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cambridge land economy

chat am I cooked

GCSEs: 9999999999 (10 x 9s or A**s) + Distinction in Language Endorsement
A-level Predicteds: A*A*A + A*(EPQ): Maths, Economics, Politics, EPQ in AI and Financial Forecasting
Work Experiences/Internships Mentioned: Google FinTech. Salesforce Business and Finance, Cisco AI and Tech, PWC Data-analytics
Awards: Mathematical Competition for Girls (Distinction), LSESU Economics Essay Comp and Northeastern and Extended School Essay: Highly Commended/Commended, Bebras Computational Challenge: Gold, House of Lords: Remarkable Mentor award (I didn't add uk biology challenge gold, is this a big deal because I was running low on characters and didn't want to add something irrelevant to economics?, wanted to add focused experiences as low on characters)
Mentioned a couple books I read
Did very well in school end of year and highest score in some sections for economics and top score in maths stats test once
Chair of economics society, led talks on xyz, and chief executive of an inspiring ethnic group organsiation, founder of a non-profit charity where I teach quantitative literacy to underprivileged children
Blogger and writer for school and external magazine on economics
Data science and machine learning pre-college program (mentioned for other courses like imperial)
Good at politics and makes nuanced, conceptional, substantiated and critical opinions and one of my essays really shone through

There is more stuff but I lowkey forgot because skl is so hectic. URGHHHH why did I not add the biology thingy and prefect??? Is it something to stress over....

This stuff above is from my reference and personal statement, is it good or bad and how cooked am I cos I forgot to mention bio thing and that im a prefect and didn't have space to include, but tried to showcase skills in other ways and showed leadership strongly, and prefect is super basic bcz basically everyone in my school is one.

Reply 1

No ur not cus that's a very good personal statement. Ur a chair in a society and a chief executive of an organisation. That's plenty of leadership experience.

Reply 2

Do you go to private school?

Reply 3

thanks, can someone give me a chance of how likely I am to get in? I go to a private school but only have for the last year, and before that (where I got my GCSEs and other awards) I went to a free grammar school, which will be contextualised.

How bad is the not mention of the biology thing, because some people I asked said its good I didn't add it and instead used the sentence to explain relevant things like econ scores, maths scores and awards that link to econ directly and quantified my awards + and data science, and the bio thing was from 3 years ago.

Reply 4

Original post
by 11academic11
thanks, can someone give me a chance of how likely I am to get in? I go to a private school but only have for the last year, and before that (where I got my GCSEs and other awards) I went to a free grammar school, which will be contextualised.
How bad is the not mention of the biology thing, because some people I asked said its good I didn't add it and instead used the sentence to explain relevant things like econ scores, maths scores and awards that link to econ directly and quantified my awards + and data science, and the bio thing was from 3 years ago.

this also refers to my reference,, where they didn't mention the bio thing and even a random STRIDE enterprenerial challenge because it was from sooooo long ago, and corroborated stuff I included but added more great stuff to make it competitive. The only compromise why the reference couldn't include it is because if I added it something would have to go (something good from my other achievements.)
I'm concerned that you're unable to interpret a profile with essentially perfect grades and a wealth of relevant cocurricular activities to discuss as being strong and actually believe it's weak.

It suggests poor analytical/critical thinking skills which will be a barrier to actually performing well in interview where you will be presumably given information and expected to make reasoned and justified arguments about that information/data, and then to revise those as needed in view of further new information they provide you. Are you one of those types who is very good at taking exams but not really in thinking about the material beyond whatever scores points on exam paper...? As those tend to the source of the statistics you see of "student with all A*s rejected from Oxbridge!" - as they are not rejected due to their exam grades but simply due to their inability to do anything beyond meet AOs on exam rubrics.

Either that or this is a humble brag.

Reply 6

Original post
by artful_lounger
I'm concerned that you're unable to interpret a profile with essentially perfect grades and a wealth of relevant cocurricular activities to discuss as being strong and actually believe it's weak.
It suggests poor analytical/critical thinking skills which will be a barrier to actually performing well in interview where you will be presumably given information and expected to make reasoned and justified arguments about that information/data, and then to revise those as needed in view of further new information they provide you. Are you one of those types who is very good at taking exams but not really in thinking about the material beyond whatever scores points on exam paper...? As those tend to the source of the statistics you see of "student with all A*s rejected from Oxbridge!" - as they are not rejected due to their exam grades but simply due to their inability to do anything beyond meet AOs on exam rubrics.
Either that or this is a humble brag.

but I only have 3 a levels not 4 and one A predicted. (maybe 3.5 or 4 since I do EPQ so predicted A*A*AA*) Also I wanted to know if my personal statement really differentiates and is strong enough, as most students are 'strong', but how do I know I am strong enough.
Original post
by 11academic11
but I only have 3 a levels not 4 and one A predicted. (maybe 3.5 or 4 since I do EPQ so predicted A*A*AA*) Also I wanted to know if my personal statement really differentiates and is strong enough, as most students are 'strong', but how do I know I am strong enough.

No UK university requires 4 A-levels and you exceed the standard entry criteria. How many A*s you got is only one consideration (if even a consideration realistically if you meet the standard offer requirements) and they're far more interested in whether you can display any evidence of intelligent life beyond getting good exam grades (which are a given).

You want to move away from the mindset of someone trying to "brute force" the admissions process with lots of A*s, and towards one where you are a thoughtful and engaged student who thinks deeply about topics and reflects on them and can present an critical analysis of key issues of those. You should read around your subject area for the sake of learning. You should consider the material you've learned in your A-levels for applications and problems beyond what is going to be an exam question. You should look at grades merely as a metric and not a target. Your education should not simply be a transactional process for you - there are lots of students like that, and what stands out is being a student that is more than one that sees themselves as simply a bunch of grades on paper.

Finally, the strength of your personal statement is dependent on to what extent you analytically discussed the activities you did and/or reflected on them. If you simply listed them with no analysis or reflection or critical thought, then that's not a good personal statement. Also please do not post your personal statement in whole or part on any public forums or else it will flag as plagiarism...

Reply 8

Original post
by Anonymous
chat am I cooked
GCSEs: 9999999999 (10 x 9s or A**s) + Distinction in Language Endorsement
A-level Predicteds: A*A*A + A*(EPQ): Maths, Economics, Politics, EPQ in AI and Financial Forecasting
Work Experiences/Internships Mentioned: Google FinTech. Salesforce Business and Finance, Cisco AI and Tech, PWC Data-analytics
Awards: Mathematical Competition for Girls (Distinction), LSESU Economics Essay Comp and Northeastern and Extended School Essay: Highly Commended/Commended, Bebras Computational Challenge: Gold, House of Lords: Remarkable Mentor award (I didn't add uk biology challenge gold, is this a big deal because I was running low on characters and didn't want to add something irrelevant to economics?, wanted to add focused experiences as low on characters)
Mentioned a couple books I read
Did very well in school end of year and highest score in some sections for economics and top score in maths stats test once
Chair of economics society, led talks on xyz, and chief executive of an inspiring ethnic group organsiation, founder of a non-profit charity where I teach quantitative literacy to underprivileged children
Blogger and writer for school and external magazine on economics
Data science and machine learning pre-college program (mentioned for other courses like imperial)
Good at politics and makes nuanced, conceptional, substantiated and critical opinions and one of my essays really shone through
There is more stuff but I lowkey forgot because skl is so hectic. URGHHHH why did I not add the biology thingy and prefect??? Is it something to stress over....
This stuff above is from my reference and personal statement, is it good or bad and how cooked am I cos I forgot to mention bio thing and that im a prefect and didn't have space to include, but tried to showcase skills in other ways and showed leadership strongly, and prefect is super basic bcz basically everyone in my school is one.
Holy...What college are you applying to?

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