David Tarsh ended up getting a bad degree and, perhaps predictably, went into sales, marketing and management consultancy. I would be more fascinated in knowing what Mary Browning went on to do.
He struck me as someone that wouldn't have got in current day with the fierce competition, and wouldn't have got in 1985 without going to a top school. Plus he transferred from Oxford Chemistry to Cam Law, which would be unlikely in the present system! The admissions at the time were a bit flawed and it seemed like these people slipped through the net.
@@hungryhog1 It's definitely true that going to a top private school put you at an advantage at that time. This was once explained to me by a don at Oxford who said that the thing about candidates from very good schools was that you could be sure they were teachable. It is to the credit of Oxbridge that they went on to spend a huge amount of money developing outreach to schools to help them encourage and prepare good students to make an application. It's true that competition is greater over the last 20 years or so but that is mainly a numbers game driven by the diversity and inclusion agenda. It is certainly not the case that the standard is higher. It is also worth bearing in mind that A Levels today are a shadow of what they were when this programme was made. None of this is by way of defending the fact that David Tarsh got a place! I think he definitely slipped through the net. Oxbridge, and indeed any top university, should always try and weed out those who are as lackadaisical as he was.
David Tarsh ended up getting a bad degree and, perhaps predictably, went into sales, marketing and management consultancy. I would be more fascinated in knowing what Mary Browning went on to do.
He struck me as someone that wouldn't have got in current day with the fierce competition, and wouldn't have got in 1985 without going to a top school. Plus he transferred from Oxford Chemistry to Cam Law, which would be unlikely in the present system!
The admissions at the time were a bit flawed and it seemed like these people slipped through the net.
@@hungryhog1 It's definitely true that going to a top private school put you at an advantage at that time. This was once explained to me by a don at Oxford who said that the thing about candidates from very good schools was that you could be sure they were teachable. It is to the credit of Oxbridge that they went on to spend a huge amount of money developing outreach to schools to help them encourage and prepare good students to make an application.
It's true that competition is greater over the last 20 years or so but that is mainly a numbers game driven by the diversity and inclusion agenda. It is certainly not the case that the standard is higher. It is also worth bearing in mind that A Levels today are a shadow of what they were when this programme was made.
None of this is by way of defending the fact that David Tarsh got a place! I think he definitely slipped through the net. Oxbridge, and indeed any top university, should always try and weed out those who are as lackadaisical as he was.