Cambridge

Leaving Cert 2013

I was thinking about studing here and I was just wondering can any one tell me about Cambridge in general.

Thanks

Peiteal

I went to this conference about Oxford and Cambridge in 2011 and it was really great. Real Oxbridge students and tutors just talking about what it's actually like and answering any questions that we had.

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/oxbridgeconference/lisburn.html

Long drive to Lisburn but if they do it again next year then I highly recommend it. I'm thinking of applying for Philosophy at Cambridge next year.

There's loads of threads on this forum by people who know about Cambridge:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/search.php?query=Cambridge&filter[type]=post&filter[forumid]=268

Also, there's loads of information on the actual Cambridge website:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/

Try and decide on the course you want to do soon and look up in the prospectus what kind of background reading you can do. I've heard that in the interviews they are just looking for well rounded, interesting, intelligent individuals who have a love of the course that they're applying for.

Hope this helps! You're thread was looking a little forlorn...

pow wow

Moved to NI & GB Colleges

NeuroCat

I applied to read Philosophy in Cambridge and I must say it was the most gruelling application process. I wouldn't advise applying unless you have at least 6 A's at junior cert. because they do check back to it (although if you're doing 9 subjects to the leaving and get predicted 9 A1's I'm sure they'd be happy to accomodate you ).

The applications to all courses in Cambridge have to be sent in at some stage in october of the year you are applying so there isn't much time from when you start back to school to prepare for this. Also, once you have applied to cambridge on the UCAS form, you'll receive an email from Cambridge telling you to fill out another set of questions (which have a deadline not too far after the course application one) which are mainly related to yourself and your interest in Cambridge. You will also be required to provide a passport photo so try and have one saved on your computer should you choose to apply.

A lot of the courses in Cambridge (almost all) have some form of interview process. That is to say, after they check out your predicted leaving cert. grades, your junior cert. grades, your personal statement and work experience related to the course of interest, if they are interested in you, they will call you for an interview. These interviews are in the university itself and they rarely allow them to take place over the telephone unless you're outside of the EU.

I know for some of the courses there may be only one interview but for Philosophy, Medicine, Science etc. they have up to 4 interviews (testing your maths skills, interest in the course, knowledge of the field you're applying to, and a general interview about yourself). They may also require you to take a thinking skills assesment which is basically a short IQ test.

The year I applied, there were 10 people to each place in Philosophy, and this is one of their less popular courses so you should be prepared to put in a huge amount of effort in 5th year preparing your personal statement, also possibly taking work experience related to the course. Sell yourself as much as possible in the personal statement and good luck .

(I didn't actually attend the interviews after deciding that I didn't want to do Philosophy in the end so I can't comment on their difficulty, however I do know a girl who applied to and got into science this year and she said the interviews were one after another and they were extremely gruelling. It is definately worth applying though if you want to attend, it is consistently rated within the top 5 universities in the world every year.)

NeuroCat

It really depends on what you're planning to study. Cambridge is renowned as being one of the best places in the world to study Natural Sciences (ranked first in the world for several years running) Maths, Philosophy and Medicine.

Oxford is on the other hand renowned for it's English course and truly rivals Cambridge in many of the other areas. You can't really go wrong with either of them. Location and personal preference would be the only factors I would consider truly.

Late Student

Had it down as my second choice after Carlow IT:pac: