Ask an Admissions Tutor XIII 18 June - 12 July

again from my girlfriend: thank you so much for your response! I have read a lot of books on politics and social theory and have spent a week shadowing my local MP and have been invited to and have attended various political functions organised by him. are there any other super curricular activities you would especially recommend for an hsps applicant?

additionally, are there any colleges that would likely look more favourably/unfavourably on this unusual subject combination? I know it's said all applicants have an equal chance at any college, but also for some suggests I know different colleges have different subject preferences? do you have any other advice regarding college choice?

Okay thanks!! One more question is that if I get an A in FM will you give me a conditional offer asking for an A*?( Or am I rejected straightforward）
And if I complete two full a-level in my AS year, will I become less competitive if I choose to drop physics in A2

Well, Trinity College produced a list of 'facilitating subjects' (https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/applying/a-level-subject-combinations/) a few years ago but I do not know of many other colleges that would sign up to such a prescriptive list. The best advice would be to narrow down the colleges you like and then have a look on their websites to see what they say about HSPS and if they have any subjects combinations that they prefer/don't like.

Generally, in terms of college choice, visiting Cambridge, either on an Open Day or any time, will help give you a sense of what colleges are like. There are many more similarities than differences between colleges but things to think about might include size, location, appearance, facilities etc. I hope that helps.

What's the general attitude to taking A Levels one year early? Hypothetically if someone managed to take 3 A Levels in Year 12 and got 3A*s, how differently would you treat their application? What would be the difference in attitude between someone going on to still take more A Levels in Year 13, and someone doing just extracurricular activities?

Both the circumstance, yours and your siblings, would be worth putting in an Exetnuating Circumstances Form. We take all such forms seriously but I can't tell you how far it will affect your application but it would never be a negative. You are welcome to submit raw marks if you want but we do not ask for them. If you think they will provide context then by all means send them.

I think this answer will be of interest to @Kazo11 too as the Admissions Forum (basically the group of all the Admissions Tutors at the different colleges) has been discussing the issues raised by both of you recently. A form of words is about to 'go live' on the University website literally in the next day or so. When it does, I shall update this post to point you towards it. Once it's there, I'll be happy to answer any follows up you have on it. Hope that's ok, I just don't want to reformulate the answer when what we produced was done so after a long discussion about what the appropriate response should be to performance in A Level Maths in Year 12 and to Maths, FM and one other subject.

Ok thanks, so is the ECF the best place to put the exam incident? Do I need any proof or anything like that?
I'm just worried I've messed up my chances due to one bad exam.

Hi again, sorry I don't mean to be impatient, but was just wondering if there was any update in regards to my post? No worries if there isn't an update yet, if not would it be possible for you to give any information on it? Thanks again.

I'm currently in Year 12 considering applying for engineering with predicted grades A* in Maths and Physics with an A in Further Maths (Grades from my mocks). I understand that this is not a competitive paper entry however due to issues with my mental health I missed 2 solid months of school and various other days throughout the year. How much would this be taken into consideration on an extenuating circumstances form? Would my performance in interview/ENGAA need to be high to compensate for low predictions?

Yes, it’s now been updated and you can find information here (
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/entrance-requirements) under Number of A Levels. I hope that clarifies things a bit.

We will always take what teachers say about you seriously as they know you much better than we do. Two things that are very useful in references are a focus on your suitability to study your chosen subject at a highly selective university and benchmarking your performance within your year group and also within a teacher’s career experience (e.g. one of the best physicists I have taught in my 15 years of teaching etc.)

Hello all and welcome to a new Ask an Admissions Tutor thread where you can ask me any question about Cambridge and the admissions processes at the University. I shall be here in advance of the University Open Days on 5th and 6th July and then will remain for a few days afterwards to mop up any questions that people might have in the aftermath of being on the Open Days.

As with many colleges, Murray Edwards is running a College Open Day in the morning of the first University Open Day (5th July) and you can book on that here.

In the meantime, please fire away with your questions.

Hello,
The physical natural science course seems really attractive for me but not all unis have such a course. Therefore if I apply to courses such as mathematics with applied mathematics/mathematical physics in imperial or mathematics and physics in warwick and talk a lot in my PS about mathematics and how using it in chemistry and physics make me feel good, would that decrease my chance for physical natsci in cambridge?
I am a US applicant who took Ap physics c mechanics, physics c electricity and magnetism, ap calculus bc, ap chemistry and ap micro/macroeconomics. So would such a PS effect my admission in a bad way?

Hello,
The physical natural science course seems really attractive for me but not all unis have such a course. Therefore if I apply to courses such as mathematics with applied mathematics/mathematical physics in imperial or mathematics and physics in warwick and talk a lot in my PS about mathematics and how using it in chemistry and physics make me feel good, would that decrease my chance for physical natsci in cambridge?
I am a US applicant who took Ap physics c mechanics, physics c electricity and magnetism, ap calculus bc, ap chemistry and ap micro/macroeconomics. So would such a PS effect my admission in a bad way?

Thanks for that, please could you clarify my circumstances specifically? I feel that my exams went quite badly and I may only get an A (possibly even a B, but I doubt it), and on top of that the grade boundaries are supposedly going to be very high this year for this cohort (as it mainly consists of further mathematicians). Does this rule me out, and how can I still be able to get an offer? Any chance you could explain the outcome of the discussion the admissions forum had with regards to maths in year 12 and further maths in year 13?