Uni

what would you advise I do then?

@realitycheck

IF I get all A*’s at a levels

So ur saying anaemia isn’t a long term illness.My GP said otherwise, but thank you for ur reality check I really needed it.Maybe it will motivate me much more.

Let's just note *contextually weak - most students do not consider 1 A*, 5 'A' and 3 'B' equivalent grades 'weak'. Just for other who might be reading this and rolling their eyes.

1. It's unlikely that you will get 'all A*' at A level. Most students don't - and certainly not from that GCSE starting point.
2. The EC you're trying to shape into something smacks of desperation. What do you mean 'admitted in A&E'? ECs are for sustained health problems or other issues which have meaningfully impacted on yuor long-term ability to study, or a critical, acute event such as a death or illness right in the middle of exam season. They're not meant to cover the odd difficulty and problem - otherwise everyone would be able to claim ECs.

Sorry to jump in but I have to agree. Some people on TSR seem to think that if they get “weak” GCSE grades (“weak” as in some ppl think 9999888886 is weak) mean that they need to manufacture extenuating circumstances. I’m NOT saying that’s you, I have a friend who has pretty bad anaemia so I know it can be rough, but you have to make sure that you have evidence that it impacted your GCSEs and caused you to not achieve what you could have if you didn’t have anaemia. If I use myself for an example, I developed a chronic pain condition (and other stuff) in y7. It got progressively worse so I missed the vast majority of y7, y8, y9 and 10 (eg: my average was that for every week I was in, I was absent for 3). In Y11 my attendance was around 70% and that’s the best it’s ever been I was amazed (and relieved!) From that, admissions can obviously tell my GCSEs would be impacted. I’m not saying you need to match me, and I’m very sure that there’s people out there who have worse issues than me, but as long as you can prove that your potential was restricted in a significant amount of way (either over a long period of time or in a crucial moment like whatever happened happened during exam season) then they’ll take it into account.

I think I was diagnosed as anaemic in y10 or 9 because of heavy periods, I was sent to A and E .
I had low blood count, I couldn’t do anything for weeks.During GCSEs I was better than originally but I couldn’t do things for long periods of time though.I had to sleep after school that’s how tired I would get.Honestly I didn’t think it was a major issue until I was diagnosed with a lot more deficiencies in my first year of college.I guess that explained all the headaches and my mental health deteriorating.I just wanted to know whether it’s a valid extenuating circumstance because obviously it did affect me in the long term issue.

Surely if a levels have been already awarded, they shouldn’t carry as much importance.?

GCSEs matter only marginally for Oxford maths, so your GCSEs won't help but they're not a barrier to a competitive application. Certainly if you obtain A*A*A with A*s in maths and further maths, your GCSEs will be even more secondary, but if you don't get those grades there's not a lot of point applying to Oxford.

I am surprised you received 5 rejections. Do you know your predicted grades? Especially in light of Cambridge's feedback.

You're unlucky in that most universities for maths give an offer to the majority that have the correct grades - you applied to basically 4 of the 5 that don't unfortunately. (you're certainly not the only one, I read of someone in pretty much an identical situation to yours)

Other unis to consider if you reapply are Bath, Warwick, (arguably better than Durham/St Andrews, Bath would probably be on par with those two) Lancaster, Bristol, UCL... (just tossing names around) You can count on an offer from these if you have the grades. If you achieve 4A*s, you can do better than KCL, anyway.

You are more likely to get an interview for Cambridge (and get an offer) because much of the selection is left to STEP. (while with Oxford, MAT wipes out a lot of applicants and most of those who get offers get in) Imo it really depends whether you're more confident with MAT or STEP, have you looked at sample papers for both? Also factor in how much you like both universities.

I like the maths and stats course at Oxford.But I guess I like the atmosphere at Cambridge and the maths course is a mixture of pure and stats topics you can pick. Should I just wait for my a level results?

It'd give you a clearer picture.

If you get your predicted grades of A*A*A you'll be able to apply to any university for maths.