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English at Cambridge: What are my chances?

I applied for English at Cambridge and I am wondering what my chances are like for getting an offer. I went to a really poor, low-achieving state school (they didn’t even offer languages) but managed to come out with 999999887 by self-teaching. 9s include English lit and Lang. The 7 was Maths 😬.
I do English Lit, Classics and Art and am predicted 3 A*s. I also got an A* in EPQ last year. I’m not sure if picking art was the wrong decision as I know they prefer academic subjects like Maths and Sciences. Does anyone know if this will disadvantage my application? Also, is it a disadvantage that I could only do 9 GCSEs as I know some people did 11-12??

Reply 1

Your stats so far look good. Don't worry about it. Your application has already been sent. Just wait and find out if you get in/invited to interview. No reason to stress and speculate about why you may not get in, just wait as see what happens.

Reply 2

Original post
by Anonymous
I applied for English at Cambridge and I am wondering what my chances are like for getting an offer. I went to a really poor, low-achieving state school (they didn’t even offer languages) but managed to come out with 999999887 by self-teaching. 9s include English lit and Lang. The 7 was Maths 😬.
I do English Lit, Classics and Art and am predicted 3 A*s. I also got an A* in EPQ last year. I’m not sure if picking art was the wrong decision as I know they prefer academic subjects like Maths and Sciences. Does anyone know if this will disadvantage my application? Also, is it a disadvantage that I could only do 9 GCSEs as I know some people did 11-12??


I’m applying for English too! I am also feeling stressed about taking art but I know much of Cambridge’s English course is quite multi-disciplinary so knowing more about many art forms can’t hurt. Which college have you applied to?

Reply 3

Original post
by Anonymous
I’m applying for English too! I am also feeling stressed about taking art but I know much of Cambridge’s English course is quite multi-disciplinary so knowing more about many art forms can’t hurt. Which college have you applied to?


Peterhouse, hbu

Reply 4

Original post
by Anonymous
Peterhouse, hbu


Peterhouse looks so nice! I’ve applied to Jesus

Reply 5

Original post
by Anonymous
Peterhouse looks so nice! I’ve applied to Jesus


Just wondering, do you have an idea how they want the written work to be marked/commented on by subject teacher if it’s a digital document? Like do they want text at the bottom or what?? I’m so confused and my teacher is too

Reply 6

Original post
by Anonymous
Just wondering, do you have an idea how they want the written work to be marked/commented on by subject teacher if it’s a digital document? Like do they want text at the bottom or what?? I’m so confused and my teacher is too


I got my teacher to mark it normally across the whole essay with the usual detailed feedback at the bottom then scan it in, I don’t know if that’s what we’re meant to do but I’m going with it. I’m struggling with submitting it because there’s a limit of 3MB for each doc (at least for Jesus college) - it’s all just such stress

Reply 7

Original post
by Anonymous
I got my teacher to mark it normally across the whole essay with the usual detailed feedback at the bottom then scan it in, I don’t know if that’s what we’re meant to do but I’m going with it. I’m struggling with submitting it because there’s a limit of 3MB for each doc (at least for Jesus college) - it’s all just such stress


Don’t worry that sounds right because the web page about written work has a link to a guide on how to scan pdfs. Do you have any idea how I can do the comments if I cannot give it physically to a teacher before the deadline?

Reply 8

Original post
by Anonymous
Don’t worry that sounds right because the web page about written work has a link to a guide on how to scan pdfs. Do you have any idea how I can do the comments if I cannot give it physically to a teacher before the deadline?


You could scan it or take a good quality photo then send it to them? Then they could scan it again with annotations?

Reply 9

Original post
by Anonymous
I applied for English at Cambridge and I am wondering what my chances are like for getting an offer. I went to a really poor, low-achieving state school (they didn’t even offer languages) but managed to come out with 999999887 by self-teaching. 9s include English lit and Lang. The 7 was Maths 😬.
I do English Lit, Classics and Art and am predicted 3 A*s. I also got an A* in EPQ last year. I’m not sure if picking art was the wrong decision as I know they prefer academic subjects like Maths and Sciences. Does anyone know if this will disadvantage my application? Also, is it a disadvantage that I could only do 9 GCSEs as I know some people did 11-12??

Your stats are great, so if you are not given an offer it will not be due to that. Taking Art is also fine given everything else you are doing. Whether or not you get in will depend on your PS, school reference, entrance exam, and interview. Good luck.

Reply 10

Original post
by Anonymous
I applied for English at Cambridge and I am wondering what my chances are like for getting an offer. I went to a really poor, low-achieving state school (they didn’t even offer languages) but managed to come out with 999999887 by self-teaching. 9s include English lit and Lang. The 7 was Maths 😬.
I do English Lit, Classics and Art and am predicted 3 A*s. I also got an A* in EPQ last year. I’m not sure if picking art was the wrong decision as I know they prefer academic subjects like Maths and Sciences. Does anyone know if this will disadvantage my application? Also, is it a disadvantage that I could only do 9 GCSEs as I know some people did 11-12??


i wouldnt worry about art! my friend got into oxford last year doing the exact same a levels as you so it’s definitely possible

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