Ask an Admissions Tutor V, 18 August -12 September

Hello,

Firstly, I would like to thank you that you will look at my questions.

1)Given that I apply for HSPS and in my PS I write only about politics and sociology, would I be asked any questions in the interview regarding Social and Biological Antrophology, IR, etc.?

2)Since I have been ranked in top 3 in many math contests, should I only mention 1 or 2 more important and asked my teacher to put the rest of them in my referance? Or is it better not to mention any particular competitions?

I really appreciate taking your time to answer those questions.

Cheers

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hello there,
First of all thanks for starting this thread, hopefully you'll have time to answer my questions. :-)
1.I'm looking to apply for philosophy, however i haven't studied it at AS, so what kind of questions will be asked if I'm going to submit a college essay from another subject?

2. The three subjects i am now studying are maths,econ and sociology, in which i got 286/300, 178/200 and 164/200 ums marks respectively. That averages out to just under 90% so hopefully I'll get an interview. But what is a slight concern is that 1) the distribution is quite uneven (95% in maths and 82 in socio) 2) the scores i got on different papers also vary. Would these be factors that the admission officers consider?

3. i got an A* in A level chinese back in high school, but I've heard that since it's my native language it can't be used as one of the grades IF i get an offer. Is that true? Or does it can it still be considered as one of my a levels?

4. I made a huge mistake in paying little attention to my GCSE's and ended up with 1 * 4A and 5B excluding Chinese. i know that Cambridge doesn't require a magnificent set of A*s and A's, but I'd like to ask, would i get credit for improvement...? (Or am i being a bit too optimistic)

Thanks for taking your time and reading this. I hope my questions are clear. :-)

Hi,
If I retake my biology and chemistry coursework and rise from 47/60 to 60/60 and 51/60 to 58/60 then my average will rise to about 94.2% from 91.9%. Do you recommend this or would it not make a difference due to my exam performance being the same? Or should I just mention in the additional personal statement my concerns about my coursework marks causing my ums % to not represent my true potential?


Posted from TSR Mobile

At Christ's all our students with 97%+ best three average for Economics received offers from Christ's.

Did all these students have further maths AS?

Posted from TSR Mobile

I have a question about filling in the SAQ. I sat an AS maths module in june year 10 and got a C(63). I resat in jan year 11 and got a good A (100). Do i need to show that i retook it on the SAQ, as i understand if you sat something in year 12 jan but retook in june then you dont need to show that you had to retake?

Did all these students have further maths AS?

Posted from TSR Mobile

I have another question regarding references. I was a private candidate this year and I taught myself the entire A level course however I don't have any referees as such who could provide with a proper reference.
I have my registered educator, who is my mother as well as a teacher from a center where I sat my exams who supported me with my coursework essays.
Prior to this I had went to a school but they are in another country and have no knowledge of the A level course, also the teacher who taught me is, as I'm told, retired.

I guess I'm in a pickle here.

That is a tricky situation. I suppose that the reference should come from your mother, as your registered educator, but will unlikely form a large part of our deliberations.

You need to submit both the original and the retake.

Could I put two references in, just in case? Because my mother will probably write a reference on my work/study ethic as well as my Russian A level which she taught me etc however the teacher who supported me with my coursework can write about my actual work because it is the subject I am applying to, so I figure admissions tutors would like to read about my work in English Literature.
Also, would being a post- a level candidate put any ease on the references requirement?

Will i be disadvantaged a lot by this considering it was sat in year 10 and retake was in year 11

It's fine to have your UCAS PS more about Economics, we expect Land Economy applicants to have a UCAS PS aimed at other courses. You can discuss Land Economy in the additional PS box in the SAQ if you wish.

Well, you haven't provided me with a great deal of information to go on but from what you have, I would expect you to be reasonably competitive at any college you wished to apply to for Land Economy.

Hi there and thank you for your questions.

1) The interviewers can come from any discipline within HSPS and they may discuss things related to their own subject but it would be in a general way and would not presuppose any knowledge on your part. Given your interest in Politics and Sociology, however, it is likely that a significant chunk of the interview/s would focus on those areas.

2) You should certainly mention the more prestigious of these in your PS as they are good evidence of further study.