What do Admissions Tutors Look For?
Contents |
Selecting Applicants
What Are Tutors Looking For?
In three words: ability, potential and commitment.
Our courses are very mathematical, so we are very much looking for students with a strong mathematical ability. We are particularly looking for students who achieve top grades. As a general rule, we recommend that you take as much advanced maths as your school allows. (See specific guidance on Further Maths A-Level.)
We do look for an interest in computing and a curiosity about the way computers and computer programs work that will support you through your three or four years of study.
If you are applying for the joint course with Philosophy you will need to demonstrate a critical and analytical approach to abstract questions, the ability to defend a viewpoint by reasoned argument, and a desire to delve deeper into the way we think about things.
For further information see the Faculty of Philosophy website
Extra- and Super-Curricular Activities
Tutors make the admissions decisions based on your academic abilities and potential alone: extra-curricular activities do not form part of the selection criteria in any subject. We aren't looking for any specific computing knowledge, but we are looking for people with a genuine interest in the subject. So we do want to hear about your computing- and maths-related experiences. Your super-curricular activities (subject-related undertakings that could be anything from summer schools to competitions, background reading to programming experience) can help us build an overall picture about you. We don't have a checklist of things we want you to have completed: we'd rather hear about what you've chosen to do, and what excited you about it. It doesn't have to be earth-shatteringly original. Some examples are provided to get you started.
The guidance pages on writing a UCAS personal statement discusses this in more detail.