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Original post by Christ's Admissions
It's a Cambridge policy. It's only been agreed recently, hence it not being on the website.


Okay. Thank you very much for responding!
Hi there,

I am planning on taking Biology, Chemistry, Maths and FM (all to A2) and also the EPQ. This is because I am conflicted between Medicine and something along the lines of Computing.

How disadvantaged would I be if I applied to Computer Science with these subjects (ie. without Physics + Computing, although I did do Computing at GCSE)?

Thanks :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
Hi, sorry that you've probably answered this question a million times lol
but what would you say are the main differences between the applications processes at Oxford and Cambridge, in terms of what you look for in an applicant.
eg. do you value GCSE grades more, is it more about the admissions test etc
Original post by Christ's Admissions
Hello Emily. The only disadvantage socially is that you won't be able to drink alcohol in the college bar (or anywhere else) until you are 18. One or two colleges are very reluctant to take under 18s (I don't know which one you are looking at) but the majority are quite flexible if the student is ready.

I think that the question about gap years is being removed from the SAQ this year.


Thank you for your answer. I am looking at applying to Pembroke; is this one of the colleges reluctant to taking underage students? Again, I'm worried about this because on the website they said that they "encourage those who are very young (i.e. would be coming up to Pembroke under 18) to defer" and do an internship instead....

Thanks again.
Original post by Christ's Admissions
Strictly speaking it's not possible to start a Part II without having completed a Part I though very occasionally this does happen. The length of the Part in each course is up to the department themselves to determine.


Thank you for taking time to reply my yet another irrelevant question. :tongue:

Having read your explanation, why some people switched at the end of first year and others at the end of second year makes much more sense to me now. :smile:
Hello!

I wish to apply to do History, I got 100 UMS at GCSE and have been getting between 85-100% on my practice essays all year. However, in my AS (reformed) I got a B, I feel I was under marked and will be getting it remarked and I am hopeful it will increase, as I was only 2 marks away from the grade boundary. Also my teachers and I are confident that I will achieve at least an A at A2. In my other 3 AS levels, also essay based, my results were 93x2 UMS and 94 UMS with 100% on two papers.

As History is my chosen subject, what impact will that lower grade have on my application? As I worry that my application is significantly weaker than if the lower result was in one of the other three subjects.

Thanks!
Original post by Strimpy
Hi, sorry that you've probably answered this question a million times lol
but what would you say are the main differences between the applications processes at Oxford and Cambridge, in terms of what you look for in an applicant.
eg. do you value GCSE grades more, is it more about the admissions test etc


(I'm not the AT but...) It will depend on the course. Many, but not all, Oxford courses use pre-interview tests as a key part of their shortlisting process and as a result interview a much lower percentage of applicants than Cambridge for a similar course.

Also Oxford usually has multiple interviews across a number of days and by a couple (or more) colleges. Cambridge usually interviews you in one day by one college.

And the apparent difference in attitude to GCSEs is not actually true. For Oxford, for most courses the pre-interview tests are more important than GCSEs.

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(edited 7 years ago)
Hi there,

I am going to do ASs in maths, FM, chemistry and physics, and achieved all A*s at GCSE. With applicants for maths/natsci/engineering, how much emphasis is placed on grades outside of those subjects above? I am thinking about doing an extra AS since it really interests me and I enjoy studying it. I feel as though I'd improve my skills better being taught in school than learning online, and I could always drop it if the workload got too much or affected my main subjects.
Would lower grades in extra subjects be of detriment to the overall application? Would say, AAAA in the above combination of subjects be valued higher than AAAA plus a B in a subject irrelevant to the course I want to apply for? How about AAAABB, or AAAABC as opposed to AAAA? Thanks.
Hi sorry to ask another question in such quick succession but just been reading through the thread and thought I'd best ask this as well

I'm looking to study history.

My AS grades were :
History- A (Unit 1: 100% UMS Unit 2: 90% UMS)
German - A (Unit 1 speaking: 100% UMS Unit 2 writing: 92% UMS)
Maths - A ( C1: 80% UMS C2: 80% UMS S1: 90% UMS)
Economics - D (Unit 1: 83% UMS Unit 2: 42% UMS)

My GCSE's were: 7A*'s, 4A's and 1 B

Obviously I'm dropping economics lol and I'm getting it remarked as that Unit 2 mark seems odd compared to what I got in the mocks.

However I'm aware that the D in economics probably ruins my chances of getting in but I'm just asking for your opinion on my chances, would I have to do ridiculously well on the new history admissions test to have any chances of an interview?


thanks @jneill for your reply btw, in your opinion do you think Cambridge will start weighting their new admissions tests they're implementing this year in the same way as Oxford always has?
(edited 7 years ago)
Our son is aiming for Computer Science at Cambridge.

He has an unusual history (for various reasons but not "extenuating circumstances") and took his exams young, over a couple of years, and in a bit of a strange order. His GCSE grades are eclectic (including Bs and Cs) but the ones that matter are good: Maths A*, Chemistry A*, Physics A.

This past year he did all of A-level Maths (A*, UMS 96), the first year of A-level physics (A), and several GCSEs. Next year he will take Further Maths A-level, Physics A2, and what used to be Chemistry AS (and is now just the first year of Chemistry A-level).

He will apply post-results and will have Maths, Further Maths and Physics A-levels, and that first-year-of-Chemistry. He has interesting supercurriculars and we're hopeful for him.

During his application year, he is interested in doing an industry placement and has good chances at some relevant and challenging work. Our concern is whether he should pursue any more academic work that year as well or instead.

1) Will it be all right to have only that first year of chemistry, or would it be a better idea for him to complete the chemistry A-level during his gap year alongside or perhaps at the expense of a full-time industry placement?

2) We understand that universities like to see that students have taken their three or more A-levels the same year, to give an indication of their ability to manage course load. He will have not done precisely that, but will have done something perhaps equivalent enough (Maths A2, Physics-first-year + 3 GCSEs last year/FM A2, Physics A2, Chemistry-first-year this coming year). That means he'll have one A2 result (Maths) from 2016 and two A2 results (FM, Physics) from 2017. Is that likely to be seen as acceptable, given that he had other courses at the same time, just not all A2 courses?

Thanks very much for any guidance, and for all of your participation here :-)
Original post by Strimpy
thanks @jneill for your reply btw, in your opinion do you think Cambridge will start weighting their new admissions tests they're implementing this year in the same way as Oxford always has?


No I don't. I think they will keep to the same interview regime. It's a point of difference for them in comparison with The Other Place.

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So now that ums is removed, how will they shortlist applicants for interview?
Reply 1092
Original post by Christ's Admissions
Hello and thank you for questions. Your performance at GCSE and AS Level would certainly make you a decent candidate. There will, naturally, be people with stronger results but you would certainly not be uncompetitive at this stage.

if you know that your interests are primarily in Ancient History, then I would continue archaeology and drop politics but either is fine and it won't damage your application either way.


Thanks for the advice. Can you give me a perspective on whether my profile would be good enough to apply for a deferred entry place? I think that I would benefit from a gap year to enable me to try and do some practical archaeology and also to read more on early modern history so that I am better informed when choosing options during the degree itself.
Are open applications treated the same way as normal applications? Which interview tests will there be since different colleges have different interview tests?
What's a good/ typical BMAT score? I'm getting around 7 and 7.5+ in sections 1 and 2 respectively
Original post by metrize
Are open applications treated the same way as normal applications? Which interview tests will there be since different colleges have different interview tests?

You'll be allocated to one college by their computer system to have interview.
They don't know you were from open application (the reason why none of the colleges are allowed to ask any candidate why you chose their college at interview), so you'll be treated in exactly the same way as direct applicants to their college.

More detailed info here on their website.

http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/colleges/open-applications
Original post by blankboi
Also, does the CSAT test just require knowledge of C1 and C2? (not including other modules such as M1, S1 etc)


The real CSAT paper last year (any idea if this will be released soon?) had a few questions where knowledge of some FP2/FP3 topics would have helped. However, many other questions could be done using only basic (GCSE) knowledge - similar to Question 5 on Oxford MAT papers. There were certainly no Mechanics or Statistics questions.
Hi! I'm currently studying Linguistics and Comparative Literature at Queen Mary, University of London, which is RG. I'm on course for a 67, and got 63 and 65 in my first and second year respectively, which I know is below par for Oxbridge. However, in my first year, my health deteriorated and I was hospitalised about six times, and in my second year, I had a baby. I still managed to get high 2.1s and firsts in my relevant modules, and even handed in an assignment two days after my son was born (and only asked for an extension for one assignment, which I think shows dedication and an ability to handle a high workload) I hope to apply for a Masters in Linguistics, but given that most will be applying with a higher degree classification than I, is it a wasted application? Thank you :smile:
Original post by Anna.Karenina
Hi! I'm currently studying Linguistics and Comparative Literature at Queen Mary, University of London, which is RG. I'm on course for a 67, and got 63 and 65 in my first and second year respectively, which I know is below par for Oxbridge. However, in my first year, my health deteriorated and I was hospitalised about six times, and in my second year, I had a baby. I still managed to get high 2.1s and firsts in my relevant modules, and even handed in an assignment two days after my son was born (and only asked for an extension for one assignment, which I think shows dedication and an ability to handle a high workload) I hope to apply for a Masters in Linguistics, but given that most will be applying with a higher degree classification than I, is it a wasted application? Thank you :smile:


This is a forum mainly for Cambridge undergraduate and the admission tutor who hosts this thread is in charge of undergraduate admission only.

There's a forum specifically for postgraduate application (with threads for Cambridge PG applications) in TSR but with a case like yours, I think you'll get more reliable answer if you contact the postgraduate admission office of the course/department you're interested. They're experienced in dealing with questions from prospective applicants with specific situation.
The contact detail is on their website.
:smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
First of all thank you for taking the time to help us in this thread! I narrowly missed my offer this year by 1 UMS in Physics and as such I am considering to reapply for Engineering.

I have a relatively strong GCSE and AS profile (9A* at GCSE, 7A grades at AS with above 95 UMS in relevant subjects).

However, I am concerned about my low A2 grades, hence why I am unsure whether to reapply. Would it be possible for you to make a quick judgement? Exam boards are all OCR.

Maths - A* (C3 = 93, C4 = 91). Average = 92%
F. Maths - A* (M2 = 100, FP2 = 82, S2 = 100, S3 = 93). Average = 94%. Averaging 3 best = 97.6%.
Chemistry - A (Unit F324 = 92.2%, Unit F325 = 82.6%, and in the practicals I got 90%). Average = 87%
Physics - A (85.6% in G484, 96% in G485, and 80% in the practicals). Average = 89.7%
Will be retaking G484 and the physics practical.

Was predicted four A*s this year, but an extenuating circumstance (serious illness in close family) has affected my A2 grades. If I reapply I will mention this in the ECF form.

May I ask, if you were looking at my application, whether you would consider my application as strong, and so worth reapplying?

Many thanks for your help - it's honestly a relief to have some idea whether to reapply!
(edited 7 years ago)