anyone appeal successfully after being rejected?

maths challenge is irrelevant unless you do very well in the Olympiad. Also ECs such as sport and music what you call true "ECs" develop your academic ability through refining your mind.

Have you never heard of the saying "A healthy body, a healthy mind"?

As i am taking the AS level so the highest grade is only A

Like I said, our process is intensive. We certainly spend more than 10 seconds on a CV, and a candidate that's made it past the first round interview - of which there are typically not many - will spend 1-2 days in our offices being interviewed and undergoing psychometric tests (I'm not fond of the latter but some like them). They'll typically have been interviewed by around 15 people during the second round interviews - first round is HR and a couple of relevant team members. As I said, fit is hugely important and it's important to us to get the right people, so we do a lot more than yes/no based on alma mater. Making mistakes in recruitment and having revolving doors as a result, or under performers who don't fit in, is terrible for team morale. We'd rather spend the time upfront than deal with the fallout of a wrong decision later.

Anyway this is all getting off topic, we've already established that ECs don't count for Cambridge and whether or not they count in job interviews is hardly going to help the OP at this stage.

I was rejected by cambridge yesterday, without any interview. And i wonder whether there are any procedural error because i got 4 As in AS level, with the average ums of 98.7. So is it common for people who have a result like me being rejected without any interview? And what should i do?

Actually they don't. Cambridge suggest 75%.

But you are right that other universities such as Bristol, Edinburgh & Durham among others do take note of extra-curriculars. Since most applicants don't get in to either Oxford or Cambridge it is a mistake to focus the PS on Oxbridge, especially as they take less note of PS than universities which don't interview.

I also hear things from friends who do study at Cambridge (admittedly at Masters/PhD) level and they have told me that while there is a greater emphasis on pure academia at Cambridge, compared with the other universities they have studied at. Id infer from the quality of candidates however (they all do more than simply study) that there must be other factors when they look at admissions.
I find it somewhat difficult to believe that Cambridge, uniquely among the great universities of the world, doesn't care or look at anything else. It would certainly put me off hiring an Cambs Alumni if that were the case.

Business schools? What a joke. Everyone knows that business degrees are mickey mouse degrees. Most of it is common sense really and you can bull**** your way through the entire degree and still get top grades (I know several people who have done this)

On the other hand, Cambridge has so much Nobel prise winners in Science that most others when compared is a joke.

I'm not disputing that Harvard and Stanford are good unis but just that Cambridge is better in terms of merits in the important fields.

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Students at oxbridge are probably the most misinformed on the admissions process. If someone is amazing at say mathematics but has no social skills whatsoever, the admissions tutors don't care about whether the student can look you in the eye while they speak to you or whether you are a singer ect. Obviously it's nice to know you are well balanced but it won't put you ahead of other applicants for that reason, they would judge you on the basis of how well you can perform mathematically.

Re Nobel prize winners, are you aware Heidelburg has more than Oxford? How high a profile is Heidelburg?


"Best" is subjective at best. You could argue the students graduating from Cambridge are the best (assuming the majority of its students are from the UK), you certainly can't say that for those going in, judging by results in Olympiads for example, where the UK have never got close to winning any ever!

I'll have you know that Cambridge has the most official affiliations with Nobel prize winners (90) followed by Columbia University (82).

It's clear to me which is better Cambridge and not Oxford so this means Heidelberg is not in the picture as well since they don't have more than Cambridge.

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Yes Cambridge does have more Nobel prizewinners than Heidelburg, who in turn has more than Oxford.

So Cambridge is better than Heidelburg and Heidelburg is better than Oxford.

How many would agree with that?

I'm sorry but you are absolutely wrong. In every Oxbridge meeting I have been to over the last decade, their admissions tutors have said exactly the same thing. That is, the only thing they want to read in a PS is the student's interest in the course, why they wish to study it, further reading etc etc. I work at a high achieving grammar school and we put 50 or so applicants through each year, most of whom will get an interview based on the personal statements that they write.

So you are completely misleading posters by suggesting that they ask for 75%. Sorry but the above is a fact.

To be honest I only heard of this Heidelberg university today but I highly doubt its on par with The University of Oxford.

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Thank you for all of your advice. And i have appealed successfully, finally got an interview at 12/12

Thank you for all of your advice. And i have appealed successfully, finally got an interview at 12/12