How hard is it to get into Oxbridge?

Shootastar

回復 bobbycheung 的帖子

bobbycheung

I suppose that the "other applicants" means the applicants from outside UK which include EU and non-EU (International students). The number of International students is limited by the law of UK to 22. So the rest of the applicants should be from EU countries (which are not considered "international".

ANChan59

回復 Shootastar 的帖子

Thanks for your info. We are on the same page.
The % of admission is not the key, the quota is the key.

Shootastar

回復 joys2334 的帖子

You are correct that there is no need to take LNAT if you apply to Cambridge. However, if you also apply to other LNAT schools, you still have to take the LNAT.

4eyesDad

回復 odelia_ho 的帖子

I understand these 5 schools regularly send the highest number of students to Oxbridge:

1. Westminster
2. Eton
3. Hill Road SFC
4. St. Paul's Girls
5. St. Paul's School

As a matter of fact, Singapore's Raffle and Hwa Chong JS also send around 20 or more students to Oxbridge every year. The number for HK schools is quite low. Part of the reason is that many good HK students go abroad for their final years of high school whereas Singaporeans have national service to consider and they are not known to go abroad for high school education.

I just wonder whether the standard of HK schools also has an impact here. The logic is that if HK schools can provide comparable education and produce similar number, our good students may not need to study abroad for high school and we can send many many more students to Oxbridge every year (assuming money is no object)!

4eyesDad

回復 Shootastar 的帖子

Thank you for sharing your kids' Cambridge interview experiences with us. Many people seem to say the same thing: the interviews are the most difficult part of the application process but many people still enjoy the interviews whatever the result.

Shootastar

回復 4eyesDad 的帖子

Each year, Oxford and Cambridge admit around 60 students originated from Hong Kong (whose permanent residence is Hong Kong although they hold UK passports and/or study board schools in UK). The number (60) is about 1.7% to 1.8% of their places. Bearing in mind that they admit about 8% to 10% of international students, Oxford and Cambridge are very kind to Hong Kong students.

Shootastar

回復 4eyesDad 的帖子

There is no single school in Hong Kong which can send 20 students to Oxbridge each year.

However, our elite local schools and international schools report each year that they have students admitted to Oxbridge, If we sum up the figures, I guess that each year about 30 students are admitted by Oxford and Cambridge direct from Hong Kong's education system (both from local and international schools).

In other words, if you are amongst the top tiers of students in local elite schools and international schools, you still have good chance to be admitted by Oxbridge although you need some luck because each applicant, if admitted, is able to complete his/her studies in Oxbridge,

anguish

回復 Shootastar 的帖子

Do you know which school (International or local) in Hong Kong send most pupils to Oxbridge? Thanks.

anguish

Surprised there are only 5 schools dominated the race. I thought Magdalen College School and Haberdashers' Aske's are very competitive as well.

Shootastar

回復 anguish 的帖子

If you read the profiles of LPC or CIS, you will find that on average, 3 to 4 students will go to Oxbridge each year.

For ESF schools, I do not have concrete figures, but I believe that around 10 students are admitted to Oxbridge in a typical year.

For GSIS, again I do not have concrete figures, but I believe that each year it sends 3 to 4 students to Oxbridge.

In case of local elite schools such as St. Paul Co-ed, DBS, DGS, QC,.... they persistently report that they have students admitted to Oxbridge each year.

odelia_ho

回復 4eyesDad 的帖子

IC, they are all elite schools!
I don't know what is the mindset of HK parents sending their kids to study abroad, for my consideration of sending kids study abroad are
Attend A level instead of DSE
Learn fluent English
Learn different culture and living
Broading mindset and thinking
For universities' interview, studying in the UK, could learn more interview technic (accumulated from daily learning) and learn natural response.  HK students always have difficulty to encounter, most of them are narrow thinking and have limited knowledge of express their views.

Shootastar

Save for learning (experiencing) different culture and living in a foreign country, the benefits of studying in a high school abroad could be acquired in an elite local schools and/or international school in Hong Kong.

Regarding interview techniques, there is no interview held by the UK colleges unless you apply to Oxbridge or for medical program.

If you are not the top top top amongst your school, the chance of being admitted to Oxbridge is not too high even if you are in an elite UK boarding school. However, if you are in the tip top group, the local kid has the same chance of being admitted to Oxbridge as a boarding school student. Even if he is not admitted to Oxbridge, he can still be admitted to an Ivy or its equivalent (such as Stanford, MIT, CIT....). If you read the profiles of DBS, DGS, SPC, LPC, CIS.... you are amazed that how come there are so many students admitted to the top top top universities each year.

11Daddy

What is the point of studying Medicine in Oxford or Cambridge? There is virtually very slim chance to practice in Hong Kong.

iodine

11Daddy 發表於 12-11-6 18:35
What is the point of studying Medicine in Oxford or Cambridge? There is virtually very slim chance t ...

The passing rate of hk licensing exam is not too low for uk candidate. The reported overall rate of success of less than 5% is because the failure of Chinese candidates in the English language test.

peter_pan

Even if you do pass the licensing exam, it will be more difficult for oversea trained doctors to get into a good specialist training programme, as well as the need to repeat your internship in Hong Kong. So if the long term aim is to practice in Hong Kong, it'll make more sense to study medicine in HKU or CU. All the Hong Kong students currently studying in the UK (including those at Winchester, Eton, Wycombe, Cheltenham Ladies'...etc) are all applying back to HKU & CU if they want to do medicine. I dare say that the competition may be even harder than Oxbridge!!

Shootastar

回復 11Daddy 的帖子

As you can see from posts made by other participants, it is even harder to get into HKU and CU medicine than into UK's college.

The passing rate is not very high even if you take into account of the candidates from Mainland China. You can find the success rate in the annual report of the medical council. Sometimes they would give a summary as to the success rate of different candidates from different countries.

The point of applying to Oxbridge and/or other UK medical schools is to make an insurance. If you are admitted by HKU or CU, there is no point to study medicine in UK even if in Cambridge or Oxford.

11Daddy

There is an issue of monopoly. Certainly this is not in the interest of the public. How can the medical profession justify graduates from the local medical schools are better than that of Imperial, Oxford or Cambridge.

bobbycheung

回復 11Daddy 的帖子

That's life, my friend.  If there is a conflict between public interest and the interest of a profession, you know who prevails.  It applies to the medical profession as well as the legal profession.  I guess this kind of "protectionism" happens in other countries as well.  I have been persuading my kid not to do medicine or law.  If she studies these subjects in HK and if she decides to leave HK one day, I am afraid she might find that her qualification is not recognised elsewhere or there are artificial barriers stopping her from practising in another country.

peter_pan

I don't think we can blame the medical or legal profession regarding "protectionism'. Being a British colony in the past, Hong Kong has no choice but to recognise British qualifications even though the arrangement was not reciprical. Now that we are no longer a British colony, such one directional arrangment is no longer tolerated. It isn't a matter of whether HKU is better than Oxbridge, but a need for reciprical recognition. Harvard medical graduates cannot waltz into the UK & work without certain procedures. It doesn't mean that Harvard graduates are not as good as British graduates.

11Daddy

The arrangement of the legal profession appears to be more reasonable, so far as one can go through a conversion procedure.