Ask an Admissions Tutor - International Applicants (Sept. 8-15)

OP

Original post by StrawbAri

Hello and thanks for making this thread! :smile:

What does Cambridge think of the International A levels? Are applicants treated the same as the UK students who have the normal A levels (ie put in the A-E quintiles) or are they handled separately (Like with the IB,Highers etc applicants) because the IAL exams are linear?

Hi StrawAri, thanks for your question! International A-levels are perfectly good preparation for study at Cambridge, and in many ways are similar to the A-levels UK students sit.

One difference however is that we usually do not get UMS scores from students sitting international A-level exams, so we don't place them in quintiles on the subject moderated spreadsheets like home students. We often get what is called a Percentage Uniform Mark which lets us know if a student's mark is at the top, middle or bottom of the grade. This is useful information for an admissions tutor, but is not calculated in exactly the same way as UMS.

Reply 3

Jupiter14

1

Could you please let me know how much weight Cambridge places on american transcript for grades 9-12? I understand that AP results are the most important factor.

Reply 4

OP

Original post by Jupiter14

Could you please let me know how much weight Cambridge places on american transcript for grades 9-12? I understand that AP results are the most important factor.

We will certainly look more closely at your AP results, and we hope that you would have 5 or more APs in the appropriate subjects at a grade of 5. Admissions tutors will also have a look at your high school diploma marks, but as long as these are high passes then I think that is fine. The marking criteria will vary from school to school across the US so we place more emphasis on standardised tests such as APs and SATs.

Reply 5

StrawbAri

17

Original post by University of Cambridge

Hi StrawAri, thanks for your question! International A-levels are perfectly good preparation for study at Cambridge, and in many ways are similar to the A-levels UK students sit.

One difference however is that we usually do not get UMS scores from students sitting international A-level exams, so we don't place them in quintiles on the subject moderated spreadsheets like home students. We often get what is called a Percentage Uniform Mark which lets us know if a student's mark is at the top, middle or bottom of the grade. This is useful information for an admissions tutor, but is not calculated in exactly the same way as UMS.

Thanks for the answer :smile:

There are some subjects in the CIE international A levels that do not have an AS qualification. Will this disadvantage a student who is applying for engineering but doesn't have an AS in further maths because it isn't offered? (Only the full A level at the end of two years)
I've asked the Christ's AT before but it doesn't hurt to get a second opinion :smile:

Reply 6

clairechenwen

Hello. I am applying to Cambridge from the US and I was wondering how rigidly the 700+ SAT rule is enforced for admissions? Will ACT scores be accepted in place of the SAT? Also, have most accepted international students fulfilled the minimum AP score requirements at the time of application or do most receive conditional offers contingent upon the AP Exams that they will sit at the end of their gr.12 year? Thank you for taking the time to answer questions!

Reply 7

skycolor

Hello,

as an American I self-studied some AP tests (our version of A-levels) and I did relatively badly on the AP macroeconomics test in which I received a 2. However I am predicted a 5 and my recommender discusses how I devoted my personal time studying for the course, etc. Would this be enough to keep me out of Cambridge if I was applying for economics?

Reply 8

Duke Glacia

16

Hello btw is the international admission much more competitve than the Uk admission(for engineering)

Reply 9

Doones

21

Original post by skycolor

Hello,

as an American I self-studied some AP tests (our version of A-levels) and I did relatively badly on the AP macroeconomics test in which I received a 2. However I am predicted a 5 and my recommender discusses how I devoted my personal time studying for the course, etc. Would this be enough to keep me out of Cambridge if I was applying for economics?

Might be helpful for the AT if you edit your post to also include your other AP results (and SATs/ACTs if available) :wink:

Reply 10

OP

Original post by StrawbAri

Thanks for the answer :smile:

There are some subjects in the CIE international A levels that do not have an AS qualification. Will this disadvantage a student who is applying for engineering but doesn't have an AS in further maths because it isn't offered? (Only the full A level at the end of two years)
I've asked the Christ's AT before but it doesn't hurt to get a second opinion :smile:

For Engineering, it is recommended (but not required) that you take an A-level in Further Maths as the course content is quite mathematical.

If you are taking Further Maths then I would say it would not disadvantage you in any way if there are no AS-level exam marks available. We would still have predicted grades to go on, as well as your performance in any interviews or tests. The A-level reforms mean that AS exams will be phased out for UK students from 2016, so in the future we will lose the AS grades for everyone!

Reply 11

Doones

21

Original post by University of Cambridge

The A-level reforms mean that AS exams will be phased out for UK students from 2016, so in the future we will lose the AS grades for everyone!

Except Maths (and a few others like Geography) for another year or two?

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 12

OP

Original post by clairechenwen

Hello. I am applying to Cambridge from the US and I was wondering how rigidly the 700+ SAT rule is enforced for admissions? Will ACT scores be accepted in place of the SAT? Also, have most accepted international students fulfilled the minimum AP score requirements at the time of application or do most receive conditional offers contingent upon the AP Exams that they will sit at the end of their gr.12 year? Thank you for taking the time to answer questions!

Thanks Clairechenwen for your questions. We are looking for a pattern of high academic achievement across all of your exams. Sometimes of course people have a bad day, and the results of a particular exam might fall below what someone is capable of. We hope that applicants achieve 1,400 in Critical Reading and Mathematics and also 700 or more in Writing, giving a combined score of at least 2,100.

It is down to the AT at the College you are applying to to make the call, but if one of these components were slightly lower than then others then I personally would look closely at what exam it was and what course you were applying for. A low score in mathematics for instance would not be great if you were applying for Natural Sciences or Mathematics. If say you scored 680 in Mathematics and were applying for Art History on the other hand, I might not be too concerned as long as your AP scores were all high. We also accept ACT scores, and ask that you achieve at least 32/36.

In response to your final question, both situations are common. Sometimes people apply having already achieved 5 or more APs with a grade of 5, and sometimes they still have yet to achieve this. If the latter is true, they receive a conditional offer saying that they need to get the 5 APs with a grade of 5 by August of the year of entry. Most of those receiving conditional offers end up making the grade.

Reply 13

OP

Original post by jneill

Except Maths (and a few others like Geography) for another year or two?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yes, that's correct. The phasing out of AS level exams is happening at different times for different subjects. The latest time table for the changes can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/timeline-of-changes-to-gcses-as-and-a-levels/changes-to-gcses-as-and-a-levels-that-will-affect-each-current-school-year-group

Reply 14

Doones

21

Hi, I was just wondering why you don't seem to hold interviews in America, but you do in Canada, despite there being more USA candidates?

And what is the overall success rate for candidates having Skype interviews vs face-to-face for Internationals?

Thanks

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 15

OP

Original post by skycolor

Hello,

as an American I self-studied some AP tests (our version of A-levels) and I did relatively badly on the AP macroeconomics test in which I received a 2. However I am predicted a 5 and my recommender discusses how I devoted my personal time studying for the course, etc. Would this be enough to keep me out of Cambridge if I was applying for economics?

I think that a score of 2 in AP macroeconomics would unfortunately make you a significantly less competitive applicant than many others. It might not spell the end of your application however, as long as you could achieve 5 other AP's with grades of 5. Mathematics is particularly important for economics.

Reply 16

OP

Original post by Duke Glacia

Hello btw is the international admission much more competitve than the Uk admission(for engineering)

Hello Duke and thanks for your question. Engineering is one of our most popular courses, and it attracted ~2090 applicants in total last round. 974 of these were UK home students in either maintained or independent schools, of which 214 received offers (4.0 applicants per place).

1187 applicants were classified as overseas or EU applicants, or were UK home students studying abroad. From this group 166 received offers (7.1 applicants per place).

It seems on paper at least that it is more competitive for international applicants, however this doesn't tell the whole story. We find that a significant percentage of international applicants to engineering might be regarded as 'speculative', meaning they haven't fulfilled or aren't likely to fulfill the admission requirements and so are deselected even before the interview.

If you think that you are on course to make our minimum offer, then by all means consider making an application. We don't have any particular quotas to fill in terms on international applicants to engineering, we are just looking for the best and brightest.

Reply 17

jackien1

19

What did you think of Singapore when you were here?

Reply 18

OP

Original post by jneill

Hi, I was just wondering why you don't seem to hold interviews in America, but you do in Canada, despite there being more USA candidates?

And what is the overall success rate for candidates having Skype interviews vs face-to-face for Internationals?

Thanks

Posted from TSR Mobile

Thank jneil, I have wondered the same thing! We send interview teams out to parts of the world where we attract significant numbers of applicants. Obviously these numbers can change over time and we regularly review our international activities. All I can say at this point is that a US team is being seriously considered, although no decision has been made.

I don't have data on Skype vs. face-to-face interviews, but we certainly prefer to interview face-face where possible. At Corpus we interviewed all but one applicant face-to-face last admissions round. Sorry not to be of more help here.

Reply 19

OP