Home educated students at Cambridge

Without GCSE's i dont think Cambridge will accept you

Hm, would it possibly be the kind of thing that would make me eligible for the CSAS? It says that's for people whose education has been severely disrupted, which mine has. I could understand if I'd just failed all my GCSEs, but since I didn't have an opportunity to take them, surely they wouldn't be harsh enough to completely disregard me if I was getting As at college?

To be honest, I think the post you're replying to there is mistaken. GCSE's aren't everything, and if Cambridge didn't accept people because they didn't have GCSE's, there'd be no international students there.

GCSE's provide a record of previous academic achievement - if you did well in them before, and are doing well now in A-Levels, it shows consistent performance. If you don't have GCSE's, they don't have this metric, but that should by no means disqualify you from a chance of getting in if you have very good A-Level results.

Get some more info on the CSAS and see if you're applicable. Although, I think you need a referee or a teacher to submit it for you, so I'm not sure what you would do if you're homeschooled?

Well as of this September I won't be home schooled any more, I've managed to secure myself a place at an actual 6th form to do A levels, so when the time comes I'll be able to get a teacher to fill it in if that's what they need. I'm not entirely sure I'd be eligible for the CSAS, because it says you can apply through it if your education was disrupted due to "certain reasons", but since the reasons were beyond my control I'm hoping they'll be understanding. And thanks for pointing that out, I hadn't thought about the fact that they take so many overseas students without GCSEs

I'd definitely speak to them sooner rather than later. It's true that international applicants won't have GCSEs, but if they see you're a UK student attending a UK 6th form college, they'll wonder why you don't have any. Yes, they often waive their matriculation requirements but definitely worth finding out soon if they will for you!

I'm going to be starting college this September to do Literature, History, Sociology and Critical Thinking AS as an enrichment subject, but I've been home educated since I was 12, and I haven't had any sort of formal teaching in that time, nor did I have the chance to take GCSEs due to financial issues, so obviously I'll have no GCSE results to show when I apply to Cambridge in 18 months' time, hopefully to study English. Does anyone know whether this would be a particular disadvantage, since I'm suspecting Cambridge would expect a pretty impeccable academic record, or would they be willing to overlook it assuming I get very good marks at college, since it was all factors beyond my control etc? Any advice would be very nice, it's a long time until I apply but I'm very very worried about it!!

Hallo!
Don't worry - this is a good question.

You should definitely contact Cambridge about it. Some colleges will be more bothered by others. Technically, they like students to have done well at GGCSEs (or international equivalents), but there are ways to waive the requirements, or to get round them.
Contact a few of the colleges, in good time, and ask them their take on it. *Make sure you ask the college you eventually apply to*, just to make sure they're not going to be weird about it!

Cambridge wants interesting, interested students, not just people with the 'right' paperwork.

Enjoy college!

I think your biggest problem is the fact your only doing 3 AS Levels excluding CT. Is there any way you can take up a 4th? And I think they may ask for GCSE English at Grade C, because international applicants do IELTS.

Thanks for the advice it's still a while until I apply yet, so I don't know if I really need to contact them yet about it? I plan on going to open days and things next year (I'll be applying in October 2009) so I'm guessing there'll be people that I can speak to abou it then?

I think your biggest problem is the fact your only doing 3 AS Levels excluding CT.