Good enough for Cambridge?!

He's only trying to say she lacked any extra-curricular activities. Cambridge look for well-rounded people which can help their university in many ways, rather than just being smart. Cambridge themselves even say they see E.C as a way of "having more time to sacrifice for studies".

From my friend who had the interview, she literally didn't do anything out of school. Therefore not sociable.

Of course EC's can be good, but they won't save or kill an application. Cambridge don't reject people because the don't do enough EC's - they reject people when they don't see enough academic potential in them. My point is: this girl wasn't rejected due to lack of EC's or "being sociable" or whatever you want to call it.

Well, if you made specious assumptions like that in your personal statement or submitted essays I can provide an alternative theory of why you were rejected.

So many people repeating the 5A*s nonsense without thinking about it in here...

OP, you're fine. (For everything but medicine. On that, see the med forum.)

At the people saying that ECs are important: they aren't. If they're not relevant to your course, they're utterly irrelevant to your application.

Any view on why I was rejected pre-interview would be very advantageous, I still wonder to this day okay maybe I was to hasty to presume that it was a 5A* cut off but this was information I was getting from other sources.

In terms of my preparation on the personal statment and SAQ I had wanted to attend Cambridge to do Physics ever since I was 12 or so. I had it all planned out I put down all my strengths, I mentioned why the tripos course was the best way to learn. Due to the fact that no one before my year had ever got more than an A*AAA my school said they would not predict higher so that was what I was predicted. and my references were all sound. As a Cambridge student I would like to hear your views on why my application was not well recieved?

It is absolutely impossible for us to tell why you were rejected. There are so many factors...
You could always try asking the admissions office where you applied (don't just ask "why did you reject me?", obviously) but they probably won't tell you anything (at least that's what I would expect)

Hey, I know this question sounds a little stupid but realistically on average what is the minimum number of A*s a candidate is required to have to be accepted to study Medicine at Cambridge, would 5 A*s and 5 As be enough or would there be no point in applying with those grades because on the stalking page nearly all the people applying for Medicine seem to have above 7 A*s and of course very good A levels. Thank you

Cambridge mostly care about the UMS averages.

Ok, so GCSEs aren't a major deciding factor as long as you have high UMS scores? I'm just a little worried my GCSEs will hold me back if I were to apply to study Medicine at Cambridge. Thanks for your help

Any view on why I was rejected pre-interview would be very advantageous, I still wonder to this day okay maybe I was to hasty to presume that it was a 5A* cut off but this was information I was getting from other sources.

In terms of my preparation on the personal statment and SAQ I had wanted to attend Cambridge to do Physics ever since I was 12 or so. I had it all planned out I put down all my strengths, I mentioned why the tripos course was the best way to learn. Due to the fact that no one before my year had ever got more than an A*AAA my school said they would not predict higher so that was what I was predicted. and my references were all sound. As a Cambridge student I would like to hear your views on why my application was not well recieved?

Any view on why I was rejected pre-interview would be very advantageous, I still wonder to this day okay maybe I was to hasty to presume that it was a 5A* cut off but this was information I was getting from other sources.

In terms of my preparation on the personal statment and SAQ I had wanted to attend Cambridge to do Physics ever since I was 12 or so. I had it all planned out I put down all my strengths, I mentioned why the tripos course was the best way to learn. Due to the fact that no one before my year had ever got more than an A*AAA my school said they would not predict higher so that was what I was predicted. and my references were all sound. As a Cambridge student I would like to hear your views on why my application was not well recieved?

Ok, so GCSEs aren't a major deciding factor as long as you have high UMS scores? I'm just a little worried my GCSEs will hold me back if I were to apply to study Medicine at Cambridge. Thanks for your help

GCSE's will be quite a large factor for competitive courses like Medicine, but as long as you have a healthy number of A*s and As it shouldn't hold you back. Do you mind me asking if you went to a Private, Grammar or Comprehensive school?

And TheNoobyPotato is right in saying they care a lot about UMS averages.

I went to a comprehensive school where the percentage of A*-C grades was around 50% this year, do you think that could have any effect on my application? Thanks


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Hi,

I've been thinking about applying to Cambridge, but I don't know what my chances are because of my GCSEs. I got five A*s, three As and two Bs. How important are GCSEs? I've done some research but all of the answers are pretty vague.

I went to a comprehensive school where the percentage of A*-C grades was around 50% this year, do you think that could have any effect on my application? Thanks


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Just a random point I'd like to make with regards to my Cambridge experience and GCSEs...

I applied for Maths last year and got a pre-interview rejection.

My GCSEs were 2A*, 6A, 5B and 2C and my school only got 33% A*-C. When I got feedback, I was told that "my stats modules weren't close enough to 90%" (I got 83% and 68%; the latter being my only blip from all my exams) and that "they would have liked to have seen more A*s at GCSE".

From my experience, I would say that, whilst Cambridge doesn't particularly value GCSEs when compared to your AS Levels, they can be used as a way of judging candidates who are on the borderline of getting an offer, or even an interview.

True- but at the same time, don't forget that it will depend on the course.
If you want to apply for Law or Medicine, they will be harsher with GCSE standards. Also, they evaluate each student differently. E.g If student X has 5A*s and went to a top private school, but student Y has 4A*s and went to an average school, student Y will look better....

Am I likely to get an interview for Architecture BA?
AS grades
Sculpture - A
English Lit - A
History - A
Physics - A (Dropping )
A2 Predictions
Sculpture - A*
English Lit - A*
History - A*

Help!! xxx