Cambridge Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) Students and Applicants

Original post by Ser Alex Toyne

Also when you apply to Cambridge. when they look at your UMS scores, which 80+% is taken into account? Your AS results? Your predicted UMS results? How would they consider me, if I'm doing German and three maths based subjects?

And lastly if I drop a subject at A2 next year (say Maths), so I only have three - would they rule me out? Because I could get the A*AA, with the A* in German, and as I've heard with languages is quite hard to obtain.

Cambridge averages the UMS across your best 3 AS results. If you get 85%+ you are likely to get an interview. If you get 93%+ you are guaranteed an interview.

And yes, offering three A2 subjects is fine, but when you say your A-Levels includes "Programming" do you mean Computing?

Unrelated question: do you play tennis?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1982

Original post by Ser Alex Toyne

The GCSE A* ones - German, English Language, Religion, with high As in French, History, Geography and Maths (no one told me about getting remarks, so that was at east 3 A* down the drain). The Bs were in Bio, Phys and ICT.

Also when you apply to Cambridge. when they look at your UMS scores, which 80+% is taken into account? Your AS results? Your predicted UMS results? How would they consider me, if I'm doing German and three maths based subjects?
Because if so, I'm currently doing 4 A-Levels, three of which are not even relevant to the course (Chem, Math and Programming) and in these exams, there is a chance I might fluke maths and get a B. Should I be worried about that?

And lastly if I drop a subject at A2 next year (say Maths), so I only have three - would they rule me out? Because I could get the A*AA, with the A* in German, and as I've heard with languages is quite hard to obtain.

I guess my written work and especially my PS will have to be amazing! Maybe they'll be amazed that an Eastern European foreigner wants to do a literature-based course in Greek and German. I might even be the first Moldovan to get into Oxbridge!

Overall, the one thing about the Cambridge course that bugs me, is that I can't start Latin from scratch, and I hear from a lot of people that ancient greek is far harder. But then, both my parents have lived in Greece before and can speak modern Greek (albeit in a fractured manner). I know the alphabet and know some phrases. And I have had the experience of being to Greece before many times (Athens, Mykonos, Delos). But.......Roman history is so interesting, and I really would like to learn Latin. THAT'S what makes me so undecided.

I'm just afraid, I'll apply for Cambridge and then get rejected, and passing the deadline for applying to Oxford. Or worse, get to the interview, then be rejected. I guess that's when the insurance comes in....but I hate that you can't apply for both!! Such a difficult decision, arrgh!

Sure, some people get better grades, but you still have a chance with those, and even more so should you show great improvement with good AS scores.

With your application, they would look at the average of your 3 best subjects, and also your score in all four, using the scores achieved at AS. Schools do not do UMS predictions for A2, only grades. It doesn't matter what your other subjects are - I did French, Geography and Maths for the subjects I took to A2. Having 3 A2's is not a problem - they ask for three subjects to this level, and having 3 will not put you at a disadvantage. You should be aiming for much higher than 80% - I can almost certainly say that an average of that level will not get an interview without some extenuating circumstances.

Erm, not quite sure what you mean by the moldovan comment - nothing in the admissions even takes into consideration your ethnicity or background like that.

You should be going for the course, not the university as a whole. If you want to do Latin then obviously Oxford is the choice, of the two, for you.

You seem very unclear about the UCAS process. The application deadline for Oxford and Cambridge is October 15th of the application cycle i.e. the year before you would be due to start the course. You will also have to apply to any other universities at the same time, you can't add them in later. There is nothing to stop you taking a gap year and reapplying, either to the same university or the other one, but bear in mind at least with Cambridge, you will have to have good overall UMS scores for the entire A-Level and not just AS, and a lot of people applying whilst on a gap year have a higher set of grades than the standard offer. Only once you have answers from all your choices do you then choose a firm and insurance university.

I will reiterate though, that you need to get the highest UMS scores you can achieve to give yourself the best chance of getting an interview, and then an offer. It doesn't matter if your other subjects are irrelevant, you still need to show you can do well academically - there is a reason UMS scores are used to help select students, and that is because it is a good indicator of how students will perform here.

Reply 1983

Very well then. I will try my best.

Reply 1984

You seem very unclear about the UCAS process

I'm pretty sure I have to submit my UCAS application by the 15th of Oct THIS year, as I'm currently in Lower Sixth. So when I supply my grades, do I have to have AAAA in the upcoming AS exams to get considered for the interview? What if I get AAAB (B in Maths) - would they automatically reject me?

Erm, not quite sure what you mean by the moldovan comment - nothing in the admissions even takes into consideration your ethnicity or background like that.

What I meant is, very few Moldovans, if any have applied or got a place into Oxford/Cambridge. I might be the first. I know very well, they don't care about your ethnic background.

Reply 1985

Original post by Ser Alex Toyne

I'm pretty sure I have to submit my UCAS application by the 15th of Oct THIS year, as I'm currently in Lower Sixth. So when I supply my grades, do I have to have AAAA in the upcoming AS exams to get considered for the interview? What if I get AAAB (B in Maths) - would they automatically reject me?

What I meant is, very few Moldovans, if any have applied or got a place into Oxford/Cambridge. I might be the first. I know very well, they don't care about your ethnic background.

Yes, but comments within your post suggested you seemed uncertain about thing. You don't need straight A's for interview or even an offer but obviously, the higher the grades the better the chance. Also, the A grade subjects should be high scoring, particularly German.

Do you study in Moldova then or?

Reply 1986

I assure you, German is my strongest subject - and my top priority for these exams.

No, I was born and studied in Moldova up until I came here and started school in P6, so I will have 7 years in my grammar school next year. I'm not quite British by nationality, but I am a UK resident registered in Sheffield.

Reply 1987

cmdexe

1

Does anybody have an idea of how well each language is represented amongst the MML students? I.E. the proportion of students learning each language. From the look of the students in the Facebook group, about 60 percent are doing French and half doing Spanish, but that's only from a sample size of 30 or so, not very representative of a group of 170!

Reply 1988

Original post by cmdexe

Does anybody have an idea of how well each language is represented amongst the MML students? I.E. the proportion of students learning each language. From the look of the students in the Facebook group, about 60 percent are doing French and half doing Spanish, but that's only from a sample size of 30 or so, not very representative of a group of 170!

The most common combination of languages is French and Spanish, but a fair few do ab initio languages, though these groups are smaller. I'm first year, I would estimate about 60-70% of people are doing French. There are about 20-30 doing ab initio Italian, about 20 doing ab initio Spanish, similar for Portuguese if not a bit less, Russian perhaps 15 or so, no idea for German - but they're all generally small groups.

In my college for first year, I do French and ab Spanish, one does French and ab Italian, another French and ab Russian, one Spanish and Arabic (she's half AMES), one Spanish and ab Portuguese, two do French and German both post A-Level, and four are doing French and Spanish both post A-Level. We're a pretty big group for MMLers in one college!

Reply 1989

Kadija333

Hi everyone! I'm a Belgian student at the University of Leuven. I have a bachelor's in Corporate Translation & Interpretation (French-English-German-Dutch). I'm currently doing a transitional year in Applied Language Studies French-English-Dutch, so that I can enter the Master in Multilingual Communication (French-English-Dutch). I am fluent in Dutch, English, French, Arabic and Berber. I am also a proficient speaker of German. My grades are good, I have an average of about 15/20-16/20. My university is a well-known, established university. It's the oldest, highest ranked and most prestigious university in Belgium and the largest of the Benelux.
I'm planning to apply to Oxford or Cambridge after I graduate. I would like to study Modern Languages at graduate level, with a focus on French (hopefully with some English as well). As I'm not familiar with the university system in the UK, I do not know what Oxbridge looks for in an applicant. Unfortunately, my university course did not focus on literature, but more on linguistics. The Master I'm choosing focusses on communication and culture.I am the president of the English language club and I am a member of the French one as well. In my free time, I translate documents for Amnesty International, I run a cultural blog, and I write for a non-profit organization that encourages intercultural communication. I'm also part of a student journalist organization. One day a week (and in the holidays) I work as a Customer Service Rep for an American Fortune 500 B2B company, taking care of external communication.I have a lot of experience with intercultural communication and this is what I want to pursue in my career. I would like to study at Oxbridge for a year to broaden my horizon. The only thing I'm worried about is my lack of knowledge on literature. I am a willing to learn and do a lot of catching up.Do you guys know if I stand a chance of getting into Oxbridge? Is it possible to get admitted even if I already have a Master's degree? Is it also possible to apply two years after graduating (even if I have worked for 1-2 years)? What would I need to get in?Thanks in advance.

Reply 1990

cmdexe

1

I am currently in Liège, I'll send you a message.

Original post by Kadija333

Hi everyone! I'm a Belgian student at the University of Leuven.

Reply 1991

Oh god, it's a long time since anyone posted here.

Hi guys! I'm applying for MML!

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Reply 1992

james197

Hi,

Being exam time and traditional pessimism, how unusual is it for Cambridge to accept students who don't quite meet their offer. So for example, AAA in place of A*AA?

Thanks

Reply 1993