Rejected from Trinity pre-interview, cannot figure out why

A few days ago I was rejected from Trinity Mathematics pre-interview and neither myself nor my school can figure out why because my application was excellent on paper.

I was predicted 4xA* in Maths, FM, Physics, Computer science. I had an amazing reference which mentioned that I was first in all of the school mocks for each subject. I had a great personal statement which talked about four relevant supercurriculars I had done. At GCSE I had 9999887777, which is not perfect, but I cannot see it causing a pre-interview rejection. I also had the extenuating circumstances form because I had to self teach further maths due to a problem at school, but I still did the mocks in school. I go to a state school that does not get applicants/offers to Cambridge often.

One of the supercurriculars in my statement was more about physics than maths, but I was hoping the admissions tutors would see that I was just more interested in applied maths. Could this cause them to think I should have applied for physics instead?

Can anybody think of why I would have been rejected? I'm really hoping there has been some procedural error but I'm worried it will be too late if I wait for feedback in January. Has anyone been in this position before?

hmm thats weird, have you been in touch with the admissions office?

You should be able to request feedback from Trinity if you email admissions. I'm sorry this happened, but please don't take it as a reflection on your ability.

I must say that it's not unheard of for Trinity to reject people for maths without interview for no discernible reason, particularly internationals sometimes (though as you're doing A levels I take it this doesn't apply to you).

The information that Trinity has about you is precisely:




It's definitely not your A level predicted grades and Cambridge tends not to care much about irrelevant GCSEs at all (did you get a 9 in maths?) and those grades are perfectly acceptable for Cambridge - I can't see them using irrelevant GCSE subjects to discriminate between candidates. If your reference was good, then the only other main thing is your PS and Cambridge tends not to care about the PS for maths either (I heard that at some colleges they don't even read it, but that might not be accurate).

I really can't see any reason why you'd be rejected pre-interview - you may want to check now whether there was some administrative error like the school entering your grades wrong on the application.

Feedback is in January but by then interviews have happened and offers are out. I'm hoping to find out what has happened before then so that I still may have the opportunity of getting an offer this year instead of reapplying.

Thank you for your reply. I have heard the same that PS was not an important factor for maths, so I'm really grasping at straws when I think it may have been the issue! I had an 8 in maths and I am a home applicant.

Trinity get a lot of outstanding maths applicants and can't interview them all - there seem to have been a lot of high level rejections this year, and it's never easy to work out their logic. Unfortunately if you've been rejected at this point there's no way for you to get pooled or anything, so it's time to focus on your other uni choices instead, who will likely be very happy to have you!

The 8 in Maths is a point of weakness and they may just not have liked your personal statement as much as you did. It's probably best not to dwell on it, Trinity is the most competitive college for Maths anyway.

It is equally hard to get into all colleges at Cambridge, if they thought I would have a chance at another college they would have interviewed me and pooled me. I really doubt my GCSEs were the dealbreaker here, that would mean that there was absolutely nothing I could have done between starting 6th form and today to get into Cambridge; the system is holistic and considers all parts of the application.

Thanks but in any case I am looking for some closure on where I went wrong in my application and how I could improve if I decide to reapply.

Your referee can request feedback in January - this is the busiest time of the year for them, so they don't give feedback until then usually. I imagine Trinity will be getting a lot of very confused feedback requests this year though. In theory you have an equal chance no matter if you apply to a college directly or make an open application, but that phrasing does suggest that if you apply to a college as oversubscribed as Trinity then there is a chance they won't even have space to interview you, hence meaning you can't get pooled.

A few days ago I was rejected from Trinity Mathematics pre-interview and neither myself nor my school can figure out why because my application was excellent on paper.

I was predicted 4xA* in Maths, FM, Physics, Computer science. I had an amazing reference which mentioned that I was first in all of the school mocks for each subject. I had a great personal statement which talked about four relevant supercurriculars I had done. At GCSE I had 9999887777, which is not perfect, but I cannot see it causing a pre-interview rejection. I also had the extenuating circumstances form because I had to self teach further maths due to a problem at school, but I still did the mocks in school. I go to a state school that does not get applicants/offers to Cambridge often.

One of the supercurriculars in my statement was more about physics than maths, but I was hoping the admissions tutors would see that I was just more interested in applied maths. Could this cause them to think I should have applied for physics instead?

Can anybody think of why I would have been rejected? I'm really hoping there has been some procedural error but I'm worried it will be too late if I wait for feedback in January. Has anyone been in this position before?

It is equally hard to get into all colleges at Cambridge, if they thought I would have a chance at another college they would have interviewed me and pooled me. I really doubt my GCSEs were the dealbreaker here, that would mean that there was absolutely nothing I could have done between starting 6th form and today to get into Cambridge; the system is holistic and considers all parts of the application.

It is equally hard to get into all colleges at Cambridge, if they thought I would have a chance at another college they would have interviewed me and pooled me. I really doubt my GCSEs were the dealbreaker here, that would mean that there was absolutely nothing I could have done between starting 6th form and today to get into Cambridge; the system is holistic and considers all parts of the application.

Have you heard of many other people in my position?

It is equally hard to get into all colleges at Cambridge

A few days ago I was rejected from Trinity Mathematics pre-interview and neither myself nor my school can figure out why because my application was excellent on paper.

I was predicted 4xA* in Maths, FM, Physics, Computer science. I had an amazing reference which mentioned that I was first in all of the school mocks for each subject. I had a great personal statement which talked about four relevant supercurriculars I had done. At GCSE I had 9999887777, which is not perfect, but I cannot see it causing a pre-interview rejection. I also had the extenuating circumstances form because I had to self teach further maths due to a problem at school, but I still did the mocks in school. I go to a state school that does not get applicants/offers to Cambridge often.

One of the supercurriculars in my statement was more about physics than maths, but I was hoping the admissions tutors would see that I was just more interested in applied maths. Could this cause them to think I should have applied for physics instead?

Can anybody think of why I would have been rejected? I'm really hoping there has been some procedural error but I'm worried it will be too late if I wait for feedback in January. Has anyone been in this position before?

Ask for feedback.

did you take STEP?