Applying to the University of Cambridge
Written by Moses Law- Accepted student of the University of Cambridge
Now that your school has given you an excellent predicted grade, or better still you’ve managed to achieve an outstanding score for the IB itself, you’ve just realized the world of possibilities that are now open to you. Spoilt for choice, you are looking at the sheer number of courses and universities you can apply to for your next phase in life. That was me, three years back after receiving my results, asking myself: Should I go local? Should I go overseas? How does this whole process work?
For those of you who managed to score well for the IB, you’ve probably considered applying to Oxbridge, where the standard entrance requirements for IB students is about 40–42 points with a 776 for your HLs depending on the course. Consistently ranked as the top few universities internationally, with a strong support system for facilitating learning and tons of networking opportunities, I too, eventually decided to apply for a Law degree in the University of Cambridge.
Side note, if you didn’t already know, between Oxford and Cambridge, you can only apply to one of them, not both. I picked Cambridge as their Law curriculum suited my needs more and in terms of comparing both towns, the vibes at Cambridge are way more lovely and charming compared to Oxford.
Like any applying to any other UK university, applying to Cambridge can only be done through the UCAS portal. The deadline for this is normally end-September, but I’d recommend you complete and submit your application weeks earlier as there are other steps to take after this. Also, Cambridge operates as a collegiate system, where it’s made up of 31 colleges of different sizes, demographics and specialties, but as a collective they make up Cambridge. This means that on UCAS, you have to decide which college to apply to, or you can leave your application as “open” if you have no preference. After I submitted my UCAS application, I had to complete another application on Cambridge’s website itself called COPA, meant for international applicants outside of the EU. In addition, I had to complete another form called the SAQ which the admissions team from Cambridge will email you. I understand that these administrative procedures can be quite confusing for some of you, but you can find out more on the university’s website itself. I’ve put a direct link to their application timetable here to make this easier and clearer for you!
After managing to complete all the administrative procedures, I found myself awaiting the infamous interview and written test. Cambridge will normally dispatch an overseas admissions team to various places around the world at specific time frames to conduct their interviews and assessments for overseas applicants. Unfortunately due to National Service commitments at the time, I could not make it for their interview and assessment in Singapore, so I had to travel to Mumbai for my own interview and assessment, with the kind support of my superiors and assistance of Cambridge’s overseas admissions team. Should any of you who are serving the nation face a similar predicament as me, rest assured that their overseas admissions team will do their best to arrange something for you. They are just an email away!
I’m sure many of you have heard horror stories about the unorthodox questions they pose at the interview and the complex questions they throw at you in your subject specific written assessment. While this might be true, I mean I was asked how military occupations should be classified — in an interview which I thought was going to be law-related, don’t be daunted by this. It’s their way of seeing the way you process your thoughts and your first taste of what a supervision* will be like in Cambridge! I found myself engaged in topics I’ve never had the chance to think deeply about and having heated discussions with my interviewer on contentious issues. I didn’t even notice that my interview time was up and found myself leaving the interview more intellectually stimulated than when I came in. As for the written test, the questions posed stumped me, and I had to scramble my thoughts and frantically piece together a somewhat coherent argument just before the time was up.
*Supervisions are one of the teaching methods in Cambridge where you can discuss your work and receive personal feedback from your supervisor who is probably a leading specialist in the field you are studying.
Overall, like any other applicant aware of how competitive securing a spot in Cambridge is, I had doubts about getting an acceptance at all. When that decision email eventually came and I realized that I got accepted, I was very surprised and thankful of how the many things that could’ve gone wrong along the way did not. For those TLDR folks, I’d sum up my experience in three takeaways:
1. Don’t be daunted by how competitive and challenging the interview and assessment might be, treat it as a taster of what it is like to actually study in Cambridge. If you like it, great! It means their style of teaching will probably suit you. If not, don’t be discouraged, we all have different styles of learning that we are more inclined to. There is probably another university out there that will vibe with you and facilitate your learning process better.
2. Keep your expectations open regardless of your feelings after the interview and assessment, don’t beat yourself up because you felt or thought that it didn’t go well. Your interviewer or assessor isn’t there to “grade” your performance in the interview or written test like in the IB. They are there to see if you are compatible with the university’s style of teaching and whether you have the potential to thrive that specific environment.
3. Building on the second point, when you receive the decision email, if you got an offer, congrats! If you didn’t, it doesn’t make you less than any other applicant who got the offer. It might just mean that the admissions team thought that your academic potential could’ve been tapped to the fullest elsewhere instead of Cambridge. Ultimately, universities and their courses are just a means for us to acquire and produce knowledge while building networks that we can tap onto in the future. As long as you have that passion to learn and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, nothing is going to stop you from attaining the goals you’ve set for yourself in the future.
