Cambridge - Is it possible with these GCSEs?

Hi everyone. Long story short I have only achieved 3 grades between 7 (A) and 9 (A**). The rest consist of 4x grade 6s, and 3 grade 5s. I know the calibre of candidates applying for Cambridge undergraduate courses, but I was wondering if it would still be worthwhile applying if I met the A-Level grades for a given course? I would apply here as opposed to Oxford as I know Cambridge are more lenient. Just how lenient however, I do not know.

Hi everyone. Long story short I have only achieved 3 grades between 7 (A) and 9 (A**). The rest consist of 4x grade 6s, and 3 grade 5s. I know the calibre of candidates applying for Cambridge undergraduate courses, but I was wondering if it would still be worthwhile applying if I met the A-Level grades for a given course? I would apply here as opposed to Oxford as I know Cambridge are more lenient. Just how lenient however, I do not know.

Hi everyone. Long story short I have only achieved 3 grades between 7 (A) and 9 (A**). The rest consist of 4x grade 6s, and 3 grade 5s. I know the calibre of candidates applying for Cambridge undergraduate courses, but I was wondering if it would still be worthwhile applying if I met the A-Level grades for a given course? I would apply here as opposed to Oxford as I know Cambridge are more lenient. Just how lenient however, I do not know.

what subject are you looking to do? i got a cambridge offer for history with 8887765555. weaker gcses aren't a huge deal for admissions tutors so long as you manage to perform exceptionally in the other areas of your application! however, if you're looking to apply for very competitive courses like maths, medicine, law or natsci i'm afraid it'll be much harder

what subject are you looking to do? i got a cambridge offer for history with 8887765555. weaker gcses aren't a huge deal for admissions tutors so long as you manage to perform exceptionally in the other areas of your application! however, if you're looking to apply for very competitive courses like maths, medicine, law or natsci i'm afraid it'll be much harder

Hi, thanks for your response & congratulations on your offer! I'm interested in something quantitative, ideally Land Economy.
I know it's also very competitive so I'm not sure how easy it will be. I'd imagine they'd look at STEM subjects, of which I've scored all 6s (Science+Maths).
I just can't help but feel I've got to retake some GCSEs here to make competitive applications to similar courses involving Economics elsewhere (LSE/UCL); but then again not sure how that would be viewed. At A-Level I'm set to achieve A*AA without Maths, so also considering taking a gap year to take Maths (as it is likely most applicants will offer this) along with retaking some GCSEs. Will of course try to get up to 2 Astars and one A in the final months.
Would love to hear if you got any offers at the LSE/UCL with similar grades, know of anyone in your cohort on a similar course and their GCSEs, or understand what other areas (Bar the personal statement) I could potentially look to focus on improving?

Sorry, I forgot to add that I am not eligible for contextual consideration for poorer GCSEs i.e. if I perfomed worse, but better than the average of my school. I would love to hear if you were at all?

I got an offer from UCL but I didn’t apply to LSE because they tend to reject people quite arbitrarily. I think you’d have a better chance at getting into Cambridge than LSE for this reason. All LSE uses to differentiate between applicants is grades & PS, so they're practically looking for a reason to reject you haha. In contrast, the Cam admissions process is holistic, and they ask for a huge amount of material (e.g interviews, admissions tests, written work). GCSEs do matter, but they're a small part of a much broader process. Cambridge interview the majority of applicants, so if you’ve got weaker grades you can always wow them at interview, genuinely!
Don’t bother retaking any GCSEs, it's not necessary. For now, just focus on getting the best A-level grades you can. Land Econ is more competitive than History, but your GCSEs aren’t anywhere near so bad that they’d be a deal breaker. Tbh, your biggest problem isn’t even GCSEs—it’s that you’re not talking Maths. Your A-level subjects indicate where your interests lie, and even if it's not a requirement, for a course like Land Econ aptitude for Math is really valuable. If competition is tight, they’ll almost always take an applicant with Maths over one without it. E.g, for History, most colleges don't actually require History A-level - but admissions tutors will seriously question how committed you are to the subject if you're not taking it. If you’re leaning towards something quantitative, def take Maths later on if you can!
In my cohort, I was the only one out of 10+ Oxbridge applicants in my year to get an offer despite having by far the worst GCSEs lol. A girl in my year applied to Cambridge for Land Econ, she had all 8/9s but got rejected. That might not sound very encouraging, but what I’m saying is that your GCSEs results aren’t all that important to admissions tutors. If you have them, straight 9s are helpful, but they won’t guarantee you an offer, just like a couple of 5s won’t guarantee you a rejection. If you manage to excel in the other areas of your application, you honestly have a good chance! Hope this helps, and best of luck.