Are my GCSE/AS grades good enough for Oxbridge?

Pretty much, yeah. Although an impressive EC that you can show has given you skills/knowledge relevant to the subject or to the way you'd be working on the degree course could be useful. But not necessary. Academic engagement and potential is the important part of the PS. Mostly, a brief bit about ECs is tacked on to show that one is human and does things/has interests other than work, although even that is arguably not essential (for a Cambridge PS, anyway; but bear in mind it has to work for all unis you apply toand not all will consider the same criteria).

Btw, if you didn't know, TSR runs a PS-review and help service (I'm one of the reviewers), when you get to the point of writing your drafts.

Reply 183

K, thanks - i'd really apreciate some help with my PS in a month or two
How does the PS-review work?

Reply 184

*pitseleh*

20

k4j8i5a

K, thanks - i'd really apreciate some help with my PS in a month or two
How does the PS-review work?

You submit your Personal Statement confidentially; only TSR's "PS Helpers" will be able to see it - and all of them are already at university (or have graduated) so there's no chance of anyone plagiarising your work. Your statement will then be reviewed by someone who has experience in your subject.

Reply 185

There's an FAQ here if you want to take a look.

We pretty much rip statements apart (in a nice way, really) and then offer suggestions for improvement; depending on how busy it is we'll work through as many redrafts as you then want to do. We tend to get pretty good responses, so it seems people do find it helpful.

Reply 186

That's a really good set up! Only joined a few days ago - TSR is incredible!
Do you have any ideas for economics things that i could sign up for - have googled but not found much. I'd really like to try some economics ECs - not just for my application, but because i can't get enough economics!

Reply 187

Hmmmm. Not really got any ideas about ECs that fit with econonmics directly, tbh. Work experience could be a good opportunity, though, if you could find a good placement. Something like an investment bank or the financial section of a newspaper or something would be excellent, but while they offer internships and so on I'm not so sure about work placements for younger people. But it might be worth looking into. One thing you can very usefully do is start reading around your subject - this is a great thing to have in a PS (provided it comes across as genuine, and not just name-dropping some famous book) and if you're really keen on the subject should be interesting as well. If you were really, really keen you could even start browsing economics journals - most have some kind of access online, and if you have a friend/relative at uni they could give you their Athens password so you can get access for free.

Reply 188

Sorry, what's an Athens password? (I've lived a very sheltered life)
My sister's leaving for uni to do Sports Sci - will she be able to give me a password that would work for economics?

Reply 189

Just got your other message, are you watching me! Please don't revise - or i'll have to do some revision!
And do you have any good recomendations for books?
I've read freakonomics (as has everyone!) and More Sex is Safer Sex (S. Landsburg) and am currently reading The Undercover Economist and Irrationality (S. Sutherland)
I'm tring to find some more hardcore stuff

Reply 190

Mmmm, I should have explained.

Athens is like a login system that's been set up to work with a lot of online journals, academic resources and so on. Most British unis use it to allow their students access to them all without all needing their own setups. If your friend is at any of the unis on this list: http://www.athensams.net/federations/openathens/organisations then they may've been given an Athens login to use. Assuming sports science students need access to that sort of thing (not to sound snooty about the subject, I just don't know what it involves, really). It shouldn't be subject-specific or anything, but rather just depends on whether a given journal of economics or sports science, or whatever, is part of the system. Most of the ones I've ever needed have been. Websites for journals, or their publishers, should have a box somewhere for the Athens login (usually they'll ask you after you try to look at an article that's restricted; sometimes it's under some kind of "alternative option / alternative login" link)

edit: that list seems not to be comprehensive, actually. I know Cambridge use it, since I do all the time, but we're not on the list. Well, whatever, just ask your friend.

Reply 191

Dw - you can be snooty about it if you wish - she's my sister so we're not meant to get on!
She's going to Bath Uni (just up the road) can't find it on there, but i'll ask her!
Any thoughts about the books?

Reply 192

k4j8i5a

Just got your other message, are you watching me! Please don't revise - or i'll have to do some revision!
And do you have any good recomendations for books?
I've read freakonomics (as has everyone!) and More Sex is Safer Sex (S. Landsburg) and am currently reading The Undercover Economist and Irrationality (S. Sutherland)
I'm tring to find some more hardcore stuff

Well I've seen 2 out of those 4 in a couple of PSs, so I guess they're popular. I'm not an economist, so I can't offer any particularly weighty suggestions (I assume TSR has a uni economics subforum somewhere; the people there probably can) but I can suggest Naomi Klein's Disaster Capitalism as fairly good to read (it's more journalistic than academic, but that's nice 'cos you don't get bogged-down). Sachs has a good article on globalisation and poverty that makes for quite a good brief introduction and overview (sorry, I can't find a link, but it's out there) and you could wade into his The End of Poverty (to be read with a pinch of salt, though).

edit: the prospectus here: http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/prospect/guide.pdf has some core texts listed if you scroll down, but they look quite text-book-y.

The course outlines here: http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/intranet/outlines/part1.html for all the different papers as part of the part 1 econ course at Cam all come with reading lists attached. Not sure if that link will work for you, though. It might be on the department intranet rather than the internet (I can't tell from here, since I have access to the intranet anyway)

Reply 193

Will try them out...
Just one last question!
I don't know much about the colleges at Cambridge, but i thought Peterhouse sounded good (small and old). But i've been told its quite snobbish and competitive to get into? tbh it's really difficult to make a decision! Do any of the colleges have a particularly good/bad reputation?

The first link works - really good reference, just makes me want to get to Cambridge more!

Reply 194

If you search in the Cambridge subform, I think I remember there being a whole thread about college reputations recently. Basically, you don't wanna take colleges' reputations too seriously - some are just jokes, some have some basis in fact, but colleges with hundreds of students in are always, in actuality, gonna be very varied and not fit stereotypes. I say this particularly of course since I'm at John's, which everyone professes to hate ("I'd rather be at Oxford than St. John's, Oh I'd rather....etc") but in reality it's a college like any other. Maybe with a few more rahs in than some.

The pooling system should, in theory, mean that no college is more competitive than any other to get into. I don't imagine it's perfect, but competitiveness of entry isn't something to base your decision on, really. Come to think of it, I know there's a huge thread somewhere in the Cambridge subforum about how to choose a college and the criteria to work on, so you could search for that too. Or you could just come on an open day and pick the one that looks nicest...works for a lot of people :biggrin:

If you want to know about Peterhouse specifically, there's yet another subforum within the Cambridge one dedicated to courses and colleges (the economics thread there might be useful) and I know the Peterhouse thread is active. Craghyrax will be very happy to answer any specific questions about what it's like at the college if you post there, since she's a first year there now.

Reply 195

I'm coming up for the open day so i'll have a look around then
If i still can decide, i think ip dip sky blue normally works well...
Thank you so much for all the advice - i'd better let you get back to some work. I'll probably start pestering you again when i start my PS, so that's something to look forward to!

Reply 196

trance addict

18

k4j8i5a

I'm coming up for the open day so i'll have a look around then
If i still can decide, i think ip dip sky blue normally works well...
Thank you so much for all the advice - i'd better let you get back to some work. I'll probably start pestering you again when i start my PS, so that's something to look forward to!

I can tell your from an enriched background :smile:

Reply 197

Aha, I found the choosing a college thread. It's kinda...huge (35 pages' worth) but there's some useful info: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=85158&highlight=choosing+college

Cambridge subforum is here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=15, and colleges and courses subform is here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=268, if you hadn't found them (TSR's owners have completely ****ed with how the site looks...it's a nightmare trying to find the bits you need, now, I know.

Reply 198

What do you mean "enriched"?
My childhood was traumatic - You should meet my sister

Reply 199