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yes with your grades itll be hard but hard doesnt mean you cant, and it says they like you doing physics so hmmmm
just be realistic but hardworking
btw ucl maths is alrite
I guess if you count grade 8 alto sax, soprano sax, singing and grade 7 piano, a part-time job, members of church and school bands, choirs and four drama groups and being head girl as not having a life...*shrugs*
The problem was: her As weren't good enough. Her A Level was good, but as for her AS levels: she had two really good ones but the other two were within 20 marks of the A/B boundary.
How does that work, there is only about 70 marks or something on each paper, and the A/B boundary is less than 20 marks below 70. In percentage terms, around 80% is an A, I got 97% for my D1 and 84% for C1. In fact, even if you got 100%, it would be within 20 marks of the boundary. That might just be for OCR, but I would have thought they'd be broadly similar.
All the A2 and AS level exams are worth a certain number of points towards the 300/600 maximum points, e.g. 90, 105, 120 etc. The mark from the paper is converted to a UMS mark, so even if your paper is not marked as 100%, you may still achieve the maximum UMS marks for that paper. For example, I only wrote one sentence for a 5 mark geography question, but still achieved 120 marks out of a possible 120 for that paper.
Generally, however, examination results are not the only barometer of how worthy of a place a candidate is. Oxbridge do not take raw grades as the only barometer either: if I was being cynical, how good a rower or rugby player one is is more important sometimes. As a general rule the quality of the grades is not the only selection method used; how good someone is with their essay submissions at application, and how good they are at interview, is far more important.
I would disagree with that - I recived an offer for E&M at Oxford with a B for AS maths, and worse GCSE's than your sister had. I didn't have particularly strong extra currciular activities but had done some stuff that I don't think other people did which impressed the interviewers.
You can see my personal statement if you want more info on my application.
It's "widely accepted" by whom?
Certainly not the teachers and university staff I've spoken to.
Someone with one F at GCSE won't get in, but if a student is very intelligent they will be accepted ahead of someone who is less intelligent but has 96 As. A grades are not the sole barometer of ability, and Oxbridge accepts this more than anywhere else.
They're clever little chaps and chapesses in the Oxbridge admissions dept. They realise that people are rounded individuals. By relying on grades alone, they'd have to be assuming that everyone had similarly uniform levels of teaching and encouragement. Which clearly isn't the case.
Certainly (and i hope i can say this without too much of a backlash) I think Oxbridge tend to look at the whole person much more so than any other university - just because the admissions process is so much more intense.
Sometimes there's no way to know why some 'ideal candidates' didn't make it. But i'm sure there are targets to meet - i consider my background (state school comprehensive, rural Scotland, female applicant) to be my lucky break.....
And my obvious intelligence, naturally.
Don't count on it tbh. I have a friend who applied for Cambridge and went through umpteen interviews and didn't get in. And after talking to the people who rejected him he found out that one of the main reasons was his address - he came from a *very* remote area in the Highlands. He had the grades and had some out of school life. However, you may be able to appreciate that in some parts of the Highlands it is impossible to have a very full out of school life due to constraining factors, like the complete rural-ness of it. There wasn't enough locally to make him the well rounded person that they wanted. If that makes sense. I'm not explaining myself very well
He got in in the second attempt of trying though. They seemed to like his motivation.
I think generally it is harder for someone Scottish to get into Oxbridge. Oxbridge know that Scottish Highers are not as intense or academic as the A'Levels and therefore may not be as desired by the colleges.
Despite the fact that every single university worth its salt completely ignores General Studies on applications. Ie, they will ask for 3 A's or something like that not including GS. It's a completely token subject and I'm so glad my school have never done it.
If nothing else, it's an extra thing to throw in to the basket, isn't it? If you've done well at general studies it shows that you've got a roudned education (presumably) rather than just focusing so intensely on one subject - and Oxbridge as far as I'm aware wants as many jack-of-all-trades as the genius' of one thing as they can get. But don't quote me
As Lady Macbeth said: "If we fail, we fail" At least you know you'll have tried love. Don't live with regret. No one else will encourage you to do it - they'll probably be jealous. I didn't apply for Cambridge for French/Spanish even though my teacher encouraged me. Now, I'll never know. Bottom line is I was a bit lazy back then. If you're not a grafter - it's probably not for you. You'll have to work hard to keep up there. I did do my S paper in French though and passed it, so there you go.
That's actually really inspirational
"Nothing ventured nothing gained" is so true by the way, along with "fortune favours the bold". Hehe.
eta: looking through their site think I'll make an open application
lots of stuff counts ya know, just try your best and have a positive attitude and hopefully they'll recognise that
oh, and good luck
No don't think so, went to a bog standard primary school, then a lower than average high school (I must be honest
Also York Mathematics is very good from what I hear from my friend down the corridor and half of my degree year is Joint Honours with maths department. Some very very intelligent people in that department.
Also, colleges do vary. Some things to think about are how near to the town centre you want to be (Girton, for example, is about a 10-15 min bike ride from the centre of Cam), whether you want to be in 'traditional' Cambridge surroundings or if lovely sixties architecture such as that at Churchill does it for you...whether you'd be happier at a massive college such as Trinity or a smaller one such as Peterhouse. As a final point, the university publishes figures of apps per college per subject. If you want to be a bit cynical about it you might want to apply to the college with the least apps for maths, therefore (in theory) increasing your chances of getting in!
(PS I applied to my college because there was no test at the interview. Lazy people can get in too!)
Not true at all. They don't base book offers on GS, but they do take it into account, particularly if an applicant just missed the grade on the offer. Speaking to admissions tutors- both college and department- does illustrate that they take note of GS results, because someone who can do well on GS shows dedication and a broadened mind compared to those who said "I can't be arsed" and got an E to show for it.
I did extra GS too, I did the optional public speaking element, and that was great to put on the CV.
It takes 15 hours out of an examination schedule to prepare for GS and do it well, and anyone who doesn't do that is quite simply shooting themselves in the foot. I got into Durham without my GS, and on UCAS they do say no GS, but I have been told that my GS (I got an A) would still have scraped me if I'd just missed my offer.
As for Oxbridge, I know someone who got a BBC offer to read History at Oxford, and I know someone who got into Cambridge on an offer so low it was effectively an unconditional.
Yes it does. On average Oxbridge graduates earn considerably more. They do a lot more work when they are there, they have one on one tuition, they are the top of the league tables and have amazing resources with the best academics in the country.
Sometimes.
The best academic in the country in International relations, for instance, works at Keele.
Yorks Computer Science department for example is almost exactly the same teaching rating as Cambridge and also earns more revenue per year. York is also far above Oxford in the standard for this subject. Merely suggesting Oxbridge is at the top of every league table is wrong.
i didnt even say i done gs on my ucas application i disounted it that much - i read enough literiture and debate enough in my spare time so i felt i didnt need to say i was forced to have a varied education as i learnt myself
i got all chemistry courses i applied for as i knew what i was talking about but show interest in asking why it was the case that happened etc i could of gone oxbridge as i got into imperial, ucl and bristol but was apprehensive - im now happy at ucl (minus fellow students) and get on with people in my dept