>___< Cambridge... I was almost there...

I applied to read Oriental Studies (Of course, Japanese) at various UK universities this year, including SOAS, Edinburgh, Trinity College of Cambridge.

I always wanted to go to Cambridge. Going to Open Days, paying visits during the summer... it's really a place I love.

I had to go through the complex Oxbridge application system, and the interview (which was hell). Before last Christmas, all the other five university choices gave me offers ---- just waiting for Cambrige's reply.

On the day before New Year, I got a letter, telling me that I got into pool. This means, they haven't given me the offer, but they haven't rejected me either. If there are spaces in your course at other colleges, you can probably get a second interview, or get an offer straight away.

It was said in the letter that, around middle of January, they would give out offers without further interviews.

The day before yesterday, my landlady phoned me THAT I GOT A LETTER with a Cambridge stamp! I just believed that it was a letter of offer!

However, the letter said that no college was able to make me an offer at all.

GOING MAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!

I was so disappointed, because of the gap of my expectation and the reality. I sort of dragged myself to the town centre and cried for an hour or so in the toilet in a Bhs store. (Thanks to the UK toilets, always have plenty of tissue supplies)

After crying to my limit, I had to stay for another ten minutes to make sure that my eyes didn't look too red. It was quite strange - after I stepped out of the toilet, I didn't feel unhappy anymore. It seemed that all my tears for this failure had been used up.

My mother was disappointed, but comforted me that I can still do my postgraduate at Cambrige, and enjoy the advantages of SOAS for my undergraduate.

End of story..? Not yet. Just now my teacher suggested me to reapply. His reason was that "you got pooled, so you were almost there. If you do something related to Japanese in your gap year, it will surely help. And the action of reapplying will show Cambridge how determined you are."

I thought that I was content with SOAS already, but after my teather told me about this, I really want to have another try. I just have to see if my parents are happy about this.

Huuuuuu. Anyway, there are another 12000 people who didn't get an offer same as me. Another 12000 people who were damn sad in this New Year.

Unless you are very sure about where your interests lie, perhaps you should be careful about going to SOAS....I mean it's a great school and I almost went there for exchange myself, but....it's also narrow in focus.

It was said in the letter that, around middle of January, they would give out offers without further interviews

这个就等于不要你了，英国人比较混，话说得好听，当初曼彻斯特把我拒了也这样。说什么5月中旬之前还不来消息就是不要我了。2月份就来一封信，说很抱歉，blah blah blah。哈~现在我倒要感谢他们~Nottingham比manchester好多了~


cambridge是个好地方，在那里待了1年多，的确印象深刻。可惜我到现在都没蹋进King's college一步。。。。门票3.5英镑= =+

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最初由 蓝发夹 发布
Nottingham比manchester好多了~

这位兄台也是Nottingham的，我也在Nottingham，你在哪个系

学校不过是第一步，还记得《大花西游》么？老天安排的最大。错过了，很难过的，可以理解，尤其对一个18岁左右女孩子而言。对英国的学校我不熟，不过看大家说，SOAS也不错阿。大不了读研究生的时候考到cambridge去！一次的痛苦，作为4年读书的动力，未尝不是一件好事情。塞翁失马，焉知非福呢？千万千万不要因为这个就觉得整个一年都不好了阿。开心的日子在后头呢

Nottingham....just left me a good memory
maybe I like country more than city....

I have to lot to say about my job hunting experience since my sophomore year in college, but to make stories short, I will use Churchill's quote to lighten you up: "Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

Thank you all for your replies = =|||

I do love Cambridge a lot, and that's probably why I really want to reapply --- if there were no risks.

If I reapply, despite the fact that Cambridge might put me off again, perhaps even SOAS wouldn't give me any offers. (Because it would be clear to them that I just reapply for the sake of Cambridge -- they might get angry and fed up, I don't know = =)

My teachers pointed out that, my biggest mistake was to apply for Trinity College, 'cause it is most difficult to get in. If I applied somewhere like Newham or sth, it could have been easier.

TO Harmatia:
That's true. I'm not unhappy about SOAS, because they've got massive Japanese books. But it's so small -- I mean, it's not like a proper university, with loads of old buildings and gardens and atmosphere and stuff = = SOAS is just a couple of buildings in Bloomsbury, London.... And, because the students all focus on Oriental / African studies, I can't socialise with people who study other courses -- that wouldn't be interesting.

Nevertheless, it will be a great place to go to...

TO Lizard:
My Japanese teacher's daughter once got a place in Cambridge for PPE(Politics, Philosophy and Economics) course, but she gave it up... instead she went to London School of Economics to study Economic. My teacher was so angry when she gave up Cambridge, but she said that she just want to do Economics purely, not combining with some other subjects...


TO 星火联谊:
According to the Times University Guide 2004, Cambridge is actually better than SOAS in the area of East Asian Studies. Oxford falls down to the third place.


TO 蓝发夹:
The systerm of Cambridge could be different from your one, because someone in my school did receive offers through the second interview (the pool). It's just I'm not good enough for them to give me a place in other colleges.

However I do agree with you... British people always try to "sound good"...