Competition to get places at Oxford and Cambridge universities has become so intense that a “mini industry” has been built up around it, offering advice, tips and support through the application process.

Parents are paying up to £3,500 for a package of tuition, mock interviews and help with completing application forms. Sales of books on how to get into Oxbridge are rocketing.

As the deadline for applications to the universities approaches on October 15, parents and schools are increasingly accepting that predictions of three A grades at A level are now no longer regarded as a qualification for entry into Oxbridge, but merely as a qualification for applying in the first place. If they are going to be among the 25 per cent of applicants to be offered a place, more is needed.

James Uffindell, the founder of Oxbridge Applications, which runs courses to assist applications to the two institutions, said that business had grown by 500 per cent in the past seven years. This year he will advise 2,500 Oxbridge candidates, about 10 per cent of the total applying. “With around 40,000 candidates getting straight As at A level and 26,000 people applying for Oxbridge, it is very hard for pupils to distinguish themselves on the basis of their academic results alone,” he said.

Help from Oxbridge Applications ranges from interview preparation days at state and independent schools to a weekend course offering 48 hours of mock interviews, advice sessions and talks at a price of £850. The company’s premiere package costs £3,500.

Mr Uffindell said that candidates needed help to prepare the personal statements on their application forms. Too often they included too much extra-curricular information (one candidate recently included mention of two Blue Peter badges in a personal statement), but failed to explain why they wanted to study a certain subject.

Many also lacked confidence in dealing with the universities’ famously bizarre interview questions, which are not meant to test knowledge so much as to test applicant’s ability to apply knowledge and to think creatively.

Mr Uffindell’s comments on personal statements follows news that the Universities and Colleges Admission Service has written to schools warning sixth-formers that it will be using plagiarism detection software to identify anyone attempting to cheat by copying material from the internet.

Elfi Pallis, the author of Oxbridge Entrance: The Real Rules, said that sales of her book had doubled in the past five years. “There’s a feeling now among parents that they should be more involved, and a growing aware-ness, particularly among those with children at state schools, that just sending your child off to apply for Oxbridge on their own may not produce the right result,” she said.

Ms Pallis said that the number of books and support services surrounding the Oxbridge application process had turned into a “mini industry.”

Mike Nicholson, director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford, agreed that the university was relying on interviews, personal statements and its own aptitude tests to select candidates, rather than A-level results. But he was highly sceptical about the value of coaching services. “If a candidate has really thought about why they want to study a certain subject, then that will come through in the interview and that will give them as much of an advantage,” he said.

“I don’t think that you need to pay anything to get help. We have a free information office open from 9am to 5pm. It would probably be cheaper to get the train to Oxford and to spend the day there than to pay £3,500 for a course,” he added.

— Universities should write to unsuccessful applicants to explain why they did not get in, a Government-backed group suggests. The Delivery Partnership Steering Group said the move would remove perceptions of unfairness. But some universities fear that it could encourage legal challenges.

Questions they asked

Cambridge

— What books are bad for you? (English)
— Why does French food interest you? (Modern and Medieval Languages)
— Is there such thing as “race”? (History)
— Should historians be allowed to read sci-fi novels? (History)

Oxford

— Will the bag ever become empty? (Mathematics)
— Tell me about drowning (Medicine)
— Does a girl scout have a political agenda? (Law)
— What makes you think that I am having thoughts? (Mathematics and Philosophy)
— Tell me about these eggs (Physics)

Source: So you want to go to Oxbridge? Tell me about a banana, by Oxbridge Applications

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