What can I do to increase my chances of receiving an offer from Cambridge?

I just received my GCSE results today, 4A*s, 6As and a B. Would these be good enough for Cambridge? Does it depend very much on the college?
If they are, then what else can I do to increase the likelihood of success? I have heard that they look for students with not only exceptional grades but other things too. My chosen A-levels are English Lit, Geography, History and Music. I don't yet know what I would like to study for degree, but can anyone who has studied these subjects at Cambridge offer any advice? Much appreciated

Reply 1

madsparrow

Well done on your GCSEs! 😊 is say they'd give you a pretty good chance at getting an interview from Cambridge (so long as your AS results are good). I'm not at Cambridge myself (in the process of applying for uni now) but I'd advise to focus on the course you want to study foremost, university choice comes after. For example, I'm applying for classics, but there are very few universities that study mythology, so that has influenced my decision as to where to apply. So, just to say, don't set your heart on Cambridge before you've decided on your subject! There are also plenty of other good universities to go to 😊
If you want some guidance on which subject to study, why not go to an open day? I believe the next Cambridge one is in September/October(exact date will be on their website). I found this really helpful, as I thought I'd like to study medicine/science before I'd been to look at it on an open day and decided it actually wasn't for me. Also, current students at the university will be able to give you tips to boost your application.

If it's music you decide to apply for, I would guess that getting as much practice playing to an audience might be helpful? You could always are your school about playing at open evenings etc. For English/history, i'd suggest entering some essay competitions, there are loads to find online (just google it) some of which are run by colleges at Cambridge. If you catch their attention in one of their competitions, that might increase your chances of getting an offer.
The only last thing I'd suggest is to read around your subject as much as you can, to show your interest in it. Maybe even do an EPQ on it?
Hope that helps a little 😀

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Reply 2

username1865079

Original post by manningA15

Your GCSE grades won't be among the most competitive amongst the applicants, but they focus much more on A-levels, so as long as you're on the track for a good A2 results, you may have a good chance. (though with a change in AS/A-levels system from next year, we're not sure atm how Cambridge will change their selection process).

But before worrying about those things, it's very important to know it's not a very good idea to choose a university first even before you know what you want to study there. You should choose university because they offer you the best course for you, not because of their name.
Courses at Oxbridge are much more academic/theoretical than other universities and their terms are much shorter, too, which makes the life at Oxbridge much more intense and demanding and the workload is immense. In another word, Oxbridge is not for everyone and may not be the right place for you.

What i'd suggest now is to just focus on those 4 A-level subjects you chose to make sure you have very good grades in those. And, while doing that, try to find what you want to read at university. Extra-curricular is not important for Oxbridge, they don't care at all, but they want to see how much you have a genuine passion in the subject you apply for and how much effort you've put to explore the subject beyond the school curricular. This is called super-curricular (subject related extra-curricular) and you can do a lot of things for it, like lot of reading on the subject, work experience (if you can get one), attending study group/public talks, etc. etc. Just try to use your imagination to see what you can and do as much as possible. This will help you not only for Oxbridge application but it will enrich your knowledge on the subject which I'm sure you'll enjoy if you have the real passion.

.......then, comes the time when you ought to have a look at the related courses at many universities. You can find the details on their websites, so check them thoroughly. And if you really like Oxbridge's one, then that's the time you can seriously think about how to improve the chance of getting in. But what I suggested above will be a big part of that, too.

Good luck! :smile: