Cambridge applicant here, help??

Hello everyone! Just had my interview at Cambridge for Physical Natural Sciences and somebody told me to check out the website and join! :biggrin:

Wanted to start by asking how good my chances are, since I don't know loads about Cambridge stats.

I got AAAB in AS Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Further Maths respectively.
My UMS is just under 86 across all 4, and I got 8A*s plus 3A's in my GCSE's

I feel the interviews went well, but anyone have any idea how good my chances are? Thanks so much in advance!

Reply 1

Sparster

11

Congrats on doing the interview, mine was a couple of weeks ago now :smile:

Am I to be honest? Your UMS will likely be below the average of the applicants for natural sciences so in that respect it puts you behind slightly although your GCSEs are fine. However, if your interviews went well then I see no reason why you don't stand a reasonable chance.

Just remember that there is no shame in being rejected by Cambridge; the applicants to success ratio isn't amazing. Good luck!

Reply 2

NatSci12345

OP

Original post by Sparster

Congrats on doing the interview, mine was a couple of weeks ago now :smile:

Am I to be honest? Your UMS will likely be below the average of the applicants for natural sciences so in that respect it puts you behind slightly although your GCSEs are fine. However, if your interviews went well then I see no reason why you don't stand a reasonable chance.

Just remember that there is no shame in being rejected by Cambridge; the applicants to success ratio isn't amazing. Good luck!

Thank you so much, you too!

Oh yeah be completely honest, and brutal if necessary. My hopes have never been up lol, I'm assuming I needed like a 9 or 10 in the interviews to get an offer :biggrin:

Yeah I agree, I'll be able to survive rejection, I just wanted to know how realistic it is :smile:

When you say below average am I quite a bit below or pretty close (be honest xD)

I just remember they said they only give interviews to people with a reasonable chance of an offer, so it's technically possible for me :biggrin:

Reply 3

Sparster

11

Original post by NatSci12345

Thank you so much, you too!

Oh yeah be completely honest, and brutal if necessary. My hopes have never been up lol, I'm assuming I needed like a 9 or 10 in the interviews to get an offer :biggrin:

Yeah I agree, I'll be able to survive rejection, I just wanted to know how realistic it is :smile:

When you say below average am I quite a bit below or pretty close (be honest xD)

I just remember they said they only give interviews to people with a reasonable chance of an offer, so it's technically possible for me :biggrin:

Ah that is good that you are being realistic; so am I! I mean I am not a Nat Science applicant so I wouldn't know exactly but the sciences tend to require slightly higher UMS than the essay subjects as it is "easier to score extremely highly", For Geography, the average UMS of people who got into Cambridge was 93% and apparently 95% for science ish?

And yeah you are right, to have got to the interview stage shows that they are at least considering you so why not have a crack?

Reply 4

Doones

21

Original post by NatSci12345

Hello everyone! Just had my interview at Cambridge for Physical Natural Sciences and somebody told me to check out the website and join! :biggrin:

Wanted to start by asking how good my chances are, since I don't know loads about Cambridge stats.

I got AAAB in AS Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Further Maths respectively.
My UMS is just under 86 across all 4, and I got 8A*s plus 3A's in my GCSE's

I feel the interviews went well, but anyone have any idea how good my chances are? Thanks so much in advance!

Firstly, welcome :smile:

Secondly, join this thread for current applicants:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3733847

Thirdly, if you got an interview then Cambridge considers you to be a potentially competitive candidate. And, re stats, approx 1 in 3 interviewees get an offer.

Good luck! :smile:

Reply 5

NatSci12345

OP

Original post by Sparster

Ah that is good that you are being realistic; so am I! I mean I am not a Nat Science applicant so I wouldn't know exactly but the sciences tend to require slightly higher UMS than the essay subjects as it is "easier to score extremely highly", For Geography, the average UMS of people who got into Cambridge was 93% and apparently 95% for science ish?

And yeah you are right, to have got to the interview stage shows that they are at least considering you so why not have a crack?

Holy damn 95 % average?? Some people must literally not lose marks xD

So did you apply for geography then?

Okay so realistically I haven't even got a chance. There must be hundreds of applicants each year with much higher ums than me that get rejected then damn.

Reply 6

Doones

21

Original post by NatSci12345

Holy damn 95 % average?? Some people must literally not lose marks xD

So did you apply for geography then?

Okay so realistically I haven't even got a chance. There must be hundreds of applicants each year with much higher ums than me that get rejected then damn.

Your application is not just boiled down to a single average of averages... :wink:

Yes, your SUMS might be at the lower end but people with your UMS do get offers, and people with higher UMS do get rejections. Cambridge looks at the whole application holistically.

Realistically you have A chance, albeit probably lower than some others.

This chart may, or may not, help you :smile:

Reply 7

Sparster

11

Original post by NatSci12345

Holy damn 95 % average?? Some people must literally not lose marks xD

So did you apply for geography then?

Okay so realistically I haven't even got a chance. There must be hundreds of applicants each year with much higher ums than me that get rejected then damn.

I mean yeah the average is high. You can see from the guy's chart above that you do have a chance just admittedly not as much of a chance as those with 95+. Yeah I went for geography. You do have a chance but as I say no shame in not getting in. Where else have you applied btw?

Reply 8

username1865079

14

Original post by NatSci12345

Hello everyone! Just had my interview at Cambridge for Physical Natural Sciences and somebody told me to check out the website and join! :biggrin:

Wanted to start by asking how good my chances are, since I don't know loads about Cambridge stats.

I got AAAB in AS Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Further Maths respectively.
My UMS is just under 86 across all 4, and I got 8A*s plus 3A's in my GCSE's

I feel the interviews went well, but anyone have any idea how good my chances are? Thanks so much in advance!

As mentioned already, your UMS average is lower than that of 'typical' successful applicants, but they look at all aspects of your application, so that they can assess all applicants fairly, no matter what sort of school/social background you come from, if you have any extenuating circumstances that affected your education, if you've done enough super-curricular (extra-curricular related to your subject) to explore the subject outside/beyond your school syllabus, etc. etc.

I've posted this links millions of times here already, but if you haven't read it yet, I think it'll give you some idea what sort of things they look at, apart from obvious academic grades, when assessing the candidates.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/10/how-cambridge-admissions-really-work

Good luck with your application. :smile:

Reply 9

NatSci12345

OP

Original post by jneill

Your application is not just boiled down to a single average of averages... :wink:

Yes, your SUMS might be at the lower end but people with your UMS do get offers, and people with higher UMS do get rejections. Cambridge looks at the whole application holistically.

Realistically you have A chance, albeit probably lower than some others.

This chart may, or may not, help you :smile:

Thanks for being realistic with me, and yes I assumed they look at the whole application not just the numbers :smile:

Oh wow that chart is really eye-opening! I have a friend with 92% UMS and I thought he was guaranteed an offer when I compared him to me but clearly that's not true!

Original post by Sparster

I mean yeah the average is high. You can see from the guy's chart above that you do have a chance just admittedly not as much of a chance as those with 95+. Yeah I went for geography. You do have a chance but as I say no shame in not getting in. Where else have you applied btw?

Yeah the chart shows me that it's very unlikely I'll get an offer, but we'll just see! Yeah not getting into arguably the best University in the UK can never be considered a failure :biggrin:

I also applied to Imperial, UCL, Manchester and Southampton, you?

Original post by vincrows

As mentioned already, your UMS average is lower than that of 'typical' successful applicants, but they look at all aspects of your application, so that they can assess all applicants fairly, no matter what sort of school/social background you come from, if you have any extenuating circumstances that affected your education, if you've done enough super-curricular (extra-curricular related to your subject) to explore the subject outside/beyond your school syllabus, etc. etc.

I've posted this links millions of times here already, but if you haven't read it yet, I think it'll give you some idea what sort of things they look at, apart from obvious academic grades, when assessing the candidates.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/10/how-cambridge-admissions-really-work

Good luck with your application. :smile:

Ah that was a very nice read, would've been nice to see that a while ago :P

Yeah it appears my UMS is very very low by Cambridge standards... It seems absurd that people with 86 UMS can get an offer over someone with like 97 UMS. The difference in their scores is huge yet somehow the interview can make up for that? Guess it gives a second chance to shine to a lot of candidates.

Thank you! Was about to say good luck to you too but I (admittedly in a stalk-ish fashion xD) checked your account out and realised you're just a helper so thanks for that!

My verdict is that I most likely won't get an offer, and I also worry a lot about the fact that my Personal Statement had tons of really fancy words, and was worded really well yet I speak nothing like that in person xD Thanks to each and every one of you!

Reply 10

Sparster

11

Original post by NatSci12345

Yeah the chart shows me that it's very unlikely I'll get an offer, but we'll just see! Yeah not getting into arguably the best University in the UK can never be considered a failure :biggrin:

I also applied to Imperial, UCL, Manchester and Southampton, you?

Uh I applied for Cambridge, Durham, Exeter, Birmingham and Southampton. 93% UMS average got offer from all except Cambridge so far obviously :s-smilie:

Good luck to you!

Reply 11

scavi2008

15

Original post by jneill

Your application is not just boiled down to a single average of averages... :wink:

Yes, your SUMS might be at the lower end but people with your UMS do get offers, and people with higher UMS do get rejections. Cambridge looks at the whole application holistically.

Realistically you have A chance, albeit probably lower than some others.

This chart may, or may not, help you :smile:

Hey! Could I please ask where you got that graph from? I applied for HSPS and it'd be interesting to find out the same for my subject if you could please link me? Thank you! :h:

Reply 12

Doones

21

Original post by scavi2008

Hey! Could I please ask where you got that graph from? I applied for HSPS and it'd be interesting to find out the same for my subject if you could please link me? Thank you! :h: