In Need of Serious Help
Hello and warm greetings to you all.
I am currently in a deep situation right now and seeking advice. Having a number of options myself, these are derived from my own perspective and limited thinking so hopefully, this thread will broaden my mindset and give multiple approaches.
I really have no clue as to where I should start but I feel that I should begin by presenting you the timeline of the events which, hopefully, will give you a better understanding.
Early Childhood Dream - Becoming a Pilot
----------Start of Timeline----------
2007 Onwards - Came to Birmingham, UK from abroad at the age of 12. I easily got into a public school X (for the purposes of anonymity) which I later realised was one of the unpopular schools in this city.
Having went to a private catholic school previously, I found it very hard to conform to the norms of this school X. Almost 90% of the students were Asians most of which were Pakistanis. I was bullied and picked up on almost everything. Skinny and underweight such as myself, I found myself to be in the centre of every dispute and conflict and fight. My parents themselves were fighting on a daily basis and were facing financial difficulties till to this day.
2011 August - After spending four years, I achieved really poor GCSE results ranging from a maximum of Cs to a Us. I was mostly entered for foundation tier exams. September - I then enrolled on to AS year by the skin of my teeth. My subjects were Maths, Physics and Psychology.
2012 August - Due to the lack of prior knowledge from GCSEs, I did terribly in all these three subjects. September - I decided to resit my AS year at another college but this time round, I picked up Computer Science and Electronics instead of Psychology
2013 August - At the end of AS, my grades were CDEE in Maths, Physics, CS and Electronics respectively. September - I went on to do A2 in three subjects dropping Electronics (the college dropped this course entirely)
2014 August - Completed my A-Levels achieving BDU in Maths, Physics and CS accordingly. Some time before September - Started working at this place for the purposes of gaining work experience. It was paid so it also supported me financially, though insufficient.
2015 August - Left work. Now in pursuit of applying to one of the top universities to study maths. I will be doing AS & A2 Further Maths with M3, M4 and M5 modules and resitting 2-3 modules from Maths and Physics. I completely left out the last question in C1 exam as I had not realised it was there for otherwise, I would be a few marks away from an A* instead of a really high B. I will be sitting a total of 10-12 modules privately in May/June of 2016 next year with my predicted grades being A*AA in Maths, Further Maths and Physics respectively. My teachers have approved of this and are also willing to provide references for UCAS. I cannot go back to college as I have already completed my two years of A-Levels but my teachers agreed to help me out with my UCAS.
----------End of Timeline----------
Now, ever since I was a child, I wanted to become a Pilot but I knew I did not have to work hard to get into this career path as GCSEs are enough but I proceeded on to do A-Levels anyways as I could then get into this career quite easily. During my second year at A-Levels, given the history by then, I knew I had to spend a lot more time on the table revising to bring myself on track and so I did. And in the process of doing so, I gained great interest in Maths and mechanics and was consistently getting top marks in my class and was also a favourite student of my teacher. It was all amazing to me as how things became more clear. How the world worked. How perfection can be achieved with the use of maths. How there are patterns in almost every single thing.
So from there on, I decided to Study maths at university and my teachers encouraged me to apply to top universities such as Oxford and/or Imperial.
I came to the UK on a dependant visa which applies the same for the rest of my family except my dad whose visa was work permit based as he was sponsored from an agency here. My dad has great set of skills which makes him a highly valuable and attractive employee. Now, our visas have expired and have applied for citizenship. We have yet to hear from Home Office. So one of my main concerns is that can I submit UCAS as a home student as I have lived here for eight years as no way can I afford to pay £16,000/year. I am 20 years old now and will be 21 before I start university next year hopefully. Oh, if it helps, I was living in a non-Europe country before I moved out here.
By the looks of it, I will be applying as a mature student and I am doing everything privately so how greatly will it differ from the usual path of applying?
My preferred choices of universities are:
1) University of Oxford
2) Imperial College London
3) University of Warwick
4) University of Birmingham
5) I am not sure which other to go for but I am leaning more towards St. Andrews.
I also have different goals now although I would still like to gain PPL (Private Pilot's License) later in life. I would like to contribute my efforts and research in the field of Mathematics and run a school/college which would focus on ones discipline and potential in certain subjects.
I am really confident in myself and know I can get the required grades but the circumstances that I am in right now, I really do not know what to do or where to go. Also, I know I do stand slim chances but I never give up and that I can only choose between Cambridge or Oxford. Which of these two would you recommend according to my circumstances?
And lastly, I would like to sincerely apologise for this colossal thread. Thank you very much for bearing with me. Any sort of advice will be much appreciated.
Take Care.
I am currently in a deep situation right now and seeking advice. Having a number of options myself, these are derived from my own perspective and limited thinking so hopefully, this thread will broaden my mindset and give multiple approaches.
I really have no clue as to where I should start but I feel that I should begin by presenting you the timeline of the events which, hopefully, will give you a better understanding.
Early Childhood Dream - Becoming a Pilot
----------Start of Timeline----------
2007 Onwards - Came to Birmingham, UK from abroad at the age of 12. I easily got into a public school X (for the purposes of anonymity) which I later realised was one of the unpopular schools in this city.
Having went to a private catholic school previously, I found it very hard to conform to the norms of this school X. Almost 90% of the students were Asians most of which were Pakistanis. I was bullied and picked up on almost everything. Skinny and underweight such as myself, I found myself to be in the centre of every dispute and conflict and fight. My parents themselves were fighting on a daily basis and were facing financial difficulties till to this day.
2011 August - After spending four years, I achieved really poor GCSE results ranging from a maximum of Cs to a Us. I was mostly entered for foundation tier exams. September - I then enrolled on to AS year by the skin of my teeth. My subjects were Maths, Physics and Psychology.
2012 August - Due to the lack of prior knowledge from GCSEs, I did terribly in all these three subjects. September - I decided to resit my AS year at another college but this time round, I picked up Computer Science and Electronics instead of Psychology
2013 August - At the end of AS, my grades were CDEE in Maths, Physics, CS and Electronics respectively. September - I went on to do A2 in three subjects dropping Electronics (the college dropped this course entirely)
2014 August - Completed my A-Levels achieving BDU in Maths, Physics and CS accordingly. Some time before September - Started working at this place for the purposes of gaining work experience. It was paid so it also supported me financially, though insufficient.
2015 August - Left work. Now in pursuit of applying to one of the top universities to study maths. I will be doing AS & A2 Further Maths with M3, M4 and M5 modules and resitting 2-3 modules from Maths and Physics. I completely left out the last question in C1 exam as I had not realised it was there for otherwise, I would be a few marks away from an A* instead of a really high B. I will be sitting a total of 10-12 modules privately in May/June of 2016 next year with my predicted grades being A*AA in Maths, Further Maths and Physics respectively. My teachers have approved of this and are also willing to provide references for UCAS. I cannot go back to college as I have already completed my two years of A-Levels but my teachers agreed to help me out with my UCAS.
----------End of Timeline----------
Now, ever since I was a child, I wanted to become a Pilot but I knew I did not have to work hard to get into this career path as GCSEs are enough but I proceeded on to do A-Levels anyways as I could then get into this career quite easily. During my second year at A-Levels, given the history by then, I knew I had to spend a lot more time on the table revising to bring myself on track and so I did. And in the process of doing so, I gained great interest in Maths and mechanics and was consistently getting top marks in my class and was also a favourite student of my teacher. It was all amazing to me as how things became more clear. How the world worked. How perfection can be achieved with the use of maths. How there are patterns in almost every single thing.
So from there on, I decided to Study maths at university and my teachers encouraged me to apply to top universities such as Oxford and/or Imperial.
I came to the UK on a dependant visa which applies the same for the rest of my family except my dad whose visa was work permit based as he was sponsored from an agency here. My dad has great set of skills which makes him a highly valuable and attractive employee. Now, our visas have expired and have applied for citizenship. We have yet to hear from Home Office. So one of my main concerns is that can I submit UCAS as a home student as I have lived here for eight years as no way can I afford to pay £16,000/year. I am 20 years old now and will be 21 before I start university next year hopefully. Oh, if it helps, I was living in a non-Europe country before I moved out here.
By the looks of it, I will be applying as a mature student and I am doing everything privately so how greatly will it differ from the usual path of applying?
My preferred choices of universities are:
1) University of Oxford
2) Imperial College London
3) University of Warwick
4) University of Birmingham
5) I am not sure which other to go for but I am leaning more towards St. Andrews.
I also have different goals now although I would still like to gain PPL (Private Pilot's License) later in life. I would like to contribute my efforts and research in the field of Mathematics and run a school/college which would focus on ones discipline and potential in certain subjects.
I am really confident in myself and know I can get the required grades but the circumstances that I am in right now, I really do not know what to do or where to go. Also, I know I do stand slim chances but I never give up and that I can only choose between Cambridge or Oxford. Which of these two would you recommend according to my circumstances?
And lastly, I would like to sincerely apologise for this colossal thread. Thank you very much for bearing with me. Any sort of advice will be much appreciated.
Take Care.
I know very little about mature applications and am finding it very difficult to find anything useful on university websites, so I'm just going to flag up a few things which I think it might be worth looking into before deciding where you want to apply.
First of all, where have you been working for the past few years? The top universities for maths (so Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial) usually discourage taking gap years because students very quickly lose their maths skills, so unless you've been doing some maths at work you might face the same issue. I understand that you will be taking A-levels in the coming year, and therefore brushing up on your skills, but even so I suspect this may be a problem both for you and those considering your application.
Second, it's worth bearing in mind that the standard offer for maths at Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial or Warwick is A*A*A in Maths, Further Maths and another subject (in your case, Physics). From a cursory inspection of the King's College Cambridge website, it seems like they would expect something similar from mature students. This would mean that you would really have to stand out at interview in order to be made an offer, not to mention the fact that you would then have to actually meet the conditions (which is easier said than done).
Lastly, Oxford and Imperial both have internal maths tests before (or alongside the interview), while Cambridge and Warwick require you to sit STEP papers. These are all considerably more difficult than standard A-level Modules. If you want to apply to any of these universities (and get in) you will probably have to spend as much time, if not more, preparing for these extra tests and examinations than you will have to spend on all of your A-levels combined. Clearly this may affect how well you do in your A-levels.
Overall, I really do not know whether you have a reasonable chance or no chance at all of getting into Oxbridge, Imp, etc... but I suggest that you contact the universities directly through email or through the various Oxbridge College representatives here on TSR . Bear in mind that different colleges at Oxford and Cambridge may have different policies about mature students, so you should contact them individually.
I hope this has been somewhat helpful, all the best with your application.
First of all, where have you been working for the past few years? The top universities for maths (so Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial) usually discourage taking gap years because students very quickly lose their maths skills, so unless you've been doing some maths at work you might face the same issue. I understand that you will be taking A-levels in the coming year, and therefore brushing up on your skills, but even so I suspect this may be a problem both for you and those considering your application.
Second, it's worth bearing in mind that the standard offer for maths at Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial or Warwick is A*A*A in Maths, Further Maths and another subject (in your case, Physics). From a cursory inspection of the King's College Cambridge website, it seems like they would expect something similar from mature students. This would mean that you would really have to stand out at interview in order to be made an offer, not to mention the fact that you would then have to actually meet the conditions (which is easier said than done).
Lastly, Oxford and Imperial both have internal maths tests before (or alongside the interview), while Cambridge and Warwick require you to sit STEP papers. These are all considerably more difficult than standard A-level Modules. If you want to apply to any of these universities (and get in) you will probably have to spend as much time, if not more, preparing for these extra tests and examinations than you will have to spend on all of your A-levels combined. Clearly this may affect how well you do in your A-levels.
Overall, I really do not know whether you have a reasonable chance or no chance at all of getting into Oxbridge, Imp, etc... but I suggest that you contact the universities directly through email or through the various Oxbridge College representatives here on TSR . Bear in mind that different colleges at Oxford and Cambridge may have different policies about mature students, so you should contact them individually.
I hope this has been somewhat helpful, all the best with your application.
Yes the typical Cambridge maths offer is A*A*A plus STEP 1,1
Maybe ask (using a slightly condensed version
in the link below - it's a thread hosted by the AT at Lucy Cavendish, one of the Cambridge mature colleges (and I suggest you put Cambridge as 1 instead of Oxford when you ask it... ):
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2878031
Ask an Admissions Tutor - applying at 21+
Maybe ask (using a slightly condensed version
in the link below - it's a thread hosted by the AT at Lucy Cavendish, one of the Cambridge mature colleges (and I suggest you put Cambridge as 1 instead of Oxford when you ask it... ):http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2878031
Ask an Admissions Tutor - applying at 21+
Original post by lyranew
I know very little about mature applications and am finding it very difficult to find anything useful on university websites, so I'm just going to flag up a few things which I think it might be worth looking into before deciding where you want to apply.
First of all, where have you been working for the past few years? The top universities for maths (so Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial) usually discourage taking gap years because students very quickly lose their maths skills, so unless you've been doing some maths at work you might face the same issue. I understand that you will be taking A-levels in the coming year, and therefore brushing up on your skills, but even so I suspect this may be a problem both for you and those considering your application.
Second, it's worth bearing in mind that the standard offer for maths at Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial or Warwick is A*A*A in Maths, Further Maths and another subject (in your case, Physics). From a cursory inspection of the King's College Cambridge website, it seems like they would expect something similar from mature students. This would mean that you would really have to stand out at interview in order to be made an offer, not to mention the fact that you would then have to actually meet the conditions (which is easier said than done).
Lastly, Oxford and Imperial both have internal maths tests before (or alongside the interview), while Cambridge and Warwick require you to sit STEP papers. These are all considerably more difficult than standard A-level Modules. If you want to apply to any of these universities (and get in) you will probably have to spend as much time, if not more, preparing for these extra tests and examinations than you will have to spend on all of your A-levels combined. Clearly this may affect how well you do in your A-levels.
Overall, I really do not know whether you have a reasonable chance or no chance at all of getting into Oxbridge, Imp, etc... but I suggest that you contact the universities directly through email or through the various Oxbridge College representatives here on TSR . Bear in mind that different colleges at Oxford and Cambridge may have different policies about mature students, so you should contact them individually.
I hope this has been somewhat helpful, all the best with your application.
First of all, where have you been working for the past few years? The top universities for maths (so Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial) usually discourage taking gap years because students very quickly lose their maths skills, so unless you've been doing some maths at work you might face the same issue. I understand that you will be taking A-levels in the coming year, and therefore brushing up on your skills, but even so I suspect this may be a problem both for you and those considering your application.
Second, it's worth bearing in mind that the standard offer for maths at Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial or Warwick is A*A*A in Maths, Further Maths and another subject (in your case, Physics). From a cursory inspection of the King's College Cambridge website, it seems like they would expect something similar from mature students. This would mean that you would really have to stand out at interview in order to be made an offer, not to mention the fact that you would then have to actually meet the conditions (which is easier said than done).
Lastly, Oxford and Imperial both have internal maths tests before (or alongside the interview), while Cambridge and Warwick require you to sit STEP papers. These are all considerably more difficult than standard A-level Modules. If you want to apply to any of these universities (and get in) you will probably have to spend as much time, if not more, preparing for these extra tests and examinations than you will have to spend on all of your A-levels combined. Clearly this may affect how well you do in your A-levels.
Overall, I really do not know whether you have a reasonable chance or no chance at all of getting into Oxbridge, Imp, etc... but I suggest that you contact the universities directly through email or through the various Oxbridge College representatives here on TSR . Bear in mind that different colleges at Oxford and Cambridge may have different policies about mature students, so you should contact them individually.
I hope this has been somewhat helpful, all the best with your application.
Hello there. Thank you very much for taking your precious time out for me as it is greatly appreciated. I had only been working for the past year to gain work experience. The rest of the years following up to this has been explained in the timeline presented but I apologise if it has caused any confusion or misunderstanding.
And I do understand the load of pressure that I must bear myself with but it is doable. In 24 hours, I only sleep for around 6-7 hours on average. The rest goes into revision and piano lessons. And table tennis. And gym. 6.5/7 is mostly revision though.
I will be following up on your precious advice by contacting several colleges but I was under the impression that all the colleges would have, more or less, similar policies.
And can I apply as a home student as I have lived here for eight years. My citizenship status is currently in progress and home office has our passports but we should hear from then any time soon.
Thank You Very Much.
Original post by MyNameIsUsername
xxx
As I said above but I think you missed it:
The typical Cambridge maths offer is A*A*A plus STEP 1,1
Maybe ask (using a slightly condensed version
in the link below - it's a thread hosted by the AT at Lucy Cavendish, one of the Cambridge mature colleges (and I suggest you put Cambridge as 1 instead of Oxford when you ask it... ):http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2878031
Ask an Admissions Tutor - applying at 21+
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by jneill
Yes the typical Cambridge maths offer is A*A*A plus STEP 1,1
Maybe ask (using a slightly condensed version in the link below - it's a thread hosted by the AT at Lucy Cavendish, one of the Cambridge mature colleges (and I suggest you put Cambridge as 1 instead of Oxford when you ask it... ):
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2878031
Ask an Admissions Tutor - applying at 21+
Maybe ask (using a slightly condensed version
in the link below - it's a thread hosted by the AT at Lucy Cavendish, one of the Cambridge mature colleges (and I suggest you put Cambridge as 1 instead of Oxford when you ask it... ):http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2878031
Ask an Admissions Tutor - applying at 21+
Hi, thank you so much for taking your time out to read my thread. I am grateful for your involvement in this. I shall definitely contact Ms. Emily Tomlinson in that thread.
Thank You again.
Original post by jneill
As I said above but I think you missed it:
I was in the process of submitting my reply (post 5) to your post 3 when I received a notification of your reply before.
Thank You.
Original post by MyNameIsUsername
I was in the process of submitting my reply (post 5) to your post 3 when I received a notification of your reply before.
Thank You.
Thank You.
Yep. No problem.
Posted from TSR Mobile
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Long Distance Relationship: Texting
- Bleeding when having a bowel movement is this normal ? Help please
- Jisc code
- He's still on tinder after 3 dates
- Is it normal to ask for help from friends to whom you are not close?
- HELP! I’m spending mindlessly
- help
- Pls help biomed
- carol ann duffy help! AGAIN! GRRRR I HATE HER
- City & Guilds level 3 Electrical Installation
- how do i revise?
- Unit 7 Applied Science
- ALEVEL OCR computer science NEA - help!!!
- A level Computer Science AQA - SymbolPuzzlw
- Considering dropping out of sixth form this september?
- Dissertation issues - consequences of not submitting it?
- bf ignores me on discord but answers other messages
- Strange emotions/thoughts relating to people and relationships
- Hello
- Possibility of getting single ensuite for Durham Uni
Latest
Trending
Last reply 2 hours ago
Oxbridge applicants for modern languages - 2025 entry (applying in 2024)Last reply 5 hours ago
Weidenfeld Hoffmann Trust (WHT) Scholarship Notification (2024-2025)Last reply 1 week ago
Will I get into Oxford with my GCSE results? - EngineeringLast reply 3 weeks ago
will 5 a levels give me a better chance at getting into oxford?Trending
Last reply 2 hours ago
Oxbridge applicants for modern languages - 2025 entry (applying in 2024)Last reply 5 hours ago
Weidenfeld Hoffmann Trust (WHT) Scholarship Notification (2024-2025)Last reply 1 week ago
Will I get into Oxford with my GCSE results? - EngineeringLast reply 3 weeks ago
will 5 a levels give me a better chance at getting into oxford?
