Think

BigThe TISB student's guide to the Cambridge Application

2nd Edition

Table of Contents

1 Preface to the 2nd Edition

2 Foreword

3 A Little History

4 Your Grades

5 Choosing a Course

6 The Collegiate System of the University

7 Choosing a College

8 The Personal Statement

9 Initiating the Application

10 The Interview

11 After the Interview

12 Further Resources

13 Finally

Preface to the 2nd EditionSeptember 2011

The first edition of this guide was written in September 2009. In the two years

since, my understanding of the Cambridge admissions and application process has

improved, allowing me to reorganise and rewrite much of what is said for the

better. Some of the details of the application process have changed since the first

edition, and I have attempted to amend them to the best of my knowledge.

The guide used to be vaguely applicable to Oxford as well, but this edition is far

more specific to Cambridge. In trying to be more helpful to Cambridge applicants

I have inadvertently ended up being less helpful to the Oxford group. Nevertheless

there are still pockets of information that are relevant to Oxford candidates.

There were a few typographical and grammatical corrigenda in the first edition. I

have attempted to correct them all, but despite my best efforts it is unavoidable

that some will leak back in. I am therefore offering a bounty of £0.151 for any

errors brought to my notice.

Regrettably, much of the first edition was set in the ubiquitous but odious Times

New Roman typeface. The second edition has been set in the far more aesthetic

Baskerville, a transitional serif typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville in

Birmingham, England.

At 20, I have significant stylistic differences from my 18 year old self. I have tried to

preserve the youthful tone of the original edition as far as possible, but certain

sections have been overhauled for fear that the writing will come back to haunt me

in the future.

Happy reading!

1 or approximately 10 Rupees

Foreword

Hey there! I'm Advait, and I graduated from TISB in April 2009. When I did my

university apps, my primary sources of information were the Internet and my

friends. But after it was done and all the results were in, I couldn't help but wonder

what it would have been like if I'd had a little guidance from someone who had

gone through the same process before. University applications are an

unpredictable affair, and however strong you might believe your application is,

there's always something you can do to improve it!

The aim for this guide is basically to aggregate some of the relevant pieces of

information that one might need along the way, hopefully eliminating hours of

messy reconnaissance that may or may not yield the results you desire. There are

several issues with doing research on the Internet that haven't quite been resolved

yet. For example, outdated information is as easily accessible as up-to-date

information, and there's often no way to distinguish them. There tends to be a lot

of gossip on student forums presenting heavily biased and poorly researched

opinions that may colour your views or wrongfully impact your decision making

process. Accessing the internet in TISB is a limited and time-bound affair, and for

good reasons too, but sometimes you need more. More speed, more access, more

time. As a result, I did much of my university research during the holidays, when I

would have rather spent time chilling.

A Note for Oxford Applicants

This book is tailored specifically toward Cambridge applicants, and if you're

applying to Oxford you may find yourself skipping large sections of the guide.

However some information may be relevant to Oxford applicants as well.

A Little History2

The University of Cambridge (informally Cambridge University), located in the

City of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, is the second oldest

university in the English-speaking world and the fourth oldest in Europe. The

name is sometimes abbreviated as “Cantab.” in post-nominals, a shortened form

of Cantabrigiensis (an adjective derived from Cantabrigia, the Latinised form of

Cambridge).

The university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge

that was formed, early records suggest, in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford after a

dispute with townsfolk there. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge are often

jointly referred to as "Oxbridge". In addition to cultural and practical associations

as a historic part of British society, the two universities also have a long history of

rivalry with each other, which is now shared with Imperial College London.

Academically, Cambridge is consistently ranked in the world's top five universities

and as the best university in Europe in the annual ranking by Shanghai Jiao Tong

University. Cambridge is also ranked as the best university in both the United

Kingdom and in Europe in the THE-QS World University Rankings. Over the

course of its history, Cambridge University has built up a sizeable number of

alumni who are notable in their fields, both academic, and in the wider world.

As of 2011, depending on criteria, affiliates of the University of Cambridge have

won between 85 and 88 Nobel prizes, more than any other institution. Former

undergraduates of the University have won a grand total of 61 Nobel prizes, 13

more than the undergraduates of any other university.

2 The following section is adapted fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge

Your Grades

There's a popular urban myth about Cambridge: that you need perfect grades to

get in. This is not true. You do not need to be perfect, but you do need to come

quite close.

You should not be discouraged from applying to Cambridge if you aren't getting

scores in the 40s each month. In fact, I should go so far as to say that if you have

been getting more than 35 points each month, you'll be able to mount an

application. This is because life as an IB student in TISB is hectic to say the least,

and we obviously cannot devote as much time as we would like to preparing for the

unit tests each month. The monthly grades actually underrepresent the capabilities

of most TISB students. That said, a 35 will not get you into Cambridge. Anyone

capable of scoring a 35 is capable of scoring a 383. A 38 on 42 is the lowest

predicted grade that Cambridge will consider. If you are accepted, your offer will

be conditional on no less than 41 on 45 points, usually more.

Neither do I need to emphasize the importance of good grades, nor is this booklet

the place for that. What I do need to tell you, however, is that the end of 11th grade

exams are probably the most important exams you will ever take. They play a

paramount role in determining your predicted grades. The 11th grade exams will

give teachers a golden opportunity to assess your ability to cope with an

examination-like situation with substantial coverage of the syllabus. Do not slack

off during these exams.

I had a very ambitious plan for these exams: start studying six weeks in advance.

Naturally, that never happened. I did, however, start a week in advance, and that

helped me immensely. I recommend you this: write down lists of all the

units/modules/topics that will be examined from all your subjects, and tape these

up on your desk. Check them off as you revise them. That way, you'll have an idea

of what remains to be covered and helps you get a start on revision, because it now

seems like charted territory rather than a sea of knowledge.

3 out of 42 that is, not counting the TOK and Extended Essay points.

Remember, these exams are your number one priority. Everything else must fade

into the background during this time. It may seem unfair that so much should

depend on what we do in such a short span of time, but you can also look at it this

way: if you work really hard for that short span, you'll get returns that pay you

back over a lifetime.

This does not mean that you sacrifice your social life in favour of poring over

books; that may even have a detrimental effect. But do ensure that you study

enough that you can explain any topic you will be tested on and that you have no

outstanding doubts when you enter the exam hall. Good luck!

N.B. The only way to study for math is to practice. Reading the textbook alone

doesn't work unless you're SL and extremely smart.

Choosing a Course

At the undergraduate level, Cambridge delivers the Bachelor's degree through

what is known as the Tripos system. The word “Tripos” has an obscure etymology

which may be traced to the three-legged stool candidates once used to sit on when

taking oral examinations. An apocryphal legend says that students, in ancient

times, used to receive one leg of a stool in each of their three years of exams,

receiving the whole stool at graduation.

An undergraduate studying mathematics is thus said to be reading for the

Mathematical Tripos, whilst a student of English is reading for the English Tripos.

(In most traditional English universities a student is expected to register to study

one field exclusively rather than having 'majors' or 'minors' as in American

universities. In practice however, English degree fields may be fairly

interdisciplinary in nature, depending on the subject. The multi-part Tripos system

at Cambridge also allows substantial changes in field between parts, and the

Natural Sciences Tripos is especially designed to allow a highly flexible curriculum

across the sciences.)

This is what the University website has to say about the Tripos:

The Tripos system

Our degree courses (called Triposes) are not modular but are divided into'Parts' lasting one or two years. In some subjects there is a two-year Part I(which may be divided into Part IA and Part IB) and a one-year Part II. Inothers Part I lasts a year and is followed by a two-year Part II. InEngineering and some science subjects there is a fourth year (Part II or III)leading to the degree of MEng or Msci.

There are examinations at the end of each Part. In order to achieve theCambridge degree, BA Hons, you must pass examinations at both Part Iand Part II.One of the most distinctive characteristics of Cambridge courses is thatthey cover the subject very broadly in the initial years and then becomemore specialised and offer a wide range of options in the later years.

This can be a real advantage for you. When you start the course, you maynot have a clear idea of the options you want to follow – indeed you may

not be aware that some options exist, and bright students often have awider view than most. Our curriculum allows for this, enabling you todelay specialisation until you have explored the broad scope of the subject.You will then have an opportunity to focus your interest, especially wherethere is a dissertation option. Certain options are also available in morethan one course where some of the subject matter overlaps (for example inHistory, Classics, and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies).

Cambridge graduates are expected to achieve the same standard anddepth in their final year as graduates from courses elsewhere which have anarrower or more specialised scope. This is because:

we start with some of the most able students we provide them with some of the best teaching and learning

facilities we work them hard

Our courses offer a tough challenge, but one most of our students relish.We demand a lot, but we give a lot too: expert teachers and lecturers; goodlibrary and computing facilities; superb labs; lots of support.

AssessmentIn some ways the Tripos system is a good compromise between thecontinuous assessment favoured by some universities and the emphasisplaced on final exams by others. Each Part of the Tripos is self-containedwith a separate result at the end of each year. There is no averaging out foryour final degree result.

Written examinations are the main form of assessment for ourundergraduates. Typically you would sit between four and eight papers,each paper lasting usually three hours, for each Part of the Tripos. Inaddition, in many science subjects you have to do a specified amount ofassessed practical work. Most courses offer the chance to carry out aresearch project or dissertation work, which may be in addition to or as asubstitute for an examination paper.

Beginning on the next page is presented an exhaustive list of all the undergraduate

courses that Cambridge offers.

AAerospace and Aerothermal EngineeringAkkadianAnatomyAncient Near EastAnglo-Saxon, Norse, and CelticArabicArchaeology and AnthropologyArchitectureAsian and Middle Eastern StudiesAssyriologyAstrophysics

BBotany

BiochemistryBiology

Biological and Biomedical SciencesBiomedical Engineering

CChemical EngineeringChemistryChinese StudiesCivil, Structural and Environmental EngineeringComputer ScienceCoptic

DDramaDutch

EEconomicsEducationEgyptology Electrical and Electronic EngineeringElectrical and Information SciencesEnergy and the EnvironmentEnglish, OldEnvironment

FFrench

GGeneticsGeological SciencesGermanGreek, ClassicalGreek, Modern

HHebrew Studies

History and Philosophy of Science

IInformation and Computer EngineeringInstrumentation and ControlIrish, MedievalIslamic StudiesItalian

JJapanese Studies

LLand EconomyLanguagesLatin, ClassicalLatin, Insular

MManagement Studies

Manufacturing EngineeringMaterials Science and Metallurgy

Mechanical EngineeringMedicine

MesopotamiaMiddle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Modern and Medieval LanguagesMusic

NNatural SciencesNeuroscienceNorse, Old

OOriental Studies

PPalaeographyPathologyPersianPharmacologyPhilosophyPhysical SciencesPhysicsPhysiologyPlant SciencesPoliticsPolitics, Psychology & Sociology (PPS) PortuguesePsychology

RReligious Studies

Russian

SSanskritSocial and Political Sciences (SPS)SociologySpanish

TTheology and Religious Studies

VVeterinary Medicine

WWelsh, Medieval

Z Zoology

Many of these courses fall under the umbrella of a larger tripos. For example, all

the engineering degrees fall under the Engineering tripos. Some courses fall under

multiple triposes. To find out which tripos(es) your course belongs to, visit the

following link:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/subjects.html

Fortunately, you needn't really be concerned with which tripos you'll be doing until

you're actually there! However, you need to choose a course before you apply, and

throughout your application you'll need to explain and support that choice.

Perhaps you have already decided the path your education will take. This is good –

the universities of the UK are tailored towards people who are passionate about

their subject and are determined to make an impact on the field. If you haven't

quite decided yet, don't fret. There may still be time to consult with your teachers

and parents before you finalise your application. You may also opt to apply for one

of the more generic courses. Be warned, however, that changing courses after

you've been granted admission is a messy and extremely difficult process, so do not

apply to a course “for the time being” in hopes of being able to change it once you

get in.

If you have absolutely no idea what course to apply for, then it is in your best

interest that I advise you to look at universities on the other side of the Atlantic. If

you want to mount a viable application to Cambridge, you must be decisive,

passionate, and driven about your subject. Or at least appear to be so.

The Collegiate System of the University4

There are 31 Colleges in Cambridge. Three are for women (Murray Edwards [the

current trading name of New Hall], Newnham and Lucy Cavendish) and two

admit only graduates (Clare Hall and Darwin). The remainder house and teach all

students enrolled in courses of study or research at the University.

The role of the Colleges in University life

Each College is an independent institution with its own property and income. The

Colleges appoint their own staff and are responsible for selecting students, in

accordance with University regulations. The teaching of students is shared

between the Colleges and University departments. Degrees are awarded by the

University.

Within each College, staff and students of all disciplines are brought together. This

cross-fertilisation has encouraged the free exchange of ideas which has led to the

creation of a number of new companies. Trinity and St John's have also

established science parks, providing facilities for start-ups, and making a significant

contribution to the identification of Cambridge as a centre of innovation and

technology.

The role of the Colleges in student life

A College is the place where students live, eat and socialise. It is also the place

where they receive small group teaching sessions, known as supervisions. The

supervision system is one of the main reasons for the University's success in the

external reviews of learning and teaching.

The Colleges and the University support access initiatives to encourage

applications from able students from both state and independent schools. The most

successful of these is the summer schools programme.

4 The following section is taken from http://www.cam.ac.uk/colleges/

In addition to resources provided by the University, each College has its own

library and sports facilities, and some have their own bar and theatre. Most

Colleges have their own clubs and societies, offering a variety of non-academic

activities for students to take part in.

Benefits of the College system for students

Teaching: The supervision system, where students receive tuition in small groups,

is regarded as one of the best teaching models in the world.

Accommodation: Almost all undergraduates live in College accommodation for

the duration of their time at Cambridge.

Welfare: A variety of support systems ensure that students are treated as

individuals, allowing overseas students in particular to be fully integrated. This is

one of the reasons that Cambridge has one of the lowest drop-out rates.

Financial support: Many Colleges offer awards for their own members, in

addition to funds available from the University.

Choosing a College

If you are confused about how the collegiate system works, don't worry. It's really

hard to explain; it's one of those things that you have to experience to understand

properly. Don't bother yourself too much about it because an understanding of the

system is not necessary for or even relevant to the application.

There are so many colleges that you might have a hard time choosing between

them. Gentlemen have a slightly narrower choice because of the three women-

only colleges, but that hardly helps.

There is no best college, and there is very little to differentiate them when you are

applying. Still, if you must pick nits, there is a league table of sorts, called the

Tompkins Table, that sorts colleges based on their overall exam performance each

year (i.e; how many candidates for the degree did how well). This table is so

insignificant that I won't even bother providing a link. Google it if you'd like5.

Statistically, applying to a particular college will neither diminish nor improve your

chances of a successful application. It might be tempting to target the college with

the fewest applicants, but doing so is unlikely to have any impact at all on your

chances. This is because of the pooling system. If a college finds that it has more

applicants worthy of a place in Cambridge than it has places, some of the

candidates will be placed in an inter-collegiate pool, and colleges with fewer

worthy applicants can choose students out of the pool. Sometimes students are

pooled multiple times, and pooled students have a moderate chance of acceptance.

No college is under the pressure of filling its places, and Cambridge is publicly-

funded, unlike American ivy-leagues, and therefore it has no compulsion to accept

a fixed minimum of students. If it doesn't feel that there are any applicants worthy

of a seat, it will not accept any. This makes it a more or less level playing field for

all applicants, and ensures that no one is denied a place simply because there were

too many good applicants that year.

5 I must mention, however, that Emmanuel College consistently tops this chart.

So how do you go about choosing a college? It's up to you. At the undergraduate

level, the decision making factor can be completely arbitrary. I've got a friend who

chose his college because of the ducks, and another because Charles Darwin went

there. There is one who wanted an indoor swimming pool, one who chose her

college because it was close to her department's lecture halls, and one who chose

his college simply because there was a snowman on the brochure, and his girlfriend

liked snowmen.

If you really can't make up your mind, you can apply “open”. This means you

apply to the University as a whole, not to any specific college. You are then

assigned a college purely at random 6 and the rest of your application will proceed

as though you applied to that college from the outset. Applying open will neither

boost nor reduce your chances of getting in. You might encounter some student

forum gossip along the lines of “an open application makes you look indecisive”,

but I have firsthand information that this is not the case.

Rest assured, whatever college you choose, you will get a warm and friendly

environment steeped in years of culture and tradition, with the same amazing

education you'll get at any other college, because the teaching is unified. Everyone

loves their college, and at the end of the course, everyone thinks that their college

is the “best”.

The University has some excellent material that might help you make a decision:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/colleges/

6 If you are applying as a resident of the EU, which at TISB you probably aren't, you will beassigned to the college with the fewest applicants instead of being randomly assigned.

The Personal Statement

So you know your subject for sure. Now's the time to start writing your personal

statement. Besides your grades and recommendations, the UCAS personal

statement is the only information that Cambridge uses to decide whether to invite

you to an interview or not, so it is of critical importance.

Spending too much time on your personal statement will leave it overbaked and

artificial. There needs to be an element of conversational spontaneity that the

admissions officers can appreciate. I don't recommend spending more than a

month writing your personal statement, and ideally, you should go through no

more than five drafts. Naturally, you must be leery of obvious pitfalls like

grammatical and typographical errors.

The personal statement should contain the following things:

Why you chose your subject

What makes you fit the course/the course fit you (your qualities)

Your other qualifications, if any

Your other hobbies/extracurricular activities

Why you want to study in the UK (very briefly)

This is by no means a definitive list. But you'll find that if you write a couple of

paragraphs on each of the above, you'll have a solid foundation for your personal

statement. Remember, what Cambridge is most keen on seeing is intellectual

vitality and a passion for the subject. Anything that you've done or been awarded

for that significantly supports those two must go on your application. In fact, I

would even recommend engaging in activities simply to put them on your

statement. Are you applying for computer science? Take up an internship at a

software development company. Are you applying for engineering? Build a robot

over the summer. English literature? Write a book and have it published by an

independent publisher! The possibilities are endless. The only thing that can harm

your statement is not having anything to put on it.

About 50-60% of your essay needs to be subject-centric. You need to really give

them a reason why you are more deserving of private tutoring by an expert

involved in active research in your subject (because that is what you'll get) than any

other applicant.

You have only 4,000 characters to work with, so make sure you get the most out of

them. Use contractions like “isn't”, “don't”, etc. and remove line breaks from

between paragraphs if necessary. Write numerals like 27 instead of “twenty

seven”. I found that removing spaces from after commas and periods and around

other punctuation saved me a whole bunch of characters while taking absolutely

nothing from the meaning. Would you rather present a well formatted but

insubstantial essay or an elaborate essay with a few missing spaces?

If writing isn't your strongest point, find someone who is and badger them to help

you until they cave. I've had this done to me, I don't know, maybe

32274929874502739472903 times during the course of my study at TISB. But I

didn't mind. I can type a lot faster now.

It's always important to go through multiple drafts and to show your essay to many

people. These people must include (but are not limited to) the teacher of the

subject closest to your chosen course, your english teacher and of course, our

principal. It is probable that from these different sources you may get conflicting

opinions regarding how you will modify a part of your essay. In this case you must

share everyone's views with all the people you're consulting with.

The write-wait-write method

This is a technique I discovered while doing my IB and which I use on many pieces

of writing. When doing a large piece of writing in one go, the vocabulary and

grammar often reflects the author's mental state at that specific point in time. If

you want your statement to read rich and varied, this is not a desirable effect. The

solution is to write your personal statement completely from scratch a couple of

times. Write two or three separate versions, days apart from each other so that you

don't remember what you wrote the previous times, then take the best lines out of

each for your final work. The teachers you consult with can assist you at this point.

Hooks

Open with a hook. Most people tend to open their personal statements with

something as drab as:

When I was a young child of 4 I was always looking for newways to play with my lego blocks and it was only later that Irealized that this was an early reflection of my love forEngineering.

There are several issues with an opening like this. It is a long sentence comprised

of several awkwardly strung together clauses. The level of sophistication of the

vocabulary is inconsistent. The very content of the sentence presents a weak

assertion. Perhaps if the anecdote had been better elaborated (for example, did the

author finally build something interesting with the lego blocks?), this introduction

could have been salvaged. As it stands, however, this sentence is decidedly boring.

You must grab the reader by their collar from the first line, compelling them to

read on. Here's the opening from the personal statement I wrote in 2008:

Computer science is founded on the basic idea that everythinga computer deals with from processing to storage boils downto two states: On, and Off.

Now imagine for a moment that a computer is built thatrecognizes three states: On, Off, and Mid, and such acomputer is far more powerful than any extant technology.Most traditional computer theory would have to be rewritten.George Boole’s algebra would be obsolete. The paradigm thatcomputer scientists have built for themselves would beshattered and replaced with a new one.

Such is the volatility of a science created completely by man.No laws are concrete, and the possibilities of the field extendas much as human imagination does. It is this immenseflexibility that draws me to Computer Science. Relentlessexperimentation and the drive to fabricate algorithms ofgreater elegance is a transcendental thrill.

A few years after writing this essay, and having scratched a little more of the

surface of Computer Science, I realise that there are some fairly important

technical inaccuracies with what I claim in this introduction7.

My personal statement was only one week and two drafts old, but it worked. You

need to be able to push the limits of your knowledge a little bit in order to get the

effect you require. Be a bit outrageous. In fact, be as outrageous as you want to in

order to grab the reader's attention. If you go too far, it'll be moderated by the

teachers you consult with, so don't worry about that when you're writing.

Ethics

Write the personal statement yourself. This might seem obvious to some of you,

but the unfortunate truth is that there exists an industry of private college

“counsellors”, who among other things, will also write your essays and statements

for you. Needless to say, as professional, paid adults they can write great essays in

well-polished prose, and I have seen friends succumb to this practice. What they

were not aware of was that it is extraordinarily easy to tell these fabricated personal

statements apart from the real deal. Even an exceptionally gifted 17 year old has

limitations as far as writing is concerned. These pumped up essays are always

detrimental to your application and people who use them usually end up going to

their third or fourth choice universities.

When you finalise your personal statement, make sure that it's a good piece of

work and that you're satisfied with it. You must believe that it's good enough to get

you into Cambridge, otherwise it probably won't. Dr Sullivan likes to say that it

ought to be the best thing you have ever written in your life. Mine certainly wasn't,

but you cannot fault the reasoning behind aiming for “best, ever.”

7 As it turns out, most traditional computer theory would not have to be rewritten. No, GeorgeBoole's algebra would not be obsolete. And such a computer would not even cause a dent on theparadigm that computer scientists have built, let alone shatter it.

I didn't know back then what I know now, and it is easy to look upon one's past self withcondescension. However, the admissions officers understand that the breadth and depth of ahigh schooler's knowledge is limited, and are able to see past this limitation to assess intellectualvitality. The phrase in the personal statement where the most astute observation is made, anobservation that will remain true even when I can run circles around every other claim there isthis one: “the possibilities of the field extend as much as human imagination does.” The loud,gimmicky introduction steps aside, and this more unassuming sentence brings some relief.

Initiating the Application

So you know your subject, have written a spectacular personal statement, and have

chosen a college. How do you get started with the application?

Be warned: applications to Cambridge begin far earlier than other universities,

and it is likely that you will have your decision before some of the US applications

are even due for submission. It is a good idea to finalise your application towards

the end of August.

Visit this page for comprehensive instructions on applying:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/apply/

To apply to Cambridge, you will need to submit an application to the Universities

and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Once received, your application will be

forwarded to your Cambridge College for consideration.

After submitting your UCAS application, you will be asked to complete the

Supplementary Action Questionnaire, or SAQ. This is a brief online questionnaire

that is mostly for gathering additional personal data that is not entered in the

UCAS forms, but it has a few interesting features, such as the opportunity to

submit an optional additional personal statement, so it is well worth your while to

take your time and think your answers through. Don't take too much time though,

as the deadline is generally only a matter of days after your UCAS app is

dispatched.

If you are applying from outside the EU (which at TISB you almost certainly are),

you will need to submit a Cambridge Online Preliminary Application, or COPA8.

The COPA is long, dull and horribly cumbersome. It is possible to plough through

it in one morning, but you will likely make a mess of it if you do. I recommend

that you keep at least two preps on separate days for you to finish it neatly and for

you to research any questions that you may not be able to readily answer. If you

have all the required information to hand and have thought about your answers to

those questions requiring a comment or statement, I estimate that you could

8 Formerly known as the Cambridge Overseas Application Form (COAF). This used to becompletely on paper and considerably more expensive than it is now.

complete the COPA in two hours. If you wish, however, you can save your work

and log back in at a later date to complete the rest of your COPA. You will also

need to pay an overseas application fee of £25 which is paid by debit or credit

card when you complete the questionnaire. There is also a provision for this to be

paid by cheque or postal order, but that will need to be discussed with the

Admissions Office as soon as possible to make special arrangements.

If you are successful in the first round of the application, you will be invited for an

interview in December at Cambridge. If you know that you cannot make it to

Cambridge at that time for any reason, you may apply earlier and request to be

interviewed in India. In the past the University has conducted admissions

interviews in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, PR China, and India.

If you would like to be interviewed in India9, your COPA must be submitted

before the 9 th of September , and your UCAS app must be submitted as early as

possible in the first half of September.

If you are selected for an interview outside the UK, you must also pay an interview

fee of £100 at a later date. Further information on this payment will be provided

in the correspondence inviting you to attend an interview.

I do not recommend being interviewed in India. Request an interview outside of

Cambridge only as a last resort (for example, if it is not financially viable). This is

because you will be interviewed by an admissions officer or an overseas

representative, or sometimes even by video phone. Your ability to make a good,

direct impression is then fettered. By stark contrast, at Cambridge, your interviews

will be conducted by professors of your subject, and you can charm them with

your winning smile.10

If you dig around for long enough on Cambridge's website, you might find a

paragraph stating that in some cases candidates are evaluated without interviews.

While this may be true, candidates who are evaluated without an interview never

get in. Although there are protocols in place for Cambridge to accept students

9 The deadlines for your application if you wish to be interviewed in Malaysia, Singapore, PRChina, Canada, Hong Kong and Pakistan are all different. Please make sure you look these upon the Cambridge website.

10 Or, as I did, gift them a copy of your first album and a book of poetry.

without interview, there are far too many worthy applicants who have appeared for

the interview to even consider a student who is merely faceless paper. Unless you've

invented free energy or solved the hunger crisis in Africa, there's virtually no

chance of being admitted without being interviewed.

You can get extensive and helpful information about applying through UCAS

from the college counsellors, who have been helping hundreds of students through

their applications for several years.

An 800 in an SAT says nothing about your intellectual capabilities, which is why

Cambridge does not bother with the SATs. You may, however, have to take an

additional test like the BMAT or the LNAT depending upon the course you've

chosen. You may need to start making arrangements for any extra tests as early as

August, so make sure you know what the requirements are.

Many courses also require a logic test known as the TSA, or Thinking Skills

Assessment. This test will likely be conducted on the same day as your interview11,

if you are invited to one. There's no need to register in advance for the TSA and

there's no charge associated with the test. The College dealing with your

application will contact you about the arrangements if they're using it.

To find out if you're going to need to take an additional test, visit this page:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/tests/

I cannot stress how important finding out this stuff is. You must know your

additional requirements because you may need to make arrangements to take the

required tests as early as August. Sometimes what you've learnt in the IB so far is

enough for the tests. Sometimes it is not, and you'll need to acquire some

preparatory textbooks and learn new things.

For a detailed listing of all important deadlines, visit this page:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/apply/dates.html

11 For Oxford applicants, the test will be conducted at TISB and the written exams will besubmitted for evaluation along with the rest of your application. You will then await theirdecision regarding whether to invite you for an interview.

The Interview

Roughly a quarter of all applicants are invited to an interview. This figure varies

from course to course. It is not recommended to apply for a less popular course

just because you want to get in, because you will not be able to change once you've

applied.

If you've been invited to an interview, congratulations. Around one in every five

interviewed candidates are successful.

If you need detailed information on acceptance rates, follow this link:

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

Be warned that the numbers are different if you consider only international

students. International students have an acceptance rate of 2-5% at the

undergraduate level. Usually, around 20 of these are from India.

In the six to eight weeks after your initial application, it is of critical importance

that you closely monitor your email inbox. You must give them an email ID and a

postal address that you will have access to. If you're a boarder this means your

school email ID and the school address for post. Sometimes you might be

expecting post to arrive at TISB over the holidays. Make sure you are in touch

with the reception and call every day if you have to. Figure out how to access your

school email from outside TISB – this is a valuable skill worthy of learning and

takes just a few moments with a tech-savvy friend or the networks administrator.

The Visa

Check your email daily12 without fail, including your spam or junk mail folders

because if you are offered an interview, you will only be notified via email, and

every day after you receive this email counts. Interviews are held in mid-december.

If you haven't made a special request to be interviewed in India, you'll be called to

the UK. More often than not, invitations are only sent a couple of weeks before

the actual date of the interview, which creates a uniquely uncontrollable quandary:

obtaining a visa in two weeks. Fortunately for me, we were able to quickly put

together a tourist visa application and we received the visa in four days. This is not

12 If you can, check twice daily or have someone at home check on your behalf.

always the case. Even as I was leaving for Cambridge to begin my degree in

September 2009, my visa arrived mere days before my departure, a whole three

weeks after the application was submitted13. What you need to do is prepare your

application, along with the application(s) of anyone you'd want to accompany you

(like a parent or a guardian) well in advance, as soon as possible after you submit

your UCAS.

For the purpose of the interview, it is most appropriate and affordable to apply for

a 6-month general visa, as a tourist.

Further details can be found here:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visitingtheuk/visitors/

You may find it useful to prepare the following documentation before starting the

visa application process:

A letter from TISB stating the course you are on (IB Diploma), its start and finishdates, and the dates of the holiday period when you intend to visit the UnitedKingdom

Hard copies of all your correspondence with your college, especially the interviewinvitation

Evidence of any family or social ties and responsibilities to return to (birthcertificate, evidence of legal guardianship)

Evidence of any firm travel plans you have made (airplane tickets, hotel bookings,etc)

Bank statements going back over a period of several months (of your parents orsomeone who is travelling with you)

Evidence of savings available to you Multiple photocopies of your passport Multiple passport photographs of the UK standard, 35x45mm (cannot be older

than 6 months)

You will apply for the UK visa through a private company called VFS. Make sure

you and your parents submit all the documents exactly as they ask, or your

application will be refused. Your parents will need additional documents from their

employer, etc. If they want original documents, submit them; you will get them

back intact.

13 and after writing a letter to the British High Commission in Chennai requesting that they speedup their act a bit.

Preparing for the Interview

Interviews vary wildly between colleges and courses, and even within colleges and

courses the interviewers change moods very quickly and so your interview may be

completely different from the person who went before you.

Most people have two interviews with two people each. Some subjects have only

one interview, some have three. For most people, all the interviews will fall on the

same day. You'll get full details of the time, date and venue of your interviews and

interviewers in the email invitation.

You have to have your wits about you during the interviews. Be alert and ready for

any type of question they might throw at you. Science subjects will require a math

interview. There's always calculus and freehand curve sketching14 in these

interviews so brush those topics up. Arts and humanities commonly have a case

study: you will be presented with a short piece to think about for a half hour before

you're called in and drilled about it.

Interviews aren't as scary as you might think. The interviewers are aware that

you're nervous, and will actually coax you and help you out with the questions and

problems they pose. Their primary aim is not so see how much you know, but

rather how well you respond to the teaching that they offer. If you don't know

much, they can fix that. If you just can't learn from them, it doesn't matter how

savvy you are at the interview.

Try to think of answers to obvious questions such as why you chose your subject.

Think of how you'll go about answering these questions. Read up on the current

state of affairs of your subject. There is no excuse for applying for economics, say,

and having only a plebeian understanding of a recession. If you apply for

computer science and waltz into the interview oblivious to cloud computing, you

are unlikely to impress anyone.

Our principal is an invaluable resource when it comes to interview practice. Let

him know that you've been invited to Cambridge as soon as possible, and arrange

at least two mock interviews with him. You will be astounded at the amount you

14 In the curve sketching questions, they will give you a nontrivial equation and you will be askedto sketch the graph without the aid of a calculator.

learn about yourself and the art of interviewing. Take a notebook so that you can

jot down things you don't want to forget. Do not be timid, I warn you – you are

missing out heavily if you think you can get by without this practice. I felt

extremely confident that I could handle myself at the interview after I had my set

of mock interviews with Dr. Sullivan in December 2008. He has the most uncanny

ability to predict interview questions after conversing with you for an hour or so.

Case in point: the latter half of my math interview at Cambridge, in which we put

away the pens and just talked about me and my passion for computers, was like an

action replay of the first mock interview I had with Dr. Sullivan. This time,

however, I knew the pitfalls to avoid15.

Finally, the University has produced a lot of material to help prepare for the

interviews and help debunk some of the myths associated with them. There's even

half a dozen or so videos of mock interviews to help you get a feel of what they're

like. I recommend you go through all of them and picture yourself in the place of

the mock candidate; it really helps to deal with the anxiety.

The material can be accessed using this link:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/interviews/index.html

The Cambridge University Students' Union, or CUSU, has their own guide to the

application and is a good alternative “student's perspective” resource. The link to

their material may be found at the end of this guide.

Coming to Cambridge

You will likely catch a bus (known as a “coach”) or taxi from the airport to

Cambridge, and from there you'll walk or take a cab to wherever you've booked

accommodation. If you're travelling alone, you'll be able to get free

accommodation at your college, which might be fun because you'll be with the

other applicants for your course. I do not recommend travelling alone , however,

because you have preparing for your interview to worry about, and it's just too

much of a bother to have to also take care of yourself in that stressful time. Take

your mum or dad along. They'll manage the food and make your bed for you, and

wake you up in the morning!

15 and was able to deliver a magnificent monologue that toyed with the fine line betweencharming spontaneity and rehearsed perfection.

Clothing

Be warned: the weather at this time of year is nasty. You'll encounter subzero

temperatures coupled with intermittent showers. It's good to wear at least three

layers. You'll need more than just jeans for your legs, get yourself some thermal

inner-wear or wear two pairs of track suits.

You should be able to strip off some of your layers before entering an interview

room, though, because you really don't want to stumble in looking like a frosted

cupcake. Don't under-do it, either. I made the mistake of removing all my warm

clothing before my computer science interview, leaving me with only a shirt and a

suit on à la Thursday morning assembly wear. Fortunately for me, it was a warm

three degrees that morning, so my shivers weren't that noticeable. Or perhaps they

were, because halfway through the interview one of my interviewers looked at me

kindly and said “Don't worry, it's usually not this cold here”.

I'm here to help

I graduate in June 2012, so if you're in one of the batches that has their interviews

before then, contact me! My email ID is advaitsarkar[at]gmail[dot]com. I'd love to

help you out, find your accommodation, show you where your college and faculty

are, and perhaps even give you a few last-minute interview tips.

After the Interview

So you've completed the interview and all other tests you needed to complete your

application.

Now you can relax.

You'll get a decision very, very quickly. It takes them three weeks at most to get

back to you after the interview. In this time, it's best to keep busy with other things

and not worry too much. The bulk of this waiting period will likely fall during the

christmas holidays, and for year 12 students, this is valuable time to get up to speed

with your curriculum, your TOK essay and your extended essay. Do not squander

it; you will regret it later.

They will not send decisions via email, only by post. I recommend you give them

TISB's address because by post I mean regular post, not private courier. TISB is a

prominent and well-known site for university correspondence and so there will be

minimum delays in processing. I live in a suburban neighbourhood with an

intricate and labyrinthine network of roads and crossings, and it's a postman's

nightmare to single out my house from the slew of illogical addresses. Save

yourself a headache, put down TISB's address.

If all else fails, email your admissions officer and request the decision letter to be

faxed over. Because of the pooling system, you will not be notified of the decision

through UCAS until much, much later.

If your application has been unsuccessful

There is no objective scale by which universities are ranked, and therefore there's

no implication that you weren't “good enough” for Cambridge. They were not

necessarily looking for someone better, just someone different16.

University is not the zenith or pinnacle of life. Some people have this unfounded

notion that the university you go to will be singularly responsible for how successful

your career (and life, in general) is. That's not true. The only things that are

16 Case in point: I failed to mount a successful application to Stanford and Princeton. One of myfriends at Stanford failed to mount a successful application to Cambridge.

responsible for your success are the choices you make.

If you have been pooled

Do not dismiss your application as unsuccessful; there's a reasonable chance that

you'll be picked off the pool. Just remember that you may have to reappear for

further interviews.

If your application has been successful

That's brilliant, pour yourself a chilled one. Send me an email. Refocus on the IB

examinations with a vengeance; your conditions are likely to be rather nasty. As

you'll soon discover, getting in was only the first hurdle.

Further Resources:

Have a look at each of these sites. They'll help you through the application process.

Cambridge website:http://www.cam.ac.uk/

A history of the university:http://www.cam.ac.uk/univ/history/

Cambridge wikipedia page:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge

Contact information for Cambridge Admissions:http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/global/cgi/sl.cgi?division=academic&officeabbr=admissions

A list of Cambridge Colleges along with contact information:http://www.cam.ac.uk/colleges/addresses.html

Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU):http://www.cusu.cam.ac.uk/

Great little guide from CUSU on the application:http://www.cusu.cam.ac.uk/prospective/applying/

Contact information for the CUSU access officer, a student officer who will gladlyanswer your queries:http://www.cusu.cam.ac.uk/contacts/access/

Main contact information page for CUSU:http://www.cusu.cam.ac.uk/contacts/

UK border agency (for the visa):http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/

Finally

I hope I've been somewhat useful to you during your application process.

I'm aware that fewer than fifteen students apply to Cambridge from TISB each

year. You are a motley crew, but you are among the best young minds in the

country and no matter what you end up doing, you'll likely be very successful at it.

Good luck!

Advait Sarkar

TISB class of '09

advaitsarkar[at]gmail[dot]com

www.advaitsarkar.com