I work in admissions at the University of Oxford. Your article (‘I didn’t think I’d get an interview’: students start first Oxford-wide foundation year, 23 October) about the Astrophoria foundation year did a great job of capturing the importance of this scheme for expanding higher education to students who have experienced significant educational disadvantage.
My only concern was the claim that a “clutch of A*s” is needed for most students to get into Oxford. In fact, many of our courses ask for just three As at A-level. That’s still a huge achievement for students, but not as huge as the five A*s that many imagine are needed. Roughly one in six applicants gets into Oxford, on average.
