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             ·         Courses and colleges

There are eighty-eight different Cambridge degree courses available to study at undergraduate level,[v] with twenty-nine undergraduate colleges to choose from. For instance: if you want to study French as part of your degree, you can select any one of eleven separate courses and apply to any one of the twenty-nine colleges. Picking the right course at the right college will not only ensure you get the most enjoyable and valuable university experience possible, it could also significantly affect the chances of an application being successful. To make sure you choose the right degree course and the right college please click here.

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              ·         The challenge of Cambridge

The calibre of applicants to the University of Cambridge is not in question: almost all receive at least AAA at A-Level (or equivalently high grades in other secondary school exams) on the back of exceedingly good GCSE results. Well over 90% of those offered a place with conditional A-Levels make the necessary grades.[vi] The challenge for the Cambridge applicant is to go beyond the syllabus and to engage with the subject on a level far above that required in the classroom. Only then will the interview experience become, rather than a nerve-wracking test, a pleasure: an insight into the regular intellectual stimulation that will be the standard academic fare for all successful applicants. To train your mind for the Cambridge academic experience please click here.

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              ·         The personal statement

The personal statement is the first opportunity for an applicant to demonstrate their suitability and enthusiasm for their chosen course. To persuade world leading academics that you share their fundamental passion for the subject is hard enough; to do this within a 4,000 character limit shows why so many applicants to Cambridge are rejected without an interview. Each academic conducting interviews has a different perception of the importance of the personal statement: indeed for some the personal statement is a key factor determining the shortlist of likely offers before any interviews have taken place. A personal statement that conveys passion, aptitude and personality could all but guarantee a successful application. To ensure you present yourself in the best possible way in your personal statement please click here.

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              ·         Written work and entrance exams

An application to an undergraduate course at Cambridge also requires the submission of an Supplementary Application Questionnaire (SAQ) and, increasingly, applicants are asked to sit an entrance exam or submit written work. The written work should, as far as possible, have been marked in the normal process of sixth form, although some subjects accept the submission of a test answer to an unseen question, supervised and marked by the school. The content of the entrance exams varies by subject, but they are largely designed to require no further academic schooling, demanding the adaptation of A-Level knowledge to unfamiliar questions. To improve your exam technique and your submitted work please click here.

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              ·         Cambridge interview

The Cambridge interview is a legendary process. Tales of eccentric fellows from a bygone age asking ridiculous questions are well known to applicants, if not before they arrive for interview, certainly by the time they leave. In a modern Cambridge interview however, academics are not looking for a student to have gone to the “right” school, and use the SAQ to ask questions relevant to their course content. What marks out a successful applicant is not an answer to an outlandish question with little or nothing to do with their course, but down to the enthusiasm they show for the subject in the interview, their ability to construct a coherent argument whilst under pressure and, if necessary, to justify and defend their opinions. Ultimately, those students the interviewers feel will flourish best at Cambridge will succeed: an applicant’s current knowledge is not as important as their potential knowledge. To develop your potential and thus improve your interview performance please click here.

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              ·         Coping with nerves

Whilst Cambridge Success controls all variables that are capable of being controlled, the ultimate stage of the application process always sees tutor interviewing applicant, the latter totally alone. However well prepared the interviewee, nerves on the day of the interview can ruin an otherwise creditable application. Research performed by Cambridge Success has found most unsuccessful Cambridge applicants felt that they had let themselves down in the interview due to the lack of opportunity to discuss with others their fears for the interview and to receive honest advice and constructive feedback on their experiences.  To see how Cambridge Success maintains its support of its pupils right up to the last interview please click here.

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[i] Source: Undergraduate admissions statistics from University of Cambridge;

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/statistics/university.html

[ii] Source: Undergraduate admissions statistics report from University of Cambridge, published May 2011;

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2010-11/special/14/undergrad_stats.pdf

[iii] Source: The Daily Telegraph;

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3269918/Cambridge-University-reports-record-number-of-applications.html

[iv] UCAS:

www.ucas.com/

[v] Including all possible combinations of language courses

[vi] Source: Undergraduate admissions statistics report from University of Cambridge, published May 2011;

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2010-11/special/14/undergrad_stats.pdf