stuck whether to apply to oxford or cambridge!

Hiya,
I am unsure whether to apply to oxford physics or Cambridge natural sciences. For reference, I have done lots of bpho questions, nearly all the pat past papers (scoring interview cutoff), and nsaa papers. however, since the nsaa is very time pressured, i feel like there is a chance i might throw the paper, however for oxford, i feel like i could do better consistently and i enjoy doing the paper more. in all honesty, i am torn between whether i prefer the oxford pure physics degree and Cambridge natural sciences degree (im 50:50). but i prefer Cambridge as a location, and i have already stayed in Cambridge for 4 days since i got onto this physics residential (from a physics competition).
thanks for taking your time to read this, and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

OP

for reference, my gcse grades are 9 9s and a level predicted 4A*s

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

OP

also would anyone know whether oxford physics is harder to get into that Cambridge natural sciences - i know that the acceptance rates for Cambridge is 20% however for oxford it is 11% but the average Cambridge applicant IMO seems stronger than that for oxford and could anyone confirm?

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Anonymous

Hiya,
I am unsure whether to apply to oxford physics or Cambridge natural sciences. For reference, I have done lots of bpho questions, nearly all the pat past papers (scoring interview cutoff), and nsaa papers. however, since the nsaa is very time pressured, i feel like there is a chance i might throw the paper, however for oxford, i feel like i could do better consistently and i enjoy doing the paper more. in all honesty, i am torn between whether i prefer the oxford pure physics degree and Cambridge natural sciences degree (im 50:50). but i prefer Cambridge as a location, and i have already stayed in Cambridge for 4 days since i got onto this physics residential (from a physics competition).
thanks for taking your time to read this, and any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

I mean it sounds like you prefer Cambridge overall, I really don't think one is going to be easier or harder to get into, so would focus on the course and location etc.

I'd note that in Cambridge natsci doing physics you would effectively being purely doing physics from second year onwards and would just do two optional papers from outside of physics (and related areas - you will always be doing maths in a physics degree anywhere) in first year.

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

OP

thanks for your reply and for your advice! they honestly both seem equally difficult to get into haha
I'm just so torn whether i should apply Cambridge or oxford because both have their pros and cons...

Reply 5

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Anonymous

also would anyone know whether oxford physics is harder to get into that Cambridge natural sciences - i know that the acceptance rates for Cambridge is 20% however for oxford it is 11% but the average Cambridge applicant IMO seems stronger than that for oxford and could anyone confirm?

Worth noting NatSci is a bigger course and covers those applying for non-physics based interests as well as physics based ones. So you can't really directly compare entry statistics like that.

Realistically both are going to be looking for applicants of the same calibre. If you would be a competitive applicant for one you would be a competitive applicant for the other, and vice versa.

Original post by Anonymous

thanks for your reply and for your advice! they honestly both seem equally difficult to get into haha
I'm just so torn whether i should apply Cambridge or oxford because both have their pros and cons...

I would just focus on the differences between the courses (which are smaller than you might think, but are there), and in living experiences in one vs the other. As above you're realistically going to have a similar chance at either, and any "long term" outcomes will be similar for each too. So you really just need to focus on what the differences will be for the 4 years you're actually going to be at the uni itself.

Reply 6

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by artful_lounger

Worth noting NatSci is a bigger course and covers those applying for non-physics based interests as well as physics based ones. So you can't really directly compare entry statistics like that.

Realistically both are going to be looking for applicants of the same calibre. If you would be a competitive applicant for one you would be a competitive applicant for the other, and vice versa.

I would just focus on the differences between the courses (which are smaller than you might think, but are there), and in living experiences in one vs the other. As above you're realistically going to have a similar chance at either, and any "long term" outcomes will be similar for each too. So you really just need to focus on what the differences will be for the 4 years you're actually going to be at the uni itself.

i think i have heard from cambridge professors/lecturers that the chances of getting in are roughly the same for all sciences - however i might have misheard them or not remember what they said correctly

for pat I'm getting on average 1 and a half standard deviations above the mean (which is top 10-15%), however for Cambridge my relative performance is worse because i feel like the Pat (the Oxford Physics entrance exam) plays to my strengths as I'm a lot more used to the question styles (pat questions are very similar to Isaac physics questions and have solved 700+ challenge questions on the site), so not too sure whether i would be more competitive for oxford or Cambridge in terms of the entrance exam (though my interview performance will probably be the same)

i will definitely look at the differences between the courses, and thanks for your advice on the long term prospects- im definitely taking that more into consideration now!

stuck whether to apply to oxford or cambridge!

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