A few months ago I had a thread here Help find math heavy colleges for math head (jr)? and got amazing advice for my math-y son. In fact, the posters on cc were instrumental for us putting together his college application list and especially him finding his number one dream school: Oxford.
I can’t post in the old threat anymore, but I wanted to thank and update everybody who was so immensely helpful to him: because of you he self studied three AP’s, got the requisite 5s, took the MAT and today he heard that he was shortlisted for an interview at Oxford.
So, @Twoin18 , @BeekMom , @ucbalumnus , @HazeGrey, @Tigerle, @merc81, @AustenNut and anybody I might have forgotten - thank you SO MUCH!
You actually changed the course of my kiddo’s application process and probably his life: he got an acceptance from University of St. Andrews and is seriously considering it if Oxford doesn’t pan out - a school he only researched because UCAS allowed him to apply to five schools at the same time, and UCSBs College of Creative Studies is also high on his list - another school we got such positive feedback about from this group that he contacted them and had a wonderful experience at with a shadow day (he loved the professor there).
I can’t express how grateful I am for all the thoughtful advice and information you so generously shared with us - you guys are truly amazing.
Anna
PS: Oh, and @Hazegrey - he applied to Worcester because of your son…
@AnnaW Congratulations - that’s wonderful news! Is he going to fly to the UK for in person interviews or do it remotely? Lots of resources on the mathematical institute website regarding the interview process and sample questions. Encourage him to spend some time there. Also look at the “Oxford Demystified” thread over on The Student Room for more tips. In my son’s computer science interview, they actually asked him one of the sample questions! The Worcester math tutors are a great group - particularly Dr. Earl who is the head of undergraduate studies at the Mathematical Institute. One of my son’s former housemates is still at Worcester studying for his PhD in Math.
I have absolutely nothing to contribute to the thread, but thanks so much for the update. Sounds like it’s been a wonderful and exciting few months. Congrats on the St. Andrews acceptance, and best of luck as he continues the college search process. I’m confident he’s going to do well wherever he lands. Please continue to keep us updated!
@skieurope it looks like the original thread was closed due to inactivity. Is it possible for the person who started a thread to request that it be re-opened to add an update?
I thought about it earlier, but decided against it. The earlier thread was from December and has over 200 posts. If I merged the threads, someone will come along and give an opinion on the original question, which is moot now. Better to keep the update thread separate.
Congrats! What APs did he decide to self study? And is he still applying for Math and Philosophy? I hope he has chance to visit, either for the interview or at another time.
In my student’s experience, the interview at Oxford was very important and helped her get a place in her graduate program. (She enquired about her ranking before and after the interview. Without the interview, she wouldn’t have been accepted.) My student watched this video, among others.
Perhaps @collegemom3717 can shed light on the importance of the interview for undergraduates?
The standard for undergraduates is that they interview three times as many applicants as there are places. It is by far the most important part of the final decision, with little weight given to the prior phases of the process (MAT, APs, personal statement, recommendation) that got you there, except as a potential tie breaker.
Thank you so much for the update and congratulations on winning the interview! Agree with @Twoin18 that once you’ve cleared the AP and MAT hurdles, the interview is what counts now. I believe they are all online now, is that right? Not sure whether you can even choose to do them in person.
We are all rooting for your kid! Im confident he will turn out to be just the student Oxford wants, but am glad he has such an appealing second choice in St. Andrews.
No flying in (thank god!) - this year all of the interviews are online.
I think he’s been active on TSR, He encouraged me to sign up, too, which I did seeing as this actually might happen.
We’ve been doing mock interviews between our living room and his room - I am giving a pitiful impression of a tutor, totally lost every time he comes up with a different way from the ones I have on my cheat sheet to get to the solutions - which happens most of the time, but we figure even explaining to the dummies helps as prep. Not good for my self esteem, though…
They sent the notifications very late, he was completely convinced he was off the list, so there was a lot of shrieking (me) and head bobbing (him) yesterday. We are very different people.
But you actually had quite the impact on me and especially my son, @AustenNut . You introduced him to the ‘applying sideways’ article from MIT and wrote a very supporting post that I actually printed out for the kid. It encouraged him to continue down his individual path at a crucial moment - he really took your words to heart. There was quite the pushback to his plans from the world around him, without the old threat and truly the one post from you I don’t know that we both would have had the motivation to veer off path like that. No matter the outcome (fingers crossed) - I believe going off track and trying to forge his own way is going to have a big impact on him and will shape his future. It also created a truly bonding experience between the two of us, which I much appreciate and will cherish when he’s off to college.
Thank you @skieurope and @lkg4answers for being so thoughtful about this. It was totally my fault, I wanted to update after kiddo took his APs but didn’t didn’t realize the 90 days had already passed…
He took Calc BC, CS principles and Psychology. No more Math & Psychology, only Math (despite some attempted manipulation from my side…). After being to a challenging math program in summer where he reveled in math 24/7 like a little piggy in the mud, his logic was: 1) I can now confidently state that I love doing math 24/7, I can imagine doing that forever, and I don’t want to cut down on math time available to me for the next few years. 2) risk assessment: I now know I’ll enjoy mathematics all the time for the next years, not having had that exposure to philosophy I don’t know the same about philosophy - I’ll take the safer choice of lots of the thing I know for sure I’ll enjoy. 3) I can read and discuss philosophy on my own (apparently there was a lot of that at his program).
I personally wish he had staid at Math and Philosophy, but - it ain’t my choice.
Btw, @Twoin18 - a very special thank you to you, too - you gave me a lot of information about math and helped me understand a lot more about the study of it (well, at a baseline of zero any knowledge qualifies as ‘a lot more’, I guess). It allowed me to even know what questions to ask.
Thank you for sharing. Your post has made my day…just trying not to cry. I’m wishing you both the best; I really do think that wonderful things will be coming your way.
Thank you very much @Lindagaf! He’s watched a lot of videos but I’ll make sure he sees this one.
My understanding is that every precondition kind of falls away once cleared - what I mean is, he got a score on the MAT that allows him to be invited to the interview (which I still find incredible, tbh), now the tutors get to decide if they want to work with him and the MAT score isn’t that important anymore. Could that be right?
The Oxford format is exciting to him. I think it might be in his favor that he has done a lot of tutoring online, mostly as a tutor but also as a tutoree - he’s very comfortable talking about his process while problem solving. His math teacher has him teaching their math class sometimes (he is teaching math proofs, something she doesn’t do), she told me he was great at explaining. Much more comfortable as soon as there is actually a problem he can work on. The interviews he has done for US colleges never went that great when he was supposed to ‘shine as a person’, which basically makes him want to run and hide. Total deer caught in headlights…
While that is true of the SAT/AP hurdle, I don’t think it is true of the MAT score.
The Mathematical Institute publishes a chart every year that correlates MAT score to admissions status (no interview, interview - no offer, offer). MAT score and offer rate are correlated as you would expect.
At least for Maths, each shortlisted candidate is given a candidate score which is based on MAT and interview performance. What the weighting is, I don’t know.
I am so excited for your son! Many, many congratulations-- he has worked so hard to get where he is now.
For my son, the interviews were the most enjoyable part of the whole Oxford process-- getting to talk math with math professors! What could be better? And the fact your son is able to talk about his process while he’s responding to the problem is perfect. I remember reading somewhere that what the profs are looking for is not necessarily the students who are “best” at math (though they’re all good at it, obviously), but the students they feel they can work with in tutorials. If someone is silent, then comes out with a correct answer from a black box, there’s not much to work with there.
I couldn’t be happier for you guys-- so many great options on the table, with perhaps more to come. Please keep us posted, and good luck!
And the fact your son is able to talk about his process while he’s responding to the problem is perfect. I remember reading somewhere that what the profs are looking for is not necessarily the students who are “best” at math (though they’re all good at it, obviously), but the students they feel they can work with in tutorials. If someone is silent, then comes out with a correct answer from a black box, there’s not much to work with there.