I'm a Cambridge reject and I'm thinking of reapplying next year

Are you sure? I know someone who did their 1st year of uni, dropped out to do Engineering, but could only do the bachelors part, not the MEng as student finance will only pay for 4 years of study and that would make it 5.

It is still a total waste of £9000 + living expenses IMO when you won't even get anything out of it if you do transfer.

I realise it is difficult to apply to Cambridge while attending a UK university, but does anyone know if it is possible to do from an American one?

Interesting, I didn't know you could reapply while at Uni. I thought the only option was to take a gap year to reapply (And seeing how I do not want to take a gap year, I had completely disregarded the option of reapplying).

On the oxford website they say they would prefer a reference from someone at your uni. But if you go to a uni that starts in October, seeing as the deadline is 15th October, you can't really get a reference from your uni? How would they write a reference having known you for only about 2 weeks? In this case, would it be acceptable to get an updated reference from your Sixth Form?

Go to Durham, it's almost as good as Cambridge and a lot better than Oxford/Imperial, especially for Nat Sci.

I realise it is difficult to apply to Cambridge while attending a UK university, but does anyone know if it is possible to do from an American one?

From Murray Edwards Admissions I remember he said that it's more possible but tag jneill in to make sure

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Yes, but some colleges appear to take a different view. Best to ask a few colleges well in advance.

Hey guys, first, some information about me. I'm in year 13 right now doing Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Further Maths A levels. As the title says, I got rejected by Cambridge, Trinity College, for Natural Sciences MSci this week.

Now, disappointments aside, I'm thinking of reapplying next year, perhaps not to the same course/ college though. I already hold offers from UCL, uni of York, Nottingham uni and Lancaster uni. Now before anyone points out that these are great unis, hear me out. This is what I'm thinking:

I put UCL as my firm choice and hopefully if I get the grades, I join it in September this year. However, at the same time I start reapplying to Cambridge (or Oxford for that matter). If I get in, I formally transfer universities and be potentially behind a year, but does that really matter if you're an oxbridge graduate? and if I don't get in, mehh, life goes on and I graduate from UCL (hopefully). This way, I avoid a gap year (unless someone can give me something academically worthwhile to do during the gap year). So, how does it sound?

I do have some conundrums regarding this plan. Firstly, if I do get into UCL, is oxbridge really that much better than UCL? Secondly, how does this affect my finance situation? I will be taking out a student loan.

So, any light to be shed on my situation? I'm happy to provide more details and I'm, well, kinda stuck here.

Edit: I will be applying for a 4 year MSci, oxbridge or otherwise
Edit # 2: Just to be clear, I'm thinking of reapplying either to Cambridge or Oxford, whilst doing my first year at another university (UCL if all goes well).

(IMO) waste of an extra £9,000 and a year of your life going for Oxbridge again it's a nice shiny badge but it won't earn you any extra money or help your career unless you're from eton and wanna be a politician

Average Oxbridge wage is 2000 pounds more than comparable graduates (note that this is average obviously an English grad from Oxford will earn less than a science grad from Imperial). I'm all for dismantling idea of Oxbridge as be all (as you said it's not a requirement for anything except politics, BBC media, Guardian or similar employee) but it's not true that Oxbridge graduates don't earn more.

I had also heard that Cambridge really doesn't like applications from students already currently studying at another uni.

Also, the NatSci course at Cambridge is actually only three years, extendable to a fourth (MSci) if you wish and take an appropriate third year specialisation. So for Cambridge, your initial student finance application is only for three years of funding, with the fourth year taking up that "spare" grace year student finance give you. However, if you have already used up that year by studying first at another uni (who may also have the same policy) then you would have to self-finace/ not do the masters year...

This is a very salient and oft-overlooked point.

The bit about needing to use up your gift year isn't right, though. The MSci is a 4 year undergrad course and would be fully funded without using the gift year. Although the SFE "paperwork" to move from the BA (3 years) to MSci can be a hassle...

Thanks for clarifying that - I've learnt something, because I believed that's how it worked too (and seem to remember something about SFE not being able to retrospectively change the course you'd enrolled on and were still, technically, continuing on). Glad to see it's either changed, or was never the case to begin with so those who need to use their extra year for the usual reasons can do so without prejudicing their ability to do a Part III.

Yep - even if it's technically a "new" course then the SFE formula still applies:
years of "new course" + 1 gift year - years of previous study.

But it can be a pita and perhaps Cambridge NatSci students (and tutors) just go for the path of least resistance and use up their gift year instead of fighting the case.

Hey guys, first, some information about me. I'm in year 13 right now doing Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Further Maths A levels. As the title says, I got rejected by Cambridge, Trinity College, for Natural Sciences MSci this week.

Now, disappointments aside, I'm thinking of reapplying next year, perhaps not to the same course/ college though. I already hold offers from UCL, uni of York, Nottingham uni and Lancaster uni. Now before anyone points out that these are great unis, hear me out. This is what I'm thinking:

I put UCL as my firm choice and hopefully if I get the grades, I join it in September this year. However, at the same time I start reapplying to Cambridge (or Oxford for that matter). If I get in, I formally transfer universities and be potentially behind a year, but does that really matter if you're an oxbridge graduate? and if I don't get in, mehh, life goes on and I graduate from UCL (hopefully). This way, I avoid a gap year (unless someone can give me something academically worthwhile to do during the gap year). So, how does it sound?

I do have some conundrums regarding this plan. Firstly, if I do get into UCL, is oxbridge really that much better than UCL? Secondly, how does this affect my finance situation? I will be taking out a student loan.

So, any light to be shed on my situation? I'm happy to provide more details and I'm, well, kinda stuck here.

Edit: I will be applying for a 4 year MSci, oxbridge or otherwise
Edit # 2: Just to be clear, I'm thinking of reapplying either to Cambridge or Oxford, whilst doing my first year at another university (UCL if all goes well).

I know that you were applying pre-A*, but for the more recent of us, would attaining 3As be enough, given that that's the entrance requirement? Or would A*A*A be far more competitive and AAA almost no chance? I'm aiming to get A*A*A*A/A*A*AA. (@BrasenoseAdm?)

And that story is so inspiring omg!! My heart beckons to both of the unis tbh and if I get the grades I mentioned above I'll put a lot of effort into submitted work and harmony and the PS. I've been looking at music journals as well xDD I have no idea whether I was rejected narrowly or not (the college won't give me feedback unfortunately) but I feel like I'm so determined that whatever happens all the work will have been for a good cause (I don't regret applying one bit!!).

How did you guys do on your A level results??
I'm also a Cambridge reject lol (pre-interview cri) but I'm going to be reapplying to Cambridge for Engineering and doing a year in industry!

I got A*A*A*A (FM, phys, electronics, music) this year and A*A*B (maths, EPQ, chinese) last year so hoping I'll get in this year

I'm applying to Queens'

With a year in industry working full time I can pay for a full year of Uni tuition fees!!