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Cambridge Part III

As I understand it's actually not part of the undergraduate degree so people can come from other universites to do it? Does that mean you can be on a four year maths course somewhere but transfer to Cambridge to do your fourth year, or would you do it after? I don't imagine I'd be anywhere near good enough to do it, but I'm interested to how it works.

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Reply 1

AlphaNumeric

Wrangler, Cexy and I are doing Part III at the moment. Half the year is from other universities, even other countries.

Depending on which university you are at, you can apply to do Part III after your 3rd year, but some after your 4th year. I know someone from York uni who has already done 4 years of maths, and this is his fifth. I think most people have done 3 years and come here for their 4th.

A 1st from your uni is definately required. The only way to get onto Part III without a 1st is if you did your undergrad at Cambridge (I didn't get a 1st) and got a good enough 2i.

Reply 2

KayBee

I'm on hopefully gonna be doing the four year course at my uni (need to get 2:1 or higher next year) and would love to do the part III at cambridge but I'll probably apply after 4 years because I'm not going to get a LEA funded Masters anywhere else. lol

Reply 3

Cexy

AlphaNumeric

Depending on which university you are at, you can apply to do Part III after your 3rd year, but some after your 4th year. I know someone from York uni who has already done 4 years of maths, and this is his fifth. I think most people have done 3 years and come here for their 4th.

I don't think that's true, is it? Most outsiders have done four years of maths already, to my knowledge, and it's mainly the ones from Cambridge (plus a smattering of others from other countries) who've only done three so far.

Reply 4

Linkster

are all candidates for Cambridge Part III from other uni's interviewed?

Reply 5

Wrangler

Linkster

are all candidates for Cambridge Part III from other uni's interviewed?

I think it's based on your exam grades and references.

Reply 6

AlphaNumeric

Like Wrangler says, it's most likely your results on paper. A Level is a poor way of gauging someones ability (unfortunately) so interviews are required. By the time you've done 3 or 4 years at uni, your results and impression on professors are enough, and unlike your head of year in 6th form, if you're not the sharpest tool in the shed (and for part III you pretty much need to be) your references know that bigging you up so much you get a place isn't infact in your best interest. 10% of the year fails.

Reply 7

Cexy

AlphaNumeric

...if you're not the sharpest tool in the shed, and for part III you pretty much need to be...

I don't know about that - they let me in! :wink:

Reply 8

AlphaNumeric

Me too

Reply 9

JrW

Do you reckon that in the 4th year you could graduate with Part III Mathematics and Part III Astrophysics, since there is so much overlap between them I.e. if I followed the Natural Science route (Maths, Chem, Physics, CS -> Maths, Physics, Advanced Physics -> Astrophysics (II & III)) but attended a few more lecture courses in Part III Maths (probably the more financial courses) as well as the prerequisite astrophysics ones, could you graduate with CASM and Part III Astrophysics?

Maybe I am underestimating the workload...

In fact, maybe I ought to think about trying to get in first!

Reply 10

AlphaNumeric

I think you're underestimating the workload/difficulty of the course. You can't do the financial courses without having done a fair bit of ground work, they are quite advanced maths. Of course you can go and sign up for supervisions in them*, but you'll probably not be able to do much and I don't think you can do them for the exams if you're offically on the astrophysics course.

There are lectures put on in the maths department which are meant for both maths and astrophysics students, such as Structure and Evolution of Stars or General Relativity, so some astrophysics students are in our lectures. Hence, I doubt you'd get any extra recognition for going to some maths lectures.

*You could be doing English and you're welcome to attend a few maths lectures if you're insane enough to find it fun, there's no check to make sure you're an actual maths student. Will be able to do any of it without previously doing much maths? Nope.

Reply 11

Wrangler

AlphaX

Maybe I am underestimating the workload...

My God yes! Part III is hard, very hard. And it's hard for the people who did well in Cambridge before Part III. Also, without a good grounding in applied probability, measure theory, stochastic calculus, you'd be WAY out of your depth in the financial mathematics lectures. To give you some idea of what you'd need:

1st Year:
Probability, Real Analysis
2nd Year:
Metric and Topological Spaces, Markov Chains, Statistics
3rd Year:
Applied Probability, Probability and Measure, Stochastic Financial Models

You wouldn't touch 99% of this as a Natsci I'm afraid. Most people have enough trouble trying to just cover enough to get through the Mathematics/Astrophysics version of Part III, let alone both!

AlphaX

In fact, maybe I ought to think about trying to get in first!

Yes, certainly! :smile:

Reply 12

JrW

Just out of interest, how many courses do you take for CASM?

Reply 13

Wrangler

AlphaX

Just out of interest, how many courses do you take for CASM?

Around 5-6, although you'll more than likely go to quite a few more initially, then pick your best for the exam (there is a maximum number of courses you can sit in the exams).

Reply 14

Fernand

I was wondering If anyone could tell me how much if any of the Cambridge partIII is theoretical physics based.

Reply 15

Wrangler

Fernand

I was wondering If anyone could tell me how much if any of the Cambridge partIII is theoretical physics based.

As much of it as you want. There are LOADS of courses. You can do entirely TP if you so wish - a few relevant courses would be:

Quantum Field Theory
Advanced Quantum Field Theory
Symmetries and Particle Physics
The Standard Model
Supersymmetry and Extra Dimensions
String Theory
General Relativity
Black Holes

There's more too, but I can't remember them all. There is a list somewhere or other.

Reply 16

Wrangler

Aha - found it!

http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/CASM/courses/descriptions/

Reply 17

Fernand

Thanks for the Help!

Reply 18

latentcorpse

so how much free time would you part III students say you have on average per week - how much of a social life?
not being nasty - i am just curious because it sounds really hard going

Reply 19

AlphaNumeric

A fair amount. Like with any course, you could bury yourself in work if you wanted, but that's often counter productive. I work into the evening once or twice a week, but generally work in the afternoons, leaving evenings free.

There certainly are Part III students (and I'll bet students in almost every subject, year, college and even uni!) who have very little social life, but not because of enormous workloads, they just aren't really those kinds of people.