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5th uni for maths & physics??

Applying to maths and physics joint honours courses. Live in London (near Heathrow) but willing to move. Predicted 4 A*s in maths, fm, physics and chem. So far chosen Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and Warwick. What do u think i should chose for my 5th choice?
Leave it blank initially.

Decide on what to add after Christmas when you may have decisions on some of your original 4 choices and have had more time to research.

Reply 2

What I would add to that is that it needs to be a safer option as your others are high risk. Something out of London like Birmingham, Southampton, Loughborough.
Also book places on the open days for your choices to get a feel for what you want out of a course and a Uni setting

Reply 3

I'd pick somewhere with lower grade requirements - somewhere safer. All of your other choices require high grades, which equals lots of competition.

Reply 4

I would choose one out of imperial and UCl then choose 2 safer options other RG - Birmingham/southampton/leeds/sheffield. Nearly all candidates will have 4 A*s predicted.

Reply 5

Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and Warwick

These are all mega-competitive Unis - and its quite possible that you may not get an offer for any of them.
Every year they reject thousands (yes, thousands) of applicants who meet or even exceed the entry requirements.

Applying for Cambridge and two of those other choices in October would give you the chance to see if you get an offer for any of them before the Jan deadline. If you are then facing three rejections, you can be far more strategic with your remaining two choices to ensure you actually get an offer.

Reply 6

I’m doing nearly the same- Cambridge imperial ucl and lse- and im going to have qmul as my last choice cause it’s still in london but has MUCH lower entry requirements :smile:
Original post
by kimmys2248
I’m doing nearly the same- Cambridge imperial ucl and lse- and im going to have qmul as my last choice cause it’s still in london but has MUCH lower entry requirements :smile:

You are aware that Cambridge isn’t in London?

Reply 8

Original post
by PQ
You are aware that Cambridge isn’t in London?


of course I am? I’ve lived in london my whole life, what I’m saying is all my choices bar cambridge are in london. please don’t doubt my knowledge as i am after all an oxbridge candidate xxxx

Reply 9

Cambridge's "maths with physics" is not a joint honours course. You do both maths and natsci physics in the first year, then you choose either to continue with natural sciences or maths. There are a lot of theoretical physics options in the maths tripos but it isn't a physics degree and you'll likely have gaps. On the other side, natural sciences will be very light on maths - the maths courses are essentially "mathematical methods for scientists" rather than maths for the sake of maths. I know people who applied to Warwick Maths and Physics and Cambridge Natsci, and others who applied for just maths, so they are both reasonable options. For more information: https://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad/files/maths_with_physics.pdf. The only joint honours available at Cambridge are History & Politics and History & Modern Languages. Unfortunately Oxford does not have an undergraduate maths and physics course either.

Fifth options you may consider include Bath, Bristol, York, Lancaster and Birmingham. Some of these are "physics with maths" or "physics and maths" rather than "maths and physics", so the focus would be on physics in some cases.

Warwick gives offers to most, over 75% of applicants (this will include the "hail mary"/uncompetitive applications) for maths&physics, so I would expect you to get at least one offer. But Cambridge, UCL and Imperial could possibly all be rejections (with offer rates a quarter to a third ish) and you should plan accordingly.

As PQ said, if you are unsure don't put anything and wait until you have some offers or rejections.

Reply 10

Original post
by audible-flea
Cambridge's "maths with physics" is not a joint honours course. You do both maths and natsci physics in the first year, then you choose either to continue with natural sciences or maths. There are a lot of theoretical physics options in the maths tripos but it isn't a physics degree and you'll likely have gaps. On the other side, natural sciences will be very light on maths - the maths courses are essentially "mathematical methods for scientists" rather than maths for the sake of maths. I know people who applied to Warwick Maths and Physics and Cambridge Natsci, and others who applied for just maths, so they are both reasonable options. For more information: https://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad/files/maths_with_physics.pdf. The only joint honours available at Cambridge are History & Politics and History & Modern Languages. Unfortunately Oxford does not have an undergraduate maths and physics course either.
Fifth options you may consider include Bath, Bristol, York, Lancaster and Birmingham. Some of these are "physics with maths" or "physics and maths" rather than "maths and physics", so the focus would be on physics in some cases.
Warwick gives offers to most, over 75% of applicants (this will include the "hail mary"/uncompetitive applications) for maths&physics, so I would expect you to get at least one offer. But Cambridge, UCL and Imperial could possibly all be rejections (with offer rates a quarter to a third ish) and you should plan accordingly.
As PQ said, if you are unsure don't put anything and wait until you have some offers or rejections.

i am aware that cambridge is not joint honours, i am definitely more on the maths side and will likely only do theoretical physics units further on rather than more applied courses. Otherwise, thanks for the rest, i've been particularly looking into bath, as well as potentially surrey as a far safer option.
(edited 9 months ago)

Reply 11

Original post
by kimmys2248
I’m doing nearly the same- Cambridge imperial ucl and lse- and im going to have qmul as my last choice cause it’s still in london but has MUCH lower entry requirements :smile:

my mum thinks qmul will bring bad luck cos my brother got rejected there for compsci 😂

Reply 12

Original post
by teddy5839
i am aware that cambridge is not joint honours, i am definitely more on the maths side and will likely only do theoretical physics units further on rather than more applied courses. Otherwise, thanks for the rest, i've been particularly looking into bath, as well as potentially surrey as a far safer option.

all good, just making sure because it might not be immediately clear from the UCAS course listing and such.

Reply 13

Original post
by hans2345
Applying to maths and physics joint honours courses. Live in London (near Heathrow) but willing to move. Predicted 4 A*s in maths, fm, physics and chem. So far chosen Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and Warwick. What do u think i should chose for my 5th choice?

this is super late but assuming you have applied by now bc of camb - have you heard back from warwick for maths and physics yet 🙂

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