Ask an Admissions Tutor IX, 4th August - 2nd September

Hello everyone and welcome to a new Ask an Admissions Tutor thread, back for its fourth year.

I will be here for the next month to answer your questions about admissions to Cambridge, especially if you are planning to apply this year but also to help those already holding an offer for this year and waiting for your results.

Do please fire away and I'll answer them as well and as quickly as I can.

Hello there! This thread is so helpful as a year 12 hoping for Cambridge next year, so first off, thank you!

My first question is about extenuating circumstances: I got 10A*s at GCSE and was predicted 4As at AS, but my mother became incredibly ill over Easter and I spent a lot of time in and out of hospital, and eventually took on some roles and responsibilities of a young carer; I also suffered a family bereavement. She was still ill and in need of care over the exam period but was not critically ill in hospital, but I missed out on a lot of peak revision time due to this. I can possibly get my grades increased by 2 or 3% because it wasn't over the period of exams, but when applying to Cam, would it explain lesser grades because revision was disrupted? Or would it have had to have been at the time of examination? My school doesn't know much about ECs so I'm sorry if you've heard this question a hundred times!

Secondly: Personal Statements. How important is the personal statement in the admissions process? I know the point of it is to be personal, but how many books should you mention? I've found myself mentioning a lot, and I don't want to make it sound like I'm namedropping, but I'd be able to talk about them in an interview? With these books, if I gave a controversial opinion on one of the books would that be looked down on? For example, The Language Instinct is seen as a pillar of undergrad linguistics but I disagree with the depth of Pinker's explanations of relativity in accordance with other books/essays I've read. Would mentioning that place me at a disadvantage? I know people who have written essays chock full of economic theory and things, so would a personal statement showing they understand a lot of core concepts be looked on more highly than one that just shows an understanding of a couple of important ideas? Also, I made some controversial choices with my AS/A2 - English Lit, Lang, History and Class Civ - whereas people in my course usually have maths/science/languages, so should I 'explain' my AS choices in order to show an admissions tutor that I have truly thought about the subject and what it entails?

I'm so sorry for the length of this, I've just got a lot of questions! Thank you in advance, I'll lurk on this thread until the end of the month and perhaps ask another couple of questions

Another question about the Summer pool(obviously cause I am prepping to swim in there with my weirdo application).
How are files organised? Is it by colleges that pooled so naturally alot of colleges will look at Trinity etc or is it just names?
There is no guarantee that your application will be looked at?
Or will all be looked at and then put back if not picked?



Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi
How are remarks viewed / managed if an offer holder misses their offer?

I know if an offer is missed your college wants to see your UMS scores ASAP.

If your college then decides not to offer you the place after seeing your UMS scores/reviewing full application information and you are pooled but not fished is there any point (from a cambridge admission point of veiw) getting papers remarked?Would a college ever wait for a remark to come back?

So in a case where grades change after a remark to met the offer they would honour it (if space still available) or offer a deferred place for 2017Thanks

Hi, I am interested in applying for a Master's in Public Health next year. could you please tell me what you look for in a Master's candidate and if the previous university/previous degree studied influences your decision.

In the absence of UMS for reformed/linear AS/A-levels, will 2017 applicants be expected to provide their module raw marks on the SAQ if they have them.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Thank you for opening the thread! I have a couple questions.

I am an international student and have sat Cambridge International Exams, so I have percentage uniform marks for my AS/A Level results. I realise that UMS/PUM data was an important part of the holistic admissions procedure until last year, but since most UK candidates won't be issued with UMS results anymore, would UMS/PUM data be as closely looked upon as years before?

Also, if I were to secure an interview, when would these interviews be held in Cambridge? I am from the Southern Hemisphere, so I will be sitting CIE and national school exams until late November, so I am hoping that they don't clash!

Thank you once again

Files are organised by name not by college, precisely to avoid people congregating around certain colleges and thus missing other good candidates from less 'fashionable' colleges.

One can't take out individual files, but must take the whole letter (i.e. all the 'Bs' or 'Ds') to look at and this avoids people sitting on individual files to stop others from looking at them. There's no guarantee that your file will be looked at but it's available for anyone to access.

So even when they look at a specific person they won't know the College?
It is sad that not everyone is looked at as naturally good candidTes can be missed just because someone didn't look, or is this prevented somehow?


Posted from TSR Mobile

The college is on the front of the file along with the name, they are just filed alphabetically. We don't have a mechanism in place to ensure that all files are looked at but I would be surprised if all files were not looked at in some degree of detail as there are a goodly number of people looking at the Summer Pool across the colleges and subjects. It's not hard to find the Summer Pool candidates who are really good as there are usually not that many a this stage (all having missed their offer in one way or another) and, as admissions tutors, we have an opportunity to flag up those whom we regard as strong from our own college in the Admissions Forum meeting that takes place the day before the A Level results are released to the students.

We've only just found out that marks will be available so it will be discussed at the next admissions forum later this month and if we do decide to ask for them we'll obviously let students and schools know.

Great. My understanding is they aren't provided as standard with results and have to be specifically requested by the school.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Ah ok.
Hopefully I am flagged as I have definately made the standard offer just missed my own one since it was much higher due to my gap.
Thank you very much!


Posted from TSR Mobile

Those who make the standard offer but miss a harder offer set by he college are going to be in a decent position in the Summer Pool, especially for Maths.

I found this interesting post, what would you do with this situation?


Posted from TSR Mobile