Gap Year??

Original post by Singam21

Hey guys
Pretty much I got turned down from imperial for chemical engineering today and I'm quite bummed out about it as Imperial were my first choice (got no faith in Cambridge) and I know I can definitely make it, I just had a bit of a stinker in the interview.
Anyway I got my other 3 offers from Bath, Southampton and Sheffield, and I'm unsure whether I accept my fate and go to 1 of these 3 good unis, or whether to take a gap year and reapply for Imperial and Cambridge and try my luck again, as I know I can defiantly get the grades and I know I can do better. I just don't know whether its worth a year of my life.
PS I'm not sure if Imperial do clearing

You don’t have to decide this yet.

Go to offer holder days in the spring and accept an offer for a university that you’d be happy with if you don’t get the top grades you’re hoping for.

Also apply for some yini placements for next year so you have something interesting (and profitable) to do if you take a gap year.

Then see what your results are in august and make a plan based on how you do.

(edited 5 months ago)

Reply 4

OP

Original post by Kong, Donkey

What are your subjects and predicted grades?

Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Further Maths all A*

Reply 5

londonstaredu

1

How do you know you’d be turned down ? Just based on interview ?? I know quite a few who applied chemical eng haven’t got invites yet !

Reply 6

OP

Original post by londonstaredu

How do you know you’d be turned down ? Just based on interview ?? I know quite a few who applied chemical eng haven’t got invites yet !

I've already had my interview and official reply from Imperial

Reply 7

ageshallnot

Original post by Singam21

I've already had my interview and official reply from Imperial

What about your offers?

Reply 8

Ghostlady

Original post by Singam21

Hey guys
Pretty much I got turned down from imperial for chemical engineering today and I'm quite bummed out about it as Imperial were my first choice (got no faith in Cambridge) and I know I can definitely make it, I just had a bit of a stinker in the interview.
Anyway I got my other 3 offers from Bath, Southampton and Sheffield, and I'm unsure whether I accept my fate and go to 1 of these 3 good unis, or whether to take a gap year and reapply for Imperial and Cambridge and try my luck again, as I know I can defiantly get the grades and I know I can do better. I just don't know whether its worth a year of my life.
PS I'm not sure if Imperial do clearing

Id wait and see when the other 4 come through and make your decision from there. My daughter fluffed up one of her questions at Oxford by having 1 prompt too many, but got offers elsewhere, and she went down the other uni route to a uni that was good at getting internships and had good support network. You might want to do a bit of homework on the other 3 unis and see if they have a chat to a student https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/study/chat type of thing and get a bit of an insight as to the support they get when it comes to internships and employment. Then once all the offers are in you can make a bit more of an informed decision if you want to do a gap year and try again.

Reply 9

OP

Original post by ageshallnot

What about your offers?

I have 2 atm from Southampton and Sheffield and I'm very confident Bath will say yes. Offers are AAA, AAA and AAB. and my predicted are all A*s.

Reply 10

OP

Original post by Ghostlady

Id wait and see when the other 4 come through and make your decision from there. My daughter fluffed up one of her questions at Oxford by having 1 prompt too many, but got offers elsewhere, and she went down the other uni route to a uni that was good at getting internships and had good support network. You might want to do a bit of homework on the other 3 unis and see if they have a chat to a student https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/study/chat type of thing and get a bit of an insight as to the support they get when it comes to internships and employment. Then once all the offers are in you can make a bit more of an informed decision if you want to do a gap year and try again.

Well in fact I know have 4 replies.
Cambridge- No
Imperial- No
Bath- TBD (would be AAA)
Sheffield - Yes AAB
Southampton- Yes AAA

Reply 11

ageshallnot

Original post by Singam21

I have 2 atm from Southampton and Sheffield and I'm very confident Bath will say yes. Offers are AAA, AAA and AAB. and my predicted are all A*s.

Ah, so that resolves the discrepancy between your first post and the response from @McGinger.

Reply 12

OP

Original post by ageshallnot

Ah, so that resolves the discrepancy between your first post and the response from @McGinger.

yes, that does sorry for any confusion

Reply 13

Ghostlady

Original post by Singam21

Well in fact I know have 4 replies.
Cambridge- No
Imperial- No
Bath- TBD (would be AAA)
Sheffield - Yes AAB
Southampton- Yes AAA

I know it really sucks when its a no, I remember eldest being gutted at the time, but she did the best thing for her at the time and did not fancy doing it again and face going through another rejection.
You have to weigh it up. You have two choices really:
A) is it worth the wait for the decision to go either one way or the other this time next year, plus the 'gap year plan' that you have to have in mind. And if its a no can you handle the rejection again? if you can, then this might be the option for you.
Or B) you cant bear to have a gap in your education so you go for one of the other unis, but have to live with the no from cambridge/imperial (which you will get over eventually, its just too raw atm)

Eldest she did option B and it paid off. Shes 4th year now and doesnt give Oxford a second thought now and applying for research phds.
Youngest, situation different, hers was the gap year. Was homesick at Reading, came home in september, took a gap year option and working, and applied locally for next year and found a uni thats even better course and more hands on (in person with animals). Shes got the offer, so its paid off.

Reply 14

Sectan567

1

Original post by Singam21

Hey guys
Pretty much I got turned down from imperial for chemical engineering today and I'm quite bummed out about it as Imperial were my first choice (got no faith in Cambridge) and I know I can definitely make it, I just had a bit of a stinker in the interview.
Anyway I got my other 3 offers from Bath, Southampton and Sheffield, and I'm unsure whether I accept my fate and go to 1 of these 3 good unis, or whether to take a gap year and reapply for Imperial and Cambridge and try my luck again, as I know I can defiantly get the grades and I know I can do better. I just don't know whether its worth a year of my life.
PS I'm not sure if Imperial do clearing

Hi do you mind me asking what was bad about the interview. I just applied and i havnt had an invite yet lol so im super nervous.

Reply 15

OP

Universities Forum Helper

Yh pretty much the interviewer wasn't nice, really awkward questions and i stumbled on the chem questions.

Reply 16

swanseajack1

19

Original post by Singam21

Yh pretty much the interviewer wasn't nice, really awkward questions and i stumbled on the chem questions.

Imperial and Cambridge reject more than they accept. There is no guarantee you will get an offer next year. Only you can decide whether the risk and gap year is worth it. When you apply to the very top universities rejections are always likely as the numbers applying there exceed the number of offers.

Reply 17

Admit-One

I suppose it boils down to whether you’d feel like an extra year was a huge waste if you ended up in the same position 12 months from now, or whether you’d fell better to remove the nagging sense of “what if?”, (hopefully following a better interview performance).

As per PQ, there is no rush to decide whilst you are still on the back foot.

Reply 18

omgwha

8

Original post by Singam21

Hey guys
Pretty much I got turned down from imperial for chemical engineering today and I'm quite bummed out about it as Imperial were my first choice (got no faith in Cambridge) and I know I can definitely make it, I just had a bit of a stinker in the interview.
Anyway I got my other 3 offers from Bath, Southampton and Sheffield, and I'm unsure whether I accept my fate and go to 1 of these 3 good unis, or whether to take a gap year and reapply for Imperial and Cambridge and try my luck again, as I know I can defiantly get the grades and I know I can do better. I just don't know whether its worth a year of my life.
PS I'm not sure if Imperial do clearing

you have a lot of time to decide if you want a gap year so dont rush the decision. something i would suggest though is thinking about if you waned to study chem eng just because you thought you had a chance to get into imperial or cambridge. this definitely may not be the case of course, but if you are considering a gap-year because you didn't get into the two I would just make sure you are picking a course that you want to study as the top priority before where you study it if that makes sense. It's just that a lot of ppl including myself pick courses because they are hung up on going to a certain university (e.g for me it was natural sciences at cambridge and i didn't want to study it anywhere else) so it lead me to a gap year as I needed to reflect on what I would want to do regardless of the university i got into.

but ive heard so many great things about bath so if you like chemical engineering i would really consider it.

but if you are set on chemical engineering and are very set on cambridge/ imperial i think taking a gap year helps A LOT especially if you achieve you predicted grades as you will be automatically placed into the winter pool for cambridge. also you would be able to make you ps even better because you would have so much time and have a lot of time to prepare for interviews and admissions assessments. however it is a year out so you will have to weigh up if it is worth it.

(edited 4 months ago)

Reply 19

OP