Applying to do NatSci and Wider Reading

Hi, I'm a Year 12 student taking A-levels in Maths, FM, Physics and Chem.

My school are kinda making us write our personal statements right now but I haven't really done any wider reading and I don't particularly know what I want to do after uni, which, for some reason, my school expects people to know. Can someone recommend me any books/journals/articles that would be useful to read? I've checked online but most of the books tend to be like textbooks.

Also, despite my A-levels setting me up to do physical NatSci, I'm actually leaning towards the biological stuff. Would I still be able to apply for biological NatSci without actually having done A-level Biology?

PS. I'm aiming to study at Cambridge so if you have general advice about applying to read NatSci at Cambridge as well, that would be awesome!

Thanks

This may be a little less useful but I am currently using this for extra reading (going to reapply)
https://courses.maths.ox.ac.uk/overview/undergraduate

I recommend the introductory calculus but it is a little tricky once partial differentiation starts

Will check those out!! (I've actually never read new scientist )

Cool. Are you applying for Maths and Philosophy?

Nor have 90% of applicants who mention it in their PS

It’s pretty good but I personally prefer the science magazine style programmes on R4. I find it too easy to skim through a print magazine but a radio show is a bit more digestible (and bite sized so there’s no temptation to skip bits).

The trick for PSs (and university applications in general) is to follow your interest. If something sounds intriguing then get on google and find out more about it. Genuine enthusiasm about a couple of topics is a lot more compelling than someone who reads the NS cover to cover every week but isn’t really that fussed about anything in particular.

nope natural sciences, I got rejected this year and I'm going to reapply to the same course, as well as universities in America

cool. :B do you want to do biological or physical?

physical although I heard biological is easier to get into at most colleges

https://www.natsci.tripos.cam.ac.uk/prospective-students/reading

here’s a recommended reading list for prospective cambridge natsci students

Hey

I'm a fourth year Physics student at Bath, and I took all the sciences and maths at A-Level. When I was applying to universities, I was actually applying to do NatSci and I applied to Cambridge as well as Bath. I went through the Cambridge application process, but got turned down after my interview- but if you have any questions about my Natsci interview or the applications process then let me know

In terms of reading materials, is this to help you decide on your future course or to look good on your personal statement? I read a book called 'Chaos' by James Gleick to mention in my personal statement, as chaos theory is something that spreads across all fields of science and so is definitely something you could mention in a natural sciences course interview (which I did at my Bath one!). It’s also a really interesting book as well, and easy to read.

In terms of reading to help you make up your mind, I would recommend looking at universities' course catalogues. These are web pages that list all the courses you would be studying during the degree along with a description of each. As an example, here's the Bath's one for Natural Sciences: http://www.bath.ac.uk/catalogues/2017-2018/s/s-proglist-ug.html This way you can really get a feel for which courses are most likely to interest you, and do well in.


Even though I switched to physics before my Natsci course at Bath began, I remember being impressed with the course's structure. I found that a lot of NatSci courses at other universities had very fixed courses where you couldn't choose any optional modules. However at Bath, there are lots of potential paths you can take, because the NatSci students will attend the Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Pharmacology, biochemistry etc lectures- instead of having their own dedicated lecturers- and so a huge amount of flexibility is on offer and allows you to really shape the degree to your developing interests, something that’s fantastic for someone like you who hasn’t fully made up your mind yet.

I feel the best way to find out about which course to take it to speak to current students and get their opinions. I think its so hard to really understand what one degree requires over another to someone in your position, even with all the resources online. My advice is definitely to attend open days and get involved with 'Ask A Student' posts on TSR to ask students what their course really entails.

Hope this helped! All the best in your decision makings

Lydia