Japanese undergrad Cambridge?

To get onto the Cambridge Japanese undergrad language course, what types of A Levels would they look most favourably on? And are there any extra courses/qualifications that would help my application to be accepted?

Thanks guys!

Reply 1

Anatheme

18

emelie_rose

To get onto the Cambridge Japanese undergrad language course, what types of A Levels would they look most favourably on? And are there any extra courses/qualifications that would help my application to be accepted?

Thanks guys!

Languages at GCSEs and at least one at A-Levels are necessary, the rest doesn't matter, but I'd say a good combination or Arts, Social Sciences and Sciences would work well. No courses or qualifications will help you being accepted, it'll depend on your motivation about doing your subject and if they think you'd suit the way they teach. People may have done tonnes of extra-curricular activities like being in sport teams, winning maths challenges, playing seventy-twelve instruments, it will not matter that much at the end if they believe you're suitable for the course. The best is, if you have any, to make sure they'd give you an edge and would make you stand out as the perfect applicant. Going abroad is by no mean necessary but it would obviously broaden your horizons.

Obviously reading as much as you can about your subject will help, have a look at the subject page to see what they're looking for and what you'd be doing, and if you have a look at the applicant toolkit, they give you the list of papers you'd be taking, what books your could read before applying, etc.

Reply 2

emelie_rose

OP

Anatheme

Languages at GCSEs and at least one at A-Levels are necessary

so if i don't take a language at A Level there's no hope of being accepted? I read on the Cambridge requirements page that a language OR humanities are accepted at A Level. I've taken latin and french GCSE and an Arabic beginners certificate, do you think that that would suffice?

:smile:

Reply 3

Anatheme

18

emelie_rose

so if i don't take a language at A Level there's no hope of being accepted? I read on the Cambridge requirements page that a language OR humanities are accepted at A Level. I've taken latin and french GCSE and an Arabic beginners certificate, do you think that that would suffice?

:smile:

They do state that a Modern or Ancient language is strongly recommended, and I would follow on their criteria. If you put it this way, your previous experience of languages may have been successful, but you haven't reached an A-Level level in any language, and as it is quite a high level, it shows that you can be taught languages to at least that standard. Now most applicants will have at least one language, a lot of them (I won't say the majority as I'm not sure, but a large proportion) will have two, and some even have three languages at A-Levels when they apply.

Even if they're not always relevant to their degree, it shows that they are dedicated and committed to learning languages, and even if you apply with really strong A-Levels in let's say History, Physics and English, you don't prove that you have an ability to learn languages as well as some other applicants sitting A-Levels in languages.

Now it's only TSR so I can only try to double-guess what could happen, and since every applicant is treated differently, you may stand a very good position for all I know, but for the moment, standing from my point of view, you could show your passion for languages better than that. A certificate in Arabic doesn't really prove much if you want to learn Japanese, you will see that some applicants are so keen as to take evening lessons or gap years in Japan, and that will show Cambridge that they really are interested in the language.

Being able to achieve Cambridge requirements is one thing. Proving them that Japanese is the love of your life and that your passion will help you succeed at Cambridge is a completely different story. They're not looking for people with just good grades, they're looking for people driven by their love for their subjects and who would benefit from being taught at Cambridge. Choosing a cool course and trying to get in for that course won't just work if you can't demonstrate real passion.

Reply 4

emelie_rose

OP

Thankyou so much for your advice, it really has helped. I can't prove to you my passion for this subject, but with your advice I can definetely start to put into place the ways I can show my committment in achieving this goal.

Thanks again,

Reply 5

Anatheme

18

emelie_rose

Thankyou so much for your advice, it really has helped. I can't prove to you my passion for this subject, but with your advice I can definetely start to put into place the ways I can show my committment in achieving this goal.

Thanks again,

Haha, it's fine, you have nothing to prove to me anyway, I understand how you can be passionate about something without having any qualification in that subject. :biggrin:

Good luck with that!

Japanese undergrad Cambridge?

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