Reapply to Cambridge?

[nervousspeaker]

DC got their A level results and got 3 A stars and an A (chemistry, physics, maths & FM) and A star in EPQ and previously got rejected for natural sciences at Cambridge. Currently starting a gap year but considering whether to reapply - has anyone done this? We need to decide soon! Not sure what to suggest. Will also talk to 6th form college to see what they suggest. Have accepted a deferred place at another RG university. Thanks in advance

From the combination of subjects I'm guessing this is for physical Nat Sci.
Was the A in Further Maths? DS's offer specified an A star in Further Maths, but obviously each college does their own admissions and some colleges might be more lenient.

I would suggest keeping up the maths practice throughout the gap year in order to cope with the demands of the course if their application is successful.

Those are very good grades. Most Oxbridge scientists will have grades like that. However, if your DC is taking a year out anyway, can go through the application process without messing up the year out plans and has a guaranteed place at uni for next year, then i see no obvious reason not to go for it, really, unless you think your DC will be terribly upset if they don’t get an offer this time round.

Is there a reason why you don’t think it’s worth just giving it a whirl? Will it interfere too much with other important plans? Will it be devastating to your DC is they’re rejected again? Or will they just be glad they “double-checked”, so to speak?

What was the feedback from interview at Cambridge first time round? Does dc have an instinct what went wrong? I’m aware feedback can be bland/generic but maybe there’s a clue.

Check out which colleges are happy to accept a gap year - not all are positive.

They don’t care about the EPQ.

Which subject missed the A*?

Go for it but form a solid plan for a gap year and DO NOT neglect maths practice. A lot of nervousness about skills deteriorating means Oxford and Cambridge are unenthusiastic about gap year for heavily math-based subjects. He could work on STEP and mention plan for gap year in personal statement.

Agree with PP who have said that your DC should show a clear plan for maintaining and enhancing their maths skills during their year out.

Thank you both. Yes A in FM but currently waiting for a review of marking as on boundary of A star. I’m worried about whether they’d get re-accepted at current choice if Cambridge unsuccessful as they’d essentially lose their place and have to reapply there too. Also concerned about coping with a second rejection because, as you say other applicants will be predicted those grades too so if interview doesn’t go well again, they’d be another rejection and then the risk of losing other place.

aaaggghh!!! It’s hard to know what is best but is completely DC decision. Just trying to get other views to help them decide what they want! Thanks again

Understood - so your DC would have to reject current place in order to reapply. I didn’t think of that. That said, it seems likely that your DC would get good offers this year from other places, applying with grades in hand, especially if the FM goes up but even if it doesn’t.

How attached is your DC to the current uni? Is there a significant risk of that offer not being renewed? As PP have said, does your DC have useful feedback from the previous Cambridge process which they can use to improve their odds?

Overall, re-applying this year is not risk free but it seems to me that the risk is probably quite low if your DC can show all unis that they will be maintaining their maths so they should get other offers even if they don’t get Cambridge.

Since the question has arisen at all, i suspect this may be a situation where your DC might regret not giving Cambridge a second try more than they would regret trying and getting a second rejection.

Ds did with 4 A*s. Like pps, a re-applicant (or just a post-A Level one) needs to demonstrate their continuing development and interest in the subject.

And don’t apply to the same college! It probably doesn’t make a difference, but you don’t want to scupper your chances by an interviewer remembering that you were the red-faced sweaty stuttering one from last year (that would be ds).

What is the course and uni where they have a place? Or how competitive is that course? With those grades in hand they would be likely to get offers again from many places but of course it isn’t guaranteed. Are there other unis and courses that DC would be happy with if Cambridge and the current offer were both a no? Surely they would get somewhere with 5 applications, three A stars and an A.

I guess your DC has to decide how much they want Cambridge and how much they would be prepared to risk their current place to see if Cambridge might be a possibility. Lots of people do get in the year after A levels.

Was DC predicted those grades ? Because if Cambridge did not interview before based on the prediction, it's not clear they'll offer this time around either.
If their backup uni is a good one, what do they really gain by Cambridge? I mean there's a risk that they dont get in and I think that may not be a risk worth taking IMHO

The thing with re-trying is that you must be resilient enough to cope with a second rejection. Ds was actually quite excited by Durham and the cold weather there so that he wouldn’t have been devastated by another no. Looking at The Student Room (and MN over the years) some applicants are crushed and sadly some will go on to bear a lifelong chip on their shoulder.

If dc has a good solid plan for year out then that will carry him through: study and read,earn some money, get a mid-year work placement somewhere interesting, travel a bit etc. If it all goes wrong it will soften a second rejection. He won’t have that “road not taken” feeling of wondering what would have happened if he had reapplied.

Your dc must not waste the gap year that would be psychologically disastrous, albeit upskilling in GTA6 sounds like fun! Get busy.

There is heaps he could do with this year to make himself feel great and be a better more mature applicant. The world is huge and Cambridge will seem smaller when it isn’t looming so huge on his mental horizon. The confidence will also help.He won’t be that desperate and over-invested and he’ll have more to say for himself - the interview will go better. Or it won’t, and that’s life, and he’ll have the perspective to handle it.

Remind him that postgrad studies at Cambridge are a possibility. It’s may seem the be-all-and-end-all at age 18 or 19 but it’s not.

There's no right or wrong answer here, but personally I would encourage my DC to be delighted with the offer he has for a very good uni and not go through the whole application process again. Cambridge isn't the be all and end all!

If your DC has already decided to take a gap year it doesn’t seem like a huge risk to reapply. With those grades and of course applying to 4 other good unis at the same time (no need for the lower grade insurance choices typical of pre results application) they’re bound to get some other offers even if not cambridge.
So, how upset will they be if they try and get rejected again vs if they don’t try - will they be able to move on either way?

I think it’s also worth remembering that as a 4A kind of kid, he’s used to feeling pretty brilliant. It’s very hard when someone says “nah, you’re not all that” and doesn’t give you a reason. Why? Why are my As not enough… so it’s me then? There’s something about me personally and my brain and my way of thinking that isn’t good enough? Someone very clever and well educated has judged me against my peers and I’m not enough.

You want further external validation of these bits of paper that prove how good you are at learning stuff. You crave that validation, in fact. Your school spent years ramming down your throat how important it is to chase that top-percentile grade.

Now all of a sudden someone tells you that you’re not the best of the best and what is the point of it all now?

Well the point is that life for most of us does not go in straight, neat lines towards ever loftier and more impressive successes. Setbacks happen. And you have to redefine what a setback looks like in an adult way. Missing out on Cambridge would be a disappointment but not a disaster. He needs to get that firmly in his head before he reapplies.

@nervousspeaker

This may inform

I would stick with the existing offer tbh. I think if his degree is maths heavy he will have a hard enough time after a year out without going to a university that does a more difficult degree in 8 week terms. It isn’t for everyone and a good russel group degree will open the same doors.

A Cambridge professor once remarked that if 70% of those admitted were replaced with other applicants, it would make no difference to the university. He added that around 30% would be offered places regardless of who conducted the interviews. I know a boy who reapplied and secured a place to study Physics at Oxford, having already begun studying Physics at Imperial College.

I think it's about weighing up these questions:

1. If he doesn't reapply, will he regret not having given it another go?
2. If he does reapply and doesn't get a place, will he feel crushed by a double rejection? Bear in mind too that reapplying means that he can't psychologically move on until January, and so eats into his gap year.

The risk of reapplying is that it puts Cambridge even more up on a pinnacle and so makes it even more disappointing if it doesn't work out, especially as the application then dominates the first few months of the gap year. He may of course be successful, and people certainly do get in second time round, but he has to think about how he will feel if not.

Maybe I sound a bit negative but if you child is happy with their current offer and it is a reasonably prestigious university, I don't think I would give that up for a shot at Oxbridge in this instance.

My view is partly because this particular course is so competitive, and she got a A rather than straight A stars. Amazing results but the course is one of the most competitive there is, she might get in but I certainly wouldn't put money on it.

If they are in at Imperial / LSE / St Andrews then I would not drop that for another attempt with no guarantee of success, no.

Have them look to Cambridge for further study when the time comes.

This is not exactly true. The 70% figure might apply to science-mathsy people, because they all hold stellar results and there are heaps of applicants. With Humanities it’s more a case of obvious first picks and then maybe more of a lottery for bottom percentage of places.

And you can’t apply for a place at another university whilst attending another. You must withdraw. In extreme circumstances you can transfer, but that would not be trading upwards!

There’s always Cambridge for grad study. I know four people who did that after studying at Exeter, Bristol, Newcastle and Southampton.

Places like Westminster School see Oxbridge applications as a 3 year process. If you don’t get in first time, then give it another go.

With 4 x A stars then I’d risk losing the other place and trying again. It’s really important to hone the maths and Physics skills (if they’re doing that pathway). They should employ a tutor to work hard on revising that from now until they know they have another interview. It won’t be wasted knowledge as, if rejected again, they’ll use that knowledge in wherever they’re offered.

Also, Oxbridge will probably be interested in what the Gap year is being used for. It’ll be more impressive if they have some sort of placement/work experience in the sciences lined up and they could mention this on the new application.

I think it depends at which point they were redirected this last time. Did they have all A stars predicted? Did they ace the ESAT? Did they get an interview?
if they had a mix of predicted As and A stars and have now (post re mark) achieved all A stars then perhaps worth reapplying IF the ESAT score was right up there.
If they interviewed and didn’t receive an offer then I’d think twice about reapplying. Yes it’s highly subjective but if they have a great place waiting for them then another rejection (possibly) is quite tough to weather and is entirely possible depending on one interview’s outcome.
The course is notoriously difficult and has (iirc) the lowest proportion of Firsts and 2-1s - think I’d advise my DC to go and get a first elsewhere then try for Oxbridge post grad if they still felt they’d somehow missed out.

One of my siblings got to interview at Oxford and then, no offer. They took a thoughtful year off with their A stars and then applied to Cambridge. Got in.

I think swapping may help.