How hard is it to get into Cambridge University?

I hear even people with all A* in GCSEs and 5+ A levels, have been rejected. Why might this be? If it's not just about grades, what else is it about? And if someone has taken gap years and has previous subpar educational history/qualifications, or in other words, their original exam results were not great, but they go back to work on it and then get the top marks, but are now a little older than before, all in all, would that make them less likely to be accepted? Do they want someone with a neat and tidy and consistently perfect academic past and who is younger?

Reply 1

Sorcerer's Storm

20

Original post by Anonymous

I hear even people with all A* in GCSEs and 5+ A levels, have been rejected. Why might this be? If it's not just about grades, what else is it about? And if someone has taken gap years and has previous subpar educational history/qualifications, or in other words, their original exam results were not great, but they go back to work on it and then get the top marks, but are now a little older than before, all in all, would that make them less likely to be accepted? Do they want someone with a neat and tidy and consistently perfect academic past and who is younger?

Pretty much everyone applying to Oxbridge has those grades and they have far more applicants than places. It’ll usually come down to mostly interview performance.

Reply 2

Wired_1800

20

Original post by Anonymous

I hear even people with all A* in GCSEs and 5+ A levels, have been rejected. Why might this be? If it's not just about grades, what else is it about? And if someone has taken gap years and has previous subpar educational history/qualifications, or in other words, their original exam results were not great, but they go back to work on it and then get the top marks, but are now a little older than before, all in all, would that make them less likely to be accepted? Do they want someone with a neat and tidy and consistently perfect academic past and who is younger?

I think you have to be good at your subject and be passionate about it. These will come out by your interests, intellectual curiosity and how you engage with your subject.

Reply 3

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by WoodlandSorcerer

Pretty much everyone applying to Oxbridge has those grades and they have far more applicants than places. It’ll usually come down to mostly interview performance.

What about a perfect, neat and tidy education history? Do gap years and retakes look bad? Also do they pick based on having interesting experience in other things like volunteering in general and also stuff like having been a head student back in secondary, a sports leader, and extremely involved in clubs etc? Basically all that extra stuff that sounds very accomplished, do I need both that and a perfect education history ontop of a great interview?

Reply 4

Sorcerer's Storm

20

Original post by Anonymous

What about a perfect, neat and tidy education history? Do gap years and retakes look bad? Also do they pick based on having interesting experience in other things like volunteering in general and also stuff like having been a head student back in secondary, a sports leader, and extremely involved in clubs etc? Basically all that extra stuff that sounds very accomplished, do I need both that and a perfect education history ontop of a great interview?

What do you mean? As in no gap years? You have to do research but I don’t think gap years are an issue for most subjects maybe except maths. As for retakes, again you need to research the specifics of that for your subject.

No. The truth is that Oxbridge don’t at all care about extracurriculars. Most people don’t have them, what they care about is your passion for the subject and interview performance.

Reply 5

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by WoodlandSorcerer

What do you mean? As in no gap years? You have to do research but I don’t think gap years are an issue for most subjects maybe except maths. As for retakes, again you need to research the specifics of that for your subject.

No. The truth is that Oxbridge don’t at all care about extracurriculars. Most people don’t have them, what they care about is your passion for the subject and interview performance.

I'm confused, I'm asking if it would look bad for someone to have taken gap years and having retook their subjects, and if it would place them lower than others who have always been ontop with perfect grades, perfect everything, who's life and academic path has been straight forward and constant (unlike the person who took gap years and also retook their subjects). Also why do you keep talking about Oxbridge when I asked about Cambridge?

Reply 6

Sorcerer's Storm

20

Original post by Anonymous

I'm confused, I'm asking if it would look bad for someone to have taken gap years and having retook their subjects, and if it would place them lower than others who have always been ontop with perfect grades, perfect everything, who's life and academic path has been straight forward and constant (unlike the person who took gap years and also retook their subjects). Also why do you keep talking about Oxbridge when I asked about Cambridge?

And I am telling you that there is no answer that fits all. Some colleges and even some subjects may strongly discourage gap years (I believe maths) whereas others don’t. The same for retakes although I do think in general retakes don’t look as good. Though it’s not impossible, my sister retook one of her subjects and she’s now in her second year at Cambridge. I’m talking about Oxbridge because their criteria are often quite similar.

Having perfect grades won’t necessarily put you higher or lower as a lot of the initial screening will depend on your PS as well as any admissions tests for your subject. If they’re sufficiently impressive then you may get an interview even if you’ve taken a gap year and your grades maybe aren’t as high as everyone else’s.

Reply 7

Possibly this

18

At the end of the day, most people have pretty similar A-level predictions/grades when applying to Cambridge and they have way more applications than places so they take a more holistic approach. They don't really care about GCSEs or extracurriculars. What they do care about is an ability and willingness to learn, ability to think, performance in interviews and entrance exams, personal statement, that you meet their course requirements and most importantly, PASSION! If you don't love your subject, that's basically an auto-rejection. Also do try to read books around your subject that go past the A-level specification.

Reply 8

Ðeggs

22

It comes down to the entry assessment and interview performance. I would consider myself as one of those candidates with all A*/8/9 at GCSE, private school, strong references, a level predictions etc. One of those “ideal candidates”.
But I must not have done very well on the admissions test or at interview as I was rejected.
Also, they are courses are just very competitive. As there are usually 3 at minimum for the more specific courses, like ASNAC etc, up to 7 or 8 people applying per one place. More people are rejected than accepted, but you mostly here about acceptance threads on here.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 9

Anonymous #2

from experience as an offer holder i think it’s less about your grades and academic profile and more about your passion.

passion cannot be taught

Reply 10

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

21% of undergraduate applicants, across all courses, got in last application cycle I believe (which is typical). So roughly 1 in 5 applicants get a place - some courses are more competitive than others though (for example, maths, CS, architecture, and philosophy are all more competitive than the average, with architecture being the most competitive course followed by CS). Of course those numbers don't necessarily tell you that much, as there will be an element of self selection (people who don't get top grades will probably not consider Cambridge), and not all courses are offered by Cambridge (it has no dental school, for example). Additionally applicants can only apply to one of Oxford or Cambridge - if anyone could apply to both, it would probably be more competitive due to double-dipping applicants.

If you want to apply (successfully) to Cambridge, you need to understand what they look for in applications. To begin with, they don't really care much about GCSEs - they'll be cosidered "holistically" with the rest of your application, but other areas will be more important (e.g. any pre-interview assessments, the interview, academic reference) and all the official college reps on here have stated that they have never rejected an applicant solely on the basis of GCSE grades. They also don't care about extracurricular activities unrelated to your speciifc academic area. If you are applying to maths, they don't care if you have grade 8 piano, were captain of ten sports teams, etc - those activities don't tell them anything about your mathematical ability. They only care about so-called "supercurriculars", namely extracurricular activities specifically related to the subject area you're applying to (for the maths example, things like the senior maths challenge).

Most applicants are invited to interview (I think an average of about 70-80% of applicants, varying by course); I believe Cambridge's policy is to interview anyone they deem might on paper be able to get an offer, i.e. meeting any subject requirements, being predicted (or having achieved) grades at the standard offer level (A*A*A for STEM courses other than PBS, and economics, A*AA for everything else), and meeting any expectations in terms of pre-interview assessments (i.e. having taken it and there not being any indication from that they would struggle with the course potentially).

The interview will probably be the deciding factor in whether someone gets an offer, as it is the only way they can see how an applicant would fare in the tutorial environment; the interviews are in theory at least supposed to mimic the tutorial system which is a core (sometimes primary) method of learning in a degree there. Some students don't learn as well in that format - it doesn't mean they aren't intelligent or are bad at their subject, it just means they might benefit more from a more typical lecture format at another university. The interview helps admissions tutors assess this.

Mature applicants are also looked at a bit differently; usually if you have been out of education for more than 3 years after leaving school, they will want to see some more recent academic work being done. They will look more at that recent academic performance compared to past academic performance, since the more recent work will be more indicative of your current ability. Most colleges I think indicate they don't prejudice applications from mature students on the basis of weaker academic performance in the (more distant) past. An upward trajectory in grades is also usually viewed favourably - if you did more averagely in GCSEs, but have very good A-level predicted grades and a strong academic reference, that is usually viewed positively.