The Student Room Group

Chances at Cambridge?

Hi I’m in Y13 and I’m genuinely wondering at my chances at Cambridge law

Predicted grades: A* A* A (all essay subjects)

GCSEs (ik they’re not good): 76666555544

LNAT: around 30/31 (predicted)

PS focus: woman from mixed race background and prejudice in law and injustice

Supercurriculars:

Debate team, student council president, law society founder, law books, Cambridge essay competitions, senior deputy HG, head of teaching and learning, award for contributions to school, 3 separate law experience programmes, 2 jobs, house captain, ect

Please be brutally honest because I have my heart set on this

Reply 1

Original post
by Anonymous
Hi I’m in Y13 and I’m genuinely wondering at my chances at Cambridge law
Predicted grades: A* A* A (all essay subjects)
GCSEs (ik they’re not good): 76666555544
LNAT: around 30/31 (predicted)
PS focus: woman from mixed race background and prejudice in law and injustice
Supercurriculars:
Debate team, student council president, law society founder, law books, Cambridge essay competitions, senior deputy HG, head of teaching and learning, award for contributions to school, 3 separate law experience programmes, 2 jobs, house captain, ect
Please be brutally honest because I have my heart set on this

I think if you have extenuating circumstances for those GCSEs, they'll be fine.

I wouldn't be so confident in predicting a 30+ score for the LNAT. Personally, I sat it last week and have no idea how I did in the MCQ section, which seems to be a pretty common experience. Very few of the practice resources I used were reflective of the actual difficulty of the test, so try not to make predictions for the real thing based on scores in practice tests. Have you already sat yours?

You've got some really strong supercurriculars, but try to avoid just listing them in your PS. If you've mentioned every single one of the ones listed in your post, I would question how well you've been able to reflect and talk about them in depth. Maybe try just including the most relevant ones (e.g. only mention 1 of your law experience programmes, don't mention having 2 jobs as that isn't really relevant and can go in your teacher reference).

Overall though, provided there is some contextual factor for your GCSEs and you do in fact get 30+ in the LNAT, you'll have a really strong application, so you definitely have a good chance at getting in! But please try and avoid setting your heart on any single university, especially notoriously competitive ones like Oxbridge, because, statistically, you are most likely not to get in, and that feeling of devastation can be really detrimental on your academic performance!

Which college are you thinking of applying to?

Reply 2

Original post
by Anonymous
I think if you have extenuating circumstances for those GCSEs, they'll be fine.
I wouldn't be so confident in predicting a 30+ score for the LNAT. Personally, I sat it last week and have no idea how I did in the MCQ section, which seems to be a pretty common experience. Very few of the practice resources I used were reflective of the actual difficulty of the test, so try not to make predictions for the real thing based on scores in practice tests. Have you already sat yours?
You've got some really strong supercurriculars, but try to avoid just listing them in your PS. If you've mentioned every single one of the ones listed in your post, I would question how well you've been able to reflect and talk about them in depth. Maybe try just including the most relevant ones (e.g. only mention 1 of your law experience programmes, don't mention having 2 jobs as that isn't really relevant and can go in your teacher reference).
Overall though, provided there is some contextual factor for your GCSEs and you do in fact get 30+ in the LNAT, you'll have a really strong application, so you definitely have a good chance at getting in! But please try and avoid setting your heart on any single university, especially notoriously competitive ones like Oxbridge, because, statistically, you are most likely not to get in, and that feeling of devastation can be really detrimental on your academic performance!
Which college are you thinking of applying to?


Tbh I don’t think I would’ve qualified for extenuating circumstances as it was mostly just really poor mental health during the most part of Y11 and especially during the exams

I’m thinking of just an open application as I don’t really have a preference about college

Reply 3

Original post
by Anonymous
Tbh I don’t think I would’ve qualified for extenuating circumstances as it was mostly just really poor mental health during the most part of Y11 and especially during the exams
I’m thinking of just an open application as I don’t really have a preference about college

Think hard about how to stress that extenuating circumstance for your mental health. If your school can write about it for you or you can get a doctor’s report to support it.

For colleges, be careful with open applications because your app could be randomly assigned to an oversubscribed college.

Reply 4

Original post
by Anonymous
I think if you have extenuating circumstances for those GCSEs, they'll be fine.
I wouldn't be so confident in predicting a 30+ score for the LNAT. Personally, I sat it last week and have no idea how I did in the MCQ section, which seems to be a pretty common experience. Very few of the practice resources I used were reflective of the actual difficulty of the test, so try not to make predictions for the real thing based on scores in practice tests. Have you already sat yours?
You've got some really strong supercurriculars, but try to avoid just listing them in your PS. If you've mentioned every single one of the ones listed in your post, I would question how well you've been able to reflect and talk about them in depth. Maybe try just including the most relevant ones (e.g. only mention 1 of your law experience programmes, don't mention having 2 jobs as that isn't really relevant and can go in your teacher reference).
Overall though, provided there is some contextual factor for your GCSEs and you do in fact get 30+ in the LNAT, you'll have a really strong application, so you definitely have a good chance at getting in! But please try and avoid setting your heart on any single university, especially notoriously competitive ones like Oxbridge, because, statistically, you are most likely not to get in, and that feeling of devastation can be really detrimental on your academic performance!
Which college are you thinking of applying to?

Hey, hope your LNAT went well! How was it difficulty wise, are the official papers a similar level of difficulty to the real thing?

Reply 5

Original post
by Cat0608
Hey, hope your LNAT went well! How was it difficulty wise, are the official papers a similar level of difficulty to the real thing?

Thanks! I'd definitely say the difficulty of the official papers on the LNAT website is most similar to that of the real thing, as you might expect. If anything, the real thing felt easier than the official mock papers due to the questions having 4 options, instead of 5. My main piece of advice for the MCQ section would honestly be to just read as many articles as you can, especially from the FT/Guardian/New Statesman/Economist.

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