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what are my chances of getting into trinity college, cambridge to study maths?

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(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 1

thegeek888

Apply to Jesus College, Cambridge University instead. 🙂

Reply 2

vintagecarrie

From what I have seen this year Trinity has been brutal in its rejection of Maths and CS applicants despite them having amazing predictive grades and personal statements. Someone else who has actually applied to read Maths will have a better view of the situation but it seems Trinity is ultra competitive and very over subscribed.

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Just apply to literally any other college.

Trinity does not offer anything for maths other colleges do not, except for a historical association with the subject. THat does not actually translate into any material difference though. As a result of that though it is so incredibly oversubscribed for that subject that students with straight A*s across the board (A-levels and GCSEs) and good performance in SMC etc, are not even interviewed - and if you don't get interviewed, you can't get pooled, which means the system designed to stop students from getting edged out by competition normally when applying to an oversubscribed college does not work.

There is literally no reason to not apply to any other college. Want a large traditional architecture central college? There are plenty of other options.

Once again I will point out: it has no bearing on the academics of the course which college you go to. Lectures are centrally arranged by the departments, and you can have supervisions at any college, not just your own, dependent on where your DoS arranges them. Non-Trinity students can get supervisions at Trinity and Trinity students may have supervisions at other colleges.

Choosing to apply to Trinity for maths rather than anywhere else at Cambridge just drastically reduces the chances you'll get in for exactly zero benefit or even different in experience.

Reply 4

mqb2766

Original post by siiiie

thank you so much for your reply. i agree that it is ultra competitive and you have to be something extra special to get in. hopefully some current trinity students might be able to provide more of an insight on this.

Dont think there is a clear answer. This year, I know someone y13 who has applied to trinity maths and has got an interview and is probably "worse" than you. Similarly, another y13 who is better than him (and you?) who applied (and has an interview) at a different college as trinity is a bit of a lottery. Its really up to you.

As the y12 cycle for ukmt has finished (assuming youre not through to bmo2), then there is little benefit in aiming for ukmt in y13 as it wont go on your personal statement in time. If you want to do it for your own interest, then that is a different matter, but you could (perhaps of more benefit) also do a few projects involving maths / read some history / .... as that would be supercurriculum stuff to go on your personal statement, whereever you decide to apply to. They make it clear that they want to see enthusiasm for the subject, so do something(s) you find interesting, rather than just concentrating on bmo...

(edited 5 months ago)

Reply 5

mqb2766

Original post by siiiie

this is so useful to know, thank you so much for your reply. i will bear all of your points in mind. if you don’t mind me asking, and if you know anything about the person in y13 who has a trinity interview, what were their stats (because they must have stood out in some way) and did they have any extenuating circumstances?

No, they were advised to go for a different college (as artful_lounger advises) but they wanted to try and have got an interview. Their ukmt stats are worse than yours, and its worth noting that for most colleges its probably just another thing to put on the personal statement and in some ways it could be even seen to be a bit negative if thats all youre focussed on (mathematically). They wrote about some projects they did in y12 and the whole package must have got them over the line and through to the interview.

Reply 6

mqb2766

Original post by siiiie

wow, that’s also good to know about ukmt. i’ll have to try and get involved in more different projects and do lots of wider reading. hopefully my epq will help with this too. thanks for all your help!!

For me, you dont need to decide (trinity/other cambridge/...) until next September and Id just concentrate on doing some interesting stuff in the meantime to

•

to put down on your personal statement (there is the supercurriculum cambridge pdf online)

•

talk about in an interview

•

help with step

and those are your priorities. There is lots of stuff you could do, and that includes some ukmt-type stuff (as it would help with problem solving and talking maths at interview/a small number of step questions) but its certainly not the sole focus and as mentioned in the other post, the ukmt bus has gone for putting anything additional on your personal statement.

Just think about what things you can do / discuss with your school and enjoy it.