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Oxford v's Cambridge

Dynamite

Have people who were going to apply Cam now going to apply to Ox due to Cam requesting UMS Marks??

Yes or No??

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Reply 1

Willa

good....run scared off to oxford if you must...it means the only ones left will be the good applicants with superb UMS scores. Will help increase the gap between cambridge and oxford...pushing oxford down the list and cambridge up.

Stop whining you little babies, if you seriously think this is an important decision cambridge has made, and it is making you think twice about applying, well then in my opinion you shouldnt be applying to cambridge, or even oxford for that matter. If it's in your heart to want to go to oxbridge, you wouldnt give a toss about whether they asked for your UMS marks......because as I keep saying, if you were MEANT to be at cambridge, you WILL be at cambridge. They turn people away because they dont think they would be right at cambridge....that includes people with perfect scores!

Reply 2

house badger

Willa

The gap between Oxford and Cambridge, what are you talking about!?! Oxford have their own top applicants and won't need to pick up Cambridge's rejects. If you're not good enough you won't get into either regardless of your UMS scores. What a crap point, although it's what you can expect from a tab!

Reply 3

Drogue

Actually, considering some applicants will be skilled, but without good UMS scores, if they do run to Oxford, Oxford will be more oversibscribed, and may even a better candidate or two, who would have applied to Cambridge. Few will decide to apply to Cambridge because of the UMS marks being asked for, so if people do change, it will be in Oxfords favour.

UMS marks are useful, and I agree with Cambridge asking for them* it's a way to distinguish people, however it may not be in their best interests to do so, as they will lose some applicants who may be good.

*And yes, I am just saying this because my UMS marks were a lot better than my GCSEs :redface:

Reply 4

Brown Patrick Bateman

house badger

I agree with Willa, if Oxford don't follow suit a gap will be opened up between "the 270's" and "the 240's" people. You could be deemed good enough for Cambridge (through interview etc) but due to high competition lose out to someone of similar calibre but higher UMS scores, whereas they might still make Oxford who don't know that detail.

If you're reading this Oxford (lol), follow suit. Otherwise The Times won't be able to fiddle the data enough to keep you in top place next year!

Reply 5

Acaila

CAMBRIDGE CARE ABOUT MORE THAN MARKS PEOPLE!

:rolleyes:

Reply 6

jonas123

house badger

wtf is a tab? just another word for a Cambo person?

Reply 7

Willa

house badger

My point was that pupils who have lower UMS scores would swamp oxford. And because no application system is perfect, some of those are bound to get in....thus lowering oxford's general performance....or so some might think. I was making a simplification of the situation..

Acaila is right, the marks arent important. My point is, if you consider them so important that you consider changing your application, well then I dont think you should be going to cambridge!

Reply 8

khil

If you actually wanted to go to Cambridge you wouldn't change your mind just cus of some minor detail like UMS score! If you can change your mind so easily then perhaps it's good that you aren't applying to Cambridge - give me a chance to get in, bit less competition :tongue:

since you don't actually wanna go Cambridge anyway. Who cares about UMS score anyway I wanna go Cambridge I'm applying and for goodness sake I got a C at AS - I'm still applying!

Reply 9

gzftan

irisng

since you don't actually wanna go Cambridge anyway. Who cares about UMS score anyway I wanna go Cambridge I'm applying and for goodness sake I got a C at AS - I'm still applying!

Hehe..i got a C at AS as well....cambridge don't know that though :tongue:

Reply 10

Brown Patrick Bateman

Acaila

CAMBRIDGE CARE ABOUT MORE THAN MARKS PEOPLE!

:rolleyes:

Yeah, but I can understand people worried that this could be their 'blemish', something that could potentially be the difference between losing or getting a place. How about this (I've used this example 37 times now I know): 2 students for 1 place; identical GCSE/AS grades, evident passion for subject, both good at interview, etc etc. One got 95%+ in their 4 AS levels, the other one scraped past 80% in the four, getting Grade Cs in a couple of modules. Who's the admissions tutor going to pick?

Reply 11

shiny

jonas123

wtf is a tab? just another word for a Cambo person?

tab = graduate of a north fens technical college :rolleyes:

Reply 12

Willa

Jools

that's precisely WHY they ask for UMS...so that in that unlikely situation, they can make the distinction between the two. Yes, having low UMS scores wont do you any favours, but for most people, it wont really affect their application process.

Reply 13

Drogue

Jools

Actually, people applying to Oxford because of this can't be better for Cambridge. Yes more people with 240s will apply to Oxford, but I doubt people will apply to Cambridge because they ask for UMS marks. Thus all that happens is there are more applicants to Oxford, and less to Cambridge. However good those applicants are, it's a good thing for Oxford, because they have more people to choose from.

Cambridge may end up rejecting people who are good - just because someone can get 100% in an comparitively easy exam like an AS level (compared to Oxbridge degree level), doesn't mean they'll be able to cope with an Oxbridge degree. Similarly, some people may get 80%, who would be better at degree level. So yes, it's a tool, and a useful tool when so many people are predicted/get straight As, but Oxford isn't going to get worse candidates by not using it. I think the scaring people away because of *another* thing Cambridge ask for that other universities don't will have a worse effect than the benefit of another way to tell between candidates.

Reply 14

Brown Patrick Bateman

Willa

in that unlikely situation

It's not that unlikely... pretty much everyone who gets an interview will be academically strong and interested in their subject, so there's often trivial things used to discriminate. (Then again people from my college with BCCU and BCDE declared AS results applied to Cambridge for a laugh and got interviews!)

Reply 15

Willa

well that's cos they say nearly everyone who applys to cam get interviews!

and no i dont think the reasons are trivial...i think tutors will find in most cases they are capable of seeing whether you have it or you dont!

Reply 16

Brown Patrick Bateman

Willa

and no i dont think the reasons are trivial...i think tutors will find in most cases they are capable of seeing whether you have it or you dont!

A lot of people "have it" though - the majority of Cambridge rejects these days would get a (good) 2.1 or better in finals there if they'd got accepted. But there's too much competition - around 3 top calibre applicants who'd be good enough for Cambridge per place.

Reply 17

Willa

No...you dont get it. It's not about having the academic ability. It's about benefitting from the cambridge system or not. There are plenty of straight A students who get rejected because it is thought that because of their attitude they would not benefit from the cambridge supervision system and other things cambridge has to often. It's not only about academic ability. It is almost some "X Factor" which you have to have to get an offer, and I think tutors are pretty good at seeing who has this X Factor.

Reply 18

Brown Patrick Bateman

Willa

From the other thread you'll see that I don't exactly believe it is all about academic ability! But OK, the "X Factor"... hundreds of people with the "X factor" get rejected not because they're not good enough for Cambridge but because there's not enough space for everyone.