Ask Peterhouse - 2017 entry

Good question!

For Cambridge, 100% the first kind. We're not interested in extracurriculars which aren't related to your subject. Other universities might be interested in the second thing, but they still want to see mostly academic things so we advise a roughly 80:20 balance.

Has everyone got up early to work on their PS today?

Which course are you interested in?

Would I be required to take IELTS before applying to Cambridge since I come from a non-English speaking country? I consider English to be my first language tho because I go to an international school and I've been speaking it my whole life. Would it be alright if I took it after applying?

Good question!

For Cambridge, 100% the first kind. We're not interested in extracurriculars which aren't related to your subject. Other universities might be interested in the second thing, but they still want to see mostly academic things so we advise a roughly 80:20 balance.

Has everyone got up early to work on their PS today?

I am interested in History would it also what If i was interested in english degrees

So in applying for HSPS, if the majority of my extracurricular activities involved speaking in the House of Commons on television, doing model United Nations, leading debate societies, campaigning with movements and working with my local party branch then they'd be relevant to the subject and so could convey my passion, yes?


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Hi,

Since year 11 I've always been interested in applying to Cambridge to study medicine. Open days and trips etc confirmed this for me.

GCSE: 5A*, 7A
AS: A in Maths, A in History, B in Biology, B in Chemistry
A2 Predicted: A* in Maths, A* in Chemistry, A in Biology

I'm banking my AS history and studying 3 A-Levels this year.
The reason my Chemistry is a B with a target of an A* is that we changed from the OCR Salters exam board to AQA halfway through the year with limited AQA resources, which will be outlined on my reference.

I have also conducted a lot of good work experience placements, for example teaching first aid in East Africa and shadowing a Consultant Cardiologist at the Freeman Hospital for a week, alongside the usual GP placements etc.

If my BMAT score is high and my Personal Statement and interview are to a very high standard, is there a chance of admission or do the two B's at AS ruin the application for Cambridge? I've heard that they are big on UMS...

Please can you give me your honest opinions?

Thanks

Thank you for the response. I was seventeen and had spent months preparing my application alongside others I know. I believed what you post as a response and watched the Cambridge YouTube videos. My experience was not this at all in December 2015 and it would appear, in the case of engineering, I perhaps was not alone? This is just about the engineering application process, I must emphasise this. Realistically at 17, you come out shell shocked and I was not reflective enough or mature enough to complain. My honest feeling at the time was to get out of Cambridge pronto, it was horrible. In my view hostile and combative interviewers in no way get the best out of candidates. I was the minor and you were the ones in a position of power! I do not believe all interviews are like this but it happens and students should be aware of this. The responsibility lies with Cambridge to get it right and not a 17 year old to complain which realistically is never going to happen. I asked my parents why other interviewers didn't speak up and they just said "politics happens in the workplace." My posts are about honest advice to level the playing field and to help those with no real knowledge of Cambridge. I encourage anyone to apply and wish honest posts such as these were available this time last year.If it also checks future behaviour of individuals ( who I hope are in the minority) for this years applicants, then I have done something positive and in my opinion, that is a win win situation. Thank you and best of luck to ALL this years.applicants!

Hello Peterhouse!

Firstly, thank you so very much for doing this! It's greatly appreciated by hundreds of worried Camb applicants, myself included.I have a couple of questions about the SAQ, interviews and that sort of thing; I'm sorry if it comes across presumptuous asking about dates of interviews as I've only just finished my personal statement!

On my PS I've only mentioned 2 well known books for Linguistics and evaluated them - would that place me at a disadvantage instead of mentioning one of the more off-piste books I've enjoyed? If not, could I mention the other books in the 1,200 SAQ slot, or do Camb prefer hearing about other things in the second mini PS? I was just planning on taking all the analysis of books that I couldn't fit in the 4,000 PS and putting it in the shortened one, unless there are other Camb specific things it's worthwhile to include?

Another question is about marks in the reference - at AS I think I performed quite highly in terms of raw marks not UMS: History (44/50 and 48/50 raw marks), English Lit (59/60 and 60/60 raw), English Lang (53/70 but 70/70 so high A overall) and Class Civ (91/100 and 98/100 UMS) so 4 decent As with predictions of 2-3A*s (I also got 10A*s at GCSE). However, since the school say that the reference has limited space, would it look like I have something to hide if my reference just mentioned good marks in Lit overall and full marks in the second Lang paper? Or is it worth declaring them all? I only ask because I was overjoyed with the marks and then have seen everyone with 100 UMS which is a little off-putting!

With interviews, I know they are mid-December and I've heard that you can put down dates you can't make if there are serious reasons why not. I'm the lead in the school play this year which I got back in July, and the performances are, you guessed it, mid-December: 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th. Would it be silly putting those down as dates I can't do? Or, if I got an interview (which would be amazing!), what time would it roughly finish - midday, afternoon or evening?

Final question: why are you called Peterhouse and not Peterhouse College? It's something that's always intrigued me!

Thank you so much, sorry for the length!

They are a little more relevant but we'd still mostly want to hear about your academic interests and what you've done in that regard - can you relate anything you've read to what you saw in the Commons for example.

It's all about you showing your interest in the course we offer and why you're excited about being a student of it. Studying an academic politics course is very different to being a politician just as studying an academic Law course is very different to being a lawyer.

Thank you! I have at least

Good luck but Do something fun as well today, it's weekend! The main thing is to really get across your enthusiasm for your subject. There should be some academic stuff in there but also some about what you have experienced re your subject. Try not to be too formulaic., it really should be personal to you.I know other unis want to see the "wider" applicant so one paragraph at the end with extra curricular should be included. It will take a few drafts until you are happy with it so "a little and often" may be a good approach to writing it? Trust me, don't stress too much over this. If you are a Cambridge calibre applicant other unis will be queueing up to offer you a place. I wish you the very best of luck👍

Hi thanks for asking!

We can't say exactly how we'd view results until we know the full information from your file and how this compares to the rest of the field and this is especially true if there are extenuating circumstances as these aren't viewed in a single way. All decisions involve a team of people taking the time to read all the information and learn as much about you as possible. There is no weighting for anything and everything is considered holistically. It's hard to appreciate the sheer scale of the Cambridge admissions process from the outside. We know that paper applications and summary statistics don't do justice to the living breathing students and their abilities and potential which is why it is so labour-intensive and why we're keen to interview as many candidates as possible without much in the way of shortlisting.

I'd advise you to put more details on your circumstances, how close the miss was in Chemistr, whether you're leaning more towards Medicine or NatSci (there's not long left to decide!) and, if NatSci, which options you look the look of and email this to the Colleges you're interested in. TSR is great but has limits!

I also know enough about systems to assume letters will be automatically generated based upon how far one has progressed through?

Accidents can happen with bulk mailings. In 2009,one Cambridge college (which I won't name, but it wasn't Peterhouse) sent out rejection letters to all of its applicants. The mail merge went wrong! It was only after a few phone calls from surprised schools that the error was discovered.

Hello, I am a prospective medical applicant. Do you care if extra reading we have done is maybe quite old? I am writing a little about a book that I'd read (from 1980s) in my personal statement. My teacher commented that saying this might make me look quite outdated! What do you think?

Hi i am applying for mathematics and i did the as and a2 of maths in one year so can i drop my fourth subject (chemistry) as if i drop, i will only be studying further maths and physics in the current year.