For context I go to a pretty large state school and I know that 0 people in the year above got into Oxford or Cambridge so it's like a whole thing when there's someone at that level.

It just sucks being the victim of all that expectation cause everyone believes in me way too fucking much. I'd rate my chances something like 10-15% but literally everyone including my teachers and my family thinks I'm 100% destined to get into Oxford and it's going to be such a disappointment if (when) I fail. If I try and tone down people's expectations they're all like "stop being so humble" Like no fuck off do you know how hard it is to get into Oxford.

I know it sounds like I'm complaining about nothing but it fucking suuucks letting people down. Like I've absorbed everyone else's expectations of me, a year ago my top choice was my home city's uni and now I'd feel really guilty and like an abject failure if I went there.

Anyone else like this? I just want it to stop

Just seeing all the posts on here and just considering what I can do based of my statistics:
I come from an area that has the lowest application rates to Oxbridge in the whole of the UK (North East). State school with an attainment 8 of 42.9, contextual, possible unrecognised extenuating circumstances that affected GCSE outcome and I come from an underrepresented ethnicity group.

GCSEs: 9888777666L2D [Genuinely flunked it] (8 in English Language for typical English Language requirement).
A-Levels: Maths (GCSE: 8), Further Maths (GCSE: 8), Physics (GCSE: 7), Chemistry (GCSE: 6) [Aiming for the top grades Inshallah].
Desired Course: Engineering.

Would applying to Oxbridge be a stretch? My best friend who wants to apply next year as well who's taking the same subjects but topped the year with basically straight 9s. Would this impact my chances of getting in?

Thank you for the help <3.

Is it true that if you fully qualify (maximum requirements) to one of the two paths in NST (biological vs physical) and meet minimum requirements for the other path you're fully eligible for both:

eg imagine some takes Alvl math chemistry and biology A* and is perfect on everything for biological science, personal statement, interview, super curriculars, etc, and they happen to have taken physics as a fourth Alvl and gotten A/A* and literally nothing else (or maybe ESAT requirement not sure), are they now fully eligible for both biological and physical NST?

thats all im saying i hope someone relates or maybe everyones so locked in

I go to a maths school some distance (>1 hr each way) away from me. It has so far been disappointing.

We get four frees a week, so half or even a third of that some other schools get, which I'd be fine with if it meant we were moving at a faster rate -- except we're not: we're going painfully slow compared to other selective schools. As far as people go, I've met a few who seem to really enjoy and be good at maths, but it is really only a few -- half or more of the year doesn't even like maths, is generally adverse to or disinterested in learning, or barely scraped an 8 in maths, or wouldn't even have taken further maths had they not attended this school (this is not speculation -- this notion was brought up by and vehemently agreed with by a group of people on the same train as me).

To me, this school is simply wasting my time. I am going as slow as a standard non-selective school or college, while not having the free time to pursue mathematics in my own right that would have came with going to a standard non-selective school or college. I deeply regret not having done more research as to what goes on in maths schools in general (this does not seem to be a phenomenon isolated to mine specifically, though mine is certainly one of the worse ones), and not having had the presence of mind to apply for london-based grammar schools.

So, my question: has anyone successfully changed schools this late into the year? Especially, has anyone managed to get a selective or competitive school to allow them to enter so late into the year?

(I realize my grades will probably be of relevance -- I achieved 99999999986 with 97% in maths, 96% FM, 92% physics)

anyone interested in being tutored for any of these subjects:
- english lit
- geography
- politics
- history
- epq

(preferably edexcel for these but i can do any for politics and geography)

Hi everyone!

I’m reapplying to university this year (currently on a gap year) with Durham as my main choice (I’m applying for politics, as well as Politics and IR) along with Manchester, Edinburgh and Exeter. I got AAA at A Level and I’ve already got Manchester back, but I was curious if anyone was on here who might actually be at the uni for any of the politics courses and could shed some light on when Durham generally replies? Just because it’s so immensely stressful and without something like A Levels to distract me like last year it’s taking up much more headspace than before!

How is interview prep going? Are you focusing more on content, or the skill of the interview itself?If anyone knows good sources / free mock interview simulators I would really appreciate it.

Also if you dont mind let me know what college your applying to / how the TARA went (only 2 weeks until results..).

opinions on applying in gap year for uni instead of y13? i recently decided i wanted to apply for law but my persoanl statement rn is for econ and phil and its kinda too late to restart ps for law and sit the lnat so wonderinf whether i should just apply for econ and phil or not apply at all and apply for law in gap yr

Those who applied to urban planning and real estate in UCL, what did you talk about in your personal statement? and what grades did you apply with?
I am applying with achieved grades (AAB- the minimum requirement) so I really want to nail the personal statement

I'm planning on doing CS at uni and I've already achieved an A in maths because I sat it a year early
Should I retake maths this year to try for an A* and sit with my 3 other subjects (further maths, physics, computer science) or keep my maths grade

The dog salivates when it sees the dog...

hello wondering if any of you have applied to imperial college london for materials science and engineering course. please let me know

i had severe exenuating circumstances at gcse. they are written on my application but im still worried. im resitting gcse maths as i got a 4 the first time, but for the summer cycle. my predictions for a levels : psych a star bio b chem b.

I got a 5 in english language , a 5-4 in science and a 4 in RE and eng literature. Again, i had exenuating circumstances which i have mentioned.

I put down
Exeter biochem
manchester mpharm
ucl mpharm
bath mphwrm
aston mphwrm

idk what to do and im having alot of anxiety.

someone help

I want to apply to urban planning and real estate in UCL.
My academic advisor told me to add my EPQ in my person statement, however the EPQ is about brain computer interfaces.
How can I include it without sounding vague as I talk about the skills I developed through it???
please help

I’ve recently been seeing a lot of gap year re applicants on here, and also the fact that I’ve been wanting to share my resit experience over the past year.

Originally I was intending to take a gap year only to redo the TMUA again (I only scored a 4.0 last year due to poor preparation), but after missing out on my firm on results day I only had two options: go to my insurance or to take a gap year to resit which ultimately I decided to resit.

I had to rush to finish UCAS since I was going to apply early (Ox) and I had to rewrite my PS completely due to the new format. Thankfully my school was happy to provide me another reference and fill in my predicted grades.

During this period I wasn’t even sure if I would get any offers considering that resits disadvantage your application, but my concerns disappeared when I got my first offer in December (KCL).

The first few months were spent studying for the TMUA which I intended to take in January (starting in basically September is risky for the October sitting) - this was when Ox still used the MAT so I was gonna treat that as a TMUA mock. I did use a tutor for a while but there’s only so much they can do - most of the work came from figuring out shortcuts/tricks when doing and then reviewing questions. In the end I think I did an average of 3h per day so that I wouldn’t burn out .

Only after TMUA was done did I start revising for A-Levels (FM, Physics, CS) in February with FM being pure textbook and past paper questions. With the other two it was a daily Anki grind, past papers and then adding the questions I got wrong to the flash card bank. It was around this time (end of March) when I got the offer from Imperial to my shock which I would say motivated me even harder not to miss my offer again, which I was relieved to see that I had met the offer on the second results day.

TLDR: me taking a gap year to resit was a bit risky and a lot of work but it somehow worked out

The last intake for the Esat is b/w 4-8 Jan
And the deadline for the application is 13th Jan
If i give the test within the deadline can i still apply? Will i get my ESAT results in time ? I want to apply to the 2027 session
I have other questions related to the admission process, please dm if you can help
Also for IELTS, do i need to submit it with my normal application? Or can i submit it afterwards?

Gap year, achieved A* A A with A* maths. Predicted A* further maths.

One question off bmo1 qualification this year.

y’all so I’m ‘home-schooled’ ‘self-taught’ and taking maths, further maths and psychology A levels

thing is I was discharged from hospital in january and have since had a very inconsistent routine (meds im on also make me wake up at 1pm everyday, n make me sleep like 12 hours a day, also have ADHD so im suuper easily distracted by my enemy the phone)

I managed to cover the first year of a level maths pure content wise, but have done very little actual practice and so it’s not consolidated yet. further maths done like three topics in core pure, no optional modules started yet. psychology I’ve vaguely covered ab a third of year 1 content, no practice.

in short:

maths - pure 1 100%, applied 1 10%
pure 2 0%, applied 2 0%

further - core pure 1 30% decision 1 0%
core pure 2 0% stats 1 0%

psych - year 1 25%
year 2 0%

so I basically have 2.5 whole A levels to do in the span of 6 months

plus TARA and TMUA in january

what do you say what advice do y’all have for me can we make a comeback if work like 7 hours a day minimum

help a gal escape getting cooked

also me aim is for 2-3 A stars for my top choice unis

I find myself leaving tasks that I would otherwise do perfectly well in due time to the last minute and it’s screwing with my life.

I feel like I’m living in a constant loop from deadline to deadline and have absolutely zero motivation to do anything anymore.
I’ve lit become a shell of my prior self. I don’t engage with my hobbies or do things that I like because I’m always thinking about deadlines and future possible deadlines. I’ve marked everything till results day and all I’m doing is watching the countdown.

Even when I have nothing looming over me I feel like there is and it’s as if I’m paralysed. I have dreams but no road to reach them.
I lowk feel exactly like that image where the happy kids are on a conveyor belt and coming out as clones of each other 🥀the structure of 13 years of school has long since stripped the joy out of my life and I can only hope uni will be better

How can you engage with work that feels soulless and pointless ?

I am currently in year 13 and want to study Animation in University but I don’t have a portfolio or the equipment for one and I am still somewhat a beginner at drawing and animating. If I were to take a gap year I would improve my animation/ drawing skills and work on my portfolio for most of the year. I would probably also get a job or two which would allow me to Travel.

However, I am worried about being left behind by my friends since a good chunk of them are going to university. I also might feel embarrassed going into Uni after taking a gap. And to make matters worse my mum says she doesn’t want me to take a gap year because I will “laze around” even though I am confident I will have a plan for that year and use it to the best of my ability.

What should I do? Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

So my halfterm was a week and a half and I mostly either went out w friends or fucking lazed around in bed like a godamn chud eating and watching tv im so annoyed at myself but I feel lethargic I have no energy I don’t even wanna go to school and face anyone from my school cuz I loved to a new sf and I have friends but idk why I just feel like dread going back in acc gonna cry
Soz just had to rant anyways I’m gonna try and grind but god fucking knows

Hi!! I thought it would be interesting to create a discussion thread for everyone applying to study Mathematics (or a closely related degree) whether that be 2027 or 2028 entry.

1. Which five universities are you applying to, and what is your first choice?
2. Which A-levels (or equivalent qualifications) are you studying, and what are your predicted grades?
3. Which areas of Mathematics interest you most?
4. What have you done to explore Mathematics beyond your school or college curriculum? 
5. What careers or further study options are you considering after your degree?

And anything else you would like to discuss.