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Original post by VL100
Reading this thread I can't decide if I should apply or not.. I read one post and think oh that's ok, I'm in a similar position to them, but then another makes me completely doubt I'd even get invited to interview :frown:

I want to study theology and have taken French, Politics, and RS AS, and history is reformed so our school decided not to do an AS in that, but I'm predicted an A*.

Politics I received an A overall- I got a high A in one of the modules, in the other module I was 3 UMS off an A. We had a massive problem with the teacher leading to us being taught all of the topics in about 5 weeks essentially (for the second module.)

RS I got another A, averaging 91.5% UMS over the two modules

French I got a B. Very high A in my speaking, and I was always predicted an A. I have no idea what happened in the second paper and I am quite upset about it, given my A in the speaking. No one in my class got an A, and I got the second highest result. The teachers are a bit confused as at least 3 of us were meant to get an A.

I'm dropping politics so will do French, RS and History at A level, with predicted grades of either A* A* A or A* A* A*.

I am obviously in the position of actually having UMS and I don't know if I have performed well enough. I had some extenuating circumstances, but nowhere near as severe as some people on here who have performed amazingly (well done all you guys btw).

I will hopefully have a good reference and personal statement, and have full UMS for my EPQ on a highly relevant subject.

I love the course at Cambridge so much, but I don't want to give myself false hope. I know that AAB is perhaps not the best to be honest, but I would just love a chance to be invited to interview. If I was rejected after interview I think I'd be at peace with the decision but otherwise idk..

I'm sorry for the long post, I just wanted to see what people thought of my chances of getting an interview :redface:


hello, I'm glad you like the theology course so much, it's a really good one. Everyone's application and corcumstances are different so it's best not to try to read too much into the individual advice that I give. There are some universals but we do take notice of people's circumstances and different courses have different requirements and expectations. All other things being equal, I think that you are likely to get an interview with your results.
Original post by Amelia488
Hi, Im going into my last year of college and would love to enquire as to whether i should apply to cambridge university, to study geography, with my current grades. At AS level i achieved 3 A grades in geography, biology and religious studies, and have a 86% UMS average. My main inquiry here would be as to whether only doing 3 AS levels is adequate, and aswell, i achieved 79% in one of my geography modules... could this prove to be an issue, even if i achieved 88% in the other module. (I'm planning on repeating this module..)My predicted grades i believe however will be A*AA, and i also achieved 3rd in my year for religious studies.Another issue is my GCSE grades. Although i believe I did well, achieving 8A's and 1C, I achieved no A* grades which i fear may make me under qualified in comparison to the other applications.Basically my question is, with these results do I really stand any realistic chance of being considered for a place, or should i just apply for other russell groups. Thank you for your time, Amelia.


Hello Amelia. I can;t be certain about your chances, of course, without seeing the while application and the rest of the field. There are some contradictory elements to your profile. Your UMS is a little on the low side and a bit uneven in performance and your GCSEs are below average for Cambridge. That said, there are definite signs of improvement and that is also encouraging and we recognise that some people develop quite late. So while on paper your application won;t be the strongest it is by no means unrealistic and can be seen as one on an upwards trajectory. If you adopt the attitude of using the Cambridge application as an aspirational one then you will approach it in the right way and you never know what the result might be.
Original post by conor_muller
Hello again,

I was a bit disappointed to have got a B my History AS (3 marks off an A) when I wanted to apply for the same subject at Cambridge. My other subjects were Georgraphy (91 UMS), French (95 UMS) and Maths (B). I just have a couple of questions.

Firstly, would applying for History and Politics reduce the negative impact of my worse than expected History grade? A level Geography has a lot to do with politics and I did quite well in this. I see myself as quite political and I thought that A level Geography would be a more interesting way of studying it than A level Politics.

Secondly, how much weight would my AS level results be given in relation to my predicted grades? I should be predicted A*AA - A*A*A next year with at least an A in History.

Finally, will you have to declare UMS and/or raw marks on this year's SAQ in unreformed and/or reformed subjects where the AS was taken?

Thanks


Hello again. You don't need to declare raw marks, though your school can in the reference if they wish.

History and Politics is likely to be more popular and competitive than straight History or HSPS though until one sees the number and quality of applicants one can;t be sure about this. Joint honours applicants will, however, be eligible for single honours if deemed strong enough. We pay more attention to AS results than predictions for the good reason that these are actual results in public exams rather than hypothetical ones.
Reply 803
Original post by Christ's Admissions
hello, I'm glad you like the theology course so much, it's a really good one. Everyone's application and corcumstances are different so it's best not to try to read too much into the individual advice that I give. There are some universals but we do take notice of people's circumstances and different courses have different requirements and expectations. All other things being equal, I think that you are likely to get an interview with your results.


Thank you very much for your reply and reassurance. It is very good, and I've been in love with it since the first time I read the module choices on the website!

Just a final quick question: I read that you do take note of teacher references and are able to read between the lines. If my teacher noted that the performance in french was unusual, would this be considered or dismissed as far as you are aware?

Thank you very much :smile:
Original post by Rachel58
Hi - I just got my AS results, AAAB (History, Maths, Biology and Spanish respectively) with all 90+ in Maths, but unknown UMS in History and Biology.

My Spanish was let down by my Speaking - which the teacher originally said was around full marks but was marked as a C so its up for a lot of suspicion as we can't see where marks were lost - so I'm going to get it remarked.

I got 10*s, 2 As and an A in Add Maths at GCSE, and Im also doing an EPQ.

I want to do History at Cambridge, but I feel like the B is going to make it impossible, and I'd basically fallen in love with Cambridge.

Extracurricular wise, I follow multiple history podcasts, as well as reading many history books and doing excursions to historical sites, participated in archaeology courses and do half marathons.

Is an offer out of reach? :frown:


Hello and thanks for your question - good to see another historian on the thread! :smile:

There's no need to feel that an offer is out of reach because of one AS grade in Spanish when you're applying for History. AAAB is a good AS level profile for an applicant and, as I said in a reply earlier today, there are loads of people at Cambridge, especially for humanities subjects, with AAAB at AS Level. You ave strong GCSEs and it's good that you ae doing an EQ and other super-curricular things.

At this stage the best thing is not to worry about the Spanish and focus on the future and doing as well as you can in Year 13 and on the various aspects of the application. There's no reason why if you do these things that an offer is out of your reach. Best of luck! :smile:
Original post by Christ's Admissions
I do my best to remember and you were pretty active and were very supportive to people even after you didn't get the offer from Churchill which doesn't always happen. I hope you are too, best of luck and keep doing really well at UCL.

Thank you so much!
Original post by VL100
Thank you very much for your reply and reassurance. It is very good, and I've been in love with it since the first time I read the module choices on the website!

Just a final quick question: I read that you do take note of teacher references and are able to read between the lines. If my teacher noted that the performance in french was unusual, would this be considered or dismissed as far as you are aware?

Thank you very much :smile:


You're very welcome, glad to have been of help. That sort of comment from a teacher is very helpful. Teachers can often explain (or even be totally mystified by) a student's under performance in an exam or subject and that can be very helpful in contextualising it for us.
Original post by Christ's Admissions
Hello and thanks for your question - good to see another historian on the thread! :smile:

There's no need to feel that an offer is out of reach because of one AS grade in Spanish when you're applying for History. AAAB is a good AS level profile for an applicant and, as I said in a reply earlier today, there are loads of people at Cambridge, especially for humanities subjects, with AAAB at AS Level. You ave strong GCSEs and it's good that you ae doing an EQ and other super-curricular things.

At this stage the best thing is not to worry about the Spanish and focus on the future and doing as well as you can in Year 13 and on the various aspects of the application. There's no reason why if you do these things that an offer is out of your reach. Best of luck! :smile:

Thank you so much, seeing everyone with 99+ UMS has been making me want to cry.

I did actually submit an essay for the Christ's History Essay Competition this year :wink::wink:
Reply 808
Original post by Christ's Admissions
You're very welcome, glad to have been of help. That sort of comment from a teacher is very helpful. Teachers can often explain (or even be totally mystified by) a student's under performance in an exam or subject and that can be very helpful in contextualising it for us.


Great. Thank you so much :smile:
Original post by Rachel58
Thank you so much, seeing everyone with 99+ UMS has been making me want to cry.

I did actually submit an essay for the Christ's History Essay Competition this year :wink::wink:


TSR is not representative of the typical applicant :wink: and very few applicants actually have 99 average UMS anyway...

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Christ's Admissions
Hello Amelia. I can;t be certain about your chances, of course, without seeing the while application and the rest of the field. There are some contradictory elements to your profile. Your UMS is a little on the low side and a bit uneven in performance and your GCSEs are below average for Cambridge. That said, there are definite signs of improvement and that is also encouraging and we recognise that some people develop quite late. So while on paper your application won;t be the strongest it is by no means unrealistic and can be seen as one on an upwards trajectory. If you adopt the attitude of using the Cambridge application as an aspirational one then you will approach it in the right way and you never know what the result might be.


Okay, thank you. I always thought my GCSE's would come back to haunt me sadly. Perhaps, Oxbridge isn't right for me anyway, however i suppose i will take the opportunity to even apply. Thank you for the quick and detailed reply.
Original post by Rachel58
Thank you so much, seeing everyone with 99+ UMS has been making me want to cry.

I did actually submit an essay for the Christ's History Essay Competition this year :wink::wink:


You're welcome. Don't worry about other people, most are for diffeent courses and the proprotion of people with amazing results is actually much smaller than people think. @cobalt produced a good list on the headers of one of the applicant thread last year using stats that I gave her that demonstrated how few people really had 99% and 98% averages in each subject.

Thank you for taking the time to submit an essay to our competition, I hope you enjoyed writing it and it's good evidence of super-curricular engagement. :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 812
Does Cambridge accept applicants who have repeated Year 12? Would it be a better idea to work hard at A2 and take a gap year if my grades are high enough?
Original post by Christ's Admissions
Hello and thanks for your questions. Congratulations on your results. You will certainly be a viable candidate post A level and it is great that you ave clearly improved significantly between AS and A2, that is always something that we like to see. The practical elements are notoriously up and down in their marking (one of the reasons practicals have been essentially removed from the new A Level marking) and we have consequently tended to pay less attention to them than to the written elements of the exam.

Best of luck in your application.


thanks for the reply, I feel that my improvement is a bit more gradual than just going from AS to A2, my GCSE's are far below average (2A*'s 6A's 3B's). I went to a secondary school which I didn't think was that great and certainly didn't apply too much pressure to do homework/revision & I had this sort of 'GCSE's are only for getting into 6th form attitude' anyway - so ended up doing hardly anything, I really regret not working more for my GCSE's, because as a direct result of that I was really bowled over when I got to college (my college was a really good state school) and struggled a lot with independent study and organisation/motivation and did no where near enough revision for my AS levels. Although I learnt some lessons from AS I still clearly hadn't quite got it as I flunked my coursework in bio and chem pretty hard A2 year which could've really jacked up my scores, particularly in chem where it would've got me across the boundary - I seem to be a bit cursed by science coursework in physics GCSE got all A's in the exams and then an F in the ISA lol.
Will I get a chance to talk about educational history at interview, I have been getting the impression the content of these is primarily academic?Thanks again, promise this will be the last one,Kieran
Reply 814
Should we mention Cambridge essay prize competitions even if we didn't receive anything in them? Or would that be potentially problematic given the evidence that we didn't perform as well as others?
Hi, I have an offer for Medicine at Cambridge which I have met. I obtained 5 A*s at A level in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Further Maths with a 98% average. However, I've had a change of heart and have realised that Natural Sciences (Physical) is a more suitable course for me. I'm unsure as to what to do now, is it possible to switch courses before I begin my course?
Original post by ThatCoolGuy
Hi, I have an offer for Medicine at Cambridge which I have met. I obtained 5 A*s at A level in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Further Maths with a 98% average. However, I've had a change of heart and have realised that Natural Sciences (Physical) is a more suitable course for me. I'm unsure as to what to do now, is it possible to switch courses before I begin my course?


Email your college ASAP, this really should have been done pre-results day/results-day/summer pool day, but best thing you can do now is just send an email as soon as possible.
i got AAABB in my core AS subjects (Latin, Economics, GovPol, History and Maths) plus an A in Critical Thinking and an A in General Studies. I'm going for a remark in my History, where I'm only 1 raw mark short of the A grade boundary. My UMS in Latin was 93, and 90 in GovPol. Economics has no UMS but I got 89% raw marks against 71% raw marks for the A grade boundary. When talking about average UMS scores, I have 3 strong AS scores but only 2 of them are UMS; will you look at my top 3 UMS or at the 2 UMS and raw mark? I'm predicted 5 As at A2 and got 11A*s at GCSE - what are my chances?
Hello, I would like to apply for Biological Nat Sci, however my maths average ums is only 94, and I have 83 ums in an unrelated subject ( a language) . Would I be able to make a competitive application with this, provided I do well in the admissions assessment? Thanks
Original post by SuttonHoo
i got AAABB in my core AS subjects (Latin, Economics, GovPol, History and Maths) plus an A in Critical Thinking and an A in General Studies. I'm going for a remark in my History, where I'm only 1 raw mark short of the A grade boundary. My UMS in Latin was 93, and 90 in GovPol. Economics has no UMS but I got 89% raw marks against 71% raw marks for the A grade boundary. When talking about average UMS scores, I have 3 strong AS scores but only 2 of them are UMS; will you look at my top 3 UMS or at the 2 UMS and raw mark? I'm predicted 5 As at A2 and got 11A*s at GCSE - what are my chances?


For which course?

Best to edit your OP and add the info :wink: