Ask an Admissions Tutor IX, 4th August - 2nd September

Thanks. The question doesn't allow for financial reasons why a candidate might not have been successful so it is possible that this is why one of the three people in those two years who got 1,1 or better but didn't get in might not have come. I suspect though that they were summer pooled and not taken for other reasons.

Obviously it's difficult to speculate but there are a number of reasons why this might be and what isn't given is the marks - both the 1,1s might have been pretty close to 2,2. I'd be very surprised if they weren't overseas students and, at this stage, some colleges may well feel that they would rather give a break to a home student. There's also the question of how much help they got from their school, what age they are (a low 1,1 from a 21 year old is less impressive than from an 18 year old for instance) and a number of other things to take into consideration. Not least that while STEP is the best indicator we have of success it isn't perfect - I've seen students with 1,1 fail Part 1A.

This graph tells me that none were accepted through summer pool for the previous 4(except 2013) years(For Engineering). Is this because college fill up their places quite quickly due to the popularity of engineering ?

You aren't reading the stats right. There were 6 in 2015 taken through the Summer Pool (including two from Christ's iirc) and 3 in 2014 as well.

Im Sorry...

So 2 Christ's Engineers were pooled successfully ? Or did Christs accept 2 engineers from other colleges ?

thanks alot

There's also the question of how much help they got from their school, what age they are (a low 1,1 from a 21 year old is less impressive than from an 18 year old for instance) and a number of other things to take into consideration.

Two were pooled successfully from Christ's. We haven't taken any from the Summer Pool in my time.

Does this mean that a 16 year old would be more likely to be accepted if they had missed their offer?

Thats very comforting (atleast for the midnight)

Do you have an rough idea of their UMS or number of A*s ?

Thank you

This graph tells me that none were accepted through summer pool for the previous 4(except 2013) years(For Engineering). Is this because college fill up their places quite quickly due to the popularity of engineering ?

Not necessarily. They might assume that you needed a bit more time to mature as a mathematician and would be better off waiting.

If you had a Maths offer-holder, who was 16 years old, with a STEP offer of 1,1, met the A-level part but missed the STEP, and got 2,S or 2,1 (high 1 in III), would you say they have a lower chance of being accepted than an 18/19 year old with the same STEP grades?

Also, I was never given help with STEP by my school, have ECF due to school performance and had to self-study all my A-levels. How much will this be taken into account?

Finally, will my college still hold the SAQ I completed back in October? If so, would they take notice of the fact that I had way more exams than usual offer-holders (completed on SAQ), and will they be more lenient as a result of this because it would maybe demonstrate capability of surviving more workload?

Thank you.

Great. My understanding is they aren't provided as standard with results and have to be specifically requested by the school.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yes, which makes things more complicated. We'll be briefed on all the details about it soon and when we know what we're going to do, we'll tell everyone (including TSR!)

Hi Christ's Admissions Tutor,

Thank you very much for organising this thread. I would just like to ask for your advice regarding my application. I applied to Trinity College for maths this year and I am a bit worried that I might have missed my STEP offer. In this case, would it be worth informing Trinity of my results in the British Physics Olympiad and the RSC Chemistry Olympiad? I think that performance in physics and chemistry is not very relevant for a maths applicant compared to STEP results, and there will be many other applicants with similar (if not better) achievements.

Thanks,
LondonGamer

It's been a week since these posts. So any updates on UMS averages?

Thanks.

Hi Christ's Admissions Tutor,

Thank you very much for organising this thread. I would just like to ask for your advice regarding my application. I applied to Trinity College for maths this year and I am a bit worried that I might have missed my STEP offer. In this case, would it be worth informing Trinity of my results in the British Physics Olympiad and the RSC Chemistry Olympiad? I think that performance in physics and chemistry is not very relevant for a maths applicant compared to STEP results, and there will be many other applicants with similar (if not better) achievements.

Thanks,
LondonGamer

No. It will be discussed this week in Admissions Forum and we'll make a decision as soon as we can.

I can't really second guess what people will do in other colleges and I can't say what I would do in a hypothetical situation like the one you describe. There would be lots of things to take into account.

One of the things that a college might look at is the extent of the help you received in STEP, as mentioned on the SAQ. Yes, we still have the SAQ and that would be prominent in the file if you were placed in the Summer Pool. I'm not sure how a college might view lots of exams or whether it would figure at all in their thinking.

Good luck with your results. There's no harm in sending the Olympiad results though it's unlikely to make a huge difference, especially the Chemistry.

Thank you for your reply, I have sent a brief update email to the Trinity College Admissions Office. Will they take the extra information into consideration when making the decision or is it likely that they have already made a decision (since STEP results have probably been received much earlier)?