71 on the MAT, rejected for interview by both Oxford and Imperial.

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Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Talkative Toad

Can you ask for feedback on why you got rejected?

Oh right, I can do that. Though do you think they'll give me anything actually useful or just the standard "our programs our very competitive and there were better applicants"?

(edited 3 months ago)

Original post by acelixis

Oh right, I can do that. Though do you think they'll give me anything actually useful or just the standard "our programs our very competitive and there were better applicants"?

I have no idea as I’ve never asked before but it’s worth a shot asking why you fell short.

Reply 4

artful_lounger

21

Original post by acelixis

My predicted grades are A*A*A*A*A*(Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science), and MAT score is 71.
I applied for mathematics and computer science at both Imperial and Oxford, but didn't get shortlisted for interview in either. I've heard Imperial tends to at least offer an interview to MAT 50-60+ scorers. What happened here? Was I just unlucky? Was it my personal statement?

Were there any other requirements you would not meet e.g. GCSE requirements (minimum grades required for GCSE English language/maths) or English language requirements otherwise? Those tend to be "hard" requirements so if they e.g. required a 6 in GCSE English language and you applied with a 5 and were not retaking, you would probably be rejected automatically.

Reply 5

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Original post by artful_lounger

Were there any other requirements you would not meet e.g. GCSE requirements (minimum grades required for GCSE English language/maths) or English language requirements otherwise? Those tend to be "hard" requirements so if they e.g. required a 6 in GCSE English language and you applied with a 5 and were not retaking, you would probably be rejected automatically.

I looked up all requirements on the Oxford website, but couldn't find any GCSE or grade 10 equivalent requirements. All requirements are grade 12/senior year focused.

Reply 6

That's really weird. Also, for Maths and Computer Science at Imperial (JMC), I don't think they accept the MAT because they have their own admissions test. Additionally, as part of the offer, they ask you to sit the STEP paper (I know because I have an offer to study Computer Science at Imperial and the requirements are A*AAA with Grade 2 in STEP II.). What Oxford college did you apply to? It must have been heavily oversubscribed and it could also be your personal statement. Any typos, grammatical mistakes etc. ?

Reply 7

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Original post by vnayak

That's really weird. Also, for Maths and Computer Science at Imperial (JMC), I don't think they accept the MAT because they have their own admissions test. Additionally, as part of the offer, they ask you to sit the STEP paper (I know because I have an offer to study Computer Science at Imperial and the requirements are A*AAA with Grade 2 in STEP II.). What Oxford college did you apply to? It must have been heavily oversubscribed and it could also be your personal statement. Any typos, grammatical mistakes etc. ?

I applied to Merton. I don't think it is heavily oversubscribed, though I could be wrong.
100% my personal statement didn't have any mistakes or typos. I reviewed it many many times and submitted the 5th draft.
Never thought the statement could turn out to be that bad.

Reply 8

Original post by acelixis

I applied to Merton. I don't think it is heavily oversubscribed, though I could be wrong.
100% my personal statement didn't have any mistakes or typos. I reviewed it many many times and submitted the 5th draft.
Never thought the statement could turn out to be that bad.

Merton is also quite popular.

Reply 9

Jam.123

14

Original post by acelixis

My predicted grades are A*A*A*A*A*(Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science), and MAT score is 71.
I applied for mathematics and computer science at both Imperial and Oxford, but didn't get shortlisted for interview in either. I've heard Imperial tends to at least offer an interview to MAT 50-60+ scorers. What happened here? Was I just unlucky? Was it my personal statement?

Are you sure you have been rejected outright by Imperial or simply haven’t gotten an interview invite yet?? There’s still 3 interview dates that I doubt invites will have been sent out for (excl tomorrow’s) so I’d say it really depends on what your UCAS track says, i.e. ‘waiting’ or ‘unsuccessful’? Sit tight and hope for the best I suppose - good luck!

Reply 10

Scotney

20

Original post by acelixis

My predicted grades are A*A*A*A*A*(Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science), and MAT score is 71.
I applied for mathematics and computer science at both Imperial and Oxford, but didn't get shortlisted for interview in either. I've heard Imperial tends to at least offer an interview to MAT 50-60+ scorers. What happened here? Was I just unlucky? Was it my personal statement?

What were your GCSE stats please esp Eng and Maths.What were your super curriculars?

Reply 11

OP

Original post by Scotney

What were your GCSE stats please esp Eng and Maths.What were your super curriculars?

I didn't take GCSEs. I studied in an Indian board(CBSE). Both English and Maths were > 95%.
My super curriculars for mathematics were just further reading on proof based mathematics and real analysis. I mentioned 2 interesting books and 2 statements I was working on proving.
I have been coding in python since class 7th, so I started from there for CS. Mentioned the book which I had used in middle school to self-learn python. Then talked about a few projects I had made and the development process behind them, followed by the machine learning experience using python which I learned in the final year of high school.

Reply 12

OP

Original post by Jam.123

Are you sure you have been rejected outright by Imperial or simply haven’t gotten an interview invite yet?? There’s still 3 interview dates that I doubt invites will have been sent out for (excl tomorrow’s) so I’d say it really depends on what your UCAS track says, i.e. ‘waiting’ or ‘unsuccessful’? Sit tight and hope for the best I suppose - good luck!

UCAS shows "unsuccessful" unfortunately.

Reply 13

bl4ckhole

5

did u ask for feedback yet? whatd they say?

Reply 14

The only other possibility is that you have been put in the international crowd and the competition must have been off the charts so I think that it deffo played a role in this.

Reply 15

OP

Original post by bl4ckhole

did u ask for feedback yet? whatd they say?

I have requested feedback from Oxford. They have only acknowledged my feedback request so far, but no actual feedback yet. Probably gonna receive it in the coming weeks.

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 16

Jam.123

14

Original post by acelixis

I have requested feedback from Oxford. They have only acknowledged my feedback request so far, but no actual feedback yet. Probably gonna receive it in the coming weeks.

Just so you know I think the policy is that they don’t give individual feedback to ppl that they didn’t interview. You’ll probably just get a pdf with the department level feedback on it. Sorry about that

Reply 17

Original post by Jam.123

Just so you know I think the policy is that they don’t give individual feedback to ppl that they didn’t interview. You’ll probably just get a pdf with the department level feedback on it. Sorry about that

Yeah it will just be a copy and pasted pdf to everyone. My friend got the Oxford rejection for E&M pre-interview and all Balliol did was send him that pdf and say that he was unsuccessful with his application and that UCAS will update towards the end of December.

They don't keep a track of reasons for all applicants so there is point in contacting the department but you can make reasonable deductions about why you were rejected.

For example, it was definitely the admissions test. I got offers from Edinburgh and Imperial for CS, so it can't have been my personal statement. My A level predicted grades were 5 A*s in Maths, Further Maths, CS, Chemistry + EPQ. GCSEs: 9999999988 so it could have been my GCSEs but other than that, I can't think of anything else.

Reply 18

Justcurious_yr12

12

I could be wrong but I think it's the combination of your qualifications which could be the problem. If you did your XII from the CBSE board then your English requirement could have been satisfied from the XII CBSE exam. Since you are doing A levels now and did gcse earlier instead of X cbse then English requirement would have been satisfied from GCSE English language 6 score.
I think all this could have been sorted if you had provided an IELTS certificate equivalent to GCSE score of 6 or emailed to the admission office first before sending in your application.

I have also found this on imperial website though not on JMC page

"International applications are often delayed because applicants do not include sufficient information on their previous qualifications or academic achievement. For A Level applicants we need to see GCSE and AS results and individual module marks for any AS/A2 modules already completed, if they are available.**

Please also make sure that your school provides predicted grades for individual examination subjects not yet completed and an overall predicted grade when applicable."

So I think it is a possibility that the mix of two different qualifications made you miss some important criteria which is a must.

Reply 19

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