Pros and cons of re-applying to Cambridge?

Hey everyone, so I want to be an academic when I'm older and I think I quite fancied being a theoretician but I think after recent events I can accept that's not likely to happen. Nevertheless I have liked physics for a long time and I still think it's for me. And I hear there are far more places available for non-theoretical positions in physics anyway!

So I reckon I got 2 options:

1) I can try to push myself further and try to benefit myself by going for the gap-year option and applying in my gap year to Cambridge NatSci (I suppose I'd take up STEP 1 as a way of going above just A-level maths).

2) Just take an offer from a university right now.

For being an academic, are there reasonable chances of it happening even if I don't go to Oxbridge? (Either Cams or Oxford?) I guess there is always the master's route I suppose?

Plenty of academics end up doing an undergraduate degree outside of Oxbridge. It's not like you are instantly consigned to the academia scrap-heap if somehow at the age of 18 you failed to get into two specific universities.

Prof. Al Khalili is one such example I can give that's relevant to your field of interest.

Well I certainly hope your right. How "bad" is it to have a gap year for a science. Do people come out of them as almost semi-like vegetables?

I would like to have a year out to mature a bit, earn some money, work on my car and in terms of keeping up academic interest, as I mentioned in the OP, I'd quite like to do STEP and whatnot.

I'm not sure about gap years for science to be honest. I didn't take one myself.

As long as you're able to justify in your PS why you want to take a gap year and what you plan to do, then it might even be beneficial? Not sure.

Doing STEP is definitely helpful though! Especially for a maths heavy degree

As it stands I come from a very low income bracket and money would always be tight. Ideally I would go to uni and not work but if I went straight away I probably would tbh; with a year to get some money I could go to Uni and focus my time on studying which would be more beneficial for a career and less stressful.

and I could work on my Jaguar XJS for a bit

That Jag looks wonderful!

I wish I had a car tbh. Feels wrong having a licence with no car XD

Hey everyone, so I want to be an academic when I'm older and I think I quite fancied being a theoretician but I think after recent events I can accept that's not likely to happen. Nevertheless I have liked physics for a long time and I still think it's for me. And I hear there are far more places available for non-theoretical positions in physics anyway!

So I reckon I got 2 options:

1) I can try to push myself further and try to benefit myself by going for the gap-year option and applying in my gap year to Cambridge NatSci (I suppose I'd take up STEP 1 as a way of going above just A-level maths).

2) Just take an offer from a university right now.

For being an academic, are there reasonable chances of it happening even if I don't go to Oxbridge? (Either Cams or Oxford?) I guess there is always the master's route I suppose?

The con is taking a gap year and then not getting into Cambridge at the 2nd attempt.

But you would undoubtedly have other offers to fall back on. And you'd have earned some money and had fun with your XJS.

So no huge cons...

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Sorry I should have made it clearer tbf, I didn't apply to Cambridge this time round but I could next year.

Well this doesn't sound too bad and I certainly have some time to think about it (before the choice-deadline I believe). I know deferred offers vary between college but the college I would probably apply to is neutral according to a list I saw online - nevertheless how much would they look down on being a gap year applicant?

The only time you need to decide is some time after you get your A-level results. You can't apply to Cambridge whilst holding an actual place elsewhere, but aside from that there's no problems.

Are you sure that list wasn't for Maths? I'm not aware of any college rulings on deferred places for NatSci.

Anyway, if it's neutral that means they are neutral... i.e. they don't mind one way or the other

In most cases, we are neutral about Deferred Applications, and prefer to leave it up to individual candidates as to whether they want to come straight from school or college, or to have a gap year.

Very true about the A-levels! Well I think that's a good incentive to get some good ones, I don't know about you!

This is on their website (although as you say I think I read that for maths) so it seems that you're right - Neutral is neutral!

Well I certainly hope your right. How "bad" is it to have a gap year for a science. Do people come out of them as almost semi-like vegetables?

I would like to have a year out to mature a bit, earn some money, work on my car and in terms of keeping up academic interest, as I mentioned in the OP, I'd quite like to do STEP and whatnot.

Hey dude. I've applied for Physics at Oxford this year (wasn't the PAT just OMG) and my teachers said that I could take a gap year, but with a subject so maths-heavy where you need to keep doing it or you'll forget it, it's probably best not to. Do what works for you.
Where else have you applied?

Would it be too creepy for me to say "yeah I know"? :P The PAT completely through me off; in hindsight there was 1 question that had I not rushed / panicked, I am very very confident I could have got full marks on and I'm sure I could have passed. My entire application depended on that moment of madness

Anyway, they aren't wrong really about the maths-heavy thing so that's where it is important to perhaps take up another A-level (eg: additional further maths), STEP, and read up on physics books and whatnot so the first year of entry isn't too bad.

I applied to St. Andrews as well.

Oh lol (that's fine - I joined that @plankyton spreadsheet and saw you there too! Yo Physics bud!) Awh no - I'm sure it'll be okay. I couldn't even finish the paper properly. Like, I tried them all, but some of the 9-markers were crazy bad that I felt that I was literally making stuff up. (Can't be too specific here yet, as you know.) God knows what the cut-off mark will be.

But you've got three other choices! And there other great unis as well. Have you sent off your application to 5?

St. Andrews is probably the only other that I don't mind the look of; for me personally it was probably always going to be Oxbridge or St. Andrews. But yeah I have sent off all 5.

You?

I've applied to KCL, UCL, Warwick and Southampton. I have 2 offers atm.

St Andrews is nice!

I would have faith in Oxbridge, because, it might not have felt great at the time, but remember, method marks, right? (Lol I'm riding on them.)

Well we can hope ... regardless though (and I've made my thoughts pretty clear on the PAT discussions) I'm not convinced that the passmark will be all that low as people want it to be.

Right now I have more faith in Cambridge than I do in Oxford hahaha