Current Year 13 Mark I

Didn't he die of meningitis?
I think some people claimed it was brought on by syphilis, though.

Oxford.

I'm having exactly the same conflict although perhaps for different reasons to you. What are your reasons for picking and not picking each respective college?

Yep, complicated by his poor health and ruptured eardrum from when he was imprisoned and forced to do hard manual labour, as well as the fact he was living in poverty and exile after being released.

Despite whatever controversy and critical comments are made about him, I think Oscar Wilde was a remarkable man. He probably deserved better but

And I would definitely rather live a quirky/ eccentric/ different life, even if it was controversial, than be boring. The thing I'm most scared of is looking back in 60 years and realising I was nothing different or special or that I made no impact.

I'll be honest, it's based on very little. I don't want to go to a severly competitive college, but I don't want to go to a very small one either. It's also based a lot on looks, facilities etc, and colleges who place less of an emphasis on music excellence (because I suck at that.)

I've heard St. Johns is for rich people from private schools though.. (Which is not me at all )

This is true.

I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to be different or stand out for the sake of it - I'd rather be remembered for an achievement of mine, even if it was only being a fantastic friend or partner than do something strange purely for the sake of cultural immortality e.g. kill someone.

The more I learn about the pooling system the more I suspect that college choice counts for very little, if at all*. I'm not that afraid of losing my place to someone who is truly better than me either; in fact I would feel bad if I did so.

* - what I mean is, if you're good enough you will get an offer. But it may not be from that college. So applying to Trinity is a bit of an all-or-nothing gambit; you either get into Trinity (yay) or are pooled to Girton (...) because although you were good enough, you weren't as good as their other applicants, for example.

Hmm - you see Emmanuel is my favourite all-round college. Like if I had to just live at Cambridge I would pick it. However, St. John's has better sporting facilities, very nice grounds and St. John's has a lot more fellows in the subject I will be applying for. St. John's is well known for Private school intake and it is well known for being quite a musical college - those things don't mean that much to me. St. John's is also arguably better situated.

The more I learn about the pooling system the more I suspect that college choice counts for very little, if at all*. I'm not that afraid of losing my place to someone who is truly better than me either; in fact I would feel bad if I did so.

* - what I mean is, if you're good enough you will get an offer. But it may not be from that college. So applying to Trinity is a bit of an all-or-nothing gambit; you either get into Trinity (yay) or are pooled to Girton (...) because although you were good enough, you weren't as good as their other applicants, for example.

Hmm - you see Emmanuel is my favourite all-round college. Like if I had to just live at Cambridge I would pick it. However, St. John's has better sporting facilities, very nice grounds and St. John's has a lot more fellows in the subject I will be applying for. St. John's is well known for Private school intake and it is well known for being quite a musical college - those things don't mean that much to me. St. John's is also arguably better situated.

Yes I agree, I didn't mean different to that extent - I wouldn't want to be remembered as Hitler is. But I would say that "YOLO" applies in an annoyingly large percentage of situations

I guess. Hate choosing I wouldn't count to much on the pool though, it would still be unbelievably competitive!

Are you basing much on interview procedure? I don't want interviews that involve general questions, I'm awful at them. I want completely subject based interviews. I actually just looked at St Johns and realised they do general as well, oh no.

Looks like Emma for me

Colleges can put candidates in the pool and check the competition everywhere else before they make their final decision. In theory, everyone can be checked against everyone else directly. The reason this doesn't apply is because some people are so good the college is certain, and some people will have already been rejected. It's competitive because it's cambridge - if you're a borderline applicant and you apply to Girton, they will just pre-pool you, check to see if better applicants are available, and then reject or pool you.

I don't think it varies too much. I'm not that keen on the TSA though (which Emmanuel do..)

You talking about this

Was that link supposed to be to the maths page?

I mean, I'm not so good at general interview questions, i.e "Why Cambridge? Why X college? What motivates you?"

I'd rather get straight in there and do some maths. At least that way, there's a chance they might like my style of thinking and give me an offer.

Yes. Click on entry requirements > admissions test and written work > You get a table for what every college uses.

Yes I'm using that. Also trying to avoid colleges that use an admissions test at interview!

So you would rather do the questions in real time in front of the interviewers than have a written test that you have 1 hour to complete/ do as much as you can?

It's normally the other way around - but preferring to do questions in real time does show confidence in quick analysis and thought.

So you would rather do the questions in real time in front of the interviewers than have a written test that you have 1 hour to complete/ do as much as you can?

It's normally the other way around - but preferring to do questions in real time does show confidence in quick analysis and thought.

Does anyone now what I should expect in a natural sciences interview?

Very few people will have the experience of one to one though.

Check this out:
http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/natural-sciences-physical-test-example

To be honest, I think I messed up no. 1: I'm guessing things don't heat up linearly? (because that's what I assumed...)
no. 2 was a lot of fun the integrals aren't too bad either. I hope this isn't another case of "easier not to put people off".

I think I'd be so scared. At least with a test it's much simpler (the situation that is..)