Oxbridge Conditional Offers

[Anonymous]

DC is in an IB program, but has taken 9 APs. All 5s (Micro/Macro Econ, Calculus BC, Gov/History, Lang Lit, etc.). 7s in IB ESS and Philosophy. SAT score is great. GPA 4 UW. They're interested in PPE at Oxford. We haven't looked at Cambridge properly yet (maybe HSPS there). The only hesitation in putting effort into Oxbridge is due to the possibility of conditional offers. Could anyone who is very familiar with the process be able to tell if there is a chance to get an unconditional offer based on APs? I understand there would be a lot of variables, but just wondering if APs would count.

[Anonymous]

it's possible if you have the APs all done before applying (and in the case of Cambridge, have them in the last two years)

[Anonymous]

If the kid has 9 APs they won't be getting a conditonal offer unless they are still to take one in a key subject related to the major

The hurdle is the subject specific exam and the interview.

Definitely apply, your DS sounds like a strong candidate. My DD applied to Oxford this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is in an IB program, but has taken 9 APs. All 5s (Micro/Macro Econ, Calculus BC, Gov/History, Lang Lit, etc.). 7s in IB ESS and Philosophy. SAT score is great. GPA 4 UW. They're interested in PPE at Oxford. We haven't looked at Cambridge properly yet (maybe HSPS there). The only hesitation in putting effort into Oxbridge is due to the possibility of conditional offers. Could anyone who is very familiar with the process be able to tell if there is a chance to get an unconditional offer based on APs? I understand there would be a lot of variables, but just wondering if APs would count.

With these scores already in-hand, I don't know what an offer would be conditional on? I'd think either they'd get an offer after the interview or not.

[Anonymous]

My son was accepted to the Economics & Management program and the offer was unconditional. He had similar AP stats as your kid.

For PPE, you kid will need to take the TSA test. There is also an interview.

They publish this:
Interviewed: 38%
Successful: 12%
Intake: 229

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/guide/admissions-tests/tsa

Someone here posted in the big UK thread the stats for US applicants to all of Oxford courses.

For Econ/Mgmt it is one of the lowest acceptance rates for Americans. I’ll copy here for you. For Econ, 67 American applicants over 3 years with 11 offers. I have been told that basically all 67 applicants had more than 5APs at 5’s. So this is not a differentiator at all. It is basically the minimum to apply given the competition. The personal statement will be a big deal and so will the results of the Tests at Oxford. Then the Interview will be the final separation.


I think the other poster in the UK thread got this from the UK freedom of information page:
"
For the 3 years between 2022 and 2024, Oxford received 1482 applications from the US. 184 received offers. 12.4% Admission Rate. 61 US students admitted Per YEar. ( I dont know how many of those 94/yr actually attend).

Better yet, these are the easiest and hardest courses to get acceptance to (indicated by admissions %):

# Course Applications Offers Offer Rate (%)
1 Modern and Medieval Languages 7 3 42.86
2 Linguistics 27 11 40.74
3 History and Modern Languages 13 4 30.77
4 Classics (4 years) 10 3 30.0
5 Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 7 2 28.57
6 Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (... 7 2 28.57
7 Archaeology 26 7 26.92
8 Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Rel... 8 2 25.0
9 Education 13 3 23.08
10 Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic 9 2 22.22
11 History of Art 14 3 21.43
12 Classics 16 3 18.75
13 History and Politics 40 6 15.0
14 Natural Sciences 196 28 14.29
15 Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (... 22 3 13.64
16 Computer Science 126 17 13.49
17 Architecture 38 5 13.16
18 Mathematics 156 20 12.82
19 Geography 16 2 12.5
20 History 32 4 12.5
21 Philosophy 25 3 12.0
22 Law 80 9 11.25
23 Economics 63 7 11.11
24 English 51 5 9.8
25 Human, Social, and Political Sciences 134 13 9.7
26 Engineering 113 10 8.85
27 Land Economy 28 2 7.14
28 Veterinary Medicine 32 2 6.25
29 Psychological and Behavioural Sciences 67 3 4.48
30 Music 2 0 0.0
31 Medicine (Graduate course) 23 0 0.0
32 Medicine 75 0 0.0
33 Chemical Engineering via Engineering 3 0 0.0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is in an IB program, but has taken 9 APs. All 5s (Micro/Macro Econ, Calculus BC, Gov/History, Lang Lit, etc.). 7s in IB ESS and Philosophy. SAT score is great. GPA 4 UW. They're interested in PPE at Oxford. We haven't looked at Cambridge properly yet (maybe HSPS there). The only hesitation in putting effort into Oxbridge is due to the possibility of conditional offers. Could anyone who is very familiar with the process be able to tell if there is a chance to get an unconditional offer based on APs? I understand there would be a lot of variables, but just wondering if APs would count.

With these scores already in-hand, I don't know what an offer would be conditional on? I'd think either they'd get an offer after the interview or not.

The minimum criteria for IB is 776 in HL subjects in senior year. So the question is whether they would still want to see the IB scores or not given 5s in relevant subjects.
DC would put in effort preparing for the test and interview if there were a chance of an unconditional offer.
Conditional offers are very annoying w.r.t. to the timing and getting 776 in IB HL is no joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was accepted to the Economics & Management program and the offer was unconditional. He had similar AP stats as your kid.

For PPE, you kid will need to take the TSA test. There is also an interview.

They publish this:
Interviewed: 38%
Successful: 12%
Intake: 229

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/guide/admissions-tests/tsa

Someone here posted in the big UK thread the stats for US applicants to all of Oxford courses.

For Econ/Mgmt it is one of the lowest acceptance rates for Americans. I’ll copy here for you. For Econ, 67 American applicants over 3 years with 11 offers. I have been told that basically all 67 applicants had more than 5APs at 5’s. So this is not a differentiator at all. It is basically the minimum to apply given the competition. The personal statement will be a big deal and so will the results of the Tests at Oxford. Then the Interview will be the final separation.


I think the other poster in the UK thread got this from the UK freedom of information page:
"
For the 3 years between 2022 and 2024, Oxford received 1482 applications from the US. 184 received offers. 12.4% Admission Rate. 61 US students admitted Per YEar. ( I dont know how many of those 94/yr actually attend).

Better yet, these are the easiest and hardest courses to get acceptance to (indicated by admissions %):

# Course Applications Offers Offer Rate (%)
1 Modern and Medieval Languages 7 3 42.86
2 Linguistics 27 11 40.74
3 History and Modern Languages 13 4 30.77
4 Classics (4 years) 10 3 30.0
5 Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 7 2 28.57
6 Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (... 7 2 28.57
7 Archaeology 26 7 26.92
8 Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Rel... 8 2 25.0
9 Education 13 3 23.08
10 Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic 9 2 22.22
11 History of Art 14 3 21.43
12 Classics 16 3 18.75
13 History and Politics 40 6 15.0
14 Natural Sciences 196 28 14.29
15 Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (... 22 3 13.64
16 Computer Science 126 17 13.49
17 Architecture 38 5 13.16
18 Mathematics 156 20 12.82
19 Geography 16 2 12.5
20 History 32 4 12.5
21 Philosophy 25 3 12.0
22 Law 80 9 11.25
23 Economics 63 7 11.11
24 English 51 5 9.8
25 Human, Social, and Political Sciences 134 13 9.7
26 Engineering 113 10 8.85
27 Land Economy 28 2 7.14
28 Veterinary Medicine 32 2 6.25
29 Psychological and Behavioural Sciences 67 3 4.48
30 Music 2 0 0.0
31 Medicine (Graduate course) 23 0 0.0
32 Medicine 75 0 0.0
33 Chemical Engineering via Engineering 3 0 0.0

Thank you! They want to international relations or adjacent majors.

[Anonymous]

776 HL isn’t that hard. My DC did it and they didn’t study very hard for the IB exams.

Those stats would likely be an unconditional offer OP and especially if your school issues predicted IB scores by half term (ours did)

It is definitely worth a shot. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Please note no unconditional will be given until after interview and Test. All of my son’s US friends had unconditional offers.