King's College (Cambridge) Students and Applicants

Reply 360

12

Hmmm seems i inadvertently unsubscribed from this thread- its been busy too...

PeeWeeDan

The question is whether an earlier interview indicates a higher priority candidate or not.

On the whole any difference in days will be because most subjects only interview for a few days out of the week and a bit King's interviews go on for generally.

PeeWeeDan

7th of December PhysNatSci! :biggrin:

2 interviews and the TSA... nervous as hell but actually quite excited... I have so much damn preparation to do :s-smilie:

Well done, I'll be on the interview desk (probably sat browsing TSR) that morning so i'll see you there! :smile:

(thanks for the rep btw)

Tomdc

Right so all my friends had interview offers a week ago I expected mine would come this week and was reassured by reading other posts on this site that they hadn't recieved any kind of reply yet too. But now I have only just realised that on the admissions page of their website the deadline for thier interview confirmation form is today!?

Has anyone else still not heard? I'm just really worried now as this isn't my fault and I have tried calling the admissions office at kings but they aren't there till monday..! HELP?!

Try and keep calm- I was very nervous when all my friends applying to other colleges had their interview dates long before me. In reality it was just King's being slow. send the admissions office an email (they're usually quick in responding) to double check if it helps. It could even just be royal mail being slow after all.

Finally, to all of you who have got your interview offers, well done and I look forward to seeing you all next week (as above I'll be lurking behind the interview desk in the bar). Feel free to ask any questions before hand and I'll do my best to help/answer.

Reply 361

username245246

Well kings told me it's in the mail, some nice women found out for me even though she wasn't involved in admissions! Still waiting though! :biggrin:

CanI just ask any of natsci aplicants what are they doing in relation to notes on practicle work we have to bring to interview? I don't really do much practicle work in my school and we never take notes on them! I have gone back on two and set them out like more proper practicles with a full write up.. what have other people done?

Reply 362

Rvg

Tomdc

Well kings told me it's in the mail, some nice women found out for me even though she wasn't involved in admissions! Still waiting though! :biggrin:

CanI just ask any of natsci aplicants what are they doing in relation to notes on practicle work we have to bring to interview? I don't really do much practicle work in my school and we never take notes on them! I have gone back on two and set them out like more proper practicles with a full write up.. what have other people done?

I am confused about it.. as an international applicant, I need to translate, which is quite some work. I took two chemistry experiments + a couple of questions on it, translated them to English and answered the accompanying questions (very short though, each experiment took one page). And I might take some other (extra-curricular) experimental work with me, but it's chemistry-related as well and all my NatSci interviewers are physics-fellows (I am applying for Chemical Engineering, have an interview with the Director of studies from Chem Eng as well). Do you think that's a problem?

Reply 363

PeeWeeDan

15

Tomdc

Well kings told me it's in the mail, some nice women found out for me even though she wasn't involved in admissions! Still waiting though! :biggrin:

CanI just ask any of natsci aplicants what are they doing in relation to notes on practicle work we have to bring to interview? I don't really do much practicle work in my school and we never take notes on them! I have gone back on two and set them out like more proper practicles with a full write up.. what have other people done?

I have a pretty lackluster booklet with about 5 experiments only, and they aren't great written... and one is an experiment I made up and did using the equipment you can find in the stores on a kibbutz(which isn't a lot) which found the damping ratio in the order of 30... i don't think it's right.

Reply 364

green10

Hi! I have to take the TSA (PPS at King's).I've seen on their website "applicants may be asked to sit the one hour and a half Thinking Skills Assessment (Critical Thinking only)".Does this mean that it won't have the problem solving part,only the one with finding conclusions,flaws,assumptions?
Thanks!

Reply 365

username245246

Turns out I got rejected :frown:

I have a Duhram offer but my heart was set on Cambridge. I might re-apply next year I am taking a gap year anyway I just wanna know why I was rejected at this stage... I've emailed them asking them about stuff, kinda annoying for them to leave me hanging so much, seems they hand out rejections after the interview offers which don't seem quite right to me :s-smilie:

Reply 366

munro90

12

green10

Hi! I have to take the TSA (PPS at King's).I've seen on their website "applicants may be asked to sit the one hour and a half Thinking Skills Assessment (Critical Thinking only)".Does this mean that it won't have the problem solving part,only the one with finding conclusions,flaws,assumptions?
Thanks!

Well the TSA is described as "Problem solving skills, including numerical and spatial reasoning and critical thinking skills, including understanding arguments and reasoning using everyday language." so i guess you only do the "understanding arguments and reasoning using everyday language" bit :dontknow:

Reply 367

KM-

Is there anyone in this thread that can tell me what the typical BMAT scores are for a King's applicant? I'm curious to know if King's attract candidates with exceptionally high BMAT scores (certainly munro90's are intimidating!). Many thanks in advance.

Reply 368

munro90

12

KM-

Is there anyone in this thread that can tell me what the typical BMAT scores are for a King's applicant? I'm curious to know if King's attract candidates with exceptionally high BMAT scores (certainly munro90's are intimidating!). Many thanks in advance.

From what I know of my peers here, their scores, in general, are not exceptionally high by any means. King's is not necessarily renowned for attracting the highest calibre of candidate academically but is better known for placing value in candidates as people (in all subjects)- of course that is not to say BMAT scores are ignored but the essential nature of the cambridge admissions system is that it is flexible enough to select the best candidates, something that is not always reflected in a test score. I hope all thats helpful sorry I can't give you a more precise answer- there are no statistics on this afaik and cambridge does not operate a BMAT cut off iirc.

Reply 369

PeeWeeDan

15

So who will I be meeting from here next Monday?

Reply 370

munro90

12

Almost certainly me- but i guess I don't count really :p:

Reply 371

KM-

munro90

From what I know of my peers here, their scores, in general, are not exceptionally high by any means. King's is not necessarily renowned for attracting the highest calibre of candidate academically but is better known for placing value in candidates as people (in all subjects)- of course that is not to say BMAT scores are ignored but the essential nature of the cambridge admissions system is that it is flexible enough to select the best candidates, something that is not always reflected in a test score. I hope all thats helpful sorry I can't give you a more precise answer- there are no statistics on this afaik and cambridge does not operate a BMAT cut off iirc.

Thanks, that was very useful. As you're the only King's medic I'm aware of on these boards, I had wondered if your BMAT results were representative of their typical applicant. I asked because myself and a few others were rejected without interview despite doing quite well in the BMAT (scoring 6/7+). We speculated that if your scores are representative of the typical applicant then it is of no surprise we were rejected :smile:

.

We were just speculating while we wait for our feedback in January. :smile:

EDIT: I don't mean to hang the rejection entirely on the BMAT scores, as you say it's only one part of the application. It just seemed the most likely reason.

Reply 372

ollypocket

6

Tomdc

Turns out I got rejected :frown:

I have a Duhram offer but my heart was set on Cambridge. I might re-apply next year I am taking a gap year anyway I just wanna know why I was rejected at this stage... I've emailed them asking them about stuff, kinda annoying for them to leave me hanging so much, seems they hand out rejections after the interview offers which don't seem quite right to me :s-smilie:

Oh I'm so sorry :frown:

- that was pretty harsh to leave you hanging. I will give random people evils when I visit.
Wow! You have a Duhram offer? I only have one offer and have been rejected from two places - it will probaby end up you at that amazing uni and me at an okay one :P
Good luck with your other offers!!

Reply 373

munro90

12

KM-

Thanks, that was very useful. As you're the only King's medic I'm aware of on these boards, I had wondered if your BMAT results were representative of their typical applicant. I asked because myself and a few others were rejected without interview despite doing quite well in the BMAT (scoring 6/7+). We speculated that if your scores are representative of the typical applicant then it is of no surprise we were rejected :smile:

.

We were just speculating while we wait for our feedback in January. :smile:

EDIT: I don't mean to hang the rejection entirely on the BMAT scores, as you say it's only one part of the application. It just seemed the most likely reason.

I obviously don't know any specifics but King's has had a very high level of applicants across all subjects this year and I gather a significant proportion had to be rejected prior to interview. I hope your feedback is useful to you- if your BMAT is 6/7+ I'd be surprised if this is the reason but thats personal opinion rather than solid fact.
Best of luck with your application generally :smile:

Reply 374

PeeWeeDan

15

munro90

Almost certainly me- but i guess I don't count really :p:

Good to know! So just BTW what do you look like? :p:

I'm getting rather nervous... I'm on a gap year so I've been away from Physics/Chemistry/Maths for a while... and I work a lot so revision is small. I'm not so worried about maths questions, but Physics/Chemistry(especially chemistry) could be an issue... I'm mostly a physicist so I hope the vast majority of my interviews are physics/maths lol.

Reply 375

munro90

12

PeeWeeDan

Good to know! So just BTW what do you look like? :p:

I'm getting rather nervous... I'm on a gap year so I've been away from Physics/Chemistry/Maths for a while... and I work a lot so revision is small. I'm not so worried about maths questions, but Physics/Chemistry(especially chemistry) could be an issue... I'm mostly a physicist so I hope the vast majority of my interviews are physics/maths lol.

Temporarily theres a photo of me in my profile :smile:

i'll be on the look out for a guy called dan who's a physnatsci. hope your journey goes ok

Reply 376

PeeWeeDan

15

munro90

Temporarily theres a photo of me in my profile :smile:

i'll be on the look out for a guy called dan who's a physnatsci. hope your journey goes ok

Okay I've seen the picture and I never forget a face :p:

. So that's what a genius who gets 8.5 on the first section on the BMAT looks like... Thanks, it shouldn't go too badly... I'm only an hour away!

Reply 377

KM-

munro90

I obviously don't know any specifics but King's has had a very high level of applicants across all subjects this year and I gather a significant proportion had to be rejected prior to interview. I hope your feedback is useful to you- if your BMAT is 6/7+ I'd be surprised if this is the reason but thats personal opinion rather than solid fact.
Best of luck with your application generally :smile:

Thanks