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still worrying about colleges...

hey guys,I think I like Gonville and Cius but then friends say that it's reeeeeeeally hard to get into and some of them chose Robinson or Newnham and they said that 'although I'm not choosing from the top of the Tompkins, but then if I get in,then I get in,and if I do not,I know that I haven;t got the ability for Cam.I won't regret for choosing college which is beyond my reach then get pooled then bet on the 15%chance of being chosen in January.'

but Gonv&Caius is like first 10 on the Tompkins but Robinson is like about the 20th,I guess if I get pooled from Robinson then that's the end of the story?

anyway I'm not sure at all what position I'm at.I've got 4As in my 4 AS subjects(Econ,Double Maths,Physics) and plus one A in AS Chinese(but then ppl say that it doesn't really count),I'm Maths prefect and a school prefect, got a gold award last year in UKMT,and doing a undergrad module on Maths in Sussex Uni in the free time this year,got grade1 in STEP1 paper,have done YE,DofE and a work experience in an overseas personal development company,am I the kind of applicant who's really normal and have nothing special or standing out?
:confused:

Reply 1

KAISER_MOLE

7

Robinson got 10th in Tompkins table I think, Cauis got 2nd? ...If you like the look of Cauis then go for it...if you look at the 2006 applicants thread on cambridge sub forums you will see a few people opting for Robinson/Newnham, thinking the same thing you are thinking. Always remember, any simple tactic you come up with is likely to be mimiced by any number of other applicants, so just go with your gut feeling.

...What is a Maths Prefect exactly? ...does YE = Youth Enterprise?

Reply 2

*River

15

Maths Prefect is when you have to generally help out the maths department, such as running clinics for the younger students to help with their maths etc. YE is Young Enterprise. About colleges, apply to the one you honestly WANT to go to. Don't let your friends persuade you otherwise. There will be lots of people who think that Robinson etc are easier to get into so there will be lots of applicants at those colleges. Good luck anyway, and it's also stupid for many people from the same school to apply to the same college.

Reply 3

catinmoonlight

OP

KAISER_MOLE

Robinson got 10th in Tompkins table I think, Cauis got 2nd? ...If you like the look of Cauis then go for it...if you look at the 2006 applicants thread on cambridge sub forums you will see a few people opting for Robinson/Newnham, thinking the same thing you are thinking. Always remember, any simple tactic you come up with is likely to be mimiced by any number of other applicants, so just go with your gut feeling.

...What is a Maths Prefect exactly? ...does YE = Youth Enterprise?

more confusion now,I've seen a Topkins table of year 2000-2004which says that Gonv&Caius is like 5-10th but Robinson is like 20th ish,are we talking abotu the same Cambridge? :confused:

Reply 4

MadNatSci

12

catinmoonlight

more confusion now,I've seen a Topkins table of year 2000-2004which says that Gonv&Caius is like 5-10th but Robinson is like 20th ish,are we talking abotu the same Cambridge? :confused:

...and this is why Tompkins is totally irrelevant. It fluctuates wildly from year to year. Caius leapt six places this year (2005) to second place, and Robinson rose 5 to 11th. One college (King's) rose by 10 places - this is out of 29. The academic standard at every college in Cambridge is exceedingly high. There is not going to be a significant difference in academic ability between the students at Caius and Robinson, or indeed any other college. Tompkins gives you a hugely distorted view: it's one random year and (I think, because of the fluctuations) is based solely on finalists' results. Add to this the fact that many Cambridge degrees are competitively marked (only the top x percent get a first, and so on, so no matter how well you actually do you have to do better than a certain number of other people in order to score highly), and you begin to see how pointless a comparison like that is. Please don't let it sway your college choice! Just choose the college you like :smile:

If it happens to be oversubscribed but you're good enough to be here you should get into Cambridge anyway, even if it turns out to be at a different college - but why apply somewhere you don't like so much in the first instance?!

Reply 5

Cirsium

19

Also bear in mind that the table is for the college as a whole. While your college might be 10th overall it might be 5th or 15th for your subject - see what I mean?

Reply 6

catinmoonlight

OP

yeah,that's true,so bacially the statistics and Tompkins are not reliable,but there must be some colleges exceptionally well known for the difficulties to get into,I mean,for example,I wouldn;t apply for Christ's or Trinity cuz I'm not confident enough,those applying must have a really high academic or something else really makes them stand out so that they're confident to apply for those ones.is Caius one od those colleges?

Reply 7

MadNatSci

12

catinmoonlight

yeah,that's true,so bacially the statistics and Tompkins are not reliable,but there must be some colleges exceptionally well known for the difficulties to get into,I mean,for example,I wouldn;t apply for Christ's or Trinity cuz I'm not confident enough,those applying must have a really high academic or something else really makes them stand out so that they're confident to apply for those ones.is Caius one od those colleges?

That's not necessarily true actually; I know of a lot of people who applied to Trinity because it was the only one they'd heard of, or they liked the photos in the prospectus, without really realising its renown.

Caius is relatively famous, I guess, but the thing is that all of the colleges are difficult to get into. There isn't an easy ticket in, at least not as a general rule. Seriously, if you like it just apply there. It's a gorgeous place and has lovely people in it. :smile:

Reply 8

thefish_uk

14

I can't believe how obsessed with league tables some people are!

Cambridge is Cambridge, right? Someone I know told me to apply for Emmy because it's "the best", and I said nope, there's reasons why I've chosen Robinson - I want the one where I think I'll be happiest.

still worrying about colleges...

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