oh that would not been good hold on about probably not so honest it's probably terrible still we move
we'll figure it out yeah nice nice do you want some extra like oh yeah that'll do okay welcome
to today's video so if you haven't already seen by the title in today's video i'm pretty much gonna
be explaining exactly why i didn't get into cambridge i'm gonna be giving all of my all
my statistics all of like my personal statement and all of the feedback that i got from like the
interviews et cetera et cetera and then exactly what i'm gonna be doing this year so like am i
going to uni am i taking a gap year if i am going to uni what you need so yeah lots packed into this
video i just hope this is gonna be able to provide some value for you guys and any of you thinking of
applying to oxbridge hopefully you can avoid the things that i did wrong so that you can actually
get in oh in this video sponsored by amber student but more than at the end okay so first of all
where did i actually apply to you when i applied to cambridge imperial bath southampton
and birmingham for automotive engineering or just general engineering at cambridge and just
mechanical engineering at imperial because they didn't have the automotive course which is just
not ideal yeah hopping straight into my stats for those of you that haven't followed this channel
gcse i got nine nines and i did as my options business triple science history and pe and then in
a levels i got four a stars which is maths further maths physics and chemistry and the epq i got an a
star and i did my epq on lucid dreaming i've got videos on exactly how i got all of those lines
i've got videos on how i got all of these a stars well not yet but they're coming and then i got a
video on how i got the a site in the epc so if you do want to check out any of those videos links are
in the description below at the end of the day grades are only a fraction of the application the
main things are actually going to be your personal statement that is mine you can pause have a quick
read if you want and i've also got a video on how i wrote that so that's also in the description
below but that's probably one of the most important aspects of the application as a whole
because it conveys your personality it conveys your passions and it shows why you're actually
interested in the course and their university obviously it's quite general because you've got
to target it at all five of your choices but it basically just shows why you like why are
you over anyone else with the same grades but then for a few other universities you've got admissions
assessments and you've got interviews and those are the four key pillars of any application and
especially dark switch okay now you've got a bit background on my stats so all my grades and
my personal statement here is exactly why i got rejected and all of the feedback i got from saint
catherine's college i'm just gonna bust that up on the screen there but they start off by saying
they wrote me with disappointment as i didn't get in they also said on average the university
received five applicants per place the competition was strong it was intense basically it's just a
bunch of waffles trying to make me feel better but then going on to the actual specifics of why
i didn't gain they basically started by giving all of the positives they said i gave a really
impressive description of my work experience and performed well into interview questions coming out
of those interviews i actually felt really strong against them but not against them strong for my
performance like a good example to back all of the key skills you need so things like leadership time
management and all that and it's really good to have an understanding of what you've done
to prove yourself for those skills for example time management all of the stuff that you do and
how you balance that alongside your studies that's just good to know and have in your back pocket in
case they ask you about it but then also any work experience you've done you've got to really know
what you did and how that benefited you and how that put you on the path you are on the
currently to study that subject i literally just dissected everything to do my work experience and
actually in my work experience video which is also linked in the description below i show you that i
actually wrote a complete summary of my time there and everything that i took from that experience
when i went so that i literally knew everything i did and how it benefited me and i could just
throw that out in an interview and that was really impressive for a lot of the interviewees at both
artsbridge and imperial but then the biggest thing is just being able to show that you've got like a
flexible mindset so when you're answering questions they'll throw some mathematical
and some engineering questions at you go in with like your initial thoughts but then when
they start to guide you and question your logic so they might be like oh why have you chosen to
do this take a step back take a breather look at what they're saying because they might be trying
to direct you in the right path and be open to the fact that the initial path you took was wrong
i did this and i realized what i was doing was wrong and i said oh yeah this what you've said
really makes sense this is why and here's where i'm gonna go from there i did that for all of
the interview questions and that i felt was really strong and is what they recommend doing
for pretty much any interview so try to like take on board their feedback explain your thoughts and
how you're going to go and implement that feedback so yeah anyway they said that was really strong
but the reason that i didn't get into the university was because considered alongside
my admissions assessment score they didn't feel they could make me an offer so pretty much they
said i screwed up the admissions assessment and that's why i didn't get into cambridge which in
all fairness was the thing that i thought i would have screwed up if i did screw anything up because
when it came to advising for that admissions assessment i actually had mocks at the time
and i thought that those mocks were going to be the grades i was going to get for my a levels
because it was through the whole pandemic and all that there was a lot of uncertainty so i
kind of prioritized my marks over revising for the entrance exam i probably only did like four
past papers going into it like i i wasn't hugely prepared i made the best of a bad situation but
i didn't come out of the yeah i didn't come out of the admissions assessment feeling usually like
confident about it so if there is one piece of advice anyone's going to be taking from this is
make sure you revise for that instant exam it is a rough exam it is multiple choice at the end of the
day but the content and the application of the math you just have to have experienced loads of
questions to be able to have that mindset to go in and just blast out those papers because it's not
really something that you just take the logic from and kind of slowly work your way to an answer you
have to just go rapid fire and know exactly how to get to these answers from the start and that
just comes in practice just do abnormal amounts of past papers and you'll be completely fine so
that is exactly why i didn't get into cambridge the grades were there the interview was there the
personal statement was there but i completely marked the admissions assessment so don't
do what i did and prioritizing marks prioritize that admissions assessment if you do want to get
into cambridge okay moving on what am i doing this year now okay well initially i was actually set
on going to imperial and that was my number one choice out of all of my options when i applied and
i was actually going to pick that over cambridge if i did get into cambridge then i got all of
my offers and i got into imperial i got into bath and after speaking to loads of the students at the
different universities looking at the facilities that are available nearby i realized that actually
imperial wouldn't be for me even though i'd love the london life i think that would be absolutely
wicked just the sheer demand of the course and will lack all from what i've heard from a lot
of students in london the social scene i did not think that was the best place for me to thrive
and be able to do everything i wanted to do and bath had kind of the best of both worlds it had a
good social life he had a really good course had the institute for the advancement of automotive
propulsion systems nearby just bearing in mind i kind of want to go into the automotive sector if i
do to do something with my degree in engineering that is what i want to be doing so having that
facility so nearby kind of confirmed my decision in that university but also the fact that it
wasn't going to be as a demanding of a course meant i had time but we'll supposedly have time
for everything else that i want to do so if you've watched my channel for a while you know that i'm
a really big advocate for the startup space and i've got a few part-time jobs in that industry
i want to be carrying on those i want to be building up my network in that area and that extra
bit of time will allow me to do so whilst tackling things like the gym whilst tackling my studies and
youtube and everything like this so that was my decision but then i kind of cheated around with
the idea of a gap year because going into summer i was doing this internship with manor the startup
that i am working for and yeah i said to myself that if that went really well i would strongly
consider a gap yet that has gone really well so i did strongly consider a gap year and basically if
i took a gap year what i would do because i'd work for them as much as possible because it's working
from home like it's a remote basis so i've got a lot of flexibility with that and i can do that
from anywhere in the world so probably do a little bit of travel and stuff as well then i'd also have
time for some personal adventures like i've always been wanting to try drop shipping even though it's
not the most like not the most fulfilling business in the world it does have potential to make a lot
of money and i know a lot of people that are doing it so i've always wanted to try it and i feel like
it's going to be one of those things if i get stage at 30 and i haven't tried it yet i want to
be a bit disappointed in myself so those are a few reasons why i would have wanted to take a gap year
but when all boiled down to it i know that myself i thrive when i've got a routine when i've got a
structure and i can start to balance everything around that structure going to university would
give me that it would also give me the social life that i've been really craving since well
since summer i'm just realizing that if i take a gap year i wouldn't necessarily well i would
have that but i'd have to really try and find it for myself whereas at universities kind of thrown
at you and you can just go and make the most of it so i did want that social life i did want that
routine and i did want to be able to kind of pack everything in around that but also it just made
the most sense for this youtube content and making content for you guys so it kind of just led me to
the ultimate decision that i do want to go to university this year so yeah in september i am
going to be going to bath university in september so now i'm going to be going to barton university
to study automotive engineering we're going to be making those vlogs and stuff so it's gonna be
sick but now this was a really tricky situation basically a bath you have to apply it for 10
different accommodation options and i put loads of ensuites i was really happy getting any of my
top five choices and it would be so calm because like 90 percent of students get their top five
choices or something like that then about a week ago after i was completely sounding my decision at
studying with bath i got my accommodation offer and i got my eighth choice option it literally
looked like a prison cell it was nowhere near what i was expecting to get and it did quite put
me off especially for the content and just the aesthetic like yeah i just wanted a good place
to live i wanted like an entree i wanted a shower so i filmed one of the usual vlogs i do so it did
throw a massive spider in the works and did make me reconsider my gap yeah but after thinking about
it and meeting all my flatmates they all seem really really nice so i'm still confident in
going this year to barf but i do know a lot of people who have got their accommodation offers
really aren't happy with it and then have actually deferred for that reason and yeah that's peak
no one really wants that so you've got to have other ways of sorting out student accommodation
and that's where amber student comes in okay so who actually are amber student well i'm a student
they're a student accommodation service with over 20 000 properties and 100 cities worldwide
and their aim is to make it as easy as possible for you to book a a student accommodation you
can trust but b also student accommodation that you like and honestly looking at some of these
accommodations is making my accommodation now at bath literally look like a prison so i definitely
recommend having it okay how does it actually work well you go through three steps first of
all you searched based on university city budget room type and facilities basically so you can find
exactly what type of accommodation you want then you fill in your details like move-in date course
etc confirm your booking and pay the deposit then after that they sort out all of the paperwork
like lease agreements for you and offer 24 7 for support for any questions you might have then once
it's all sorted and your room is confirmed you can attend live viewing sessions with property
experts so you can see your new home before you move in now obviously i've also been in touch with
the team they all seem like great people and i know mia alex also worked with him in the past on
one of the in fact what actually was the video yeah she actually worked with him on one of her
bath accommodation reviews basically basically went in depth into all of the different
accommodations at bath and honestly from that video she's got really good vibes and she actually
goes to one of the accommodations if you want to check it out link's also in the description yeah
if you are looking for student accommodation either for this year or next year because you
actually have to think about student accommodation quite early on for like second third year etc then
go down and click the top link in the description below and it'll run you through but otherwise
that is it for me today i really do hope you've enjoyed this video i hope you found it helpful and
basically why i didn't get into cambridge that you don't make that same mistake in the future
also like i said i will be going to bath so all of the student vlogs and stuff will be sick if any of
you are going to bath feel free to message me it's always good to know more people there yeah i hope
you did enjoy we've also got loads and loads of a level content and then all of the universities
have come in so if that sounds like content you want to watch go and hit the subscribe button down
below so you don't miss anything otherwise that is it from me today and i'll see in the next one