The Student Room Group

Maths at Cambridge

I am in year 12 studying Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics and German at a grammar school. My GCSEs consisted of five 9s, two 8s, two 7s, a 6 and an A in Ad Maths. I received 9s in the subjects that I am studying now and my 6 was in English Language. I am thinking of applying to Trinity College Cambridge to study Mathematics. Though I have not done all too well in competition maths, never quite reaching the BMO, I am quite good at more advanced maths. I have studied into at least the second year of a typical university maths course and am preparing myself in the hopes of receiving SS in STEP. I have done many super-curriculars relating to maths including lecturing students in and below my year at school and writing articles for a student-run journal. Assuming that I receive 3 A*s and an A in my mocks, how likely is it that I could make it to Trinity or to Cambridge at all?
Original post by Anonymous
I am in year 12 studying Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics and German at a grammar school. My GCSEs consisted of five 9s, two 8s, two 7s, a 6 and an A in Ad Maths. I received 9s in the subjects that I am studying now and my 6 was in English Language. I am thinking of applying to Trinity College Cambridge to study Mathematics. Though I have not done all too well in competition maths, never quite reaching the BMO, I am quite good at more advanced maths. I have studied into at least the second year of a typical university maths course and am preparing myself in the hopes of receiving SS in STEP. I have done many super-curriculars relating to maths including lecturing students in and below my year at school and writing articles for a student-run journal. Assuming that I receive 3 A*s and an A in my mocks, how likely is it that I could make it to Trinity or to Cambridge at all?

Just apply to literally any other college and you have a good chance.

At Trinity you very likely won't be interviewed, and if you're not interviewed, you can't be pooled and get an offer from another college. There are students with all A*s at GCSE and at A-level routinely rejected from Trinity for maths before interview simply because for some reason people still think it matters which college they do the degree in. It is hugely oversubscribed for that one subject in spite of the fact that the lectures are organised centrally by the department and you will have supervisions out of college anyway (and non-Trinity students may have supervisions at Trinity as a result...).

You literally just shoot yourself in the foot before the race even starts by subscribing to the prestige of a place in the 19th century. Just pick any other college and you have a good chance of being interviewed and if you do well in interview, of getting an offer.

Achieving the offer is the hard part though and bear in mind that about 50% of applicants do not get 1,1 in STEP so it's unrealistic to assume you may get S, S. And bear in mind in any event, if Trinity rejects you before interview (which they most likely would) you can't get an offer after the fact even if you do get S, S in STEP.
Reply 2
Original post by artful_lounger
Just apply to literally any other college and you have a good chance.
At Trinity you very likely won't be interviewed, and if you're not interviewed, you can't be pooled and get an offer from another college. There are students with all A*s at GCSE and at A-level routinely rejected from Trinity for maths before interview simply because for some reason people still think it matters which college they do the degree in. It is hugely oversubscribed for that one subject in spite of the fact that the lectures are organised centrally by the department and you will have supervisions out of college anyway (and non-Trinity students may have supervisions at Trinity as a result...).
You literally just shoot yourself in the foot before the race even starts by subscribing to the prestige of a place in the 19th century. Just pick any other college and you have a good chance of being interviewed and if you do well in interview, of getting an offer.
Achieving the offer is the hard part though and bear in mind that about 50% of applicants do not get 1,1 in STEP so it's unrealistic to assume you may get S, S. And bear in mind in any event, if Trinity rejects you before interview (which they most likely would) you can't get an offer after the fact even if you do get S, S in STEP.

Thank you for your swift reply. I can see now why I shouldn't apply there. Out of interest is it the same for other subjects such as Nat-Sci? I have friends who want to apply to Trinity for it. Would it hurt their chances?
Original post by artful_lounger
Just apply to literally any other college and you have a good chance.
At Trinity you very likely won't be interviewed, and if you're not interviewed, you can't be pooled and get an offer from another college. There are students with all A*s at GCSE and at A-level routinely rejected from Trinity for maths before interview simply because for some reason people still think it matters which college they do the degree in. It is hugely oversubscribed for that one subject in spite of the fact that the lectures are organised centrally by the department and you will have supervisions out of college anyway (and non-Trinity students may have supervisions at Trinity as a result...).
You literally just shoot yourself in the foot before the race even starts by subscribing to the prestige of a place in the 19th century. Just pick any other college and you have a good chance of being interviewed and if you do well in interview, of getting an offer.
Achieving the offer is the hard part though and bear in mind that about 50% of applicants do not get 1,1 in STEP so it's unrealistic to assume you may get S, S. And bear in mind in any event, if Trinity rejects you before interview (which they most likely would) you can't get an offer after the fact even if you do get S, S in STEP.

He will most likely get interviewed if he is domestic. I have talked to Imre (the DOS at Trinity) during the UKMT camp and he said they will interview you as long as you have decent A level grades, are domestic (the qualities needed for interview as an international are highly stringest, and part of what give Trinity it's hard to get into rep). The people who get rejected pre interview are either anomalies or international or had some other glaring failure in their application. You don't need olympiads. You don't need all 9s. However, noting this, you will be against people who have done tons of olympiads, and this will help them in the interview. Look up the sample questions. If you can't do 6-7 minimum by the time you are about to submit your application (I am assuming you will work harder to increase that to 8-9 by the time interviews roll around), choose a different college.
Reply 4
Original post by Anonymous
Thank you for your swift reply. I can see now why I shouldn't apply there. Out of interest is it the same for other subjects such as Nat-Sci? I have friends who want to apply to Trinity for it. Would it hurt their chances?

You can view the college entry stats at
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics
Like all data, its open to interpretation but at trinity ~1/5 applicants get offers and 1/10 get places. Peterhouse (random selection) ~ 1/4 applicants get places.

The advanced maths you refer to may not really help with the interview and step (worth putting on your PS however), and the former are whats necessary to get over the line.
Also, note that Trinity students mostly have supervisions in college (definitely for part IA and IB). Trinity students receive (at least) one extra supervision for Numbers & Sets too during IA. There are of course a ton of perks for studying at a rich college at Cambridge (poorer colleges don't have proper/ any mocks, cheaper rent, more opportunity to have additional supervisions, etc), as well as the obvious network.
Original post by mqb2766
You can view the college entry stats at
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics
Like all data, its open to interpretation but at trinity ~1/5 applicants get offers and 1/10 get places. Peterhouse (random selection) ~ 1/4 applicants get places.
The advanced maths you refer to may not really help with the interview and step (worth putting on your PS however), and the former are whats necessary to get over the line.

I agree on your second point. Learning analysis, linear algebra, topology and so on probably won't help. Anecdotally, I recall that once my friend used the inclusion-exclusion principle on an interview question, and was asked to use a more elementary method. Practice STEP and practice BMO.
Original post by Anonymous
Thank you for your swift reply. I can see now why I shouldn't apply there. Out of interest is it the same for other subjects such as Nat-Sci? I have friends who want to apply to Trinity for it. Would it hurt their chances?


No as far as I'm aware it's just specifically maths due to Trinity's historical association with the subject (which has no bearing on current teaching as I understand).
Original post by Anonymous
He will most likely get interviewed if he is domestic. I have talked to Imre (the DOS at Trinity) during the UKMT camp and he said they will interview you as long as you have decent A level grades, are domestic (the qualities needed for interview as an international are highly stringest, and part of what give Trinity it's hard to get into rep). The people who get rejected pre interview are either anomalies or international or had some other glaring failure in their application. You don't need olympiads. You don't need all 9s. However, noting this, you will be against people who have done tons of olympiads, and this will help them in the interview. Look up the sample questions. If you can't do 6-7 minimum by the time you are about to submit your application (I am assuming you will work harder to increase that to 8-9 by the time interviews roll around), choose a different college.

Every year I see a handful of threads of UK students with all A*s at GCSE and A-level who were rejected pre-interview at Trinity.

Also I believe I read somewhere Trinity automatically interview BMO medalists or finalists (unsure which) from the UK or something similar, reducing the pool for others to be interviewed.

Also as above, the statistics clearly show it's vastly oversubscribed with a considerably lower success rate as a result.
Statistically, Jesus is more competitive than Trinity. It doesn't have that much of a considerably lower success rate.

>Every year I see a handful of threads of UK students with all A*s at GCSE and A-level who were rejected pre-interview at Trinity.

I have checked and I don't see more than one or two per year.

>Trinity automatically interview BMO medalists or finalists

Probably? They interview about ~85% of applicants though (Imre's words).
Original post by Anonymous
Thank you for your swift reply. I can see now why I shouldn't apply there. Out of interest is it the same for other subjects such as Nat-Sci? I have friends who want to apply to Trinity for it. Would it hurt their chances?

Unless there is a very particular reason don't. I applied for NatSci there and my friends had so much easier interviews. The calibre of applicants it gets is wild. Better to apply somewhere central but less competitive.
Original post by artful_lounger
Every year I see a handful of threads of UK students with all A*s at GCSE and A-level who were rejected pre-interview at Trinity.
Also I believe I read somewhere Trinity automatically interview BMO medalists or finalists (unsure which) from the UK or something similar, reducing the pool for others to be interviewed.
Also as above, the statistics clearly show it's vastly oversubscribed with a considerably lower success rate as a result.

Are you sure of this fact? Do you have something with proof of it? (this sounds pretentious but as someone who is very close to being a BMO medallist this would be a great comfort to me being a prospective Trinity student)
Original post by Anonymous
Are you sure of this fact? Do you have something with proof of it? (this sounds pretentious but as someone who is very close to being a BMO medallist this would be a great comfort to me being a prospective Trinity student)


I am not 100% certain (hence the phrasing "I believe I read somewhere"), I think I saw comments in line with that on TSR previously but couldn't say for certain. I think I heard the Trinity maths staff run training sessions for BMO/IMO participants or something so might just be most practical to ask them there if so.

Note that it doesn't matter whether you're at Trinity or Girton, you're still doing the same course and all your lectures are delivered by the same people - and you may still have supervisions at Trinity as a Girtonian or vice versa depending where specialists are.

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