Ask the Admissions Team - 2017 entry

So Physics, Biology, Chemistry vs Maths, Fine Art and English? Would the History of Art qualification be studied in both scenarios? Really either is fine, and could be the basis for a competitive application, but the second might be a little more relevant. There is a concern with both that not enough practical art is being undertaken unless through extracurricular work - the Fine Art A level doesn't involve as significant practical work as Art/Textiles/Graphic Design. You might be interested to look at the specification for the admissions assessment in Architecture to see some of the skills which are assessed.

The history of art is being studied in both scenarios, I'm currently in my first year studying online with the continuing education department at oxford university- it's a four year part time course at FHEQ 4. The problem is I can do the A levels either online or at the nearest college which is one and a half hours drive away and do; fine art, maths and english literature or I can do the sciences online with the NEC. There is no option to study art/textiles/graphic design anywhere near where I live - Pembrokeshire. I would like to move and perhaps will do before I start A levels other than that I can't think what to do.

Architecture is a little unusual among our courses in that practical ability and aptitude is required and is assessed alongside academic ability. As we discussed earlier, if you can't do practical A levels this needn't be a problem provided you can gain, build, maintain and explore drawing and practical skills in other ways.

Hello, I know you will see a lot of these posts from people asking if they are worth applying to Oxbridge etc but I have a more unusual situation.
I am currently near the end of S5, the Scottish equivalent to year 12, and for the past 8-9 years my parents have had me attending a specialist music school (The City of Edinburgh Music School) to which I gained a full scholarship during Primary school and have remained ever since, with my parents having aspirations of me becoming a professional musician. However this is not my aspiration.
(It is worth noting that the music school is fully integrated into a regular state primary school and secondary school here in Scotland and as well as having music tuition for the whole time, so I have also had a full education in all other subjects!)

Due to the extra music, I sat my National 5 and Higher music exams a year earlier than normal (In S3 & S4 respectively). In total, I got 7As at National 5, and because of doing music a year ahead, I went into S5 with already 1 A at higher. However because of the extra pressure and time taken up by the music tuition, music school students are only allowed to take 4 Highers in S5 as opposed to the usual 5. These 4 that I am taking are English, Maths, Physics and Chemistry, and I am predicted A1s for all four.

My aspiration is to study Physics or Physics with maths at Uni (or Physics, Maths, Chemistry, and Materials science for 1st year at Cambridge) and I'm really focused on this. I have constantly been well ahead of my peers in all science and maths subjects as far back as I can remember (I achieved 99.2% in my Higher maths mock exam this year - over 20% more than the next highest mark achieved in class) and I am finally leaving the music school this year (my parents gave up!) and taking 4 Advanced Highers (Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Mechanics) plus the Scottish Baccalaureate in the Sciences for my final year at school.

Will the fact that I could only take 4 Highers in S5 have an impact on my application to Cambridge? By the end of S5 I will still have 5 Highers due to music, however the music wasn't taken at the same time as the rest.

7) Approximately how many people get offers after interviews?

Hi, I'm currently in Y12 and considering applying for English Literature at Cambridge.

1) Are GCSEs considered highly and will they be used to eliminate weaker candidate with only a few A*s?

2) Are candidates with 4 subjects completed at A level more advantageous than those with the average 3?

3) If taking 3 subjects, will the subjects taken at A level be considered in making the decision? i.e. will [English literature, history, philosophy & ethics] be a better choice and be an advantage to me than [English literature, history, psychology]? (I'm currently in a dilemma of whether I should take philosophy or psychology...)

4) Will UMS be looked at closely for humanities such as English,history and philosophy & ethics?

5) Does GCSE resits disadvantage a candidate even if they receive better results in the resit? I understand that all resits come up and I'm not sure...

6) How much do teacher's references count? (if they have a biased opinion of you will this be recognised or will your application be disadvantaged if this is the case?)

7) Approximately how many people get offers after interviews?

8) Are non-British nationality students disfavoured than British/white students? I recognise this may seem a little accusatory but I'm so nervous and not sure whether I should apply at all if this is the case....

Thank you and sorry for so many random questions

Hi there! Let's see what we can do here:

1) No. GCSEs don't form a large part of our considerations. Your GCSEs are only considered in the context of your school (and even then we're not looking for you to be top of the year or anything - going from mediocre GCSEs to stellar A levels can be very encouraging) and there's absolutely no quota or cut off for grades. At Peterhouse, we would never rule a candidate out just on the basis of their GCSEs.
2) No. We only expect 3 A levels in year 13. Our typical offer for English is A*AA and it is far better to excel in 3 than to do less well in 4 or more.
3) For English at Peterhouse, English is essential and History and/or languages are considered beneficial. We don't have an opinion on philosophy&ethics vs. psychology, either combination is a strong set for an English applicant.
4) If you are taking new AS/A levels in England you won't have UMS. If you do have UMS then this will be considered. The main thing we use UMS for is to check that you're on track for A*AA. There are no quotas or cut-offs, everything is considered holistically (taking into account everything we know about you and your background) and UMS is no more, and no less, important than anything else.
5) No
6) The teachers' reference is read in detail by several people, as is everything else in your application before any decision is made. Everything is considered holistically, in the context of everything else we know about you and no particular weight is applied to any one thing. The reference is no more and no less important than anything else. Teachers are professionals and they act accordingly, despite how they might come across at school. If they were to say something which was very at odds with the rest of your application, the benefit of the doubt would always go to the candidate over the teacher.
7) At Peterhouse, we generally look to make about 6 offers for English to our own applicants or through the Pool (some years 5, other years 7, depending on the strength of our applicants).
8) No. Not in any way.

Not too many questions at all! That's what we're here for. Sorry for the random bold.

Every student i saw who had an offer did some with their school. But my school offer no opportunities of such a thing.

Hello everyone,

Just a quick question. I am a french student who wants to study the mathematics course of Cammbridge. According to what is told on the site, i should be ok with my grades but, as a french it is very difficult to find some competitions that i can enter . The only one i was able to do was a kangaroo competition when i was 11. I don't think it brings something special to my application (event though i ended up in the top 10 of my school). So my question is : Are competitions important when thinking about giving an offer or not ? Every student i saw who had an offer did some with their school. But my school offer no opportunities of such a thing.

Thank you very much, have a great day

Hello

I'm currently planning on applying to MFL PGCE for 2017 entry. I've heard that a lot of people have received lower offers for subjects in higher demand like sciences and MFL and, although I am averaging on a high 2:1 for German at the moment, my other subject (economics) is dragging me down to a border line 2:1/2:2, meaning I may average on a high 2:2 (hoping not though!) would this hinder me? Also as one of my German modules, I take credits (which I am averaging a first), would this be a problem that not all my modules are specifically German, but Germanic studies? Another question: I have done British Council for 6 months and been an ELA Ambassador for UK-German Connection, if I were to apply and do weekly work experience at a school, would that be sufficient, as I am on my year abroad until I go back to Uni? Also I am not sure if this has an relevance but I am at the University of Sheffield.

I hope this was the right place to ask about a PGCE, I just saw University of Cambridge!

Thank you in advance and sorry for the millions of questions!

I hope this was the right place to ask about a PGCE, I just saw University of Cambridge!

Sorry, I'm afraid we're the undergraduate admissions team at Peterhouse and can't help with your questions. All we can do is point you to
http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/courses/pgce/.

Hi,

Sorry for copying from another thread:

My exams were going according to plan until this monday. According to answer sheets I have 100% from every exam except for literature and sadly Advanced level Maths. I will be 2-8% below my offer (8% is very unlikely), so I will have 82-88% instead of 90% listed in my offer. This exam here in Poland was exceptionally hard this year. We will get a new scale with our results, which will show how many percent of students have the same or worse result from each exam and I think I will have around 95% in this scale, judging from other schools expected results. I was supposed to get 90% average grade in my exams (I will probably get it), 90% in advanced physics (I already have 100%) and 90% in advanced maths.

Do you think I still have a chance of getting a place or should I abandon my dream already?


Thank you very much for your time