The Student Room Group

Can't decide whether to apply to Oxford Physics or Cambridge Nat Sci

Hi everyone,

I'm a year 12 student, studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Computer science at A Level (but I might drop Comp Sci). I want to study some sort of physics at uni, I'm considering courses in plain physics, some sort of mix of maths and physics, astrophysics, theoretical physics or maybe geophysics. I know I want to apply for Oxbridge but I can't decide where. As you can tell, I'm indecisive haha. I was wondering if anyone who had been in a similar situation would be happy to share their experience and what factors drove them to their final decision.
TIA!

EDIT: I'm also struggling with supercurriculars so if anyone has any suggestions then please share!
(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 1

Hi. My son is about to start uni in September. He is doing physics and had the same dilemma between Oxford and Cambridge. In the end he applied to Oxford as he decided that he didn’t want to have to do the chemistry modules of Cambridge’s Natural Science course

Reply 2

Also, let me know what supercurriculars you’ve already done and I’ll see if there are anymore I know of to suggest to you

Reply 3

Original post by Mathsgirl888
Hi everyone,
I'm a year 12 student, studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Computer science at A Level (but I might drop Comp Sci). I want to study some sort of physics at uni, I'm considering courses in plain physics, some sort of mix of maths and physics, astrophysics, theoretical physics or maybe geophysics. I know I want to apply for Oxbridge but I can't decide where. As you can tell, I'm indecisive haha. I was wondering if anyone who had been in a similar situation would be happy to share their experience and what factors drove them to their final decision.
TIA!
EDIT: I'm also struggling with supercurriculars so if anyone has any suggestions then please share!

If you are already decided on Physics in the very long term then the best subject to apply for would be Mathematics with Physics at Cambridge or just straight Mathematics at either University.

I do not recommend PhysNatSci to anyone who doesn't have a strong interest in at least 2 of: Earth Sciences, Materials Science, Chemistry or one of the biological options. Roughly 60% of your time is going to be in those. I did NatSci at Cambridge and a lot of my friends really struggled to get through first year because of 1 or 2 sticking subjects


You will be a lot better positioned in the long term to do a Mathematics degree and then later (i.e. PhD) specialise into an area of Physics. It isn't a disaster to do a straight Physics degree (or go through a course like PhysNatSci) but it's something that becomes obvious with the benefit of hindsight and its the advice you'll get from people who know what they are talking about. If you do not want to do a Maths degree, this is probably a sign that you don't really want to Physics in the long run and would rather do something close to it (in which case a Physics degree would be a reasonably good idea).


For supercurriculars at Oxbridge my strong recommendation is to focus on advanced competition-level problems and tasks such as the Maths, Physics and Chemistry Olympiads as well as to take a much stronger interest in more difficult and longer-form questions in general (past papers in the MAT, PAT, STEP, NSAA, etc. fall into this).
Further reading and self-lead summer projects on an area of interest are good but honestly if its not something you can formally prove or demonstrate/show then its very largely fluff.

If you are looking for a short summer project then anything software related is good.There are a lot of classic ones too like unusually powered rockets or repeating some classic experiments like Aristarchus' measurement of the size of the moon, or experimentally trying to check the radius of the Earth or building a very basic electrical component like a radio. I would err on the side of making sure its cheap and making sure its not going to take too long, and making sure that you can "write it up" or "show" it somehow (a video could be fine tbh) and have it be "marked" (checked) by someone - either a teacher or friend/ relative.
(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 4

With those A-levels, if you did NatSci, your first year courses would likely be earth sciences, materials sciences, physics and maths. Are the former two something you'd genuinely be interested in studying at least for the first year? Because if you're thinking "I'll just get those out of the way and then later I can get to the good stuff" you could regret it.

Personally I don't agree with the advice to do a maths degree, unless you particularly don't like the idea of doing lab work. Also depends on what you like about maths - the maths you do in a physics (or really any physical science/engineering) degree will resemble A-level maths more than in a maths degree.

Reply 5

Original post by Anonymous4728!
Hi. My son is about to start uni in September. He is doing physics and had the same dilemma between Oxford and Cambridge. In the end he applied to Oxford as he decided that he didn’t want to have to do the chemistry modules of Cambridge’s Natural Science course

Thanks for sharing. Personally, I don't mind doing the earth science and materials bit but I think I'd rather focus on just physics. In terms of super curriculars, I've read a couple of books but I'm not big on reading so don't really want to read anymore haha, I've also done the CERN solvay online course, astro pi competition and attend astronomy club at school.

Reply 6

Original post by A Light Lilt
If you are already decided on Physics in the very long term then the best subject to apply for would be Mathematics with Physics at Cambridge or just straight Mathematics at either University.
I do not recommend PhysNatSci to anyone who doesn't have a strong interest in at least 2 of: Earth Sciences, Materials Science, Chemistry or one of the biological options. Roughly 60% of your time is going to be in those. I did NatSci at Cambridge and a lot of my friends really struggled to get through first year because of 1 or 2 sticking subjects
You will be a lot better positioned in the long term to do a Mathematics degree and then later (i.e. PhD) specialise into an area of Physics. It isn't a disaster to do a straight Physics degree (or go through a course like PhysNatSci) but it's something that becomes obvious with the benefit of hindsight and its the advice you'll get from people who know what they are talking about. If you do not want to do a Maths degree, this is probably a sign that you don't really want to Physics in the long run and would rather do something close to it (in which case a Physics degree would be a reasonably good idea).
For supercurriculars at Oxbridge my strong recommendation is to focus on advanced competition-level problems and tasks such as the Maths, Physics and Chemistry Olympiads as well as to take a much stronger interest in more difficult and longer-form questions in general (past papers in the MAT, PAT, STEP, NSAA, etc. fall into this).
Further reading and self-lead summer projects on an area of interest are good but honestly if its not something you can formally prove or demonstrate/show then its very largely fluff.
If you are looking for a short summer project then anything software related is good.There are a lot of classic ones too like unusually powered rockets or repeating some classic experiments like Aristarchus' measurement of the size of the moon, or experimentally trying to check the radius of the Earth or building a very basic electrical component like a radio. I would err on the side of making sure its cheap and making sure its not going to take too long, and making sure that you can "write it up" or "show" it somehow (a video could be fine tbh) and have it be "marked" (checked) by someone - either a teacher or friend/ relative.

Thank you for your reply. It was very helpful. Honestly I'm avoiding applying to Maths with Physics at cam because I'm trying to avoid STEP lol! But the maths degree comment is interesting so I'll definitely consider it and I've spoken to people who went from maths undergrad to theoretical physics post grad so I can explore that too. I think a few of my ucas choices will probably be for maths and physics but Oxbridge and probably Imperial I think I'm just going to stick to physics. and thanks for the insight into yours and your friend's experiences of nat sci.

Thanks for the supercurricular suggestions, I'll look into them. I think I'm too late for a lot of the olympiads and competitions now but I'll do some research.

Thanks again!

Reply 7

Original post by Sinnoh
With those A-levels, if you did NatSci, your first year courses would likely be earth sciences, materials sciences, physics and maths. Are the former two something you'd genuinely be interested in studying at least for the first year? Because if you're thinking "I'll just get those out of the way and then later I can get to the good stuff" you could regret it.
Personally I don't agree with the advice to do a maths degree, unless you particularly don't like the idea of doing lab work. Also depends on what you like about maths - the maths you do in a physics (or really any physical science/engineering) degree will resemble A-level maths more than in a maths degree.

Thanks for your reply. Like I said above, I don't mind the other two but really I know my passion lies in maths and physics. Lab work isn't my favourite but I think I'd definitely want to do at least some as part of my degree. In terms of maths and what I've enjoyed at A level, mechanics is my favourite but I also really enjoy pure and stats.
Just to clarify, applying for Maths with Physics only affects the first year. For the straight Maths course, there are 8 Maths lecture courses; for Maths with Physics, 2 of these are replaced with the Physics module from PhysNatSci. From second year, you either join the Physics cohort or you become like any other Maths student.

Reply 9

Original post by melancollege
Just to clarify, applying for Maths with Physics only affects the first year. For the straight Maths course, there are 8 Maths lecture courses; for Maths with Physics, 2 of these are replaced with the Physics module from PhysNatSci. From second year, you either join the Physics cohort or you become like any other Maths student.

yes I am aware, thank you though!

Reply 10

My son is trying to answer this exact question - Oxford or Cambridge (mathematics).

One factor is the MAT vs the STEP. Doing the MAT at the beginning of Yr13 rather than later in Yr13 at a closer time as A levels means that it removes a little pressure from A levels.

It also means that Oxford have the MAT results to use as part of the selection process - do well and it helps get an interview. Whereas STEP will form part of the offer.

Just thoughts.

Quick Reply