SUPPORTING APPLICATIONS TO CAMBRIDGE Some specific issues

1
SUPPORTING APPLICATIONSTO CAMBRIDGESome
specific issues

• Richard Partington
• Senior Tutor, Churchill College

2
A LEVEL COMBINATIONS

• Research conducted for us by Cambridge Assessment
  indicates that this is rather less of an issue
  than some recent media comment has suggested
• Consult our published advice re
• Keystone subjects
• Useful subjects
• So-called soft subjects

3
HOW DO YOUR STUDENTS MEASURE UP?

• Profile of a statistically middling Cambridge
  applicant
• GCSE 4-8 As
• AS 87-93 across three most relevant, or best,
  subjects
• Profile of a typical successful applicant, whose
  education has not been significantly
  disadvantaged or disrupted
• GCSE A in most subjects
• AS 92-97, including one or two rather lower
  scores, and perhaps a lower overall grade in a
  non-relevant fourth or fifth subject
• These are not minimal requirements!

4
UCAS REFERENCE

• Most references describe excellent students but
  few describe exceptional ones
• The most helpful references
• Are consistent and specific, indicating where an
  applicant lies in relation to his/her peers
• Emphasise the academic and the subject-related
• Tell us about organisation and focus
• Back the genuinely exceptional to the hilt but be
  realistic
• Trust us to read between the lines
• Extra letters

5
SAMPLE REFERERENCE 1

• She is extremely well motivated and
  conscientious, with outstanding intellectual
  ability and great personal charm. An
  exceptionally well rounded student, she has
  contributed so much to the life of the school.
  She is an outstanding geographer with the
  potential to succeed at university. She has
  developed excellent cartographic, graphical and
  statistical skills. She contributes well to
  discussion and has made good presentations to the
  group. She is highly organised and expresses
  herself well in both oral and written and English
  She is an exemplary student with an excellent
  academic record and impressive commitment to the
  school, as Deputy Head Girl, as well as to the
  wider community.
• GCSE 10A
• AS 92

6
SAMPLE REFERENCE 2

• She is an exceptionally gifted student one of
  the most erudite and cerebral to have passed
  through this school. Her decision to study
  History at university is eminently appropriate
  given her long-held fascination with, and
  insatiable appetite for, the subject. She is a
  scholarly and forensic historian who responds to
  primary and secondary sources alike with
  incredible enthusiasm and commitment. Her
  analytical and evaluative skills are acute and
  her knowledge built through reading
  extensive. She has in abundance the clarity of
  thought and meticulousness that are needed for
  her intended degree She also has a laconic
  sense of humour, a product of her intellectualism
  no doubt, and esoteric, discriminatory musical
  taste It is easy to trot out platitudes in a
  UCAS reference but she is a superb student of
  immense potential, easily capable of obtaining a
  First at university.
• GCSE 10 A
• AS 94

7
UCAS PERSONAL STATEMENT

• How do we use personal statements?
• To confirm appropriateness of chosen subject and
  course
• As an embarkation-point for discussion at
  interview
• Subject focus
• Reading and other wider exploration
• Work experience, in vocational subjects
• Personal statements must be both honest and
  personal
• Extra-curricular activities/positions of
  responsibility these are of only very marginal
  importance to us but some universities do look at
  them

8
CRITICAL READING

• Gender relations in the eighteenth century
  contemporary comment
• Enduring love in marriage depends upon earnest
  endeavour to please on both sides. If the love of
  a wife is tempered with good sense, she will be
  sure never to have any private views of her own,
  nor to do anything of consequence, that her
  husband might possibly dislike without first
  consulting him. To behave with an obliging air of
  friendship and courtesy towards his relations and
  friends engages the affection of a husband
  greatly. The duties of a wife to her husband are
  no less than love, fidelity and obedience to all
  his lawful desires and prudent counsels.
• My dear mother lived with my brother, Josiah, as
  his housekeeper. She had become infirm and unable
  to keep the house, and wished him to marry,
  because he was not willing to take on a servant
  as housekeeper. So, with his mothers consent and
  approval, Josiah married Sybil Green. My mother
  seemed well satisfied with the marriage, but when
  the young wife came to housekeeping, my mother
  wanted to play a greater role in directing this
  than Sybil would allow, and this made my mother
  uneasy. Therefore, a year later, my brother asked
  me to have mother live with me, which I freely
  consented to. So, she came to me and my sister,
  and dwelt with us in much content and unity.
  Josiahs wife was of a resolute disposition, and,
  as he was a quiet and easy man, he had readily
  agreed the matter for the sake of peace.

9
TYPICAL PITFALLS AT INTERVIEW

• Candidates have done insufficient
  revision/homework on
• The Cambridge course
• Recent school/college work
• Submitted essays (where applicable)
• They cannot back up what they wrote in their UCAS
  personal statement
• They have not read anything, or they havent read
  it analytically or critically
• They try to perform or second-guess what is
  going on

10
SUPPORTING THE DISAPPOINTED

• Last year 5400 unsuccessful Cambridge
  applicants went on to achieve three or more A
  grades at A level
• We could happily take many more of our applicants
  were places available
• Competition is very tough and our decisions are
  enormously difficult
• The Pool
• Feedback
• Re-application

11
MORE INFORMATION

• Useful additional information is available in our
• prospectus and on our website at
• www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/interviews
• www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/requirement
  s
• www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/responses
• www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/statistics