Talk:Laura Spence Affair

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An entry from Laura Spence Affair appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on October 16, 2006.

I'm not going to edit the page right now, what with it being featured on the main page right now, but it is well worth noting that this was not a case Gordon Brown found himself. It had got plenty of publicity through the press before he got on the bandwagon. Most notably from the Daily Mail, as mentioned in this article in The Guardian, published the day before Brown made his speech. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:163.1.19.124 (talk • contribs) 13:18, 18 October 2006.

From memory, I think I remember that the original publicity came from the local newspaper (the Whitley Bay News Guardian) and that it spiralled from there

Smeddlesboy 17:38, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Other Magdalen candidates

Wasn't there also something in the press afterwards to the effect that all or nearly all of the 22 candidates for the places at Magdalen ultimately achieved straight A's at A-Level? I don't have a source, but that is my recollection; and the college just had to make some difficult decisions solely based on who had interviewed well. Legis 14:29, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Very, very many students accepted to Oxbridge have 3-4 A grades. These days especially 5 As is becoming more common, and sometimes more. A student with 5 A grades has reached a very high standard, but in this particular case Spence had applied for one of the most difficult courses to gain entry to (medicine) at one of the most prestigious colleges of the best (or at worst, close second best) universities in the country. Of her 5 As, one was in general studies (which some institutions don't count or attach less weight to, although I don't know if there is an official Oxford policy on this) and only one was in a 'hard' science, when I suspect many candidates may well have had at least one maths A Level and/or physics, + chemistry and/or biology. Combine that with an interview that she admits didn't go well...and the situation becomes a bit less striking. Then again, she was no doubt an exceptional candidate, and I'm not surprised if she felt a bit hard done by. But whether it was class bias, or simply a tough decision that didn't come down in her favour...I don't know. Badgerpatrol 00:13, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Whilst agreeing with everything you say Badgerpatrol, it would perhaps be relevant to remember that very few state school pupils will do five A levels in the first place, and out of those that do, I would imagine (but cannot prove) that virtually all of them will probably do General Studies. Which may be relevant to the debate as a whole? Though I don't want to re-start the debate on these pages! Smeddlesboy 07:30, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure that that's true. Speaking for my own experience, all the (state) FE colleges in my area allowed a great deal of flexibility (I did 4, which was by no means unusual even then, and this was many moons ago (don't ask what grades I got however!)). Those didn't include general studies, which wasn't offered as I recall. I would actually suspect that at 16-18 the number and choice of A Levels is pretty much down to the student, especially given the fact that at that age students can travel a bit further and therefore perhaps have more flexibility in their choice of institution as well. 5, or 4 + general studies, or 4 + 1 or 2 AS levels, is certainly very possible, although any more than that and there are likely to be timetabling problems. Her real problem I suspect was the bad interview, coupled with her lack of "hard" science grades. (Although note that I'm not sticking up for the Oxbridge selection system, which is certainly suspect IMHO). Badgerpatrol 14:21, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps - I don't have much experienec of FE colleges. But in my experience of schools with sixth forms, taking more than three A levels is unusual (I remember I was advised against it) and general studies, when offered, is often compulsory. But I don't have the breadth of experience to ever claim to be able to generalise my experiences to the general! Smeddlesboy 16:15, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I went to a state school (FE college) in the north of England and, like many of the pupils there, did five A-levels including General Studies. I also got into Magdalen (to study Classics; Laura Spence's admission tutor teaches me Greek!), and in no way felt that my social background was an issue. The interviewers simply wanted to find out how much I know about the subject and how I would deal with philosophical problems. I wonder whether 40 years of Marxist dogma on education from Old Labour people like Gordon Brown could have had more to do with Laura's failure to get into Oxford than the reasons suggested in his Gallowian rant. Would she have been better prepared for an interview if she had gone to a grammar school, as she would have in the sixties? LeighvsOptimvsMaximvs 14:50, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

P.S. Oxford does not count General Studies. It is not a proper A-level, and is no actual syllabus: see [1] and [2]. At my school people were entered for the exam without going to any lessons. There should be something in the article making clear that in Oxford's eyes, as in the eyes of many other universities, she got four As. Also, many subjects at Oxford, including Medicine, require students to take a written exam just before interview which counts for more than the interview itself. I am not sure whether this happened back in 2000, but if she did a test it would obviously be relevant.

[edit] Professor John Stein

The newish article at Professor John Stein seems related to this, but don't know enough to be sure.--mervyn 19:58, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

sounds like it. I have added a link. Smeddlesboy 21:11, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removed sentence

I am nearly positive that Harvard does not have a pre-med major, so it would not be unusual for a committed future physician to take a major in biochemistry (in fact, one can major in anything as long as they meet the pre-med requirements - 1 year of biology, 1 year of general chemistry, 1 year of organic chemistry, 1 year of physics, 1 year of math, and for some schools, 1 year of English). So I don't see how it would make sense for someone to argue that she didn't show "commitment" to studying medicine by majoring in biochemistry - in fact, music is a very popular major for medical school applicants... ugen64 05:57, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

You are forgetting that she is not an American. Medicine is an undergraduate-level degree in the UK, and Spence (presumably) had offers from numerous other institutions (British students can apply to up to 6 at a time). The point here is that she was perhaps more interested in obtaining a degree from an extremely prestigious institution than she was in becoming a doctor, or else having been rejected by Oxford she would simply have taken a place to read medicine elsewhere. If you want to remove the statement as uncited material then that's ok, but it is actually a perfectly reasonable criticism. Badgerpatrol 06:04, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

It's not a case of whether the point is valid, it's a case of whether the point was raised at the time, surely? It was me that originally added that sentence (for the record, I disagree with what it says (if nothing else, Laura could be studying medicine right now for all we know)) - when I first wrote the page, the reason I added that citation was that I remember those criticisms distinctly being aired in the media at the time, but I just added the ^{[citation needed]} tag as I couldn't remember where and didn't have time to source it properly. I certainly remember Professor Robert Winston saying it on BBC's Question Time, but obviously have no idea of the date or anything as it was 6 years ago. For that reason I am going to add the sentence back, and will mention Prof Winston and QTime on it Smeddlesboy 07:14, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

update - did a quick google search and have now managed to fill this reference out with a proper citation as well as a direct quote from Winston. Smeddlesboy 07:29, 4 November 2006 (UTC)