Good chances for re-applying?

Hello, so currently I have firmed the University of York for English to go in September. I did apply to Cambridge this year and got to the point of being pooled but was unfortunately rejected in the end. Although I do have an offer from a good uni under my belt, I'm still lingering on the idea of declining my offer to try reapplying to Cambridge next year. But this is also conflicting with my very strong desire to start university as soon as possible.

I know that if I get 3 A*s I will definitely go ahead and take a gap year to reapply as I think I have good chances, but if I get the one A*, I'll probably stay with my current firm choice.

However, reviewing how I think my exams went this summer and my AS results, I think there is a high chance of me getting A*A*A.

Long story short: how good do you think my chances would be if I reapplied to Cambridge as a gap year student with those grades? (Entry grades for English at Cam are A*AA).

Any opinions are very much appreciated. I'm finding it very difficult to decide and need to do so before Results Day.

Reply 1

Groundearth

9

You didn't get into Cambridge; you weren't good enough. Go to York and don't waste a year of your life working in Tesco.

Reply 2

Sparticus515

11

If you didn't get 3A*s I wouldn't bother, even then I'd seriously think about it. To have a realistic chance of getting a place post A Level you have to be seriously above the competition, and since the average for Cambridge is about 2.6A* I believe then there would be little point with anything less than 3.

Reply 3

perflous

11

If you got pooled I'd try applying again (but to a different college) if you get A* A* A, although some colleges like gap years for English more than others. I think Queens actually recommends that you take a gap year, providing it's used for a worthwhile purpose. If you're happy going to York though, I'd just do that. It's a great uni, and there's probably a whole lot less academic pressure.

Reply 4

ClickItBack

18

Original post by didreams

Hello, so currently I have firmed the University of York for English to go in September. I did apply to Cambridge this year and got to the point of being pooled but was unfortunately rejected in the end. Although I do have an offer from a good uni under my belt, I'm still lingering on the idea of declining my offer to try reapplying to Cambridge next year. But this is also conflicting with my very strong desire to start university as soon as possible.

I know that if I get 3 A*s I will definitely go ahead and take a gap year to reapply as I think I have good chances, but if I get the one A*, I'll probably stay with my current firm choice.

However, reviewing how I think my exams went this summer and my AS results, I think there is a high chance of me getting A*A*A.

Long story short: how good do you think my chances would be if I reapplied to Cambridge as a gap year student with those grades? (Entry grades for English at Cam are A*AA).

Any opinions are very much appreciated. I'm finding it very difficult to decide and need to do so before Results Day.

Groundearth and Sparticus are being a bit too pessimistic imo.

While it's true that the average Cambridge offer holder gets 2.6 A*s, that's across both sciences and arts - and generally the sciences score higher than the arts. I'd say 2 A*s is probably par or close to it for an arts student.

In other words, with A*A*A, I would say you have an average to slightly better than average chance at getting a place on reapplication. They won't hold your previous application against you, particularly if you were at a different college - but they may ask you why you're a better candidate this time around, so be prepared for that.

In the end it all comes down to you personally. How happy would you be at York? Do you have something productive you could do over the course of next year? If you get rejected again will it be a waste of an entire year and cause for feeling miserable? Etc.

Reply 5

Sparticus515

11

Original post by ClickItBack

Groundearth and Sparticus are being a bit too pessimistic imo.

While it's true that the average Cambridge offer holder gets 2.6 A*s, that's across both sciences and arts - and generally the sciences score higher than the arts. I'd say 2 A*s is probably par or close to it for an arts student.

In other words, with A*A*A, I would say you have an average to slightly better than average chance at getting a place on reapplication. They won't hold your previous application against you, particularly if you were at a different college - but they may ask you why you're a better candidate this time around, so be prepared for that.

In the end it all comes down to you personally. How happy would you be at York? Do you have something productive you could do over the course of next year? If you get rejected again will it be a waste of an entire year and cause for feeling miserable? Etc.

I may have come off a little pessimistic, but I just don't want to get OPs hopes up too much. I agree with you that they'd probably have an average chance of getting in but the average chance for Cambridge is still relatively low. If they have a good reason to take a gap year and they won't be too bothered if they don't get in by all means they should reapply with 2A*s, but if they don't have a good plan for a gap year it may just end up being a wasted year which no one really wants.

Reply 6

Colmans

11

Original post by didreams

Hello, so currently I have firmed the University of York for English to go in September. I did apply to Cambridge this year and got to the point of being pooled but was unfortunately rejected in the end. Although I do have an offer from a good uni under my belt, I'm still lingering on the idea of declining my offer to try reapplying to Cambridge next year. But this is also conflicting with my very strong desire to start university as soon as possible.

I know that if I get 3 A*s I will definitely go ahead and take a gap year to reapply as I think I have good chances, but if I get the one A*, I'll probably stay with my current firm choice.

However, reviewing how I think my exams went this summer and my AS results, I think there is a high chance of me getting A*A*A.

Long story short: how good do you think my chances would be if I reapplied to Cambridge as a gap year student with those grades? (Entry grades for English at Cam are A*AA).

Any opinions are very much appreciated. I'm finding it very difficult to decide and need to do so before Results Day.

Trinity state that A*A*A makes a competitive post qualification Arts application. The fact you got pooled shows that you were close to getting an offer. Did you meet the auto pooling requirement (93% average across best 3 subjects at AS)? If you didn't it may imply you interviewed well but there was uncertainty about paper results in which case a solid A2 performance is going to improve your chances.
If you did have high UMS then a reapplication to somewhere like Churchill who get oversupplied with scientists and clearly like high UMS may be a good choice. (If you can cope with the architecture.)

My only reservation is that English seems to be quite a random university subject and very good people do end up with no offers. However that seems unlikely if you applied with A*A*A and you would probably improve on York. If you get some work experience in your GAP year your overall employment prospects will improve even if you do no better than York next time-it is still a respectable University.

Good chances for re-applying?

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