Why was I rejected from Cambridge?

[Anonymous No.10598277]

Know it's off topic but no other board will be intelligent enough to answer. Pls help bros

Course: MASt Physics
Secondary academics: A*A*A* A levels, easily top of school
Uni Academics: Birmingham, 87% average in Physics, somewhere near the top don't know for sure
Extracurricular/internships: Some volunteering + 1 very selective research internship

A few days before interview I got in a really violent fight so went awfully, I did tell them this, I'll try describing interview:
2 questions on whether I'd covered Lagrangian and or tensors, hadn't done either
2 academic questions, answered 1 badly 1 "ok"
Question on 3rd year experiment, answered very badly

Was it definitely interview?

[Anonymous No.10598286]

>>10598277
Because you're white

[Anonymous No.10598287]

>>10598277
you got in a fight and you hadn't learned about langrangians and tensors?
is this a troll post

[Anonymous No.10598299]

>>10598286
They don't care about this at all I'm not going to cope with racism

>>10598287
Lagrange and tensors are options at my uni. Fight was after walking home from library and random roastie was getting attacked so went to intervene and it blew up stupidly quick, blood everywhere.

No not a troll post at all I've tried asking for feedback and they fucking ghost you. Really fucking stings to not get a reply from them

[Anonymous No.10598302]

>>10598299
options you should have taken
they were required for my uni and are seriously fundamental for anything above classical physics (even including classical)

[Anonymous No.10598310]

>>10598302
Well thanks that's very clarifying. I know all about matrices, eigenvsctors etc but from quick Google those aren't the same as tensors.

Christ feel like such a retard, I took completely unrelated astronomy stuff I found interesting not realising the importance of those.

[Anonymous No.10598314]

>>10598277
There's a site somewhere with people posting their gpa and acceptance status and to me it seemed pretty arbitrary

[Anonymous No.10598316]

Affirmative action.

[Anonymous No.10598318]

>>10598277
Are you a white goy?

[Anonymous No.10598319]

>>10598277
Fuck, I didn't know there were interviews for part III

[Anonymous No.10598320]

>>10598310
well if it's any consolation tensors are vectors but in more than one dimension
tensors of rank 2 (dimension 2, vectors are rank 1 tenors) are written like a matrix and can be interpreted somewhat like one. the physics definition of a tensor is that it transforms like a tensor. they're used because they transform across coordinate systems perfectly and are the fundamental language of general relativity.
langrangians is an optimization thing which is the principle of least action with an equation. you just write a langrangian (or hamiltonian, another way to write it) and solve the ode(s) to get the information about the system (eg path it takes). again, physical systems start being described as langrangians because of how simple they are (relatively) to work with

[Anonymous No.10598325]

[Anonymous No.10598333]

>>10598316
>>10598318
>>10598325
Fuck off with this crap, it's not true at least in the UK and I'm white.

>>10598319
Only for PHYSICS part 3. The other more famous ones don't have one.

>>10598320
Thanks but not smart enough to take that in right now lol always have to go over things a few times. We did general relativity first year and haven't touched it again.

Just clarifying before start kicking myself here, tensors are definitely different to basic matrix work right?

[Anonymous No.10598334]

>>10598333
yes

[Anonymous No.10598335]

>>10598334
Thanks bro feels great to get an answer

[Anonymous No.10598354]

>tfw got a first at imperial, had a decent interview and still got rejected
Feelsbadman, but you've got to move on

[Anonymous No.10598364]

>>10598354
Not op but what percentage by year? Were your references good? Where were you in year?

Sorry about your rejection and lot of questions I'm applying for this course next year.

[Anonymous No.10598382]

>>10598364
Sorry for confusing you, but I applied for Advanced Chemical Engineering a year ago.
I always got between 75-78%, my references were good and I completed two internships at international companies.
Where are you currently at?

[Anonymous No.10598383]

>>10598382
Nottingham

Thanks regardless

[Anonymous No.10598385]

>>10598299
>They don't care about this at all I'm not going to cope with racism

Okay, go not-cope while diversity quotas push you into McDonalds. Good luck!

[Anonymous No.10598398]

>>10598277
Probably options. Just move on, you've done ridiculously well regardless

>>10598385
they aren't a thing in the UK.

Quotas are what losers blame their failures on.

[Anonymous No.10598419]

>>10598398
Well I guess you'll have to blame your own incompetence then

[Anonymous No.10598425]

>>10598398
You kinda type like a moron. You went into this field just for the prestige and they could tell when you failed to perform in the interview

[Anonymous No.10598428]

>>10598277

i've been rejected from some places long time ago... don't waste your time overthinking, get good grades in your bachelor, and reapply again for masters or go elsewhere if reputation is so important for you

[Anonymous No.10598453]

>>10598277
>87% average in Physics
>Not covered tensors or Lagrangian
What kind of shit tier physics degree do you have?

>Birmingham
Oh...

[Anonymous No.10598456]

isn't cambrigde way more expensive since its a private university?
Eh I recommend just going somewhere else since they're overcharing you on whatever undergraduate program they offer.

>>10598428
Do people actually care about reputation? At least never really experienced someone caring.

[Anonymous No.10598461]

>>10598456

reputation certainly matters if you plan to become a professor
otherwise it's largely irrelevant , especially in STEM fields where the undergraduate studies are almost equal everywhere

[Anonymous No.10598467]

>>10598453
>Birmingham
Not from the UK, but I thought Brum was actually decent?

[Anonymous No.10598472]

It's OK but OP could have done much better with three A* a-levels.

[Anonymous No.10598489]

>>10598310
what's the relevance of eigenvectors in factor analysis?

[Anonymous No.10598526]

>>10598467
Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, KCL, ICL, Warwick, Manchester, Durham, St Andrews, maybe Edinburgh? These are the relevant UK universities at undergraduate level. Maybe add a couple more for specialist courses.

[Anonymous No.10598550]

>>10598526
Is it generally more competitive to get accepted into a top UK uni at grad-level?
I got offers from UCL and Imperial for undergrad, but decided to stay in Germany because of the ridiculous tuition fees and living costs compared to here.
I’ve been regretting my choice for quite a while and considered applying after I finish my bachelor if I manage to get a scholarship.

[Anonymous No.10598620]

>>10598277
loling at this thread

[Anonymous No.10598952]

>>10598302
I mean wtf, do they not have CM? How do they even do QM without introducing lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism?
We have to do two semesters of CM that included tensors for everything concerning rigid body motion and of course d'lambert, Lagrange, Hamilton, Noether etc. Basically Goldstein level, minus the superfluous stuff, it's a weed out course for people that just barely pass real analysis.

[Anonymous No.10599043]

>>10598277
You want to go to grad school at one of the most prestigious institutions for physics research and you have never learned lagrangians or tensors? To top it off you bombed an interview and are not at the top of your class at an irrelevant uni. I think there's no question here why you were rejected. Sorry m8 thats just the way it is

[Anonymous No.10599059]

>>10599043
My best friend here got accepted to Cambridge at undergrad and turned them down, and I'm definitely stronger than him both going off exam results and what seems to be the case when we work together.

Those things were options, I get I've been a massive idiot by not taking them I didn't realise how important they were.

[Anonymous No.10599062]

>>10599043
>>10599059
Should have mentioned he met his offer as well. He came here instead of Cambridge 100 percent out of choice. (Thought it was snobby)

[Anonymous No.10599110]

>>10599059
Well there could be a multitude of reasons why you got rejected, but you will never know. Usually undergrad and grad admissions work a little differently or your friend stopped trying in undergrad. It's best to just stop thinking about it and move on with your life.

[Anonymous No.10599214]

>>10599059
Did you have classical and quantum mechanics? Could you link your uni's program?

[Anonymous No.10599240]

>>10599214

There are unis that don't have QM/CM? Leaf here, this seems like a math degree without a real analysis or modern algebra class, although I'm not a physics students, just have a few friends who did it.

[Anonymous No.10599295]

>>10599240
Well the dude claims he didn't cover lagrangians and tensors which are kinda the basis for any CM I know of, no matter how lax, and I can't see him doing anything that deserves to be called QM without a good knowledge of Hamiltonians, which are normally introduced in CM and defined via an integral of a lagrangian function. That's why I'm asking, it makes zero fucking sense, I can't see an uni that isn't burger tier multiple choice diploma mill giving a physics BSc without covering all of that.

Tbh he sounds like a graduate of one of those super liberal western unis that allow students too much choice, and he chose all "420 vsauce space lmao dude" intro classes. I can get tensors, but how do you get BSc in physics without fucking lagrangians?

[Anonymous No.10599356]

>>10599240
>>10599295
I mean, I just dug up my textbook, my two semesters of CM cover:
>rigorous vector calculus based mechanics up to generalized coordinates and Lagrange equations of both kinds in the first semester
>oscillations, rigorous rigid body kinematics and dynamics. with tensors, euler equations, noninertial systems, variational calculus with Lagrange-Jacobi and Fermat, Hamiltonians, Poisson brackets with hints to lie algebra, symmetries a la Noether and expands the discrete systems to continuous ones in the second semester.
It's pretty much everything from Goldstein save the STR stuff, perturbation theory and random cOsMoLoGy and aStRoPhYSiCs examples Goldstein threw in for NASA wannabes.

[Anonymous No.10599371]

>>10598398
Dude it's worse in the UK than america. Read a newspaper every once in a while, retard. No wonder you didn't get in.

[Anonymous No.10599394]

>>10598398
Lmao retard, it doesn't matter if there are quotas, because these unis are still making preference for them

[Anonymous No.10599401]

>>10598277
It's bizarre you got a physics degree but didn't cover langragians or tensors. But even without your interview, unless I'm underestimating how difficult Cambridge is, it would still go down to being lucky with those grades and research experience.

[Anonymous No.10599434]

>>10598277
Not well rounded enough. Should have played a sport/instrument or done something "bigger" volunteering wise. A single large volunteering project is more of value than a smattering of small things. The interview probably didn't help either. Cambridge is pretty prestigious, idk if 87% is actually that high.

Btw in your internship what exactly did you accomplish? How "well" you did while you were there matters.

[Anonymous No.10599444]

come to Uni of Birmingham, its not that bad :^)
t. final year student

[Anonymous No.10599524]

>>10599401
>>10599434
Not him but what the fuck do they expect? I'm applying to a similar course

87 is extremely high as far as I know

[Anonymous No.10599527]

>>10599059
>Those things were options
I have lost a lot of respect for the UK once again lmao, what the fuck, it's a trainwreck nowadays. Porn ban, brexit, etc

[Anonymous No.10599546]

>>10599524
Something that actually covered physics at university level? How do you even do CM and CFT without lagrangians and fucking tensors?

87% of high school physics isn't that impressive.

>>10599401
>It's bizarre you got a physics degree but didn't cover langragians or tensors.
Downright crazy. How in the fuck? What diploma mill does this?

[Anonymous No.10599558]

>>10599546
Birmingham is a good uni overall, probs top 20 percent

Which one do you go to/what percentage did you get?

[Anonymous No.10599647]

>>10599558
>Birmingham is a good uni overall, probs top 20 percent
And it doesn't cover lagrangians and tensors in its physics course? Nigga what?
>Which one do you go to/what percentage did you get?
Only second year, random EE/Soviet school uni that sends its top 2-3 students to ETH Zurich/CERN/TU Munich for PhD or postdoc every year. I'm 92%, and barely top 3. First year mathematics is Zorich level real analysis.
>>10599356
my CM syllabus.

[Anonymous No.10599663]

>>10598277
>Know it's off topic but no other board will be intelligent enough to answer.
>Was it definitely interview?
yes

[Anonymous No.10599666]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggvoCg-x2ME

[Anonymous No.10600626]

>>10598286
>it's definitely not because he got into a violent fight a few days before the interview

[Anonymous No.10601107]

Interviewer just replied and said he'd send feedback asap. I'll post it when it arrives incase anyone gives a shit

[Anonymous No.10601132]

>>10599546
He almost certainly overloaded on meme electives to buff up his percent and neglected studying real physics, it's what my brainlet friends also do.

[Anonymous No.10601137]

>>10601132
The astronomy options were lowest, and pure mathematics is what I'm best at. Retard.

[Anonymous No.10601217]

>>10601107
I do (seriously, I'm considering applying at some point)

[Anonymous No.10601227]

I'm sick of these threads with some faggot asking for validation. Blog it faggot

[Anonymous No.10602196]

>>10598277
It was the interview. They asked you 5 questions, and you only answered 1 correctly.

[Anonymous No.10602210]

>>10598277
why would you even think of volunteering to them that you're the kind of person who gets involved in violent, bloody fights? at most any related interaction should have been "Wow how'd you get that shiner m8?" "Oh, I was intervening between a bunch of chavs harassing a woman and had to defend myself"

[Anonymous No.10602222]

>>10598325
to be fair those are very mediocre "top end" scores for a white person if you're trying to get into one of the top 10, and there are going to be thousands of white candidates with perfect GPAs and even higher LSATs who look better than you and would get preferential admissions because of it.

[Anonymous No.10602272]

>>10598325
have sex

[Anonymous No.10602330]

>>10598277
what clown college offered you a degree in physics without any curriculum covering lagrangian mechanics?

im not even a physicist and even I know that's dumb

[Anonymous No.10602381]

>>10601217
Soz it was almost completely useless, just muh exceptional competition and so on nothing in particular about my app. Only useful bit being that there were more than twice as many strong applicants this year (180 overall, 100 strong, 20 places), probs cause it's a new course and just getting a reputation.

>>10602210
I was crying before it even began and only mentioned half way through when obvious couldn't go on.... DEFINITELY would have been rejected for interview without an excuse

[ultimatesciencefaggot !5Vf8hjR2.. No.10603790]

>>10598277
It's a combination of TWO things

1) Your gay retardation

2) Not being a holy NIGGER that the admissions love to suck the AIDS-infested cock of.

[Anonymous No.10603795]

>>10598277
You failed because you did poorley on interview.

[Anonymous No.10604082]

>>10598277
>so, Anon... have you ever had a gf?
what did you answer?

[Anonymous No.10604100]

Is this shit real?

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/453567/response/1100270/attach/2/FOI%202017%20635%20Javed%20response%20letter%20and%20data.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

It seems like people with meh grades can get offers
I thought it was the world's most difficult graduate studies in math

[Anonymous No.10604865]

>engineer
>learned lagrangian mechanics
>used tensors
feels good to be part of the master race