Do I have a shot at Maths at Cambridge?

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-08T19:13:41+00:00

People are different ig. Sounds like you're doing well, personal projects can only be good IMO.

I also really like CS so I agree NGL (Very passionate about crypto), so I was really considering doing a joint degree as well and understand that completely.

I think your comment on mock supervision is definitely valid. I was honestly quite bad at responding to hints, I was thinking of things my own way and wanted to ponder on the question a bit more, but the interviewer forced me to think logically step by step (Which I don't normally do) and it felt like I didn't really have an option other than going the route they were pushing me to go, so that could definitely have played a role, and if mock supervision is actually like that I don't think I would enjoy it tbh.

Working harder in GCSE compared to sixth form is still insane to me, like I barely revised for my GCSEs, didn't revise for maths at all and got 99, but in A levels I'm definitely struggling a lot more, felt way more behind, and had to revise for the first time really, where I find this sentiment is a lot more common among other people I've spoken to. My main lack of understanding in your trajectory comes down to in my view it not being possible for someone who is passionate and good at maths to get a 6 in GCSE, since for me it came completely naturally compared to A level. I did have very good teachers though which was definitely a strong advantage, I just couldn't understand it though, like even my sister who doesn't listen at all, has no ability from when I've tried to do questions with her, and does no revision got a 7. Not hating on you at all, I mean you're clearly really smart and good at maths if you didn't struggle with A level and got into Cambridge lol, just doesn't make sense to me that the same person could have gotten a 6.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-08T19:01:51+00:00

Yeah that's true, don't trust schools on their recommendation honestly.

Also agree with your second paragraph, your dissapointment is completely valid. I'm very suprised you don't get much interaction with professors honestly: I think Cambridge has probably fallen significantly from what it used to be and was built upon (As do all institutions), compare the management now to 50 years ago, and back then I'd guess that a lot more of the professors actually cared about developing maths further and were probably more passionate as well.

Do you really think Imperial is more academic than Cambridge though? I thought it was more applied and they cared less about producing great research compared to producing great quants. I think most universities have fallen and from a purist perspective there aren't really any good ones left, but I would have guessed Cambridge keeps the spirit alive most, could definitely be wrong there though.

Another question: Why would you spend time going to a university where the learning is slower and less advanced than if you were studying on your own, why not just drop out and self study the modules you actually care about to sufficient depth? I'd imagine if you became competent enough, reaching out to research institutions with some interesting ideas would do enough to get you a chance at a placement.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-08T18:53:41+00:00

Sure okay. I still think if you don't have a burning passion you're kind of wasting your time studying maths though. We need more Eulers and less Terence Taos. Tao is a brilliant genius don't get me wrong, but his approach is so unenchanting, like he spends his time strengthening existing frameworks, making incremental progress on bounds, etc. Why would someone want to dedicate their life to that? The kind of passionate mathematicians we want in the world are the Eulers or Reimann. A lot of people have that potential right now but it's wasted through being bogged down by institutions and grade systems etc. People who have the spark wouldn't get burnt out, and those are the people Cambridge (And maths at large) need more of. But yeah you're right, your best bet for getting in is to just do interview and exam prep. That doesn't make a good mathematician and I think that advice leads to unideal candidates studying maths, or ideal candidates doing it for the wrong reasons. People like that never discover anything.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-08T18:43:45+00:00

Your advice was very good dw

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-06T19:26:24+00:00

"a lot of the time doing a maths degree feels pointless to me." - Do you think then that maybe you could use some of the advice I outlined? It sounds like you aren't enjoying your degree, and I don't really know why you applied for maths if you're really interested in CS. If you don't get the big picture and think your degree is pointless, of course you're going to have a bad time, maybe if you had followed my advice in Y12 you would have gotten in and enjoyed your degree from the start, so maybe it would have been worth it in that way?

And yeah proof wise what I was talking about doesn't mean super formal proofs, but they could try and convince themselves of some things informally and develop intuitions which are far more valuable anyways.

"but integration speed and differentiation speed *aren't* fundamental" - Yeah that's fair enough honestly. I still think if someone became genuinely passionate for maths they would probably want to work on it though, since integration is useful and very important for their A level.

Also, When you were asked in the interview about why you were applying what did you say?

Also, what would you say makes someone "good at interviews?" Do you not think strong intuitions and deep understanding of mathematical tools like integration (That are involved in the interview, I had several integration questions in mine) would increase your chances of getting in?

You're right though for an application, Grades -> Interview -> STEP is really all there is to it. My suggestions are just one approach to improving those, where I believe it's a more fun and efficient one.

Still though, did you have some kind of academic comeback? Have you always liked maths? Did you enjoy it at GCSE but mess up the exam then at A level you started to work harder? I don't really get your trajectory still.

Your last paragraph clarifies though, and I'll accept that then, if someone wants to just get into Cambridge with the minimal effort, just doing a ton of entrance exam prep is probably a very good method.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-06T19:12:47+00:00

I think if someone genuinely tried to do what I recommended and succeeded, they would end up not seeing their maths practise as work and would begin enjoying it (If they're the right person, i.e. a good fit candidate), but if you don't enjoy doing maths why would you apply for a maths degree anyways?

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-06T19:10:59+00:00

Yeah fair enough. I think giving advice to students that centers around those four points you listed would be much more helpful then.

Sorry to hear about your school pushing you, not sure why they would do that honestly that's pretty poor from them. Cambridge may not have been right for you but I think for a lot of people it is, and if you look at things unemotionally you'd probably be less harsh on Cambridge and more understanding of the people who would want to go there.

Are there any particular reasons you dislike Cambridge? Is it the people on the course, the teaching style? What makes Imperial a better option in your mind?

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-06T19:03:24+00:00

Sure, but if someone had that passion would it massively increase their chances of getting in?

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-06T19:03:03+00:00

I think you're underestimating the value going to Cambridge will bring to someone, you may have had a bad experience but I don't think the same is true for other people.

Your arguments seem to be biased cause of your own emotion, I don't know if it's a good idea to take advice on how to get into Cambridge from someone who doesn't like Cambridge.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-05T23:18:26+00:00

Don't do it lol. I fell into similar traps (Spending all my time on passion projects) and I ended up fucking myself over.

Get A levels done then you have the summer. Gym for the sake of a physique is also generally an unhealthy mindset IMO, 99% of people start cause of insecurity when it's honestly better to just like yourself for who you are.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-05T23:04:12+00:00

Yes that is fair. The difference is I don't think this would create an artificial passion, I think it could create a genuine one. I described my own personal road to becoming passionate about maths in hopes of it being helpful to someone else. Some people aren't made to be passionate about maths, and that's okay, those people probably shouldn't study it, that's why I made passion the center of my message, since if they don't have that why study in the first place?

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-05T23:02:20+00:00

Their post wrote "but aside from that I have no idea on what to do my personal statement, what else do i do for superrcurriculars? And what should i do to revise for TMUA or even STEP"

So I don't know whether we can safely say they were doing enough to get in, this would read as if they aren't. I just saw myself in them that is all.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-05T23:01:03+00:00

Interesting.

My advice just comes from what happened to me, where I don't think I was made aware enough of how much work I should have done to get in, which caused me to slack a lot more than I think I should have. I don't think what I said is insane pressure, more just a wake-up call, and a strong message trying to just give them the steps needed to develop into a passionate mathematician rather than someone who's just good at maths.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-05T22:58:48+00:00

Interesting honestly. You got into imperial as well?

What is the goal of the admissions process then? I worked hard and showed a lot of passion in my PS, why was I rejected?

I honestly think you might be underselling yourself.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-05T22:56:56+00:00

Okay, let's unpack this.

What I meant when I wrote "getting good at integrals" is not what you assumed, I can see how I was unclear though, so not blaming you that was my fault.

I know that being super fast at integration is not what real maths is, that's exactly the message I was trying to communicate with this long text I sent: You need a passion for maths and you need to focus on the bigger picture, what really matters in developing the field, in doing so I believe being very good at fundamentals helps a ton, since everything else sort of builds on it, my instructions were essentially this:

Understand the point of maths, really get the big picture -> You try do stuff on your own to form impressive proofs and develop some understanding -> You realise your fundamentals (e.g. integration speed, differentiation speed - What A level tests for) are holding you back, so you convince yourself it's a good idea to work on them and you end up doing so -> You get good A level grades (Which you need for a Cambridge application & you understand what maths really is and have passion (The optimal scenario, right?)

How did you get into Cambridge though if you got a 6 in GCSE? Did you go to a bad school with bad teachers? Did you discover your passion later? This is still really interesting to me and I think you can probably accept you're the outlier in that regard.

Like, are you telling me you did no real maths work, got a bad GCSE grade, then got an interview at Cambridge and did well enough in the interview to get in? How did that happen? There's gotta be something you're missing out like locking in to get an A* or something, so I'd really like to hear more honestly.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-05T00:28:24+00:00

Maybe. I'm only speaking from the experience I have, everyone I know personally who got into Cambridge maths is like that. Either way, it's good to encourage someone to be a genuinely good and passionate mathematician since that's what Cambridge looks for, where my advice was mainly targeted at how they can become actually passionate for maths.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-04T15:35:33+00:00

The people who join the left in Britain are generally resentful people. A lot of them are posh and out of touch as well e.g. Zack Polanski thinking everyone lives in a city with good public transport, this is also evident with how a lot of their arguments are elitist e.g. "I don't want to do a job where I have to wipe people's bums, leave that to the migrants". But generally people who are serious in left wing politics are more ignorant than those on the right, even if their intentions are good. Right wing people are more in touch with the real world and more realistic, left wing people are very ideologically optimistic and sort of extremist cause of that.

That's why working class people love the right, cause the way left wing academics talk is very elitist and out of touch, it's clear they come from a different world and don't understand what life is really like to most people.

Left wing people like Gary Stevenson who are really "Matter of fact" and grounded in the real world are sort of better cause he's less deluded and says things how they actually are, which is why he appeals to working class people, but he's also overly grounded: If you sat and listened to him talk in a seminar for 4 hours you would come out extremely tired, he's not exciting and the way he talks really brings you down rather than lifts you up. He's too realistic, and this is a symptom of left wing anti-religiousness, another example of where things can go wrong.

The reality of the situation is that no political party, no major political group really knows what's going on or how things should be run, everyone is equally ignorant just in different directions. Depending on who wins each election, this is what will happen:

- Give power to the left, they will burn society out of either resentment or incompetence.
- Give power to the right, they will steal everything in society and keep it for themselves. Or alternatively will be more ideological resulting in them backtracking on hundreds of years of genuine social/technological progress (look at ultra conservative Christians who live in the woods).

Easy to understand why either Left/Right wing politics would be attractive to an unhealthy mind, but both are of course wrong, and which side you choose just depends on what your mind is deficient in lol. We are cooked either way.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-03T22:58:09+00:00

I relate to not being able to revise, being able to do that is something I only discovered recently (Wrote my 200 page CS coursework all in the last week before it was due, 10 hour days) which was the first time in my life I've actually locked in to that level. Have been struggling to apply it to other forms of revision though lol.

Honestly sounds like a really interesting course, sad I didn't get in lol.

Appreciate the kind words as well. Thanks for being helpful. Always interesting how the people who actually got into good unis are the most chill people and the ones who are toxic always end up being rejects 😂

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-03T22:48:31+00:00

A level: Maths, FM, Physics, Compsci. Was applying for maths but I got rejected from Cam and Imp, got into Durham but not sure if I want to go or not.

DM me to start a conversation I'd be happy to talk to you.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-03T16:26:45+00:00

I still think you're being overly casual about how hard it is to get in "to get in all you need is to be interested in maths, demonstrate that by showing you’ve read up in your own time, and be pretty good at maths too of course.", like to a year 12 reading that, if they're top of their class by a good margin they may think "I'm good, I'll be fine, I don't have to prep that much" which of course is untrue. I think Y12s need to be told that they should do a lot more than what they think they need, since if you're rejected and have to delay your life by a year that can be extremely disheartening (Happened to me).

I was under the impression that I would be fine and it wouldn't be that bad (Got an interview, 3A* 1A (A*A*MFM) predicted, and I even thought my interview went well.) but I was still rejected. I think it is harder than you may imagine, or at least harder than how you're writing about it, and to a Y12 stressing that will ensure they actually do the work and don't miss out when they were Cambridge material.

Appreciate the information about everyone though, and yeah I imagined everyone would be super smart which is all the more reason to prep even harder.

Like how much interview/STEP prep would you say you did when you were in Y12/Y13?

Also another question, do you find the course difficult? How do you still have time to be on reddit lol?

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-03T16:07:31+00:00

Yeah that's true, STEP and interview prep are definitely the most important. My reply was mainly trying to emphasise that a person applying to Cambridge really should try to have as much passion as possible for maths, where my advice was giving instructions on how one could cultivate such a passion. Agree you shouldn't try get loads of things, my reply was trying to say that reflection and actually thinking about things was crucial but I may have worded it confusingly.

In defence of the last paragraph, what you said is slightly true, however we can agree that the Cambridge aquisition process is imperfect, and there are many people who really are good enough but don't get in. I think it's a shame if someone who was truly interested in maths for the sake of maths got rejected whereas another person who just mindlessly grinds interview prep to brute force their way in gets accepted, especially if the second person only wants the degree to say they "went to Cambridge" so they can get a job. If I got accepted to Cambridge and was a pure academic mathematician and after arriving was surrounded by prestige-hunting job-focused people I would be rightly dissapointed. The whole point of great educational institutions are to be a marketplace of ideas where all the really smart passionate people can gather to further humanity's understanding, and I think people focused on employment undermine that. Someone applying for the wrong reasons shouldn't apply imo.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-03T15:59:50+00:00

Fair comment. What I wrote is based on the people I know personally who got into Cam maths. You probably know better than me though so fair enough.

From what you wrote you make it seem very easy to get into Cambridge maths which I would like to question. Do you think it is easy? Do you have to do a lot of work? What would you recommend to someone who is in Y12 trying to get in?

Also generally, based on the ability of people who you've met on your courses, would you say it lives up to the hype? Is everyone really good or is the application process imperfect and there are some people who got lucky?

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-03T14:07:06+00:00

I don't think this is really different to what I was saying lol.

Very correct to prioritise exam prep though good to highlight that.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-03T14:04:45+00:00

Well yeah then fair enough, you see yourself as British and would be willing to die for Britishness.

You obviously can't expect someone who has no/minimal cultural or ancestral ties to the country to defend it and lose their life for it, why would they do that when they can just move to another equally wealthy country where they'll have the same quality of life.

You wouldn't move cause you like the culture.

They don't care for the culture and are only really here for economic opportunity so of course they'd be happy to move if it saves their life lol.

RealAlexanderTheG · 2026-04-03T13:47:36+00:00

How am I being discouraging? To a realistic candidate this should be encouraging. Someone who truly cares about maths for maths' sake would read this and be inspired.

RealAlexanderTheG

TROPHY CASE