Ask the Admissions Team

So i am considering an application to Cambridge for Law next year. I am a Scottish student and this year i am doing my Highers - Maths, English, French, Geography, History, Economics, but i also did Higher Russian last year and got an A. However, i am unsure of which subjects to do next year that would best suit what i want to do and what grades i will need to get in my Highers to be in a good position to apply.

I am thinking about:

Advanced Higher Geography
Advanced Higher History
A-Level Russian or Advanced Higher English or Advanced Higher Economics
Crash Higher Spanish

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, please tell me your realistic opinion for this... I am thinking of applying for cambridge uni for 2016 entry, so this september.. I'm applying for engineering and I am currently taking IB. I know a lot of you are doing A-Level, but still maybe give me an approximation. Currently I am taking Physics HL, Maths HL, Chinese HL, Art SL, Langlit SL, Econ SL. My predicted grades are not out yet but the teachers say it would be physics-7, maths-6, chinese-7, art-7, langlit-6, econ-6, (maths may go up). So that would be either a 38/42 or 39/42 for PGs. I also did take a-level modules out of school, which I self-studied: M1, M2, FP1.

I do have an extenuating circumstance of chronic diseases where I could not go to school normally for 2 months. I had endoscopy checkup and lost 13kg. ( but im not sure if this is even relevant,although it did affected my grades)

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One thing I worry about is the fact a lot of weight is put onto UMS scores, yet I know as a fact I can get 3 A*s next year in M,FM and Phy yet the chances of me getting an offer of that are low. I think A levels should be a lot harder, so you don't get 100's of applicants with basically the exact same scores. Sometimes, 1 little mistake can lose 5 UMS, which is a lot of the time the difference between someone with an offer and an unsuccessful applicant. Which is how I understand why they give out more maths offers as STEP supposedly filters some applicants out (although on a shadowing experience at Cambridge, I met a girl studying maths in her 2nd year that got 2,2 in her STEP II and III but her offer was 1,1). This leads me nicely onto my main to questions:
1) Do they do the same for Computer Science with Maths and possibly other degrees that require a STEP result (giving out more offers than places) and therefore is so, do you just fully reject the people that have a Comp Sci w/Maths offer, beat their offer but miss their STEP requirement but a grade?

2)Can you reject someone if they've received an offer and got the grades? Or is receiving an offer a 100% guarentee of a place if they hit required grades? I say that because, as they offer so many offers with STEP requirements for Maths, what if a much higher than expected proportion of people get the STEP grades? Would you have to reject some or, as I assume, you do give out offers so that if that is the case, they can all be offered a place still?

Dear Admission Tutor,

I am an EU applicant looking to apply for HSPS in Cam, although it is not offered in Peterhouse. I've got a few questions concerning my application:

1) Since I've some Math Olympiads accomplishments in the last 5 year, which are unfortunately not really relevant to the course, should I ask my referee to specify them in the reference or just hint to them in my PS or add them in the SAQ?

2)I've been taking painting classes for several years now and would like to continue with drawing. Do you know whether King's college art classes are available for student from the whole university? Are there similar classes held in other colleges?

3)Suppose that in the EU referendum UK decide to leave the EU, would this affect my fee given that I will apply this year and if given an offer start studying in 2016?

I really appreciate answering my questions!!

Cheers

I do Maths, Economics, Biology and RS, do you look closely into UMS scores for maths?

I'm an american taking an AP heavy course load, I'm applying to cambridge in the fall, but I'll only have taken two AP exams relevant to my course(Computer Science with Maths, AP Physics 1 and AP BC Calculus). This is because my state requires 4 years of English courses and 4 years of history courses for a high school diploma. What AP scores would be considered in my application, only the ones relevant to my course, or the three humanities AP's I've taken? Also, my gpa isn't particularly high(3.5 or so), would this reduce my chances of being admitted or does your admissions process reflect that a C in sophmore english has no effect on my success at a Computer Science course.

Hi, thanks for doing this.

I am considering applying for MML as I do French and German and the course seems interesting. Out of interest, what has the average UMS average for this course been in recent years? Do you take into account the fact that many native speakers take these A levels and grade boundaries seem to be higher when compared to other subjects?

Also, as for the 3 most relevant subjects - would History be considered more relevant to the course than Geography? (These are my other two subjects.)

Hello,

I am going to be in year 12 next year and I will be taking Economics, Maths, French and History at A level and I am thinking of doing Economics or Law in the future. However, I keep hearing that you need FM a level as well to do economics at cambridge and that all applicants have it and it will greatly reduce your chances if you don't have it, is this true?

Also, I am thinking of teaching myself FM as well or to enrol with the Further mathematics support programme in year 12/13 because I cannot do it at my school due to timetabling/clashing, will this be beneficial?

Thank you

Hi,

Typical conditional offers for students taken APs would be for 5 to be achieved in at least 5 tests. For Computer science with maths we would also ask for 1,1 in STEP II and III. For courses such as this, the main thing which is looked for is your ability at mathematics so we would probably like to see as many mathematics APs as possible. This is also important if you are invited to interview to help you prepare for the maths-based interviews. We're mostly interested in your academic ability and potential relating to the subject you wish to study, so we generally look at APs more than we do gpa, for exactly the reasons you mention.

Thanks for the reply, I have a few more questions.
What math is on the STEP? I have a good grounding in calculus but haven't taken statistics(I had to choose between AP compsci and AP statistics). Would it be helpful for me to study some statistics on my own? Should I get an A-level higher maths book to review and fill in topics that I haven't covered?

Thanks for the reply, I have a few more questions.
What math is on the STEP? I have a good grounding in calculus but haven't taken statistics(I had to choose between AP compsci and AP statistics). Would it be helpful for me to study some statistics on my own? Should I get an A-level higher maths book to review and fill in topics that I haven't covered?

Hello, I was reading the math tripos guide and it said that students from other universities can take Part III of the tripos. Can someone quickly run me through how this works? Would one have to do a 3 year BSc at the other university? Thanks.

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For bio natsci students,is there any benefits to doing further maths?

Hello, thanks for your reply. I have two more questions.

Is there any possibility of financial aid for students applying from other universities, and what are the conditions for this?

Are there any statistics that show how many students are accepted for Part III from other universities? (Any ideas about Warwick?)

Thanks

What A levels are you taking?