Am I good enough for Oxbridge? Proving it here.

Thanks .

I've applied for Natural Sciences. I'm only mid-story. Can already taste the bitter flavour if I miss my offer .
I actually started posting on TSR because my GCSEs weren't great and I was worried about my future. The centre I sat them were just please someone got some A*-Cs and I was frustrated at the satisfaction with mediocrity and a bit resentful.
I was informed that I'd have a shot if I did okay at college and so approached year 12 with some gusto and managed to do acceptably well. And then, you know .

Part of me is glad I've had time out before uni. I used to be so arrogant and judgemental of people who were lazy. But now I can sympathise with lack of motivation + I understand how life can get in the way. I can appreciate how annoying I was as I consistently did well despite stressing about my results.

I know a girl who did natural sciences @ Cambridge, so well done, its a really prestigious/challenging degree. She also got in against odds being from a Somali background like myself.
I experienced problems at university, I had to retake a lot and almost dropped out due to depression/mental health problems, so I understand where you are coming from. Being successful at a steady pace, is better than doing it in a shorter space of time. It gets to your head easily

Have you graduated now then?

I'm sorry to hear about your problems. Well I'm no longer in such an environment so it's more high stakes! But I do work well with regular good work. I'm looking forward to the supervisions at Cambridge if I get in .

Slightly off topic but I'm wondering why Cambridge didn't continue to carry over their contextualisation of you? They can obviously see that you've had incredibly tough circumstances and have done so well in light of that, and that you do have the raw ability to thrive there. But it's not like your circumstances are favourable now - not many students who need A*A*A are working full time and supporting themselves? Most have pretty comfortable lives and go to good schools who prep them endlessly for that. I believe that you can get these grades of course, I'm just wondering why Cambridge look at contextualisation for your previous circumstances but seem to ignore them in your offer and gave you the standard offer?

Extenuating Circumstances provide context for the overall application, but I doubt they would normally enable a significantly relaxed offer. That said, if an offer was narrowly missed I imagine they would still take them into account.

I guess what confuses me is that they accept previous lower grades than normal based on contextualisation and circumstances. Of course some extenuating circumstances are acute I.e. They just happened over the GCSE exam period. But when the circumstances persist I really think they should be a little more lenient because KtA getting AAA is probably equivalent to someone of his natural intelligence at a good school with no major extenuating circumstances getting A*A*A*.

If they really are committed to 'access' they should consider this as a student like KtA who has had such long-term and adverse circumstances getting AAA may miss their entry target but have more ability and passion to thrive at Cambridge than a kid in a private school/comfortable life bubble who happened to meet their offer.

Possibly, but they still need to be sure that students have the ability to do well in the Tripos. I'm also sure that KtA will do so, and will achieve the offer anyway

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I guess what confuses me is that they accept previous lower grades than normal based on contextualisation and circumstances. Of course some extenuating circumstances are acute I.e. They just happened over the GCSE exam period. But when the circumstances persist I really think they should be a little more lenient because KtA getting AAA is probably equivalent to someone of his natural intelligence at a good school with no major extenuating circumstances getting A*A*A*.

If they really are committed to 'access' they should consider this as a student like KtA who has had such long-term and adverse circumstances getting AAA may miss their entry target but have more ability and passion to thrive at Cambridge than a kid in a private school/comfortable life bubble who happened to meet their offer.

Whilst I do agree with you broadly, Cambridge also needs to make sure that people arriving in October to study are at the suitable level so that they aren't floundering at the very beginning because their knowledge is patchy, no matter how intelligent they are, asking for A*A*A is one way of doing that.

Whilst I do agree with you broadly, Cambridge also needs to make sure that people arriving in October to study are at the suitable level so that they aren't floundering at the very beginning because their knowledge is patchy, no matter how intelligent they are, asking for A*A*A is one way of doing that.

Perhaps if I were homeless or something, but my life is a lot more stable than it used to be. Hopefully @jneil1's confidence isn't misplaced! As I said, most of the mature college applicants will have ft jobs.

A levels are thankfully routine and hopefully the scores of past material will be sufficient. People do complete post graduate education with kids and jobs etc.. Someone at my workplace works as a TA while doing a psychology masters. It's tough but hopefully doable.

I'm just disappointed that the offer wasn't A*A*A as I was told previously it was highly unlikely a 3rd A level would be necessary as I have an A in maths. I took the extra one because I didn't like the stain on my record and thought this might happen but I thought it was paranoia. I assumed I'd need A*A(B) or something

I think that's because they want to see that candidates can do well with a full (i.e. 3 subject) A-level workload, as preparation for the Cambridge workload.

Interviews and aptitude tests should be used for that. And realising that actually A levels are incredibly limited. I know from my particular grammar school we had an unbelievable amount of support to meet Oxbridge offers and sometimes I think that a lot of hard work in a good environment with a natural base intelligence is enough for the grades Cambridge require. However with just the base intelligence which is arguably all you need to do well at Cambridge but a bad environment and no external support it is way more difficult to these grades.

I'm not entirely sure you understand what I mean. Interviews and aptitude tests are used for that, but Cambridge does need to make sure that everybody arriving in October has the knowledge required in order to start off the course, a person might be really intelligent but if his extenuating circumstances dictates that he knows only enough of the A2 material to get a B in FM, let's say, it's very unlikely that he'll be able to start off the maths tripos without a massive amount of struggling and catching up to do on top of the already heavy workload.

You can know all of a subject and be good enough to get the grade required but miss it because your circumstances are unfavourable.

I get what you're saying and don't want to ruin KtAs thread because I'm talking more generally and not him specifically but I appreciate your input and jneill

You can know all of a subject and be good enough to get the grade required but miss it because your circumstances are unfavourable.

I get what you're saying and don't want to ruin KtAs thread because I'm talking more generally and not him specifically but I appreciate your input and jneill

You can know all of a subject and be good enough to get the grade required but miss it because your circumstances are unfavourable.

I get what you're saying and don't want to ruin KtAs thread because I'm talking more generally and not him specifically but I appreciate your input and jneill

Hmmm EW. The thing is, I didn't know the content. That's why I didn't do well. If something were to go amiss in my exam season then that would be unfortunate and noone could predict that but @Zacken is right, I should be at a certain standard this June. I happened to be solid on the topics they asked at interview but I would have to be similarly study on everything to do the course. And it's unlikely that I'd be A* level prepared but not do well. I don't really have exam anxiety (and if I did, I'd probably find Cambridge system too stressful).

I'm slightly disappointed about the 3 A level thing but I think their offer is reasonable. It isn't like there is a STEP thing for my subject which I could do sufficiently well in to offset a slip in A level grades.

If I don't do well now then it's probably the case I simply cannot work as hard as I need to while working. If that is true, then I won't be the standard they require at the start of the course. I'm okay with that.

I was talking more generally though but as Zacken, you, and jneill have pointed out, Cambridge do generally get it right and if people want lower and easier offers they should apply to Oxford