I originally applied to Brasenose because the admissions tutor at the time, Harry Judge, had introduced a special scheme to encourage people who weren’t ‘conventional Oxbridge material’ to apply to read PPE. I certainly fell into that category. I failed all my O-levels first time round and, after retaking, ended up with four Cs and a grade one in CSE Drama. After a gruelling interview, the College made me an offer of three Bs at A-level — possibly the lowest conditional offer it had ever issued.
Having been thrown this lifeline, I made a gargantuan effort and managed to get two Bs and a C. I thought that was that, but I received a photocopied letter from the College secretary that began: ‘I am pleased to know that you will be coming up to Brasenose this October…’ Admittedly, it was not addressed to me personally, but the clear implication was that I had got in.
I was cock-a-hoop and went round telling everybody. It wasn’t until the following week, when I received a letter from the admissions tutor himself, that I was brought back down to earth. ‘Dear Mr Young,’ it began. ‘I am very sorry that the College has not been able to confirm its conditional offer of a place on the reasonable condition of three grade Bs.’
Clearly, the first letter was a mistake, but my father insisted on calling up Harry Judge to ask what was going on. Incredibly, he happened to be in a meeting with the PPE tutors at the time and, after a bit of back and forth — my father distinctly heard the phrase ‘bit of a balls up’ — they decided to offer me a place.
