Its also of note that Oxford interview each candidate multiple times over two days (normally no less than 4 interviews), whereas Cambridge normally does a single interview for each candidate I believe.

Depends on the college/course but usually it's 2 interviews at Cambridge :smile:

. And some do 3 with one "general" and two subject interviews.

But yes a key difference is only one set of interviews at a Cambridge college, instead of interviews across multiple colleges as at Oxford. Although there is the slight chance of yet another Cambridge interview at a different college in the Winter Pool in January.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 23

RedGiant

Why? Because they care more about exam results that you got over a year ago from the point of applying?

Reply 24

xxxxvvvxcc

Original post by RedGiant

Why? Because they care more about exam results that you got over a year ago from the point of applying?

Wait what? Is this in reference to GCSE?

Reply 25

Sanjith Hegde123

Original post by xxvvvxxc

Wait what? Is this in reference to GCSE?

yes, they do shortlist based on gcse's i believe

Reply 26

xxxxvvvxcc

Original post by Sanjith Hegde123

yes, they do shortlist based on gcse's i believe

Yes, I know that, I'm asking what the poster meant, as if they meant that I think it's harder because of the GCSEs, no, it's the applicant number in comparison to the spaces available, and the deselection of applicants pre interview. Also, so speaking, GCSEs aren't really a decider for much other than a part of the interview. And most applying already got 10 to 11 A* so the real decider is the BMAT and other factors.

Reply 27

RedGiant

Original post by xxvvvxxc

Wait what? Is this in reference to GCSE?

No, it's a reference to SATs taken in year 6...

Original post by xxvvvxxc

Not necessarily. If you only have 4 A*s at GCSE, and only perform average on an admissions test, I doubt you'll get an interview. Where as at Cambridge, you will get an interview if you have a "realistic chance of an offer", thus giving you that extra opportunity to shine. It is harder to get an interview at Oxford, and therefore "harder" to get an offer overall. Then it's the interview mainly, and the admissions test.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 28

xxxxvvvxcc

Original post by RedGiant

No, it's a reference to SATs taken in year 6...

Well no, GCSE are not hard in terms of difficulty of the papers. I managed to get 11 A* in it this year and all I did was memorise the content VERY well, and that does not prove much really anyways in terms of the intelligence of a person nor their capability in a particular subject, so GCSE are not what makes it difficult, especially seeing the statistics and how, like I said most have atleast 10 a*, and more...

Reply 29

Zoqua

Original post by xxvvvxxc

I read some threads where people addressed how Oxford and Cambridge have a similar level of hardness to get into, but surely that's not the case! So speaking there are way more people per place at Oxford than at Cambridge and seeing that Oxford literally has 100 ish less seats, it is much harder aiming for Oxford, and also the deselection occurs before there, so ,many do not even get the chance to offer their skills in the interview!

What do you guys think? Oxford is harder to get into in comparison to Cambridge, correct?

Speaking as someone who's Uncle was the best at Maths in his year at Oxford, I can say that it's very difficult to get into Oxford, because they just generally want top in absolutely everything, they want the best students, of the best ability in the country. Cambridge University is very good though, and they are generally more famous in Maths/Sciences, but thats due to them doing more practical Maths/Science, whereas Oxford is more theoretical. Cambridge/Oxford are the elite. If you can get into one of them then that's good enough to be near the top of the country(without even coming top) , so go for whichever works for you,(I really want to go to Oxbridge, not sure which one).

Reply 30

xxxxvvvxcc

Original post by Zoqua

This is very true, Oxford are set to obtain the best of the students, and many in my year above, even though they had crazy talent in the sciences came out with a rejection, and I think with Oxford, you need to go in knowing that the interview is going to play a BIG role in your assessment afterwards, but Cambridge do have amazing talent too..

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 31

RedGiant

Original post by xxvvvxxc

What are you on about? I'm not talking about the difficulty of GCSEs themselves (they're the easiest set of public exams anyone will take, I got all A*s myself). I'm talking about them being used in the decision of who to interview, and then who to give offers to. Just because you didn't get an A* in GCSE Spanish, when you're applying for Physics, doesn't mean you're less intelligent. And visa versa, just because you did, doesn't make you more intelligent. What's more is that Cambridge are more bothered about how you're performing at A Level (as that's the closest things to the stuff at degree level), and not so much for Oxford. Hence why they used to collect UMS scores and actively use them. But anyway I'm starting to think you're just trying to make this thread about you more than anything, as reassurance.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 32

Irisella23

Hi, I'm one of the access initiative officers for Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, we are running a Q&A session on our twitter today so tweet us with any questions that you have about Cambridge! @Sidney_Outreach

Reply 33

OnceUponAThyme

neither are very hard to get into, don't flatter yourselves

Reply 34

Yipyipee

oxford has a slightly lower entry requirement with only one a*, so naturally more people will apply, in comparison to the fewer and (debatable) smarter people who apply for cambridge

Reply 35

mah1000000

Original post by AzureCeleste

Yup, exactly why I applied to cambridge-realised the stats worked more in my favour plus much higher chance for interview so can showcase my talent.

Did you get an offer from Cambridge?

Reply 36

johnsmith_123

Original post by xxvvvxxc

You're right in saying that a smaller proportion of applicants receive an offer at Oxford compared to Cambridge, but you cannot take this statistic out of context. Keep in mind that Oxford generally has lower standard offers than Cambridge, which means that a lot of applicants will not apply to Cambridge because their predicted grades are not enough, or they just want a lower offer. In general more people apply to Oxford than Cambridge, though this difference is not enormous (Oxford 2016: >19000 https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics?wssl=1 , Cambridge 2016: 16750 https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics).
It is true that Oxford interviews a smaller proportion of applicants (about 60% I believe) than Cambridge (about 80% I believe), but in theory this should not affect your chances of getting in, because if you are good enough to get in you will still be interviewed because you will be in the top 60% or whatever percent of applicants.
There are some people from my school who have offers from Oxford (and Cambridge) who in my opinion do not deserve them; there's this one girl who had a hangover at one of her interviews, wrote her personal statement on the deadline, had not read any of the books on her personal statement, and who's attendance is maybe around 50%, yet she's got an offer from Oxford.
I have an offer from Cambridge so I appreciate that there may be some bias in what I say. However, there are so many variables to take into account that I do not think it is fair to say that Oxford is harder to get into than Cambridge.

Reply 37

xxxxvvvxcc

Original post by RedGiant

I know what you mean, but what I am saying is that although GCSE may matter to a certain extent, people applying all basically have roughly the same GCSEs, and this is for Medicine specifically. Also, I am sure Cambridge look at GCSEs more now anyways in comparison to before as they also need a set of firm results from a student as AS and the whole UMS system is gone.

Also, I never said this was about the grades, it's about the type of procedure they use to select potential applicants, and the way they go about interviewing. As it is clear they want the better applicants, as shown by the national exams Medics in Oxford do.

And no, I literally went on a thread spree and saw how people were basically saying it's approx the same difficulty to get an offer when clearly it is not, and decided to make a thread on why I think what I do, and have had people also agree to it!

Reply 38

Doones

Original post by Zoqua

I can say that it's very difficult to get into Oxford, because they just generally want top in absolutely everything, they want the best students, of the best ability in the country.