Comp Sci - Chances at Cambridge vs Oxford

Afaik, Oxford want high GCSEs and Cambridge want high AS UMS.
Sadly, I have neither :redface:

My results are:
AS
Maths - A (298/300) 99%
Further Maths - A (242/300) 81%
Physics - A (268/300) 89%
Chemistry - A (252/300) 84%

(continuing with all 4 at A2)

GCSE
6A* (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, French, Spanish)
5A (Maths Methods, Maths Applications, Eng Lang, Eng Lit, RE)
1B (History)
1D (Graphics Products)

So comparing myself to another "good" CompSci applicant, not all will have done Further Maths AS and not all will have got 4As, yet I'm guessing the majority of oxbridge applicants will.

Up until yesterday, I was all set for Oxford, but then I noticed they only made 30 offers for straight CompSci last year. Thirty?!?!?!?!??!!?
Whereas Cambridge make closer to 80.

I'd sell my soul to get an offer from either tbh.

My thought process for choosing Oxford was that Cambridge is ranked one place higher, so all the elitist 12A*s will apply there and all the slightly worse will apply for Oxford.

However now I'm thinking that considering they only offer 30 places and focus more on GCSEs, perhaps I should focus on Cambridge.

One train of thought I'm having is that I should forget Cambridge with my UMS, focus on Oxford and revise like mad for the MAT test, and hopefully ace it.

Help!!

Reply 1

Incubator

20

Original post by Anonolol

Afaik, Oxford want high GCSEs and Cambridge want high AS UMS.
Sadly, I have neither :redface:

My results are:
AS
Maths - A (298/300) 99%
Further Maths - A (242/300) 81%
Physics - A (268/300) 89%
Chemistry - A (252/300) 84%

(continuing with all 4 at A2)

GCSE
6A* (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, French, Spanish)
5A (Maths Methods, Maths Applications, Eng Lang, Eng Lit, RE)
1B (History)
1D (Graphics Products)

So comparing myself to another "good" CompSci applicant, not all will have done Further Maths AS and not all will have got 4As, yet I'm guessing the majority of oxbridge applicants will.

Up until yesterday, I was all set for Oxford, but then I noticed they only made 30 offers for straight CompSci last year. Thirty?!?!?!?!??!!?
Whereas Cambridge make closer to 80.

I'd sell my soul to get an offer from either tbh.

My thought process for choosing Oxford was that Cambridge is ranked one place higher, so all the elitist 12A*s will apply there and all the slightly worse will apply for Oxford.

However now I'm thinking that considering they only offer 30 places and focus more on GCSEs, perhaps I should focus on Cambridge.

One train of thought I'm having is that I should forget Cambridge with my UMS, focus on Oxford and revise like mad for the MAT test, and hopefully ace it.

Help!!

Cambridge want high UMS, but Oxford want high GCSEs :frown:

Reply 2

Anonolol

OP

Original post by Incubator

Cambridge want high UMS, but Oxford want high GCSEs :frown:

Not trying to sound sarcastic, (well actually I am), but didn't I say that in my first sentence? :P
Are you suggesting I should just skip both?

I would have thought I'd be a fairly strong candidate for CompSci with the A in Maths and FMaths, but maybe not...

Reply 3

username1042689

21

You are a strong candidate for CompSci in general. Your average isn't great by Cambridge standards (high 80s) but if you applied to Cambridge you might get an interview because of your awesome maths score. As for Oxford, 6A* 5A is by no means out of the question.

My advice: Apply to whichever you like the course best for. In both cases it's a gamble. If you think you'll do well at interview, Cambridge give out more interviews and so would be more likely to give you a chance to prove yourself.

Reply 4

Incubator

20

Original post by Anonolol

Not trying to sound sarcastic, (well actually I am), but didn't I say that in my first sentence? :P
Are you suggesting I should just skip both?

I would have thought I'd be a fairly strong candidate for CompSci with the A in Maths and FMaths, but maybe not...

You have a chance, but remember, there will be candidates with really high UMS.
Definitely apply by all means, but don't be under the illusion that you have a high chance of getting an offer :smile:

Reply 5

Noble.

17

6 A*s and 5 As at GCSE is more than fine for Oxford, who care a lot more about MAT performance.

Reply 6

Anonolol

OP

I can't say how I'd do at interview, sometimes I get flustered and black out on the question, other times I see right through the question.
I think I'll go for Oxford then, considering MAT's a large part of it and I can prepare for that.

Thanks for the reassurances :smile:

Reply 7

Oxford Computer Science Dept

2

Original post by Anonolol

Up until yesterday, I was all set for Oxford, but then I noticed they only made 30 offers for straight CompSci last year. Thirty?!?!?!?!??!!?

Hi.

First up, we'd be very happy to receive and application from you.

Your GCSEs are a smidge below what we normally see for a successful candidate: but it's just that. An average. We do look at GCSEs, but the MAT test is far more important. If you did well on the MAT we'd interview, no matter what your GCSEs. I don't think you've got anything to worry about with those GCSEs.

You've got 4 great AS results in really relevant subjects. Again, nothing to worry about from our point of view. (We don't ask for UMS scores.)

If you look at Cambridge's figures they had 521 applications for 86 places. Our Dept is smaller than Cambridges. I'd argue that our size makes us friendly :-) Yes, we did make about 30ish offers for straight CS last year. In total we made about 69 across our three CompSci degrees. (We've got a bit of flexibility across them so numbers can fluctuation a bit each year depending on the strength of candidates.) So that's about 6.4 people per place - which is tough, but not ridiculously competitive. And remember, we always see some candidates who, for example, don't show up for the MAT, or were taking international qualifications that we've never accepted. So the actual level of competition, in all reality is a bit lower than that.

Yes, we'd love to see you apply to us. But only if it's the right course for you. There are some big differences between our courses and Cambridge's one. So I'd suggest you look carefully at which one you think you'd enjoy most. Rather than worry about some small differences in statistics, for a cohort of people that went through the year before. This year may be totally different in terms of application figures. (Last year we were way up on the year before. These things can fluctuate quite a lot, in a small space of time.)

Hope that helps. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8

Chief Wiggum

20

I'd go for Oxford with those grades.

Comp Sci - Chances at Cambridge vs Oxford

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