(no subject)

[ewx]

It's so rare that the media talk anything but nonsense about Oxbridge admissions that it seems worth flagging it when they break the habit. Certainly my recollection is that those of my classmates who didn't get into Oxford or Cambridge weren't considered somehow inferior or to have failed; we all knew perfectly well that there was a large element of chance involved.

Comments

[j4.livejournal.com]

In my year, 10 people applied to Oxford (9 got places, 8 accepted them) and 8 to Cambridge (5 got places, they all accepted them). The people who applied and didn't get offered a place were obviously upset, but they certainly weren't regarded as "failures". The one girl who didn't accept her Oxford place was told by the headmistress and by our class teacher that turning down the place would ruin her life and she would regret it for ever. Which fortunately (and predictably) was not the case; last I heard she was doing a PhD at Leeds & was very happy.

At our school the label of "failure" was reserved for e.g. the people who were withdrawn from GCSE/A-level classes because they weren't going to get high enough grades & would screw up the school's league tables if allowed to take the exam; and the (very few) people who didn't want to go to university at all, who were told (spot the pattern here...) that it would ruin their chances of getting anywhere in life if they didn't go to university. (Yep, 8 years later I'm still angry with the school for saying that sort of thing to people.)

Musing on a bit from the news article:

"""Even the most balanced parents don't seem able to suppress their negative emotions in front of their children. Once again, the term "Oxbridge rejects" rears its ugly head."""

My parents' reaction when I got in to Oxford was basically "You know, we don't mind which university you go to, we still love you". Which was all very nice and balanced and affirming, but at the time I wanted them to behave like all my other Oxbridge-accepted friends and be cracking open the champagne etc.. :) I guess they probably were proud of me, but they were every bit as proud of my sister when she got into Lancaster (and again when she got a postgrad place there).

No, I don't really have a point to make, just waffling really...

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

My parents were far more chuffed about Oxford Brookes than Cambridge, mostly because they figured I'd actually stick it out more than 2 terms that time. ;-)