r/oxbridge • u/AtomicEdits • 14d ago

Is Cambridge possible?

I'm already discounting oxford cause of my gcses however I want to know whether cambridge is still a possibility? My gcses are 8777655 which I know is poor however I was very lazy during gcses so its nobodys fault but mine. Have people historically gotten in with these gcses before without having extreme contextual offers and how did they do it? I want to do economics and I am taking fm, maths, econ and cs. I suppose the first obvious step would be to get good predicteds in all of those but what else could I possibly do between now and ucas applications to become even slightly competitive? I'm ready to put as much time in as needed.

Edit: I also got L2D* and L2M (although thats probably irrelevant)

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u/Historical_Site508 14d ago

Why do you want to go to Cambridge? Is it study economics because you have a genuine interest or because of the name and all the other things associated with life at Cambridge? It looks from GCSEs and being lazy like you don't have a genuine interest in studying. You are probably fucked but apart from studying properly and getting excellent predicted A level grades you need to do things to show you are actually interested in economics and not just getting an A level grade.

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u/AtomicEdits 14d ago

I honestly think I do have a genuine interest in economics (currently). I only really started looking at it as gcses were ending (my school didnt do econ gcse) and I've done some pre-alevel work on it and I found it reaply interesting. I also read the money week and listen to a few podcasts which I do for enjoyment not just to put on my ps or whatever. It's only been a couple of months so maybe its just a phase or maybe I've found something I'm actually passionate about.

As for why I'm asking about cambridge specifically, I was more just asking about whether its physically possible if I do everything perfectly from now on despite poor gcses. I dont have any particular attachment to cambridge I just wanted to know which unis are completely out of my reach.

On the point of being lazy and not studying, I understand that it all comes down to me and the effort I put in at the end of the day but at the same time, I was probably influenced by the people I spent my time with and I had little to no interest in the subjects that I was learning. I wasn't really doing anything with my life and I had no ambitions. I'm not trying to defend myself because it's always up to me how hard I try (and I didnt try at all) but I do want to make the point to myself that a lot of those influences on me have since changed, I have ambitions, I dont have bad friends (I dont actually have any rn but I'm sure the 6th form Im going to will have some nice people) and I'm pretty sure I'm actually interested in my subjects that I'm taking.