Ask An(other) Admissions Tutor 25/07/2017-08/08/2017

Original post by Christ's Admissions

Hi everyone, I'm the Admissions Tutor at Christ's College, and I'm here to answer any questions you might have about applications or admissions to the University of Cambridge, or to Christ's College specifically, until August 08. So please fire away!

Hi! i jist finished my AS-level i came out with relatively good grades: A1 in chemistry, B1 in Physics(i had a bad day, honest) and i'm predicted an A1 in mathematics we'll find out the actual result on the 17th of august. My teachers recognise i have potential to be an oxbridge candidate and i am applying to Queen's college to study engineering in the university of cambridge. I have a good working relationship with my teachers and i'm predicted 3 A*s next year
I have major doubts about that B1 in physics and how it will affect my chances, could you please offer any advice

Reply 4

j23m

Original post by Christ's Admissions

Hi everyone, I'm the Admissions Tutor at Christ's College, and I'm here to answer any questions you might have about applications or admissions to the University of Cambridge, or to Christ's College specifically, until August 08. So please fire away!

Hi, I'm an IB student (not from the UK) with about 42/45 predicted (I'll probably be able to get it up to a 43/45 until october) and a solid application. Voluntary work, ECs at school, competitions, sports, hobbies, passion for law, you name it.
When I was writing my igcses I was going through a rough time in my life and ended up performing pretty poorly. I had 2 A* , a few As, a few Bs and one C. I got good grades for subjects I cared about like history or business studies or english but did rather badly in ones I hated (like chemistry).

These are the unis I'm applying to for LAW:

- lse
- ucl
- oxbridge
- kings college

These are my questions:

1. What are, reaslistically, my chances of getitng in to those unis with those gcses if my application on the whole is strong?

2. Will I be put at a definitive disadvantage?

3. Would it be wiser to apply to Cambridge rather than Oxford as I heard they tend to value progress and not pay as much attention to gcses because their IB requirements are higher?

4. Would it be TOO personal for my PS to write about why I improved as a studernt and how I'm not the person I was then, what changed me and how I will continue to improve, if the event in quesiton is very dark and potentially depressing? I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses or looking for sympathy, I just want to let every uni know exactly who I am, that I do not give up easily and that I have singlehandedly picked myself up after the most traumatic event in my life and dragged myself from rock bottom to the top.

Thanks in advance. Honesty will be appreciated

Reply 5

Doones

Original post by Oruese

Hi! i jist finished my AS-level i came out with relatively good grades: A1 in chemistry, B1 in Physics(i had a bad day, honest) and i'm predicted an A1 in mathematics we'll find out the actual result on the 17th of august. My teachers recognise i have potential to be an oxbridge candidate and i am applying to Queen's college to study engineering in the university of cambridge. I have a good working relationship with my teachers and i'm predicted 3 A*s next year
I have major doubts about that B1 in physics and how it will affect my chances, could you please offer any advice

Which qualification/country are you?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 6

economist29

12

Hi!

How much emphasis would be placed on the ecf form for an economics applicant whose maths fm AS ums would be between 90-95% due to extenuating circumstances?

Reply 7

Original post by Doonesbury

Which qualification/country are you?

Posted from TSR Mobile

right here in England and i'm taking the AQA for both physics and chemistry and OCR for Mathematics. I'm also doing the EPQ (AQA)

Reply 8

Doones

Original post by Oruese

right here in England and i'm taking the AQA for both physics and chemistry and OCR for Mathematics. I'm also doing the EPQ (AQA)

A1 isn't an official grade - sounds like these are your school's internal exams (i.e. mocks, PPEs) not external exams.

Reply 9

Original post by Doonesbury

A1 isn't an official grade - sounds like these are your school's internal exams (i.e. mocks, PPEs) not external exams.

yeah precisely they were PPE's cos both physics and chemistry are reformed subjects (AQA) but Maths isn't cos thats OCR

Reply 10

Doones

Original post by Oruese

yeah precisely they were PPE's cos both physics and chemistry are reformed subjects (AQA) but Maths isn't cos thats OCR

So you shouldn't say you got grade X or Y at AS-level. You haven't. Just say you got it in your PPEs - it's clearer and simpler.

Anyway I'm sorry to the AT for derailing her thread... :wink:

Reply 11

Original post by Doonesbury

So you shouldn't say you got grade X or Y at AS-level. You haven't. Just say you got it in your PPEs - it's clearer and simpler.

Anyway I'm sorry to the AT for derailing her thread... :wink:

Ok.i should have rephrased that
my worry is if my B1 in my physics PPE will hinder my admission chances in anyway?

OP

Original post by Oruese

Hi! i jist finished my AS-level i came out with relatively good grades: A1 in chemistry, B1 in Physics(i had a bad day, honest) and i'm predicted an A1 in mathematics we'll find out the actual result on the 17th of august. My teachers recognise i have potential to be an oxbridge candidate and i am applying to Queen's college to study engineering in the university of cambridge. I have a good working relationship with my teachers and i'm predicted 3 A*s next year
I have major doubts about that B1 in physics and how it will affect my chances, could you please offer any advice

It's difficult to give you a fully informed opinion without also knowing your grade in Mathematics. That said, I don't think the B1 in Physics will necessarily have too negative an impact on your chances, assuming your scores in the pre-interview assessment are solid, and you can handle Physics-related problems at interview, should you be shortlisted. If your referee shares your view that the B1 was the result of a single "off day", and is outweighed by other evidence of your potential, they may not even mention it in the reference. If they do choose to mention it, however, they should ensure that they provide a convincing explanation as to why it happened (and why it is not representative of your ability).

(edited 6 years ago)

OP

Original post by j23m

Hi, I'm an IB student (not from the UK) with about 42/45 predicted (I'll probably be able to get it up to a 43/45 until october) and a solid application. Voluntary work, ECs at school, competitions, sports, hobbies, passion for law, you name it.
When I was writing my igcses I was going through a rough time in my life and ended up performing pretty poorly. I had 2 A* , a few As, a few Bs and one C. I got good grades for subjects I cared about like history or business studies or english but did rather badly in ones I hated (like chemistry).

These are the unis I'm applying to for LAW:

- lse
- ucl
- oxbridge
- kings college

These are my questions:

1. What are, reaslistically, my chances of getitng in to those unis with those gcses if my application on the whole is strong?

2. Will I be put at a definitive disadvantage?

3. Would it be wiser to apply to Cambridge rather than Oxford as I heard they tend to value progress and not pay as much attention to gcses because their IB requirements are higher?

4. Would it be TOO personal for my PS to write about why I improved as a studernt and how I'm not the person I was then, what changed me and how I will continue to improve, if the event in quesiton is very dark and potentially depressing? I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses or looking for sympathy, I just want to let every uni know exactly who I am, that I do not give up easily and that I have singlehandedly picked myself up after the most traumatic event in my life and dragged myself from rock bottom to the top.

Thanks in advance. Honesty will be appreciated

Hi there,

I can't answer on behalf of the other universities you mention, as they will all have slightly different approaches to the weighting of GCSE grades, and may also be factoring in the LNAT (which Cambridge doesn't use).

From a Cambridge perspective, your GCSEs are weaker than those of many of our successful applicants, but we also regularly admit students with fewer than two A*s. So if your predictions are high, your referee is supportive, and you put in a solid performance at interview and in the Cambridge Law Test, there is absolutely no reason you should not be competitive for a place here.

It would be sensible to provide some explanation for your under-performance at GCSE, but I wouldn't recommend you go into too much detail in the personal statement, which is better focused on your subject interest and academic activities; a couple of lines at most would be fine. You could, however, ask a third party to submit an Extenuating Circumstances Form on your behalf if the event was, as you say, traumatic.

OP

Original post by Doonesbury

So you shouldn't say you got grade X or Y at AS-level. You haven't. Just say you got it in your PPEs - it's clearer and simpler.

Anyway I'm sorry to the AT for derailing her thread... :wink:

Derail away :smile:

Reply 15

The RAR

Hi there, will GCSEs count towards your application to the University of Cambridge?

OP

Original post by The RAR

Hi there, will GCSEs count towards your application to the University of Cambridge?

They may be one "piece of the puzzle" we consider in determining your academic potential, and how likely you are to make our standard offer, particularly if you haven't done AS and/or your referee doesn't provide clear predictions and/or you under-perform in our pre-interview assessment. But we don't weight them as heavily as some other universities, and whilst the majority of our successful applicants do have at least 5 A*s at GCSEs, there are plenty of examples of people getting in with much weaker grades than that.

Reply 17

Original post by Christ's Admissions

It's difficult to give you a fully informed opinion without also knowing your grade in Mathematics. That said, I don't think the B1 in Physics will necessarily have too negative an impact on your chances, assuming your scores in the pre-interview assessment are solid, and you can handle Physics-related problems at interview, should you be shortlisted. If your referee shares your view that the B1 was the result of a single "off day", and is outweighed by other evidence of your potential, they may not even mention it in the reference. If they do choose to mention it, however, they should ensure that they provide a convincing explanation as to why it happened (and why it is not representative of your ability).

Thank you so much for the detailed answer, that really relaxes my nerves, i'll make sure i inform you of my mathematics grade once i get it.

Reply 18

The RAR