anyone appeal successfully after being rejected?

How can you be involved in recruitment if you're willing to mislead people on internet forums by telling them the complete opposite of what will get them into uni? Cambridge does not care at all what your extra curriculars are. It has absolutely no bearing on the application process.

Interesting. How much do you look at 'fit' within the company/the culture of the firm?

Hugely. It's really important to get people who can work well within their respective teams. We are quite a 'target' company for applicants so we can be choosy, it's a given that the shortlists all have good academic records and for the jobs that require it the right experience, and we have a pretty intensive recruitment process for those who make it past the first round interviews. But the point was that we certainly wouldn't just look askance at a candidate because they happened to go to a university that didn't take extracurriculars into account in accepting kids when they were 18.

I stand corrected. Well I hire people, Its as simple as that. Ive never hired a Cambridge grad tho, Ive never seen a CV that impressed me (although Im sure there are hundreds that would!). Ive hired PPE and History Oxford, Imperial, LSE and a few Ivy Leagues.

OK - sure - I stand corrected. It would put me off someone and make me regard the university less tho. Saying that I wouldnt hire someone who wasnt well rounded and interesting - so I guess its not relevant!

Do you put any value on Masters qualifications etc? Would you place any value on the fact that they had, say worked at Tesco, during their time at Uni?

If someone went to Cambridge, I would have (apparently wrongly) assumed they had something more to them than just being gifted academically. I spend less than 10 seconds looking at each CV - I dont have time. I interview them, within 5 mins I know whether to progress the interview further. Equally, when meeting someone at networking events etc you have to make a quick judgement. Prior to this I would have given good probability to the fact they were well rounded etc. It somewhat diminishes that probability from what I have been told on here I guess

Do your CVs go through HR before they get to you? Is there typically more than one person who interviews prospective applicants?

If someone went to Cambridge, I would have (apparently wrongly) assumed they had something more to them than just being gifted academically. I spend less than 10 seconds looking at each CV - I dont have time. I interview them, within 5 mins I know whether to progress the interview further. Equally, when meeting someone at networking events etc you have to make a quick judgement. Prior to this I would have given good probability to the fact they were well rounded etc. It somewhat diminishes that probability from what I have been told on here I guess

I really wouldn't want to work for someone this blockheaded. Cambridge obviously educates the brightest minds so I think it is plausible that such a smart person would function well in a given job that is related to their course of study.

Do you think academia flourishes in a vacuum?

Surely, being on a sports team wouldn't help in performing your duties in the workplace.



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Well welcome to the world of work .
Actually, I think you will find Harvard, Stanford, Chicago et al do their fair share aswell, not to mention Oxford, Imperial.

Obviously, it would. If it builds team working, leadership and communication skills - all of paramount importance in most meaningful jobs - then it helps. Sports would hugely help this.

The fact you are so focussed on your UMS sort of suggests to me that the rest of your picture is weak. I dont think it really matters that much - like I said, Id be far more impressed with someone who had scrapped AAAA but had also captained the rugby team, led a local volunteering effort and done something really impressive. The fact you didnt get an interview suggests you were nowhere near Im afraid, or just that probability was just against you (sometimes that just happens).

My advice to you would be to think very strongly about why you wanted to go there - if you have a genuine reason, then think seriously about taking a year out and re-applying. If it is because its ranked no1 and there is little else to it, then goto another uni.

What have you done extra curricular? What did you apply for?

Well welcome to the world of work .
Actually, I think you will find Harvard, Stanford, Chicago et al do their fair share aswell, not to mention Oxford, Imperial.

Obviously, it would. If it builds team working, leadership and communication skills - all of paramount importance in most meaningful jobs - then it helps. Sports would hugely help this.

How can you be involved in recruitment if you're willing to mislead people on internet forums by telling them the complete opposite of what will get them into uni? Cambridge does not care at all what your extra curriculars are. It has absolutely no bearing on the application process.

Err, Cambridge is the world's best university. It is for a reason. Those league tables use all sorts of variables to come up with their "rankings" so don't go on about "this league table says this and the other says that"

There are many things that favour good communication skills, team work and leadership qualities. For example good communication skills can be natural to some, group projects or group lab assignments build team work, being the leader of a maths olympiad team can build leadership qualities.

Surely none of those require irrelevant EC activities. These things I mention, Cambridge do look at them - all academic and transferable to the workforce.

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It is not misleading, in fact the Cambridge literature in itself is misleading. It would make more sense for them to ask for A*A*A for some subjects like other top universities do, thus removing the whole idea of "scrape a grade" people even applying. Further discrepancies exist.
They emphasize academic ability, but this does not mean EC's are meaningless as EC augments ones own ability academically anyway.


OP should probably email for feedback. Apparently this year they got a really high number of applicants.

No it isn't. Almost every single ranking Ive ever seen has placed Harvard as no 1, every single company CEO Ive ever met wouldwide says different, Harvard has far more money to spend per student, I believe Harvard/Columbia both have more Nobel Prize winners, Stanford/MIT/Harvard lead the field in almost every major area of research Ive ever looked at any rankign for, Cambridge has a very limited business school (although improving) etc etc etc.

Have you been to Harvard/Stanford/Chicago for yourself???

Depends which co we are talking about. In the past when I was part of a bigger co, yes, they were processed and then a stack brought to our desks - would review quickly and say which ones happy to interview. Interview - hire.

Yes, its normally 3. One junior, 2 senior.

What about you?

There is a difference between academics ECs (like competing in a maths challenge) and what are 'true' ECs (like playing sport). The latter are totally irrelevant.