29 January was the UCAS 2021 application deadline and it has been a busy year for the BGS Careers Department. They are supporting some 172 students – including 18 OBs – in their applications for a total of 832 individual courses. With so many courses and institutions, it will be a little while before we know the outcomes of all these applications, but for one group of students the waiting is already over.
With a much earlier application deadline, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge have already made their offers for 2021 entry and we are delighted that twelve BGS students – eleven current Sixth Formers and one from last year’s Upper Sixth – have received offers from these top institutions.
The offer holders include four students who joined BGS for their Sixth Form studies and they, along with their fellow applicants, have been able to access our dedicated support for students aspiring to the most competitive universities. The three students holding offers from Cambridge will study History of Art, Geography, and Philosophy, and the nine holding offers from Oxford cover a broad range of courses – from Classical Archaeology and Ancient History to Mathematics and Computer Science.
Katie was new to BGS Sixth Form and is one of the Cambridge offer holders. She decided to apply after a teacher at a Philosothon event recommended looking into Cambridge for Philosophy, and she found that the Cambridge course really appealed to her.
Reflecting on the application process, Katie said: “The school offered a huge amount of guidance throughout my application. BGS has a whole system in place to support Oxbridge applicants, which (having spoken to friends from other schools) is pretty unparalleled. Any time I was concerned about part of the process, there was always somebody there to help.
“I'm incredibly grateful for the support and excited about the offer; there were so many points throughout that I didn't think I had a chance – but here I am!”
David Ruck, Head of Higher Education and Careers at BGS commented:
“We are delighted that twelve of our students have received Oxbridge offers. The process is always incredibly competitive, perhaps this year more than ever, so inevitably some pupils are disappointed but we hope that even those who were unsuccessful feel they gained something from the process – we are certainly proud of them for pursuing their ambitions.
“Helping all of our pupils find the right path for them after BGS is an incredibly important part of what we do in the Sixth Form and Oxbridge candidates are just a small number of all those we support in their post-BGS planning.
“All of our Upper Sixth UCAS applicants had the opportunity to undertake a practice interview. Usually held in school, these were adapted to take place remotely in order to replicate the real experience of pupils ‘attending’ university interviews this year. Our thanks go to the many members of the BGS community who gave up their time to make these practice interviews possible.
“Alongside UCAS applications to UK universities, we also have students applying for university overseas and degree apprenticeships and we are looking forward to hearing from them all about how their plans are developing, as further offers of university places and outcomes of interviews for apprenticeships and other pathways continue to come in.”