23rd January 2015 1:00
By Blue Tutors
It’s that time of year again when Oxbridge hopefuls will be receiving the outcomes of their applications. Having been through the lengthy interview and exam process, students have been waiting patiently to hear the outcome, a wait which is now over for many. There are several possible outcomes in January, including an acceptance to their college of choice, a rejection, an offer from another college, and a further interview followed by an offer or rejection from another college. In some cases, students may be offered a place later on by their original college. Whilst waiting for the outcome can be difficult, understanding the process if the application is still ongoing and continuing on from here can be the most difficult part of all.
Many students will be in a state of limbo at the moment, having been pooled and waiting to see if they will hear from another college. Others will have been invited for another interview, and may feel rather dismayed at having to go through the process again. The thing to do here is to try to see it as an opportunity (which many don’t get) to give the process another go. Some people will have been called for a second interview only a day or so after being notified by their college. However, others will have a bit more time to prepare, and if possible should fit in some practice interview work. This doesn't necessarily mean chasing down a teacher to give a formal style interview. The most important thing is for students to practise talking comfortably about their subjects – something they can also do with parents or friends.
For those who are already aware of the outcome be it an offer or a rejection, the trick is to keep going and stay on track. For those with offers, this can be difficult to do in amongst all the excitement, but focusing on obtaining the necessary grades to fulfil offers is vital. In some cases, offers can be extremely high, meaning that students need to begin focusing on ensuring that their exam results are superb. For those who did not receive offers, it can be difficult to stay motivated to study for final exams, but it is hugely important to try to stay on track. These students may have very high offers from other universities which they will have to work hard to meet, and some may want to reapply the following year. Whether successful or not, students should try to put the events of the past month behind them and focus on obtaining the best A level results they can.