should i apply for cambridge maths

I do bio maths and further maths (predicted A*A*A*) and i got 99988777U (9 in maths and 99 in science) at GCSES. I am quite worried about the U but it was such an irrelevant subject. Im doing work experience in Durham university’s maths research department and shadowing a professor who specializes in topology, a subject im most looking forward to at university. Ive done hours of research on prime numbers beyond the syllabus and read a few books about it, i could waffle for hours about them. I plan to attend seminars on proofs and prime numbers in weeks to come. Ive also started preparing for the STEP which is think is later this year. Is this enough to even be considered for Cambridge?

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by Anonymous

I do bio maths and further maths (predicted A*A*A*) and i got 99988777U (9 in maths and 99 in science) at GCSES. I am quite worried about the U but it was such an irrelevant subject. Im doing work experience in Durham university’s maths research department and shadowing a professor who specializes in topology, a subject im most looking forward to at university. Ive done hours of research on prime numbers beyond the syllabus and read a few books about it, i could waffle for hours about them. I plan to attend seminars on proofs and prime numbers in weeks to come. Ive also started preparing for the STEP which is think is later this year. Is this enough to even be considered for Cambridge?

Ive also hard a part time job for the past year, its massively improved my team work and communication skills. This job completely helped me get over my social anxiety.

Reply 2

mqb2766

21

Original post by Anonymous

I do bio maths and further maths (predicted A*A*A*) and i got 99988777U (9 in maths and 99 in science) at GCSES. I am quite worried about the U but it was such an irrelevant subject. Im doing work experience in Durham university’s maths research department and shadowing a professor who specializes in topology, a subject im most looking forward to at university. Ive done hours of research on prime numbers beyond the syllabus and read a few books about it, i could waffle for hours about them. I plan to attend seminars on proofs and prime numbers in weeks to come. Ive also started preparing for the STEP which is think is later this year. Is this enough to even be considered for Cambridge?

Step is in the summer of y13 (same time as your a levels). Your gcse grades look ok and you should have enough supercurriculars to waffle about on your personal statement, though its worth glancing at the oxbridge lists
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/super-curricular_suggestions.pdf
https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduate/outreach/students/super-curriculars-and-resources/
For extracurricular stuff (part time job) it may be worth a brief mention, but keep it brief as theyll want to hear about your interest in maths.

The U may raise an eyebrow but I doubt it would be a deal breaker.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 3

Helenski

4

I think you’re in with a good chance. If your priority is to get into Cambridge (rather than a particular college) then it’s worth looking at the number of applications/ acceptance rate for all colleges. Also, you’ll need to get your target grades AND pass STEP 2 & 3 with an S or 1 (the 2x 3 hour STEP exams are during your A Level exams, so prepare for a LOT of revision).

Reply 4

audible-flea

6

Cambridge maths, at least those not applying to Trinity, gives interviews to most (perhaps all competitive) home applicants. My knowledge may be a few years out of date, but every pre-interview rejection I knew of for a while was either from Trinity or to an international applicant, or both. Might be all both, I'm afraid my memory is failing me a bit here. Trinity gets twice the number of applications of the next most popular colleges, and at least five times as many as most other colleges, so presumably they have no time to interview everyone. There is no pre-interview pooling so if a college does not interview you then your application is dead right there.

Whether you get the offer will then mostly be on the interview and any at-interview assessments, and then whether you get in will be largely based on your STEP mark and the details of your script - perhaps looking back at interview scores in borderline cases. It is rare for someone to get the STEP part of their offer and miss the A-level part.

This is all to say if you're a home applicant applying to not-Trinity, you can expect an interview. If you are an A*A/A*A* student in maths/FM, you're in a position to consider Oxbridge. It's only one application and there are "safer" options you can put down. I will quote a Queens' admissions representative verbatim that they do not care about GCSEs. A good personal statement should get the interview at a good start but I don't know if it'd offset poor interview performance and especially poor STEP.

(edited 1 month ago)

should i apply for cambridge maths

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