court has a digitised live feed that is free – much better to talk about that than shadowing your parent’s friend who’s a barrister.

When should you get stuck into the super-curricular?

Oxbridge requires you to apply one calendar year before joining – the application date is 15 October every year. So there’s nothing to do in Year 13 – Year 12 is a big year so the start point has to move back a year to Year 11, although the earlier the better really. In Year 11 but definitely in Year 12 it’s about building the application and exploring. We now know you’re a physicist so let’s plan your summer around doing a Mooc in robotics or MIT’s online course.

A student at her desk studying with a computer.

Ok, so we’ve got that bit nailed. What else would you do to support a student coming to see you in Year 10?

The first step is a private consultation in our London office and we offer this on weekends and evenings so you don’t miss school. This is a Director level consultation where we talk through how the process works and their goals, interest in subjects, do they have a US passport, genuine talent in a sport, and so on. The family does have the choice after that to start long-term preparation if it’s desired. Here we can start support, which might be GCSE tutoring to meet requirements of Oxbridge or Ivy League. This is when you’d begin the three-year premier service. You’d also go away from this appointment with copies of our TSA, SAT or course reports.

And this has to be in person?

We can do it online but we’d want to meet you at some point and we’d recommend you do that with any company you’re talking to. This is someone who is going to take your student through three years of preparation. For us, it’s our 25th year of operating. We talk to the child to gather their enthusiasm for it and where their interest has come from. What we’re trying to rule out is exactly that – where parents have an interest and the student doesn’t. For someone not interested, the extra studying and work experience is just not going to interest them.

So sometimes you’d advise against Oxbridge or the US?

At Year 10 we have the student’s school reports and often these use GCSE grades for effort and attainment. If a student’s GCSE grades are not on track to achieve their ambitions, we need to establish whether it’s a case of picking up effort level and if tutoring can lift their grades. But if not, we’ll talk about non-Oxbridge options and other courses like art school, drama pathways and studying abroad. We want to avoid careening towards something that isn’t right for them.

Equally, can students apply for both Oxbridge and the US?

Absolutely, we offer dual track and it is becoming increasingly popular. Oxbridge Applications is twinned with A-List Education so if you’re thinking of both, we are the place to go and we can do it at the same time. It’s important to space out your US application so the two don’t overlap and bring undue pressure. In the past we’ve had amazing dual track results like Harvard and Oxford or Columbia and Cambridge. That does reward the long run students who have started early and worked since Year 10.

We’re at Year 11 and it’s time to choose A Levels. What if we’re still not sure?

Our programmes allow you the flexibility to not be locked into subjects. Say you’re aiming for Medicine and are taking Maths, Biology and Chemistry for A Level, but then decide you don’t fancy the clinical practice of Medicine; you could switch to a Biochemistry application relatively easily, but it would be significantly more difficult if you decided you wanted to be an archaeologist.

You can do an extreme swap from science to arts in Year 10 or 11 but not once you’ve committed to those A Levels subjects from Year 12. After that we can support you in moving to an adjacent subject that’s supported by your A Levels. Say it’s Law, the A Levels we’d recommend would be essay subjects like English, History, Modern or Classical Languages and Politics. From there we could make a switch to something like Modern Languages as a degree or HSPS (Human, Social, and Political Science), but not Medicine.

Is four A Levels always better than three?

It depends on the school policy. If the school recommends four, and you don’t take them up, then that might be troubling for Oxbridge. Say St Paul’s Girls invites you to take four and you drop one, then it will look like you’ve taken the minimum. If you’re looking at Russell Group universities, then it depends. If you take maths and further maths then you’d normally have two other subjects. Otherwise, think strategically as an individual. If taking three gets you two A*s and an A and four will be four As, take three. Don’t do four for the sake of it.

And when it comes to degree subjects, are there any plum choices (i.e easier to get in with?)

STEM and the hard sciences are really popular right now, so we’re talking subjects like Engineering, Physics and Material Science. This also applies to blended Chemistry and Physics subjects like Natural Sciences at Cambridge, as well as Bio Medicine and Medicine. The boom in pharmaceutical and immuno tech after Covid means graduates with a bio med qualification are immensely employable. Then there’s the highly quantitative – Computer Science, Maths, Finance and Business Management or a specialist degree in Finance as a masters degree. These have a numeracy level that can take you forward to a quantitative job. So these are the most competitive at Oxbridge.

So it’s a numbers game?

We don’t advise an approach by stats – we’d only advise this if the student is an all rounder and can muster a passion for anything! Classics and Modern Languages and Theology are at the more favourable end – so can be a 30-50% of applicants getting into Oxbridge depending on the year. But you can’t take a student and make them a passionate classicist if they’re not. It’s why A Level choice is important. That said, I believe Psychology is the most popular degree in the UK but this isn’t echoed at Oxbridge.

OK, so what else is in store for your Year 11 students?

Year 11 is the latest long-term start point if looking at Oxbridge, US, Law or Medicine to best strategize your A Level choices. At this point we’ll be doing strategic preparation and decision making and perhaps trying taster lessons in subjects as well as offering the academic support if that’s needed.

So by Year 12 it has to be nailed down?

A very hard conversation is one in Year 12 when the student hasn’t taken the right A Levels for their choice of degree. It’s a common thing that parents at this point say they wish they had come in earlier. Whether that’s application to their GCSEs or choosing the wrong subjects. Frequently we hear, ‘I wish the school had told us this’. We do the Oxbridge support with a number of schools including Wellington College, Marlborough and Tonbridge and we insist on speaking to the Year 10s. We need to make sure students and parents are asking the right questions of their school.

Lots of schools aren’t up to speed on the chances of entry for the various Oxbridge colleges. Can a school support you with the right A Level or IB combination, in which case it’s time to consider a school move. It’s rare but it’s a fundamental thing to identify and move a student in time. We’ve seen students who’ve moved schools a couple of times and not had the most stable school environment but our consistency of three-year support has got them there.

You’ve helped them with subject choices, now what’s in store for a Year 12 Oxbridge applicant?

If they come onto our support programme, in between every session they have with their mentor they are given reading materials, assignments, test prep and mock tests and reports in between. Through mentoring, students develop subject knowledge and communication skills but also learn about how to thrive in an Oxbridge-style academic setting. Then there’s personal statement support, admissions test practices and interview practice. Summer of Year 12 is admissions test prep and getting the portfolio of work ready plus the final drafts of that personal statement. The UCAS window is open until Jan of the following year for non-Oxbridge so UCAS prep starts later. If you’re in a school that’s not used to that accelerated time frame, then you’ll be rushing to get this done in the first term of Year 13.

We’ll see the students twice more in person – we have a residential course in their October half term when we take them away for three days and in Sept a Premier Day when we do extension with them, and they can meet other applicants. The last hurdle of the Oxbridge application is the interview in the first two weeks of December.

Is the interview as tough/bizarre as it’s infamously said to be?

It’s very varied – they are all testing your ability academically and personally to excel on the course, so they’re looking at your proficiency level in your subject. They don’t ask generic questions like ‘Tell us about a time you overcame a challenge’. So, as a historian, have a look at this source from the 18th century and answer questions on it.

Our mentor will show you how to access information that you might not otherwise have known to look for and in two or three years of time spent prepping, this will help you to dig deep. With interview preparation the experience from our students say it’s been hugely beneficial – also for interviewing for summer placements and ultimately job interviews. For some students sitting down to an Oxbridge interview, the last time they had an interview was at age 11 for school, and for some it’s the first interview they’ve ever had.

It’s a boot-and-braces approach. Have you had any stand-out success stories?

There’s been some amazing stories – I had a student last year who was Bulgarian and whose family spoke little English. He wanted to read English Literature which is unusual for someone whose own learning of English is so recent. But he had a passion and worked so hard and got a place at Oxford.

We also have unique success with re-applications. Students come to us who’ve had a no from Oxford, Cambridge or UCL and they haven’t had our support. We do a retrospective analysis on GCSEs and A Levels choices. Very often we see students who’ve been poorly strategically advised and not had advice about what they they’re eligible for. Don’t go for the top five universities that offer Economics – at Oxford it’s a 5% chance of getting in, meanwhile something like Law is 12%. Even with all A*s they couldn’t understand why they hadn’t got a place. But we can take someone with potential and get them doing the right things and give them a structure that their school can’t provide because now the student is on a gap year.

How do you keep up to date with what Oxbridge is looking for?

At the most basic level we make sure we are on all teacher training for Oxbridge – they do webinars and seminars to upskill teachers who are assisting applications. We also read in incredible detail all of the material issued by Oxbridge – admissions reports, access and widening participation reports, examinations reports – it’s lengthy and dense material – it’s our job to comb through it. Then we submit very detailed freedom of information act requests for extra data not in the public domain – so that might be disparity between how independent students are assessed at different colleges, admission rates on predicted grades, and so on. It can get into a very granular level. Lots of our advisory board are admission tutors or former tutors or DPhil candidates at colleges currently. They can be our mentors, tutors, advisors, or mock interviewers. We just can’t use university staff who are currently engaged in admissions.

Does your help need to be declared in an application?

Students don’t have to declare this support – it is totally confidential in the same way that tutoring is – we’re a private service.

Any common mistakes you see?

It’s mainly students providing too much personal narrative and not enough academic content in their UCAS – ok so you’re enraged by social injustice, but have you read Bingham’s Rule of Law? There’s also a lack of clarity around what they’re applying for and an over inclusion on extra curricular.

How much can your help boost their chances?

Over 100 of the top schools in the UK use our support and last year 564 of our students received offers for Oxford and Cambridge – of all the students applying around the world we support 7%. In all, 73% won an offer to Oxford or Cambridge and 100% got at least two non-Oxbridge Russell Group offers. Looking at admissions scores alone, our students increase test scores by 25%.

And what if they don’t get that Oxbridge place?

I find it just as rewarding to receive thanks from a student who might not get an Oxbridge place as much as those who have. If it’s a 5% chance, you can do all this prep and might still not get a place. But we’ve helped them see the value elsewhere. So they might say, ‘I didn’t get my Cambridge place but I did get Imperial’, which uses the same process as Oxbridge – as does LSE. Preparing for Oxbridge from Year 10 is great across the board because an absolute glut of Russell Group universities are accepting Oxbridge tests as a marker of whether they can get in – MAT test, TMUA and the ESAT – if you have this score they will look at it. You take the test once then can wield your score at the other universities.

So, it’s usually a good outcome?

Parents say to us that we offered beyond what school could offer or their own experience. Students say it’s hugely confidence building and helps job applications. It also offers a stepping stone to university, which is a real boost. The feedback we get is hugely rewarding.

Oxbridge Applications

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Going for Oxbridge? Here’s what you need to do from Year 10

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