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Cambridge AMES 2025 applicants

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Reply 20

just received my interview offer from emma this morning!!!

Reply 21

does anyone know what the unseen interview texts tend to be???

Reply 22

good luck to everybody with interviews today!!

Reply 23

how were peoples interviews today

Reply 24

Original post
by medicstudent1234
how were peoples interviews today
was NOT expecting some of those questions at all, one of the interviewers said can I ask you something completely unrelated to the course and I felt beads of SWEAT BRO😭😭😭But I gave it a good shot. How about yours?

Reply 25

Original post
by eccentricweirdo
was NOT expecting some of those questions at all, one of the interviewers said can I ask you something completely unrelated to the course and I felt beads of SWEAT BRO😭😭😭But I gave it a good shot. How about yours?

i'm sure it went well, if they're challenging you thats good. highkey scared about mine because i mentioned one of my motivations for studying arabic which came from a travel experience. i think the interviewer thought i knew more about it though than i did, so they were grilling me so much and i ended up saying all the wrong things. whoops

Reply 26

Original post
by medicstudent1234
i'm sure it went well, if they're challenging you thats good. highkey scared about mine because i mentioned one of my motivations for studying arabic which came from a travel experience. i think the interviewer thought i knew more about it though than i did, so they were grilling me so much and i ended up saying all the wrong things. whoops


they chopped me too its all good

Reply 27

Original post
by medicstudent1234
i'm sure it went well, if they're challenging you thats good. highkey scared about mine because i mentioned one of my motivations for studying arabic which came from a travel experience. i think the interviewer thought i knew more about it though than i did, so they were grilling me so much and i ended up saying all the wrong things. whoops

Oh don't worry!! They asked me about travels as well because I mentioned it and they just seemed genuinely curious. They didn't ask me about the history of Arabia or crazy things like that, but where I've travelled and what I found interesting. You'll be fine!!

Reply 28

my first one was decent I think? I keep thinking too much about the second tho... I could talk about Japan and look at a text in Japanese, but I basically got told the answer on a really simple English grammar question I could have answered fine any other day 😭 I'm really hung up on it, hopefully it doesn't matter too much...
I got grilled as well and there was one other question I couldn't answer because I didn't know enough, just gonna try and forget about it all now - good luck to anyone else with interviews soon !

Reply 29

Original post
by islejoyeuse
my first one was decent I think? I keep thinking too much about the second tho... I could talk about Japan and look at a text in Japanese, but I basically got told the answer on a really simple English grammar question I could have answered fine any other day 😭 I'm really hung up on it, hopefully it doesn't matter too much...
I got grilled as well and there was one other question I couldn't answer because I didn't know enough, just gonna try and forget about it all now - good luck to anyone else with interviews soon !

yes!! i swear the worst part is feeling that you could have said so much and not having the chance to discuss what you know. don't worry, i'm feeling annoyed at myself too but just try to put it out of your mind now. its such a niche course that you don't really know what to expect so you will have done better than you'd like to think.

Reply 30

how do people recommend preparing for the unseen text interview?? i'm not sure what i should focus on.

Reply 31

Original post
by medicstudent1234
how do people recommend preparing for the unseen text interview?? i'm not sure what i should focus on.

hope im not too late, but honestly maybe practice?? Like searching up maybe historical interpretations or random reviews or anything and being able to give your thoughts on it - what you understand from it etc. They could give you absolutely any text, so broadening what you can summarise and analyse would be great!!

Reply 32

I hope everyone got the outcome they wanted today ! 🙏

Reply 33

arabic and french at sidney sussex!! what about other people? xx

Reply 34

Original post
by medicstudent1234
arabic and french at sidney sussex!! what about other people? xx

omg congratulations, hopefully we'll see each other around next year !! i got an offer for japanese at selwyn, my first choice college, i'm so pleased 😊

Reply 35

got an offer for japanese studies at clare which was my college choice!! 💓

Reply 36

i got an offer for chinese at girton!!

Reply 37

Original post
by sarahllandy
Firstly congratulations omg that is incredible!!!!!! I know this is a bit random but I’m currently in yr12 and I’m super interested in applying to Cambridge for Arabic and Spanish in October and I just wanted to ask what made you pick Sidney Sussex college? It’s just because there’s sooooo many colleges to choose from and I’ve already been to a few and I’m still not sure because they are all really nice. Arabic is such a niche and cool subject but there’s hardly anything online of ideas about personal statements so I have no idea what I should put on it😪😪
hiii, i may not be the best person to ask and ill explain that, but fingers crossed i can help in some shape. i actually applied to medicine, and had my fifth choice for ames. i've always been most passionate about languages but was never entirely certain about doing purely a european languages degree. i sat my french a-level in year 12 and after reflecting on that, i realised that i highkey wanted to just do languages full time. i'm learning arabic in my free time and am very interested in the language and wider cultural associations so ames seemed fitting. i haven't actually visited sidney sussex, nor did i know anything about it before applying. i used to have a cat called sid so i just chose the college on that basis not really expecting my application to get very far. looking at the college now, its very central and pretty, people say that the close knit community is great as it is one of the smallest colleges, nor is it super prestigious and highly populated with private school students which probably suits me better being from a state school. there is an offer holders day soon so hopefully i'll be able to appreciate the vibe a bit more but i'm so scared that ill hate it. i also need to find out some more about the course because i really don't know much about it, but if i like it overall, i'm thinking of declining all my medicine offers for it if you'd like to chat or need any help with your application, i'd be happy to help!

Reply 38

Original post
by sarahllandy
Heyy, first of all, thanks so much for replying hahha your journey to picking ames sounds so cool and picking Sidney Sussex based off your old cat is so real. I feel like I’d do that with Sidney Sussex just because I’m from Sussex or something like that for example hahah. I’m also from a state school so I worry about the disparity between state school kids and public school students at each college as I want to feel not too out of my depth and not represented yk. I’m sure you’ll have a great time at offer holder day and you have time to research the course to make sure you absolutely like it of course! I was just curious to know what a levels you do and if you don’t mind me asking what are your predicted grades? Also, sorry if I’m writing too much 😓😓, I just wondered how you went about applying for different courses- did you talk about languages in your ps that you sent to your other unis for medicine or did you only write about languages in the separate Cambridge ps they ask for? At the moment I’m stuck between some of my 5 choices being Spanish and French and a couple being Spanish and Arabic (in the end I’m thinking of just applying to Bath for French and the rest with Arabic tbh because half the unis including Cambridge won’t let me do French because I don’t take it at A level) so should I not mention French at all? Sorry if these are silly questions🥲

hi, i'm happy to continue the conversation by all means but ill private message you just so it doesn't keep popping up as a new notification for all the other people on the chat :smile:

Reply 39

Hi, I’m a year 12 who wants to apply for french and arabic at cambridge. I’m just abit confused as to how the application process works, as I know that you can’t apply for French and Arabic through the modern and medieval course at cambridge, but only through the AMES. Would this mean that I have to make my personal statement more focused on the Arabic side of the course, or can I do more French, or would it be better to do it 50/50.
Any insights from any current French and arabic undergrads or offer holders would be great, thanks!

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