Rejection from Cambridge for 2011

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I got a rejection from Pembroke, but i was more annoyed that I did essays for them and the day I was sending them off I got my rejection. so they just wasted my time basically :angry:

That seems odd, taking in to account your strong GCSEs and A level predictions. What part do you think let you down? Have you asked for feedback?

Yeah - the extra effort in making the Oxbridge application makes a rejection a little extra annoying. In AS year I applied for Theology at Oxford (why, I don't know), and reading some painfully dull books on the gospels was all in vain! In the long run, I'm very grateful I didn't get in, since I'm doing a course that I genuinely like, and had an amazing year out. Anyway, Uni's all have their pro's and con's - you will undoubtedly be a success and have a whole different set of experiences wherever you end up.

Reply 61

Craghyrax

Original post by T-o dore

I would imagine they do not rely on simply one opinion, and also if an opinion strikes dissonance with their previous knowledge of the particular college, then I think they would be skeptical of it.

Since an average applicant will be open to a number of differing subjective views, as well as their own experience, formed by visits and knowledge of the facilities of the particular college, differing subjective views will be helpful in forming an overall decision. Considering other people's personal experiences and opinions is, after all, an important source in the construction of one's own world-views.

I think that people latch too quickly onto particular stereotyped ideas about colleges that they get from their schools/general knowledge and so forth. These kinds of stereotyped views mean that they will be more inclined to believe or take seriously opinions by people at Cambridge that support those views than ones which disagree with it. Girls colleges are a famous example. I don't know any girls from Newnham or Murray Edwards who dislike their colleges. In fact they all tell me either that they found there were unexpected bonuses to being in a girl's college that they hadn't foreseen or that they don't feel its made any difference to their Cambridge experience. Yet people love portraying these colleges as being unpleasant or undesireable due to being girls only, and on TSR there's a very widespread anxiety among applicants about that issue. In the context of there already being a predisposition to think badly of girls colleges, its not helpful to feed into that issue, and I don't agree with you that people who are worried about girls colleges will consider several view points and form a balanced impression. I think it far more likely that they will be inclined to believe the most negative account.
I think in general if there's any kind of negative stereotype people will be biased towards believing that rather than an experience which refutes it.

Concerning the above statement, I would hope people exercise a degree of critical thinking in their assessment of people's personal opinions in order to assess their specific relevance. Generally, people give one or two reasons justifying their like or dislike a particular college. The example of the poster's opinion of Girton is the justification of the college being far away from the city centre. In what way is that not a legitimating factor in forming an opinion?

Mmmm... did you read all of my posts? :confused:

Girton was the one example that I positively agreed with. It is an objective truth that Girton is 2miles, or whatever, from the rest of Cambridge which has a very clear practical impact on the lives of Girton students. That is a piece of information that applicants should indeed consider before applying there.

So far I haven't read many factually incorrect or misleading information about colleges. Also from experience, I haven't encountered anyone who feels like they have been 'misled' in to applying to a particular college. Such a decision should be shaped through the applicants own efforts to find accurate information, and RELIABLE opinions.

How would a person know if they'd been 'misled' in their college choice. Most of the misinformation causes people to not apply to colleges they might otherwise choose, rather than causing them to choose colleges they end up not liking.
I've read plenty of exaggerated and negative generalisations about Universities, comments and courses on TSR.

I enjoyed my time at Peterhouse and made fantastic friends there including meeting my marxist boyfriend of two years. Yet if I'd read TSR before applying I would have avoided Peterhouse on the grounds of its being so full of conservative weirdos and gays :rolleyes:

Fair enough, but conversely, over-moderation can lead to a LACK of helpful personal feelings and experiences, which might be helpful to pursue.

Er, at what point did I 'moderate'? :confused:

I mentioned that it is expected of moderators that they should be present in the discussions that take place in their area of speciality. But in this thread I did not 'moderate'. As mentioned before, moderation would entail me doing something with my abilities as a moderator that you could not do as a user. Such as moving or editing posts, punishing a user, and so on. I just expressed my view that the opinion being given about colleges was not objective and could easily influence people negatively. I stand by that view for the reasons mentioned before.

You know I've only been a mod for a year, but I've been on TSR for 5 years and active in this forum for almost that long. I was posting pretty much the same arguments and fighting against misinformation and stereotypes just as much all along as I am now and I didn't get people retaliating against my points in the way seen in this thread. I would appreciate it if my views were taken at face value rather than everybody reacting to my position as a moderator for no reason. If I was posting with my dupe account, people would be far less interested in picking an argument with me.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 62

neesh123

Original post by chaz1992

I may as well say it now:

When: December 07
How: Went for an interview. First interview was great, test was excellent but my second interview was so bad that half way through one admissions tutor decided to walk out. I made said silly stuff in the interview (won't disclose content) which I then figured out the answer to on the way back home on the train.
What for: Engineering
College: Downing
Emotions: Disappointed in myself. If I knew it was going to be like this I wouldn't have even gone to the interview
Why: Messed up my second interview
Reapply?: No. Never.

Was that this year? The college I applied to said we won't hear back till January.

Reply 63

Digit_Five

Original post by chaz1992

I think I may have seen you. Were you the chinese kid who I asked where O2 was as I read O1 as O2 :eek:

Nooo, I was the worried looking tall guy in the suit.

Bet that reaaally narrows it down for you ;D

Reply 64

innerhollow

Original post by Craghyrax

'Babes'?

How rude and patronising.

I'm not quite following what your objection to that statement was. Maybe if the poster just made some random assertion about the college that would be unhelpful, but they stated specifically what they didn't like about certain colleges.

At the end of the day if everyone submits their personal opinions of colleges, so that includes BOTH you and those other users, that helps us applicants to build up a good idea of what these colleges are like, as we can take all this information and form our own interpretation of it. The actual FACTS about colleges are found on college websites, but they're not always enough to form a decision on. It is important for applicants to know various people's experience of these colleges. Of course they are subjective, which is why you'd want as many people as possible. Telling people not to share these experiences helps no one.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 65

yahyahyah

Original post by Craghyrax

...

hahaha but sometimes THE NEGATIVE STEREOTYPE IS WHAT SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY EXPERIENCE so if people want to take them seriously they they can go for it. do you not see how ridiculously embarrassing your argument is, you can't just say 'oh i know people at newnham and they love it'. yeah well i know some and they think it's an utter pile of dog ****e, just because one is negative you can't discount it. jesus how do you get things done in the day.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 66

gethsemane342

Original post by yahyahyah

I think her main point was to be balanced. I admit that her view, from what i read, was not particularly balanced. But i think the point of this whole debate was to give balanced opinions/advice. The original guy gave examples of people's opinions which was fair enough. I think it was the way he described it which suggested he was endorsing negative stereotypes though since i'm too lazy to go back and find said post, please feel free to contradict me on this as i may have just made that up.

But yeah, i think with all of this, giving examples of people's experience is fine but it may be better to have more balanced opinions as well :smile:

Reply 67

User188463

Original post by Craghyrax

I think that people latch too quickly onto particular stereotyped ideas about colleges that they get from their schools/general knowledge and so forth...

I won’t address everything you said, to keep things a bit less epic.

You say you would have avoided applying to Peterhouse if you heard it was full of ‘gays and conservatives’. I have two main objections to this:

- Such claims are rarely taken seriously, and are almost always objected to. Many examples could be pointed to, but an indisputable one would be those applying to M. Edwards or Newnam who are present on TSR, and so constantly subject to such ‘damaging stereotypes’. Conversely, when a stereotype is actually influential, it is typically grounded in some reality - the line between 'stereotype' and 'genuine opinion' is often hard to establish.

- Negative stereotypes exist for most colleges, yet the levels of over/under-subscription to certain colleges are fairly consistent. Why is the much maligned St. Johns college (apparently so full of ‘arrogant idiots’) so oversubscribed when more than a third of M. Edwards students were pooled? There are so many trends to demonstrate people base their decisions on far more than ‘negative stereotypes’.

I certainly agree with you that people should have a balanced and rational view of colleges before making a decision, but avoiding opinion entirely seems unrealistic and even disconnected from human experience. And lets not be misleading, there are people at every college who aren’t completely satisfied - I know a few people at Newnham and M.E who envy people at different colleges.

Perhaps, on a different vein, its beneficial to allow these stereotypes to be posted so they can be publicly exposed as rubbish, instead of bring kept conspiratorial, where they are probably most influential. Isn’t that one of the best things about TSR?

Other points:

Original post by Craghyrax

I just expressed my view that the opinion being given about colleges was not objective and could easily influence people negatively.

I didn’t accuse you of using your mod powers specifically, but I was referring to the wider dangers of moderation on TSR in general. I have seen many reasonable, if slightly inflammatory, posts being removed and warned where they could have been more usefully exposed as flawed in conversation. I would imagine that if you judged someone had posted something ‘stereotyping’ a college, you would consider censoring it - if not then I am not sure what the basis of our disagreement is about.

If I was posting with my dupe account, people would be far less interested in picking an argument with me.

Not at all - the majority of people I respond to don’t have the accolade of moderator status.

Reply 68

chaz1992

Original post by Digit_Five

Nooo, I was the worried looking tall guy in the suit.

Bet that reaaally narrows it down for you ;D

There were quitea few tall guys. Did you have fuzzy black hair?

I was the short Indian block with the side bag.

Reply 69

Craghyrax

Original post by T-o dore

There are roughly 50 moderators on TSR. We are all different and we all have different judgements and views about the rules and how to handle certain situations. If you have issues with particular moderators and their actions, take that to AMM. But don't project your bugbears with other moderators upon me when I'm not demonstrating any of the same behaviour.

I would imagine that if you judged someone had posted something ‘stereotyping’ a college, you would consider censoring it - if not then I am not sure what the basis of our disagreement is about.

That's nonsense! I have never censored anybody. To remove people's views about colleges would be an abuse of power and all the mods I know would be very averse to doing such a thing. Posts are removed only when they are causing trouble in the sense of bullying people or causing offence.

In situations where people give an applicant incorrect advice (for instance telling them that Cambridge is 'expensive' without pointing out how generous the University bursary is for state students) then I post with the facts in an attempt to undo the damage. That's obviously not censoring.

Reply 70

TableChair

Original post by chaz1992

...

I'd seriously consider deleting your posts if I were you.

Reply 71

idiotfish

Original post by Hippysnake

Commiserations to all those who got rejected, but-

The rejects who negged me for this post are pathetic. And the following spoiler applies ONLY to them.

Spoiler

You spelt privilege wrong. It's privIlege, not privElege

Reply 72

lemonade789

Original post by T-o dore

thanks for the vote of confidence :biggrin:

needed after both Cambridge and UCL said I wasn't academically strong enough :s-smilie:

I think what let me down is the fact that although I had 4As they were high 80s not 90s and as there were 20 applicants for 2 places in the college (compared to the 3 applicants last year!), I must have been one of the weaker candidates. Anyway its over now....
Where are you doing anthropology?

Reply 73

User188463

Original post by lemonade789

thanks for the vote of confidence :biggrin:

needed after both Cambridge and UCL said I wasn't academically strong enough :s-smilie:

Thats just bad luck, but I'm sure something good will come out of it. I personally reapplied to Unis after doing my A levels, for a course I actually enjoy. I've ended up at Queens' (Cam), just finished my first term.

Reply 74

chaz1992

Original post by TableChair

I'd seriously consider deleting your posts if I were you.

None of my messages disclose any interview content and i'm expressing how the interview felt for me and others I taked to on the day keeping their names/identities anonymous. Doesn't really change much if I delete my posts. Any hope of me getting in were blown at the second interview imo.

My academics aren't the best there or enough to get me in so it was all or nothing at the interview and I blew it.

Reply 75

innerhollow

Original post by Hippysnake

Commiserations to all those who got rejected, but-

The rejects who negged me for this post are pathetic. And the following spoiler applies ONLY to them.

Spoiler

Cambridge is just another university, it's just that people often feel a bit upset when they worked really hard trying to get into Cambridge, and didn't succeed. And there's no need to be such a massive douche over some neg rep.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 76

TableChair

Original post by chaz1992

I know a bunch of people who thought they'd blown it and got in. Doing badly in one interview doesn't necessarily result in a rejection. Insulting your interviewers however, might.

Reply 77

innerhollow

Original post by Hippysnake

There's also no need to be a bigger, somewhat more smelly douche and neg rep someone who was only trying to console you.

I have no idea what your original post was that was meant to be "consoling", so I can't comment on that and I don't know why you get negged for it. If you tell me what you wrote, perhaps I can offer some conjecture as to why you were negged.

Your response to being negged however, was awful. I do get it, I don't like being negged either, I really don't like people disliking my contributions to this site, but couldn't you have just reacted a bit more proportionately? Such a horrificially abusive response is just completely uncalled for- preying on people's disappointment like that... it's just sickening really. What was the need for it?

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 78

tiny hobbit

Original post by dd4483

Girton is very far out. Most of people I know at Girton just wander forlorn around the faculty all day, because it's too far to go back.

I used to take 11 minutes from my room in Girton to cycle to lectures in the middle of town. Admittedly it did take longer cycling back up the hill before lunch when I was hungry.

Reply 79

Mrs Cullen

Girton is very far out. Most of people I know at Girton just wander forlorn around the faculty all day, because it's too far to go back.

I don't want to bring the argument back up; everyone is entitled to their own opinion about the colleges and I fully respect that, I just want to offer mine.

Girton is an amazing college. Yes it's far out, and pretty much everyone complains about the cycle ride from time to time. But it only takes me 10 minutes to get into town, and I'm just an averagely fit, puny little girl. The cycle is quite nice actually, as long as it isn't raining.

Yes, some people do tend to stay at the faculty during the day instead of cycling back to college, but I actually find that I am much more productive working in the faculty library than I am back at college, where I'm likely to get distracted talking to people. However, I also know people who go back to college, and as it only take 10-15 minutes, it can take just as long for some people to get back from Sidgwick to their college in town, for example, if it's one of the slightly further out ones and they walk (which quite a few people prefer to do.)

The best thing about Girton, in my opinion, is the fact that it's far out. Besides not having any pesky tourists (well, not many) it means that everyone spends loads of time together, and as a result, the whole college is very, very close. There is always someone around to chat to, and I've met some amazing friends there. The atmosphere is really great. And although I can't directly compare this to any other college, as I haven't experienced it myself , I know that for me, Girton is perfect and I love it.

Yes, the distance is sometimes a pain. But there are positives too, so don't immediately dismiss Girton on that basis. Visit all the colleges you're interested in and find out for yourself which one is best suited to you.