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Rejected from Cambridge - Should I reapply?

Hi all,

Although I expected it to be very fair, I have recently been a little dissapointed by my rejection from Cambridge. I applied for History and Politics to Emmanuel College and found out on Thursday that I was put into the Winter Pool but that spaces were low and competititon high and so no other college wished to take me in.

I thought I was eligible for the Summer Reconsideration Pool but, as it appears, I no longer think I am. This has left me a little lost on what to do.

I'm still waiting on a response from LSE, and have already recieved offers from York (ABB), Exeter (BBB) and Birmingham (AAB).

While I was waiting for my results from Cambridge, I felt that I wouldn't mind the other Universities so much and would be happy wherever I went. Since I have been officially told, now, that Cambridge is not an option for this year, I've come to think that I will only really be happy going to Cambridge and I worry that, if I don't end up going there, it will always be a regret of mine and a chip on my shoulder.

I want to go into law, so another option is transfering courses at York, Exeter or Birmingham and then trying to go to Cambridge for postgraduate law- or even to reapply to Cambridge for law.

In all, my options are
1) Stick it out
2) Transfer to law and do postgrad at Cambridge
3) Wait out a year and reapply to Cambridge for HisPol
4) Wait out a year and reapply to Cambridge for Law

I really appreciate any help.

Reply 1

Original post
by Anonymous
Hi all,
Although I expected it to be very fair, I have recently been a little dissapointed by my rejection from Cambridge. I applied for History and Politics to Emmanuel College and found out on Thursday that I was put into the Winter Pool but that spaces were low and competititon high and so no other college wished to take me in.
I thought I was eligible for the Summer Reconsideration Pool but, as it appears, I no longer think I am. This has left me a little lost on what to do.
I'm still waiting on a response from LSE, and have already recieved offers from York (ABB), Exeter (BBB) and Birmingham (AAB).
While I was waiting for my results from Cambridge, I felt that I wouldn't mind the other Universities so much and would be happy wherever I went. Since I have been officially told, now, that Cambridge is not an option for this year, I've come to think that I will only really be happy going to Cambridge and I worry that, if I don't end up going there, it will always be a regret of mine and a chip on my shoulder.
I want to go into law, so another option is transfering courses at York, Exeter or Birmingham and then trying to go to Cambridge for postgraduate law- or even to reapply to Cambridge for law.
In all, my options are
1) Stick it out
2) Transfer to law and do postgrad at Cambridge
3) Wait out a year and reapply to Cambridge for HisPol
4) Wait out a year and reapply to Cambridge for Law
I really appreciate any help.

Only you can answer the question on what you want to do. You have strong offers that you can absolutely succeed with very well in your chosen career and you need to be clear on what you will be signing up for if you reapply. Being put in the winter pool proves your were close. Achieving predicted grades, and even improving them if possible, will strengthen your application, albeit you can’t predict the field next year.

That said, it comes down to your personal motivation. If you are going to take a gap year, I would recommend reading ‘how I got into oxbridge on a gap year’ by u/danyplaynet on another well known discussion platform I’m not allowed to name.

Reply 2

Original post
by horrible history
Only you can answer the question on what you want to do. You have strong offers that you can absolutely succeed with very well in your chosen career and you need to be clear on what you will be signing up for if you reapply. Being put in the winter pool proves your were close. Achieving predicted grades, and even improving them if possible, will strengthen your application, albeit you can’t predict the field next year.
That said, it comes down to your personal motivation. If you are going to take a gap year, I would recommend reading ‘how I got into oxbridge on a gap year’ by u/danyplaynet on another well known discussion platform I’m not allowed to name.

Hi there, sorry for the late reply, I've had a little bit of work on with mock exams.

I really appreciate the advice you've given me, and I'll check out the other place as you suggested.

Reply 3

Original post
by Anonymous
Hi there, sorry for the late reply, I've had a little bit of work on with mock exams.
I really appreciate the advice you've given me, and I'll check out the other place as you suggested.

No worries, things will work out well for you whichever path you choose.

If you haven’t already seen this, it might help with your decision between courses at Cambridge if you do decide to go around again. Law is slightly tougher to get into but there is significant variation across colleges for all courses, albeit the pool system does mitigate that but not entirely. Also recommend picking a different college if you go again to ensure fresh eyes on your file.
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics

Good luck!

Reply 4

Original post
by Anonymous
Hi there, sorry for the late reply, I've had a little bit of work on with mock exams.
I really appreciate the advice you've given me, and I'll check out the other place as you suggested.

Oh and one last thing, going again with real confidence probably means exceeding their minimum entry requirements, so you can use that for motivation if that’s what you decide. And ofc, you don’t have to decide until your results are clear so you can get on track with your other offers and then withdraw from them if your results come through real strong!
(edited 1 year ago)

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