part III maths

I know getting onto the course and getting funding is another completley different matter, but if you were accepted, how would not having a Cambridge undergraduate degree affect how you cope with the difficulty? Do most non Cambridge undergrads generally cope ok with it? Also i would not be coming from Imperial or Warwick either, so would that make it even more diffuclt? I'm not nesseserily talking about an individual but rather just asking how they would cope (in general) with the course given that they have not been constantly exposed to the level of maths such as the Cambridge undergrads.

Reply 1

Krush

I'll be applying for this course very soon. From what I've heard non-Cambridge students tend to do find the course harder than what they have experienced so far and will end up with sligthly lower grades on average than their Cambridge counter-parts, but nothing dramatic.

No you will definitely not be disadvantaged if you haven't been to Warwick/Imperial. What you should know however is that most if not all applicants are predicted good firsts when they apply for the course (and have achieved such grades in their 1st and 2nd years) so work hard to get 70%+!

Reply 2

Chumbaniya

I haven't actually spoken to any part III mathmos, but with the common claim that the Cambridge undergraduate course covers in 3 years what many courses cover in 4, I imagine that non-Cambridge students will have a harder time of it.

Reply 3

Sallena

Chumbaniya

Well if the undergrads at cambridge covered what other people did in 4 years in 3 then someone coming to cambridge after his forth year somewhere else to do the forth here (I'm assuming thats how it works) shouldn't be at a too bigger advantage accademicly. Maybe it takes a bit of time to get used to how intense the course is.

Reply 4

Krush

The vast majority of non-cambridge applicants enter Part III after their 3rd year just like Cambridge students, and most of them do well. This "Cambridge cover in 3 years what others cover in 4 years" is mostly a myth.

Reply 5

Chumbaniya

Krush

This "Cambridge cover in 3 years what others cover in 4 years" is mostly a myth.

Shush. It makes me feel clever.

Reply 6

Barny

I'm in a similar position to you OP. I'm a bit worried by the amount of Maths I won't know, especially as I study Maths & Physics and not just straight Maths. Also that comment about Cambridge Maths covering what most others cover in four doesn't seem that unlikely, I know for example that several of my second year courses are covered partially(possibly wholely?) by Cambridge first year Maths(Vector calculus, for example), so if these differences carry on building then it's not unfeasable.

Reply 7

yusufu

It's harder to get onto the course coming from outside than cambridge than coming through the undergrad course. 200 or so people take the course each year and about 90 of them did the undergrad with everyone else coming from all over the world.
The person who came top of the part III course this year came from elsewhere.

I'd imagine the style of the course makes it harder for non-cambridge mathmos than for cambridge mathmos who've been studying with a similar system for three years. None of the "settling into a new university/country" issues to distract either.

Reply 8

psanghaLFC

Could any of you Current Cambridge undergrads reccomend a few first year books to look through? Perhaps both challenging and insightfull? It would be most appreciated