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Cambridge Computer Science

Hi there!

Wished to ask a question to current students, best if they are CompScis on behalf of a student in my school who wished to know what would benefit more their application:

1. Involvement in a Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award, but who won't be receiving the actual award

2. Spending this time studying a Further Maths qualification, that is not offered by our school.

I mean, I know the obvious answer to this question is 2, but however somehow our stupid HE adviser has got in his head that Admissions Tutors everywhere really like the Duke of Edinburgh award and that they would prefer this to further academic qualifications.

I mean, I think that stuff that is done outside the academic realm does influece in some amount in that it demonstrates time management skills... blah blah blah, however I don't think the UK is just like the US yet... what do you guys think?

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Reply 1

xinolisss

fumblewomble

Number 2 - no question.

Extra curriculars are mainly important to show
a) that the student is not working to full capacity doing A levels (much more is going to be expected of you at uni)
b) that you have some way to unwind which will be important at Cam

But as long as you have a healthy work/play balance (I assume that your friend is doing something other than just working already), what they're really interested in is your academic progress.

Yeah, thanks for that, just reassuring that I was right...

Idiot HE adviser... :rolleyes:

He kept saying that I wasn't going to get into Cambridge because I didn't have enough EC. (Namely he tried to convince me that without DoE I wasn't going to get anywhere)

Reply 2

Mithra

Definitely number 2. No-one cares **** about DofE bronze anyway, its only gold where they even start to get vaguely interested.

Reply 3

xinolisss

Mithra

Definitely number 2. No-one cares **** about DofE bronze anyway, its only gold where they even start to get vaguely interested.

University or Future employers?

Do future employers care at all?

Reply 4

Mithra

xinolisss

University or Future employers?

Do future employers care at all?

I was thinking about future employers really, I think with unis its more the stuff that goes into the gold they might be interested in (e.g. your sport , skill and community service), hard to tell really. Our assessor on Gold kept going on about how they always used to talk about it as a major thing but I don't know how much that was true and how much it was to try and motivate us :biggrin:

Reply 5

SunderX

2. Definitely.

Nobody I know has done a DoE. Mainly because I didn't bother to ask, but EC's are given a lot less value here, than say in the US. You just need enough of a life to remain sane while studying the degree, outside that it's fair game.

Reply 6

The West Wing

Number 2 actually confers a great positive benefit.

Reply 7

Supergrunch

Number 1 would make no difference to your application.

Number 2 would make you a significantly stronger candidate.

Reply 8

abstraction98

Number 2.

I only have bronze D of E (stopped half way through silver for a variety of reasons..) but I think the job market is becoming saturated with people with gold. To be honest, ticking a list of predefined things off and going on an expedition is a bit nandy pandy.

Reply 9

Tyrotoxism

DofE is ********. admission tutors don't care and neither do employers.

Reply 10

Mithra

abstraction98

To be fair you wouldn't be saying that if you did Gold but there you go :p:

Reply 11

abstraction98

Mithra

To be fair you wouldn't be saying that if you did Gold but there you go :p:

I would because I have done much harder things in that environment. I don't have a problem with the idea itself. The bureacracy that goes with it just drives me up the wall..

Reply 12

Mithra

abstraction98

I would because I have done much harder things in that environment. I don't have a problem with the idea itself. The bureacracy that goes with it just drives me up the wall..

Theres as much bureacracy with it as you force upon yourself, if you've had to do it with teachers who do that kind of thing then thats unfortunate but don't blame it on the award :p:

Reply 13

abstraction98

Mithra

Theres as much bureacracy with it as you force upon yourself, if you've had to do it with teachers who do that kind of thing then thats unfortunate but don't blame it on the award :p:

Point.

I did it through cadets (which I am no longer involved with). We had to do all sorts of silly things like compass work in wet grass at the start of the weekend (equals wet boots for the whole thing).

I was also patronised for my group walking too fast bla bla..

Reply 14

Mithra

abstraction98

Eurgh, sounds awful :shifty:

I've helped on about 15 Bronzes with teachers at school now and seen probably the whole range of how it can be run :p:

. Our gold was pretty much "yeah go climb some hills and walk as fast as you want" :smile:

Reply 15

abstraction98

Mithra

Eurgh, sounds awful :shifty:

I've helped on about 15 Bronzes with teachers at school now and seen probably the whole range of how it can be run :p:

. Our gold was pretty much "yeah go climb some hills and walk as fast as you want" :smile:

Sounds awesome.

Reply 16

SimonM

Mithra

To be fair you wouldn't be saying that if you did Gold but there you go :p:

I've done gold (and bronze and silver) and I'd be more than happy to say that

Reply 17

Mithra

SimonM

I've done gold (and bronze and silver) and I'd be more than happy to say that

Well yes it has been made too easy so that anyone can do it now, but if you do it properly (walking a proper distance and speed rather than just for 8 hours at any speed) its hardly namby pamby.

Reply 18

xinolisss

SimonM

I've done gold (and bronze and silver) and I'd be more than happy to say that

Fact of the matter is that they won't even be finishing Bronze award.

They'll be "working towards" it

Reply 19

SimonM

Mithra

Well yes it has been made too easy so that anyone can do it now, but if you do it properly (walking a proper distance and speed rather than just for 8 hours at any speed) its hardly namby pamby.

Really? You're suggesting I didn't do it "properly"?

Perhaps I should go on to say that I followed that up with a month long expedition to the Arctic...

For the record, I don't think Duke of Edinburgh, BTEC, Sea Cadets, Scouts, CCF, or any of my other extra curricular played any part in the decision making process. Just a two minute aside in the general interview