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Applying to Cambridge

Last Friday was the deadline for submitting first drafts of personal statements for Cambridge applications. I had always thought about applying but never seriously considered it until now, so I missed the deadline and haven’t even started my statement yet.

I’m worried that I wouldn’t be competitive enough since I don’t have any relevant work experience or awards in the subject I want to pursue. The only strength I feel confident about is my ability to achieve the grades.

I also feel uncertain about which course to apply for, architecture or engineering (civil or mechanical). How should I approach this?

Reply 1

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post

by carnaldrax

Then knock together any old nonsense for a personal statement and get on the bus. If you are on track for the grades, you don't necessarily need relevant work experience or awards. You just need to know why you want to study that subject. So you do need to think about Arch or Eng, and maybe the starting point is do you have the relevant A levels for either or, and the developing portfolio for Arch. Then to throw in the mix, the new Design tripos might sit between these two.

Pick any one of them and start getting your school's support, because even if you change your mind fr this year, you will have learnt about the process, and still have th opportunity to make a gap year application, but better informed.

Reply 2

Camer0nR

Work experience isn't mandatory, it's just one way you can show your passion for the subject. Unis know it can be hard to find work experience so it's fine if you don't have it, just do some reading or research on an area you're passionate on in the subject and talk about that. Subject awards can absolutely be useful, but again aren't mandatory. Have you done the UKMT maths challenge? You could talk about a good grade in that if you have.

In terms of subjects, which one excites you? If you tossed a coin where heads was one and tails the other, would you be unhappy with one outcome? If so, pick the other one. If you're still torn, think about careers and things.

It's worth noting that Engineering at Cambridge needs the ESAT entrance test for admissions so you need to book that soon. If you don't have time between now and the test being day to prepare, that could make the course decision for you. It's absolutely worth applying because if you're confident in getting the grades for Cambridge, chances are you get other offers so it's not a train smash it you don't get in.