Imperial, Warwick or reapply to Oxford?

I applied to study Maths at Imperial, Warwick, Bath, Bristol, and Oxford. I was rejected by Oxford and have offers from the rest. I did not get interviewed by Oxford, I think this was because my GCSE's and MAT score was too low. You've probably all heard this before, but I genuinely had a bad day during the MAT. I scored 116 (best score in my college ever) in the Senior Maths Challenge and 28 in the British Maths Olympiad Round 1. I am unsure whether what I would like to do. I always liked the idea of going to Oxford as its where I grew up and live. However, upon my rejection from Oxford, I am unsure if its worth reapplying. Here is some contextual knowledge:
GCSE(s): 9A 2A* (A* in Maths and Further Maths)
AS Levels: AAAA in Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry
A-Level predictions: A*A*A*A*
Senior Maths Challenge score: 116
British Maths Olympiad Round 1 score: 28

I gather that I probably have less of a chance to get into Oxford the second time around, as they will be expecting much greater things from a student who has had one extra year to prepare compared to the rest of applicants. I had an idea in mind, but I am not sure if its feasible: Maybe, I could accept an offer from Imperial or Warwick and defer entry until next year. By then I will have my A-Level results, and I could reapply to Oxford with these - hopefully encouraging - grades. If I were to be rejected a second time round, could I then take my deferred place for Imperial/Warwick? Is it worth taking a year out? It's not like I would be doing nothing - I'd most likely complete some extension modules on A-Level Maths, take part in some more maths competitions, I could even retake some of my modules just to show that I'm not forgetting everything (I had heard Oxford specifically do not like Maths applicants taking a 'gap' year because Maths at Oxford is so demanding and they might forget everything from A-level!). Long story short, looking for some friendly advice.

I had an idea in mind, but I am not sure if its feasible: Maybe, I could accept an offer from Imperial or Warwick and defer entry until next year. By then I will have my A-Level results, and I could reapply to Oxford with these - hopefully encouraging - grades. If I were to be rejected a second time round, could I then take my deferred place for Imperial/Warwick?

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Now I can't say I'm an expert- you should look this up and confirm this elsewhere- but Oxford aren't too nice about year redoers. My girlfriend was rejected because she had to take a year out for MEDICAL reasons despite achieving extremely high ELAT scores.

It seems like you would benefit more reapplying to Cambridge. Since you are redoing a year, one of your strong points will be A level performance, so apply to Cambridge where you can boast about your UMS scores, which you can't in Oxford.

It's definitely possible to just have a bad day for the MAT. I certainly did, and followed it up with a bad few days at interview. I wasn't sure I'd be reapplying because Warwick is an excellent place to study maths, so I held onto my Warwick offer until I had my A level results and then ended up making a successful second application (but this time for chemistry instead of maths). As ageshallnot said, you can't hold on to a deferred offer if you're making a second UCAS application, so you will have to decide at somepoint whether to risk losing a place at Warwick/Imperial just to take a second shot at Oxford.

As far as application strength and expectations are concerned, I'm not sure the expectations are that much higher for second timers. For my chemistry interviews, I was asked the same questions as the other candidates and got in because I did better than enough of the others. One point to note (which you'll probably have noticed from the MAT) is that the questions are more a test of how well you can think than an inspection of what mathematical techniques you already know. The maths itself tends to be reasonably simple and it's a question of whether you can apply these simple ideas to more and more complicated problems. I wouldn't recommend retaking modules, as your offer won't depend on those retakes and it might look a bit like you are only willing to demonstrate that you can do something you've already done. It would be much better to cover some bridging material, such as these problem sets from Oxford, to show that you are still serious about making progress.

In the end, I decided to reapply because I knew I could do better having been through the process once and for a different subject that I seemed better-suited for. If you're confident that you can do better (and from your background and what you've said, it sounds like you could), a reapplication is worth considering. But you've got until August to decide, so don't rush into it and, for the time being, focus on getting the best grades you can this summer. Good luck!



You mentioned "year redoers" — is that what you mean? There's a big difference between having a gap year and redoing a year. I know a number of people (myself included) who applied after finishing school and got in for a mix of subjects (not maths but my school had no maths reapplicants and I didn't know many mathmos at Oxford either). Did the feedback specifically mention the year out as a problem? It seems like a very strange reason to reject someone, especially(?) for something where a year out is clearly not going to have a serious detrimental effect on your academic ability.



Not redoing a year, taking a gap year. You can (and should!) have teachers mention your UMS results in the reference if they're good.

I applied to study Maths at Imperial, Warwick, Bath, Bristol, and Oxford. I was rejected by Oxford and have offers from the rest.

Long story short, looking for some friendly advice.

Yes. Oxford is insane.

You can show your UMS to Oxford via a reference but in Cambridge you fill out a form that details exactly which modules you did and your UMS in them, which is good for showing your specific skills. Plus, they care about UMS quite a bit.

Again, look into the stories of people doing gap years / redoing years, whatever, and what their experience is. Run google through and through.

Jesus Christ I'm just trying to help, I've said several times for you mentally inexperienced people to consult other sources because I don't have a full picture of Oxford admissions.

Doing a gap year for academic reasons such as getting bad results or failing an application has a negative stigma attached to it- are you really arguing that there isn't?

People do gap years for various reasons and universities will be unaware if you applied the previous year, unless you apply to the same university again. Even then the chances are they won't notice amongst the many applications they receive.

Also, you can always defer entry to ICL/Warwick, so you've got nothing to lose by doing so!

And even if they do notice, they're unlikely to care. Universities are looking for the best students they can get, after all.



As was mentioned above, you can't hold onto UCAS offers and make a fresh application the next year. If you make a new application, your old application and any offers for deferred entry that you might have accepted are lost.

Hi guys, sorry for not replying, I have been very busy. Thank you for all your comments, they have really given some food for thought. In conclusion I think I will be reapplying to Oxford, it would be a shame to give up on a long term goal of mine, and I think the risk is justified. I will be sitting STEP II and III this year, and after completing my A-Levels I will be taking some more A-Level Maths modules (although I've nearly done all of them already!). Does anybody have any suggestions for what I can do during my 'gap year' (not really a gap year, going to be studying at the same rate I am now)?. Generally, I will be doing more STEP papers, BMO1/2 papers and generally refining my mathematical / problem solving ability.

i think BMO1/02, STEP I-III and the rest of the additional further maths course should keep you quite busy

you could do AEA if you wanted aswell, although it wouldn't be very time consuming considering you'll be doing STEP

maybe you could tutor maths also, you could make a little bit of money next year

best of luck though

Hopefully I don't flop the MAT this time. Yes, I might do some tutoring, I have been asked by some of my mums friends to tutor their children before, but have always been too busy.

I applied to study Maths at Imperial, Warwick, Bath, Bristol, and Oxford. I was rejected by Oxford and have offers from the rest. I did not get interviewed by Oxford, I think this was because my GCSE's and MAT score was too low. You've probably all heard this before, but I genuinely had a bad day during the MAT. I scored 116 (best score in my college ever) in the Senior Maths Challenge and 28 in the British Maths Olympiad Round 1. I am unsure whether what I would like to do. I always liked the idea of going to Oxford as its where I grew up and live. However, upon my rejection from Oxford, I am unsure if its worth reapplying. Here is some contextual knowledge:
GCSE(s): 9A 2A* (A* in Maths and Further Maths)
AS Levels: AAAA in Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry
A-Level predictions: A*A*A*A*
Senior Maths Challenge score: 116
British Maths Olympiad Round 1 score: 28

I gather that I probably have less of a chance to get into Oxford the second time around, as they will be expecting much greater things from a student who has had one extra year to prepare compared to the rest of applicants. I had an idea in mind, but I am not sure if its feasible: Maybe, I could accept an offer from Imperial or Warwick and defer entry until next year. By then I will have my A-Level results, and I could reapply to Oxford with these - hopefully encouraging - grades. If I were to be rejected a second time round, could I then take my deferred place for Imperial/Warwick? Is it worth taking a year out? It's not like I would be doing nothing - I'd most likely complete some extension modules on A-Level Maths, take part in some more maths competitions, I could even retake some of my modules just to show that I'm not forgetting everything (I had heard Oxford specifically do not like Maths applicants taking a 'gap' year because Maths at Oxford is so demanding and they might forget everything from A-level!). Long story short, looking for some friendly advice.

Sorry to hear about your situation. If you're set on Oxbridge, there is no reason you couldn't get there (also nice to meet a follow BMO'er). I'd re-apply to Cambridge though (and get really good UMS in your A2s) and STEP I this summer if possible - I was in a really good position for interview as I did STEP I early (and did well). Asking the admissions tutors at Oxford, they don't care about STEP at all for some reason. In short, you'll need to make a commitment to work hard and be focussed, but it's definitely achievable.

I've been doing some STEP past papers recently, but apparently the more recent papers are a lot harder... Any tips for preparing?

Do loads of past papers. Don't trust the solutions on TSR as unless they're by someone reputable (eg the legendary DFranklin or SimonM) they're probably wrong. There are some absolutely hilarious mistakes. Tbh BMO'ers usually do well on STEP as they understand what it means to actually write out a proof etc.

Would you say its better to do the papers timed under exam conditions (choosing my best 6 questions etc) or going through all the questions, not timed obviously, until you get completely stuck (then I'd refer to a solution for a hint)