Question about Maths at Oxbridge.

Original post by Camss

Aware of this, and will be prepared for it, only worried about how much not getting an A for AS History will mess up my chances of even getting an interview/offer.

Well they do look at UMS for all subjects. To get pooled I think you have to get 92% or above in all ASs and have a certain number of A*s at GCSE.

Reply 5

qgujxj39

17

Drop History. Having 3 A2s is definitely enough. If you've taught yourself Further Maths and done well, then you'll be an impressive candidate.

Reply 6

tface

14

Original post by Camss

Aware of this, and will be prepared for it, only worried about how much not getting an A for AS History will mess up my chances of even getting an interview/offer.

You should definitely try to make sure you get the A at AS for History. If you are intelligent enough to get perfect scores after self teaching you should be able to manage History with plenty of effort!

Reply 7

Original post by anshul95

Well they do look at UMS for all subjects. To get pooled I think you have to get 92% or above in all ASs and have a certain number of A*s at GCSE.

Nonsense. You can't make such generalisations about results.
Some college admissions staff barely even look at GCSE grades, and some base the offer on the interview more than anything else.
And then there's the personal statement, extra curriculum activities/achievements, etc.

What you said is still perhaps often true, but you definitely cannot say anything like "No A*s at GCSE? Don't even hope for an offer".

Reply 8

anshul95

Original post by tomthecool

Nonsense. You can't make such generalisations about results.
Some college admissions staff barely even look at GCSE grades, and some base the offer on the interview more than anything else.
And then there's the personal statement, extra curriculum activities/achievements, etc.

What you said is still perhaps often true, but you definitely cannot say anything like "No A*s at GCSE? Don't even hope for an offer".

no no you misunderstood me - I said to get POOLED, which means getting rejected the first time but if you have 92% in your ASs and a certain number of A*/A GCSEs then you will have another chance to be picked out by another college who perhaps still have places available. But to be honest, every single maths department I have been to says they DO NOT care about extra curriculum, only academics.

Edit: But even then, when push comes to shove they will probably look at GCSEs when comparing two identical candidates

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 9

ilovedubstep

9

Original post by tomthecool

Nonsense. You can't make such generalisations about results.
Some college admissions staff barely even look at GCSE grades, and some base the offer on the interview more than anything else.
And then there's the personal statement, extra curriculum activities/achievements, etc.

What you said is still perhaps often true, but you definitely cannot say anything like "No A*s at GCSE? Don't even hope for an offer".

He is right. And it is 7A*s.

Reply 10

Original post by anshul95

no no you misunderstood me - I said to get POOLED, which means getting rejected the first time but if you have 92% in your ASs and a certain number of A*/A GCSEs then you will have another chance to be picked out by another college who perhaps still have places available. But to be honest, every single maths department I have been to says they DO NOT care about extra curriculum, only academics.

Edit: But even then, when push comes to shove they will probably look at GCSEs when comparing two identical candidates

Original post by ilovedubstep

He is right. And it is 7A*s.

...So I just looked through the Cambridge admissions guide (http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad/admissions/guide.pdf) and found no such information.

So then I did some more googling for information. This page looked hopeful http://www.applytocambridge.com/applying/faqs/ ... but alas, no mention at all of these "rules" for getting into the pool.

But I kept looking. I found this article, written in January by a Cambridge professor. Surely that would mention it? But no, in fact, it says almost the exact opposite.

..... In fact, the ONLY thing I could find was this post on TSR, which says "You need 7A*s... to get autopooled". Which I still cannot find one piece of information online to back up, but at least sounds plausible.
(edit: I also found this thread which discusses how it was recommended/required for colleges to autopool candidates 2 years ago, at least. But still, no 'real' source to verify that.)

And then I thought back to me own application to Cambridge, 2 years ago...
So wait, not only do I not remember the admissions staff mentioning this rule to me, but I happen to have only got 3A*s at GCSE and have averaged 88% in further maths AS ... yet I was pooled?
So I guess (if true) it must be a brand new rule? Seems highly unlikely.

So basically (tl;dr), please don't just tell me I'm wrong and -rep me for questioning one of these meaningless rumours that go around about uni applications year after year. It's only adding to the confusion; possibly even making people think there's "no point applying".

Reply 11

anshul95

Original post by tomthecool

...So I just looked through the Cambridge admissions guide (http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad/admissions/guide.pdf) and found no such information.

So then I did some more googling for information. This page looked hopeful http://www.applytocambridge.com/applying/faqs/ ... but alas, no mention at all of these "rules" for getting into the pool.

But I kept looking. I found this article, written in January by a Cambridge professor. Surely that would mention it? But no, in fact, it says almost the exact opposite.

..... In fact, the ONLY thing I could find was this post on TSR, which says "You need 7A*s... to get autopooled". Which I still cannot find one piece of information online to back up, but at least sounds plausible.
(edit: I also found this thread which discusses how it was recommended/required for colleges to autopool candidates 2 years ago, at least. But still, no 'real' source to verify that.)

And then I thought back to me own application to Cambridge, 2 years ago...
So wait, not only do I not remember the admissions staff mentioning this rule to me, but I happen to have only got 3A*s at GCSE and have averaged 88% in further maths AS ... yet I was pooled?
So I guess (if true) it must be a brand new rule? Seems highly unlikely.

So basically (tl;dr), please don't just tell me I'm wrong and -rep me for questioning one of these meaningless rumours that go around about uni applications year after year. It's only adding to the confusion; possibly even making people think there's "no point applying".

ok then I should have said autopooled. Sorry about that. But I do remember an admissions tutor telling the person at my school applying to Cambridge that autopooling is much more common than normal pooling. You must have really impressed them at the interview.

Reply 12

Original post by anshul95

ok then I should have said autopooled. Sorry about that. But I do remember an admissions tutor telling the person at my school applying to Cambridge that autopooling is much more common than normal pooling. You must have really impressed them at the interview.

I also remember my college saying (and I know this does not apply to all colleges by any means - they even stressed this fact whilst telling us) that they personally barely looked at GCSE grades. In fact,, having lower GCSEs and high A Levels often correlates to you doing better at university! - So rejecting people on that basis wouldn't be a smart move.

I also had a friend who was rejected from Cambridge despite having 95%ish for each subject... he wasn't maths,so that might be irrelevant, but still.

Reply 13

Jampolo

13

Original post by tomthecool

I also remember my college saying (and I know this does not apply to all colleges by any means - they even stressed this fact whilst telling us) that they personally barely looked at GCSE grades. In fact,, having lower GCSEs and high A Levels often correlates to you doing better at university! - So rejecting people on that basis wouldn't be a smart move.

I also had a friend who was rejected from Cambridge despite having 95%ish for each subject... he wasn't maths,so that might be irrelevant, but still.

Seeing as you've gone through the application process, how would you respond to the comment about extra cirriculars being useless? Im currently making mathematics tutorial videos via screencast to help me revise and help others, surely they do not see this as useless?

Reply 14

ilovedubstep

9

Original post by Jampolo

Seeing as you've gone through the application process, how would you respond to the comment about extra cirriculars being useless? Im currently making mathematics tutorial videos via screencast to help me revise and help others, surely they do not see this as useless?

If you're not good enough at maths, they aren't going to give you an offer. That's the gist of all the information. They don't care about ECs, GCSEs (They do a bit) e.t.c.

Reply 15

Jampolo

13

Original post by ilovedubstep

If you're not good enough at maths, they aren't going to give you an offer. That's the gist of all the information. They don't care about ECs, GCSEs (They do a bit) e.t.c.

ok but i was told that everyone who applies has roughly the same grades (A/A*'s) so its mainly down to how much you love the subject, why you want the place etc, so surely doing as much as you can to show why you deserve that place and are passionate about maths is good?

Reply 16

ilovedubstep

9

Original post by Jampolo

ok but i was told that everyone who applies has roughly the same grades (A/A*'s) so its mainly down to how much you love the subject, why you want the place etc, so surely doing as much as you can to show why you deserve that place and are passionate about maths is good?

You would think so, but it's all down to the interview.

Reply 17

refref

It's hard to identify which qualities they look for when applying to Oxford/Cambridge. As I see it, the tutors pick the people who have the most potential, and by that I mean the people that they think they can teach, regardless of all other information which includes grades (gcses, less so AS level), ECs or anything you do related to maths (obviously they will take in to account any test scores as they are good indicator).

Reply 18

Original post by Jampolo

Seeing as you've gone through the application process, how would you respond to the comment about extra cirriculars being useless? Im currently making mathematics tutorial videos via screencast to help me revise and help others, surely they do not see this as useless?

It's impossible for me to say exactly what I was judged on when I got an offer years ago... And different colleges (i.e. different admissions staff) have slightly different opinions on what is/is not important.

So all I can really say is that everything will be read and judged in some way, so of course it's better to do more rather than less.
But most importantly by far is the interview.
They are going to ask you weird questions that are NOT in a robotic A Level style. I was asked to draw the graph y=x^2*sin(1/x), for example - which I mostly managed myself, with only a couple of little hints. Then they asked me some weird question requiring proof by contradiction on an "infinite chess board, filled with natural numbers". They want to see how you tackle NEW problems, not how good you are at regurgitating exam material.

Oh, and another easy thing you might want to do is read at least a couple of maths books over summer. It makes you feel much better about your personal statement, at least. (Also, so many people will lie about reading books, and feel really scared of being caught... so don't do that. Just spend a few days reading and you'll feel so much better about it all.)

Reply 19

anyone_can_fly