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Official Cambridge Applicants 2015 Entry

Reply 5980

The Clockwork Apple

18

Original post by paradoxicalme

Thank you! :biggrin:

I'm getting a photocopy of mine back and waiting for my english teacher to tell me if I should get a remark. Dear God if it were to go down I'd get a B which would just ruin my entire life :tongue:

90% is great! The thread is full of ridiculous people but 90% is absolutely fine for a Cambridge application - only apply to Oxford if you think you'd like it better. Though I have heard good things about the scummy little bastard's CompSci course. :tongue:

Yours will probably get pulled up! You're obviously bright enough to get a high A. And yes, Oxford's course sounds a bit more tempting to me - it may seem crazy, but CompSci & Philosophy together looks fascinating.

Reply 5981

CactiQueen

10

I like pizza

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 5982

geodawson

1

Original post by CactiQueen

I like pizza

Posted from TSR Mobile

What type of pizza?

Reply 5983

Ana12345

1

Original post by alow

I wouldn't worry too much about GCSEs, I only have 8 (5 A*s) and got in.

Hi, if you don't mind me asking, what was your ums average? Its cos I don't know whether mine is too low to apply, Thanks!

Reply 5984

aprocrastinator

10

Does anyone else hate D1 with a fiery hellish passion? It brought down my UMS by a whole 1% :frown:

Reply 5985

alow

19

Original post by Ana12345

Hi, if you don't mind me asking, what was your ums average? Its cos I don't know whether mine is too low to apply, Thanks!

93% IIRC. That was both AS+A2.

Reply 5986

Ana12345

1

Original post by alow

93% IIRC. That was both AS+A2.

Im wanting to study medicine and my ums average for AS only in 94.7% is that too low? Thanks

Reply 5987

alow

19

Original post by Ana12345

Im wanting to study medicine and my ums average for AS only in 94.7% is that too low? Thanks

I don't know much about Cambridge medicine but if the rest of your application is excellent (including BMAT) then I can't see why you wouldn't have a chance (the UMS might hobble your application a bit though).

Reply 5988

FranRose

4

Original post by megan97

Guys I need some advice...

Here are my results

Biology - A
History- A
Pyschology - A
Chemistry - B

(I also got an A* in general studies A2 and a B in critical thinking AS)

My ums average is 86% which I know isn't great and may not get me an interview, however the HSPS course is perfect and I really want to apply.

What should I do?

Hey, not sure if this will be of any use to you but I thought I might try and put your mind at rest a little.
I applied for 2014 entry and was in a very similar position to you. I had an 86% UMS average across my top 3 AS results (I got 5 As from Sociology, English Lit, History, French and Critical Thinking).
I also loved the HSPS course but was getting freaked out by all the super high UMS scores but thought I might as well give it a shot so I applied to Trinity Hall. I think my interview must have gone well but I was pooled (due to a large number of applicants and, I assume, my UMS) but I got fished by Homerton College. After looking round Homerton I am genuinely so glad I'll be going there in October as everyone was so friendly and down to earth so don't be disappointed if a similar thing happens to you!
One thing I might advice is to carry on with 4 a levels as Homerton said this gave me an advantage. I ended up with a B in French (after getting a D this year hahahah) but still got A*A*A in the others :smile:

Good luck! x

Reply 5989

FranRose

4

Original post by Colmans

It's pretty important what your UMS average is. Less than 85% and you won't get an interview. It's the average of your best three that counts. The only other way in would be significant extenuating circumstances.

This isn't true, I go to a comprehensive school, which I highly doubt counts for 'extenuating circumstances', and I know for a fact that two people with less than 85% UMS got an interview from my school. I had 86% for AS and I'm starting at Cam in October. Yes, it's important, but don't think there's no point applying just for the sake of a couple of marks in one exam!

Reply 5990

DanTheMan358

8

Original post by aprocrastinator

Does anyone else hate D1 with a fiery hellish passion? It brought down my UMS by a whole 1% :frown:

brought down my average by like 3% :mad:

Reply 5991

Colmans

11

Original post by FranRose

This isn't true, I go to a comprehensive school, which I highly doubt counts for 'extenuating circumstances', and I know for a fact that two people with less than 85% UMS got an interview from my school. I had 86% for AS and I'm starting at Cam in October. Yes, it's important, but don't think there's no point applying just for the sake of a couple of marks in one exam!

From the Cambridge Website:
"In general, in the absence of significant extenuating circumstances, competition for places is such that those averaging 85 per cent and below across their three best (for Arts applicants) or three most relevant (for Science applicants) AS subjects are very unlikely to be called for interview."

I suspect your Comprehensive school is indeed flagged as from an under-represented area, especially if you had three who got interviews. However I do know that many people miscalculate their UMS average and have done better than they think.

"Flag type 2: socio-economic
Flag if an applicant's home postcode is in the bottom two POLAR3 categories, i.e. they are from a Low Participation Neighbourhood for the purposes of our OFFA Agreement, or in the second lowest Quintile. The POLAR3 Quintile will be presented showing Quintile 1 in bold, Quintile 2 in non-bold and leaving the POLAR3 column blank for Quintiles 3, 4 and 5.
Flag if an applicant's home postcode is in one of Output Area Classification (OAC) super-groups 1-5 or sub-groups 7a1, 6c2 and 4c1, i.e. they are likely to be members of groups from which we currently receive fewer than half the undergraduate applications that we might expect.
Flag type 3: school

Flag if an applicant's current school/college has produced fewer than five successful Oxbridge applicants over the last five years
Flag if an applicant's GCSE school is in the maintained sector and has a capped GCSE score of less than 40"

If you look at this presentation you can see offers below 85% are rare for most courses:
http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/teachers/presentations/2013/Good_Practice_in_Supporting_Applicants.pdf

Nonetheless, well done on your offer, low UMS or not everybody has to convince them that they are up to it.

Reply 5992

Necrosyrtes

4

Time for me to go through my TSR post history and see if I've said anything that I should include in my PS...
Seems like a strange thing to do (I'm not going to be writing "On www.thestudentroom.co.uk, I said ___", that would be hilarious, yet probably suicidal)

Reply 5993

elaras

7

While we're on the topic... according to this I'd get a WP flag because of my postcode:
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/applications/after-you-apply/contextual-data/indicator/

Does anyone know if that would be the same at other universities? If so how much would it really help?

Reply 5994

username1042689

21

Original post by The Clockwork Apple

Yours will probably get pulled up! You're obviously bright enough to get a high A. And yes, Oxford's course sounds a bit more tempting to me - it may seem crazy, but CompSci & Philosophy together looks fascinating.

Thank you! :biggrin:

I bloody hope so.

I admit, that caught my eye when I saw it, though I don't have the first clue about HTML. :tongue:

Reply 5995

The Clockwork Apple

18

Original post by paradoxicalme

Thank you! :biggrin:

I bloody hope so.

I admit, that caught my eye when I saw it, though I don't have the first clue about HTML. :tongue:

It says that around 50% of applicants on top unis know very little about programming, so you're not alone. Personally, I know 2 website programming languages (HTML and PhP), and now I'm learning Javascript. It's fascinating...
If my grade gets pulled up I'll let you know. Tell me if yours gets pulled up too! (It will)

Reply 5996

aprocrastinator

10

Original post by DanTheMan358

brought down my average by like 3% :mad:

Aw no mate! I feel terrible for you :frown:

are you getting the paper back? I cant believe what I got so im blaming missing method marks.

Hopefully Cambridge will see d1 as an anomaly so maybe they'll look at the average without it? (they probs won't but whatever)

Reply 5997

DanTheMan358

8

Original post by aprocrastinator

Aw no mate! I feel terrible for you :frown:

are you getting the paper back? I cant believe what I got so im blaming missing method marks.

Hopefully Cambridge will see d1 as an anomaly so maybe they'll look at the average without it? (they probs won't but whatever)

I don't think it was as bad as 3% haha but yeah I'm going to get a copy back in the next few weeks and if it doesn't match up i'll get it remarked, because i got 72/100 which i worked out would be arouns 53-54/75 and i knew it wasn't my best exam but i strongly don't believe i dropped 20 marks :frown:

. But if it does stay the same i hope they will see it as rogue. What are you applying for?

Reply 5998

username1042689

21

Original post by The Clockwork Apple

It says that around 50% of applicants on top unis know very little about programming, so you're not alone. Personally, I know 2 website programming languages (HTML and PhP), and now I'm learning Javascript. It's fascinating...
If my grade gets pulled up I'll let you know. Tell me if yours gets pulled up too! (It will)

it does look very cool. And you can understand xkcd now :biggrin:

Please do! I will :smile:

Haha I hope so, thank you :tongue:

Reply 5999

Necrosyrtes

4

Original post by The Clockwork Apple

...2 website programming languages (HTML and PhP)...

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
This caused me to die a little inside.
#Pedantry
#UsingHashtagsOnTSR

---

You should try Python (assuming you haven't already). Also, try https://projecteuler.net/problems if you're mathematically inclined. Fortunately it's just come back up after some down time after it was hacked (inspires confidence, eh). I have to be quick because my computer tells me it IS restarting soon, and I don't know how to stop it...

Official Cambridge Applicants 2015 Entry

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