The Official 2017 Cambridge Applicants Thread [part 3]

I thought that teachers can't mark the coursework and give feedback.

Oh dear, my college is getting roasted

Yeah I do prefer being able to pick and choose courses to do; I'm still not completely certain on what I want to do. That's why Cambridge NatSci is so good cos you have quite a fair bit of choice for your first year. Stanford is a no-brainer if I can get some financial aid. It's one of the best for CS and you're right there in Silicon Valley. Also the weather hahaha

As I understand it, all Open offer candidates who make the offer will be put in the summer pool for colleges to make offers to. If a candidate exceeds the offer level by far then they may well become of interest not just to colleges who have lost candidates after results come out but to those who might wish to augment their numbers with a student with good results.

The SP works differently to the Winter Pool. Colleges mark files saying their willing to make an offer. After a certain point in the day if no one else has marked the file then the college can take the file. If it's been marked by more than one college, there will be a discussion to see if agreement can be reached and, if not, it's decided by lot.

hmm I consider natsci to be a happy equilibrium between not being restricted to studying a highly specific area of science for 3+ years and having to do 8 non-optional humanities classes that would make me want to KMS - different horses for different courses tho I guess.. I would also agree it would be great for CS at Stanford

To request feedback do we email our college's admissions tutor?

I'm happy to help you. Of course I understand that this is a simultaneously stressful and exciting time for you.

Exams: it's a mix of both. For example, in Cells there's a theory paper consisting of short answers and an essay question and a Practical paper, which are mainly calculations and so-forth from all of the practicals you've done in the year. The practical paper is by far the harder one, and most people do significantly less work in preparation for it and regret this at the beginning of the Easter Term. There is a lot of recall, but this is usually contextualised more than at A level, and there's certainly less vomiting out of facts in a 'purge yourself of it' way that you get at A level.

EdX courses - I'm in two minds about this. The courses themselves are perfectly reasonable choices, and there is an argument for using them as 'refreshers' in the couple of months immediately before you go up. On the other hand, I think it's important to enjoy your gap year fully without turning it into another work year - your gap year, with a Cambridge offer in the bag, really is quite golden. If you're keen and think these courses will help your confidence in the first term/year then by all means do them, but don't feel you 'should' in any way. The first year papers don't assume any knowledge over and above that expected from a competent A level student and although they progress rapidly and cover a lot of ground, you don't need any special preparation for them.

Workload: I sort of disagree that it gets easier as you go through the Tripos. The contact hours decrease (I didn't have Saturday lectures in the second year, thank the Lord), but there is a concomitant increase in the complexity of the work, which means you need to put more self-directed hours in. There's a significant increase in depth, rather than breadth, at your competitive Part II, so I wouldn't call the workload 'easier', as such. But, as with IA it's not impossible at all - just a question of good time management.

My options: IA: Cells, Evolution and Behaviour, Physiology of Organisms, QB (*shudders at the memory).
IB: Pathology, Pharmacology and Physiology.
II: Pathology.

Feel free to ask away if I can help any more.

Probably my fault for cheerleading it lol.
7.2% acceptance rate...
MIT is 7.9%



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In the absence of any other instructions from your college, yes.

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I did indeed, I really like Girton and think it's a shame the amount of flame it gets really, because as far as I can tell distance is literally the only problem.. I mean it's prettier than most colleges (not naming names but..), has a good ratio of staterivate students - one of the best out of all colleges at Oxbridge and it's large, especially for my course (last 2 points are what I wanted, though I guess not objectively 'good'.
Everyone i met at Girton for my interview and chatted to online has been really nice and finally, the distance which is so often brought up isn't significantly worse than some other colleges (looking at you Homerton & Fitz)

Blimey - that's an incredibly high (or low?) offer:acceptances ratio! Is that down to missing offers or getting a better offer elsewhere (eg @ MIT)?

Probably my fault for cheerleading it lol.
7.2% acceptance rate...
MIT is 7.9%

yeah it is one of the nicest college in terms of aesthetics (though I've only seen the pictures online and haven't been able to get a pic of undergrad accommodation) but I suppose for some people feeling outside/excluded from the bubble of the town centre would be a turn-off. i quite enjoy walking anyway so won't mind the 30 mins if I do end up there - and the swimming pool is a very attractive prospect

Oh dear, my college is getting roasted

Okay I will tolerate a lot but NOT THIS. Fight me mate I'll rek u.

Oh dear, my college is getting roasted

sorry for threatening ur ducks I'm just triggered af by the all the girton memes