Oxbridge Entrance

Yesterday there were stories the press about the fact that elite schools dominate when it comes to admission to Oxford and Cambridge universities. Five schools sent more pupils to Oxbridge than 2,000 other schools put together.

It’s not that these schools get markedly better A level results – the research apparently shows that the results were similar. So why the difference?

Well, according to the articles I saw, some of it was down to poor advice and choice of A level subjects. The top schools simply were more tuned into what Oxbridge admissions tutors were looking for and advised their pupils accordingly. Whenever I’ve seen articles on this subject in the past, there’s always been something of an assumption that there’s prejudice involved – specifically that there is prejudice against comprehensive school pupils.

I went to a state comprehensive school – I’d have loved to have gone to a grammar school but there were none. All closed down. I took the Oxford entrance exam in 1993 and had an interview but did not get a place (I ended up here in Reading instead).

In my experience, poor advice is definitely a factor. I took 3 A levels, one of which was Politics and Government (the others were English Lit and History). This was my first mistake; although it was a subject I was interested in and which I enjoyed at A level, I don’t think it was as well regarded as some other subjects. In retrospect I wish I’d continued with French or tried out Economics as well. I wish I’d had a teacher who could have advised me how my choice would be viewed. Neither of my parents had a degree and although my aunt had taken a degree at Cardiff, university was largely uncharted territory for my family. When I applied for university I hadn’t even really worked out the terminology (undergraduate, postgraduate, bachelors etc) let alone have any understanding about how my choice of A level subject might have a profound effect on my future. Looking back, I wish there’d been someone who could have advised me.

My school did send people to Oxbridge. Sometimes as many as two or three a year. But generally they were people who were either exceptionally and obviously gifted, or they were people who had parents or other family connections who had an academic background and knew the ropes. Because if you got to Oxford or Cambridge you basically had to do it on your own.

The prevailing attitude of the school was that Oxbridge was for the exceptional. I read all the prospectuses and decided that for my degree subject (History) Oxford had the most interesting syllabus. So I decided to apply. Why not? If you don’t try, then you don’t get anywhere. My friend also wanted to apply.

I remember clearly the two of us being called in to see the Head of Sixth Form. Would we like to reconsider, she asked. The thing was, if the school sent candidates who weren’t good enough, the school got a snotty letter from the university (so she said – I’m still not sure I believe this). She didn’t want that. If we wanted to go to Oxford we were just being academic snobs (yes, she said that).

Anyone who knows me will know that telling me not to do something is not a clever thing to do! I bridled at the suggestion that I should moderate my ambitions solely to spare the Head of Sixth Form the minor unpleasantness of a snotty letter from Oxford. Whereas I’d previously been unsure whether or not to apply now I was definitely going to do it. And I did.

My friend, under pressure from the Head of Sixth Form, decided not to apply and has regretted it ever since.

I took the Oxford entrance exam and had an interview. I was useless at the interview because I had no idea what to expect and no interview experience, except for a few (unhelpful) mock interviews with the Headmaster and (more helpful) with my English teacher* (based on the experience of his own interview 20-odd years before). Maybe I wouldn’t have got in anyway, but I have no doubt that if I’d gone to a different school I’d have been better prepared for the interview. I’d have done the extra reading that apparently was expected (how was I to have known that?). I wouldn’t have been scared to challenge, to stick to my guns.I know now, from speaking to people who went to schools that routinely put forward significant percentages of their sixth form for Oxbridge, that those schools prepare their pupils meticulously. They identify potential candidates and mentor them, prepare them for the entrance exam and interview, just as they prepare them for the A level exams. It’s no wonder they’re so successful. Why don’t other schools do this?

I fear that many state comprehensive schools have the same attitude as mine: that Oxbridge is for academic snobs, that the risk of failure outweighs the possibility of success. That if pupils must apply then they are pretty much on their own.

My school didn’t just lack ambition for its pupils – it actively discouraged it; it sneered at us and it failed to take steps to find out what it could do to prepare us.

The shocking lack of support and ambition of many state schools (like mine) is one of the reasons why a small number of elite schools manage to clean up on Oxbridge places. It’s about time that secondary school governors and parents had a close look at what support their schools give to ambitious and able pupils.

*as it happens this English teacher was absolutely the best thing about the school and was the most inspirational teacher I have ever met. In my interview prep he did his best, but his sole qualification was having had an Oxford interview himself.

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