I’m interested in applying to Cambridge to study History of Art for my undergraduate. Currently, I have a 29 on the ACT and an SAT score of 700 in Reading & Writing and 560 in Mathematics. I’ve only taken one AP class so far, and I made a 3 on the exam. However, this year I will be taking 4 AP classes:
AP English Literature & Composition
AP Art History
AP Music Theory
AP Studio Art: Drawing
I intend on working hard to achieve high scores on these exams (I will most likely score a 5 on at least 3 of them, and a 4 on one), however the scores will not be released until next May, and by that point Cambridge will have already sent out a decision on my application. Is it possible that I could still receive an offer, even though I will not receive my results for all my AP courses until summer of 2018? I know AP courses are an important qualification for universities in the UK, so it worries me that it will be an issue that my exam results will not be on my application. I’m hoping that I could still receive an offer under the condition that I earn high scores on all of my AP exams. Does this seem like a possibility?
I’m also taking two SAT subject tests this Saturday, and retaking the SAT and ACT in June, and I am confident I will be able to score higher on these tests. Here’s what I predict my results to be by the time I apply (based on practice tests, ect.)
ACT 32
SAT Reading & Writing 730 and SAT Mathematics 650
750 for both SAT subject tests
Unfortunately my GPA and transcript isn’t very impressive, but I’ve read that this isn’t taken much into consideration. I’d like to know if these scores combined with the knowledge that I’m currently enrolled in 4 AP courses (even though I don’t have my results yet), will be enough to give me a chance at receiving an offer at Cambridge.
I do not think you will receive an offer at Cambridge.
To all kids thinking of applying to Oxbridge, ask yourselves honestly if your academics give you a chance at CalTech, MIT or Harvey Mudd. Oxbridge are only interested in your grades, your passion for your chosen field of study and your ability to pay the international fees. Whether you get an offer will depend on your performance in an interview…
I’m trying to be gentle, but if you don’t have the stats for say,a mid-tier UC, why would you think one of the top 5 universities in the world would be easier?
@VickiSoCal: I’m not convinced that the OP doesn’t have the stats for mid-sized UCs. Many UCs admit by major and the STEM majors there are particularly competitive.
For art history, I believe the OP would be competitive for many UCs.
@ElGuapo: Well, art history majors don’t have to be competitive for MIT, Caltech, or Mudd (none of whom offer an art history major anyway as they are all heavily STEM-focused with MIT also offering a little social science and humanities).
I don’t know what Oxbridge looks for in art history applicants. Maybe @collegemom3717 has a better idea?
UC Santa Barbara for example “Choice of major is not considered in selection to the College of Letters and Science”
Chemistry, Biology, Art History, all in the same bucket. And not getting in with those stats.
In general, not having your AP results in hand when you apply is fine, it just means that any offer made would be conditional on getting the required scores before matriculating. As youe only AP so far is only a 3 (hopefully in an unrelated subject), youl will need your academic reference to predict that you will get 5s on those yet to come in order to have any hope of progressing further at Cambridge.
However, I’m afarid I agree with Vicki that Cambridge is likely to be out of reach for you. They ask US applicants to have 5 AP tests with scores of 5, and you expect to have only four, one of which is non-academic (art), and they also expect 730 in each section of the SAT: http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/usa
Oxford, although still a reach, is a bit less demanding in terms of APs and SAT scores: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/international-students/international-qualifications?wssl=1
Have you looked at the Courtauld? That’s one of the best places to study art history, and may not be quite as demanding as Oxbridge in terms of academic requirements.
The point is Oxbridge and every other UK university don’t do holistic admissions, neither do MIT CalTech or Harvey Mudd as far as I can tell, it was reference to that rather than subject studied. Cambridge has 26 places for History of Art so maybe 6 for internationals… I dont know for sure but I suspect English,History, Latin, Greek, Modern Languages are the type of disciplines they look for, I suspect AP Art wont cut it, but it will certainly be one of those subjects which is less competitive.
@elguapo1: MIT, Caltech, and Mudd are definitely holistic. Just because MIT doesn’t have legacy preferences and Caltech doesn’t have legacy, racial, or athletic preferences doesn’t mean they are not holistic (though Caltech does seem to care mostly about academic potential). All three of them aim to have a gender-balanced student body, which means it is easier for women to get in. MIT is on the record as saying that purely academic achievement is NOT enough.
@VickiSoCal: I don’t know where you are getting your ideas from. UCSB’s 75th-25th percentile ACT range is 31-25, so clearly, kids with a 29 ACT or 32 ACT are getting in.
It’s true that the UC’s require a high GPA, but UK unis don’t care much about that, so I still don’t understand why you think that someone who’s test scores are firmly in range for UCSB have no shot at top UK unis.
Edit:
OK, for UCSB admits, the ACT range is 33-27. The OP would still be in range, though.
@PurpleTitan I dont class gender balancing as holistic admissions that would infer one of the sexes is ultimately smarter than the other, and if there was any gender bias going on I would like to see the data because it wouldn’t surprize me if it was boys being favoured over girls. If two candidates are the same academically and of either sex, but they cant take both, picking one according to gender seems reasonable to me. I am sure there many many highly qualifed female candidates turned away from the schools mentioned. Holistic admissions to me means picking a lower scoring kid over a higher scoring kid because he/she is full freight and the higher scoring kid needs substantial aid. That might happen with the schools mentioned I have just never heard it associated with those particular schools.
We are getting off topic here.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Nope, it went off-topic with post #3. Let’s just say “mid-tier UC” was used in a slightly exaggerated way, and move on and focus on the question posed.
I was trying to give the OP some perspective on what kinds of UK schools he should be looking at in conjunction with what kind of US schools would be a reach/match for the OP. My kid, with much better stats didn’t get in to UCSB/UCSD and would never dream of applying to Cambridge or Berkeley or Cal Tech.
History of Art isn’t my specialty subject, but I do know that Cambridge started giving an admissions test at interview (info here: http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/hoaaa_specification.pdf). Also, most (if not all) of the colleges that offer HoA want to see 1 or 2 graded essays as part of the admissions packet. AP Art History would be fine, but they won’t consider SAT subject tests. Oxford also wants a graded essay (papers) and (instead of an admissions test) a short essay.
But @Conformist1688 is right: @princessmononoke, you won’t meet the minimum requirements of 5 scores of 5 for Cambridge (either achieved or predicted), or the SAT minimums, so I don’t see how an offer could happen. Nor do I see Oxford happening (even though you are closer): their acceptance rate is 1/2 Cambridges, and they have accepted just 4 non-UK students in the last 5 years.
@Conformist1688’s suggestion of the Cortauld is a good one: it is competitive, but requires just a 5,5,4.
Cambridge requires all American applicants to have at least 5 5s on AP tests.