Got an matriculation (basically unconditional) offer for Christ's college Cambridge, with regards to work experience it's only really doing if you can find something decent, don't just do anything because you think you should. For oxbridge the interview is much more important than any things you have done on your cv, but if you are able to do any of the olympiads (e.g. chemistry or informatics) then they can be useful if you do well.
One of my closest mates is in Oxford and the workload is horrific. He gets through a ridiculous amount of books and it really strains your social life at times. That said, it is Oxford and that's what anyone should prepare for. Funnily enough I found the other students in his college to be pretty down to earth and there wasn't a hint of snobbery of superiority; despite the stigma attached to such people, they merely seemed like any other students, just 'better' at their subjects.
If we're boasting about ASs then I'll have you know I'm doing 7 at the moment! My friend's brother, (who's privately educated) got something like 13A*s at GCSE and 5As at AS and he didn't get into either of them first time around. Oh and on the topic of Oxford, I've had to go to the hospital there a lot recently and all I can say is there's a lot of traffic and the park and ride sucks.
Well that does include General Studies which I'll probably drop at some point and 3 of them are Maths.
I went to Edinburgh for UG and am at Cambridge for PG... While cambridge is great academically, and looks amazing on a CV, its just so beurocratic and the whole way the university is built up (the "collegiate" system) is not conductive to helping students strive at extracurricular (sans rowing and a few others). Anyway meh, if your focussed on your academics then go for it- in that sense they're second to none, but know that the workload will be several times that of a normal uni though and you'll be in on a saturday If you want a better uni experience id probalbly recommend somewhere a little more exciting- UCL, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Edinburgh... somewhere like that. All are exceptional academically- and the cities and unions are great.
I got 4 A's at A-Level (Maths with Mechanics, Chemistry with Biochem, Physics and Computing) and a B in AS Critical Thinking but Cambridge didn't want me. I probably should have done Further Maths in hindsight . And not completely ****ed up the interview .
**** yeah, son. My General Engineering course at Durham starts later in the year. (St. Aidan's college)
Grrr, private school kids! Everyone who applied to Oxbridge this year from my school has been rejected, although I guess they might of messed up their interviews they're all AAAA students. Oh, and until I get my inevitable rejection from Edinburgh everyone knows that's where the party is!
It's your module marks that count, not how many As you have at AS level. For example, if you average 80% over 6 AS levels, you are less likely to be given an offer than if you averaged 97% over 3 AS levels. AAAA doesn't mean much these days, as the majority of applicants have this to start off with. Also, the interview counts for a lot as you said. Ya, if you want to experience working under a pressure cooker, I suggest doing Natsci. 1st year is crazy, expect around 25 hours of contact time and 25 hours of planned work a week minimum, no joke. Even wiki admits it's probably the hardest course in the UK haha. It doesn't get easier. Currently doing 3rd year chemistry, and it's close to 50 hours of work a week for the first term on average. The worst I've had is a 70+ hour week, but that was partly my fault for not doing enough work during the previous weekend. I think they sometimes take it too far; it would be beneficial if they extended term by a week and spread the workload out.
My brother is in his third year at Oxford, doing a CompSci Masters I think. Oxford is a nice place, but I've looked a little further down the league tables for my uni applications
Maths, Further Maths and Additional Further Maths I'm pretty sure I'm going to do at least 15 modules in Maths but I want to do 18; 6 people did 18 at our school last year out of 21 or so in the entire country.
I am aware of the course structure, but I still have no idea what to do afterwards Also to any hopeful applicants, don't be too dispirited if you think your interview went badly. People I know who have been successful (including myself) all thought they had messed up the interview and still got offers.
Yeah but nobody drives in Oxford anyway. I'd like to be able to comment on the workload at Oxford but I guess I'm just way to institutionalised to be able to make any kind of objective comment. Maybe you just get used to it... I wouldn't even want to slack off any more, I like what I do, I like feeling like I'm making progress.
