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1) Amount of applicants who were accepted into and enrolled in the Pure, Statistics, and Applied Streams of the MASt/MMath Part III in Mathematics
2) The previous institution each applicant attended, along with their grades (as done in the earlier request https://www whatdotheyknow. com/request/a. ).
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Part III, in my opinion, is fairly typical among US students today, and graduate admissions committees are aware of this. Most likely, it will have a positive impact on your application because, if nothing else, it demonstrates your commitment to studying mathematics. Additionally, a school can reasonably anticipate that, after a year at Part III, you will be far more prepared than you were when you completed your BA. Therefore, Part III could be very helpful if one of your problems as a BA student was a weak curriculum (as opposed to weak grades or weak letters). However, as you point out, I wouldn’t expect a significant change in your graduate school admissions, in part because you won’t have your grades or a strong recommendation from Part III in hand when you apply to graduate schools the next time around. I wouldn’t worry about the fact that Part III is not research-based; while conducting research prior to beginning graduate school is excellent, most graduate programs in the US do not really expect their students to have done much research or even be close to being ready to begin when they enroll.
Part III is probably as effective as anything else you could do for having a strong graduate application in the upcoming cycle, if money is no object. EDIT: I should probably add that, in terms of content (as opposed to application strategy), Part III is probably preferable to enrolling for a year in any respectable graduate program in the US because it will expose you to a wide range of other students and viewpoints.
But I believe you should compare that to the likelihood of enrolling in graduate school at one of your lower preferences, then attempting to transfer after a year or after receiving a master’s degree. There is no guarantee that this will work, but Part III also carries the same risk. If you were offered funded admission to a reputable US university but would have to pay for Part III on your own, I would carefully consider whether you thought it was worthwhile.
EDIT: I don’t think Cambridge’s “glamour” will have much of an impact. I honestly have no idea how picky Part III is; perhaps someone who does can comment. I wouldn’t rely on the assumption that admissions committees will view it in that way. Getting one prestigious position reinforces getting others psychologically, but this “bandwagon” effect won’t work if the substance is lacking. If you have a strong record, earning a BA from Harvard or MIT can help you get into graduate school because the admissions committee is more certain that an A in a math class at Harvard means something and that a professor at Harvard has worked with many talented undergraduates and can therefore speak with some degree of assurance about what it takes to succeed in graduate school. As a “second opinion” supporting the recommendations and grades you have from your BA, if you attended Part III, performed well on your exams, and received a strong recommendation from a professor there, that could greatly strengthen your application. Nevertheless, as was previously mentioned, those would only be accessible for the fall 2016 admissions cycle. Consider accepting one of your safety schools with a deferment to attend Cambridge, enrolling in Part II in 2014–5, attending the safety school in 2015, and, if you’re unhappy there, applying for transfer in 2016 or 2017. This is one option.
What your “lower preferences” are is one piece of information that is missing (don’t put too much stock in USNW rankings, but they help to be concrete in a discussion like this) Whether we’re discussing a school in the top 25 (like UCSD), top 50 (like UVA), or top 100 (like South Carolina), it makes a significant difference. In the former scenario, I would say that trying to advance is pointless unless you go and are miserable, but in the latter scenario, it makes sense in a certain sense.
In addition, since your undergraduate grades are already “baked in,” the main things you can still change are your letters and, if they were poor, your GRE scores.
Part III is pretty widely known, including in the US. Although they were students with strong academic records to begin with, many of my peers who applied for PhD positions there were successful. However, keep in mind that by the deadline for American applications, not only won’t you have had enough faculty contact to get a proper reference, but you also won’t have any results and won’t even have a record of your ongoing classes. You don’t actually register for courses, and you only announce your exam results in the spring. The academic section of your transcript is currently completely blank. As a result, unless you’re willing to wait an additional year to apply for your PhD, Part III can only help your December applications by virtue of its reputation.
Note that although the essay is strongly encouraged, it is not required. The Part III courses are brutal in addition to providing you with the closest faculty contact you’re likely to have, making a reference letter possible, and being genuinely useful practice at synthesizing complex research It’s a gift to be able to swap out one of them with the essay. Regarding reference letters, it is customary to ask your Director of Studies (a fellow at your college) for an academic reference rather than a specific course instructor to comment on your coursework as a whole. However, there is no law or rule prohibiting you from receiving a letter from your instructors if you get to know them and perform well on the test.
I must admit that the absence of primary research is a bit of a treat. Before your research can really take off, you will typically need to take some advanced courses if you are pursuing a PhD in theoretical physics or mathematics. A nice alternative to trying to complete some of those courses while also balancing TA responsibilities, qualifying exams, and trying to justify your research pay is being able to focus on them intensely for a year. To be fair, though, you aren’t really doing anything that would justify anyone paying you to be there, even though you are paying your own way (unless you are successful in getting a scholarship).
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my cambridge degree results: live reaction (part iii masters in mathematics)
FAQ
Is part III maths hard?
Each year, about 260 students enroll in it, which is regarded as one of the toughest and most intensive mathematics courses in the world.
Can I get into Cambridge with 4 A *?
Entry requirements Certain grades may be required at Higher Level. For the majority of sciences courses, Cambridge typically requires A*A*A, and for arts courses, A*AA, or 40 to 42 IB points total, including core points, with 776 at Higher Level. For students in Scotland, AAA is typically required at the Advanced Higher grade level.
How hard is it to get into Cambridge graduate school?
The University of Cambridge has rigorous academic entry requirements because postgraduate study there is challenging and intellectually demanding.
What is the minimum grade to get into Cambridge University?
Successful applicants are typically required to have a cumulative GPA of at least 85% and scores of 9 or higher in the subjects that are most closely related to the course they wish to enroll in.