Study Engineering at Uni

[why bother...]

I am in IB1 and I am looking at studying engineering in Uni. I was looking at Oxbridge originally and they want pretty much 40+ points which currently in my eyes seems a bit extreme. I am doing Maths, Physics and Chemistry at HL and Spanish, English Lit and History at SL and my teachers are being pretty categorical that a 7 in Physics and Maths is next to impossible so I am just wondering if there is any point getting my hopes up for Oxbridge considering they want 7's in both.

On a further point, would it be possible to get accepted with lower grades but if I had experience in industry, so doing a placement over the summer or a gap year. If so can anyone suggest places to look in to for experience, I live just outside of London if that is relevant at all.

Thanks in advance

[CocoPop]

I wouldn't give up on getting 7s in maths and physics so quickly. It's hard but with enough work it's doable, so ignore your teachers and shoot for a 7!

With regard to work experience, I don't think work experience can really make up for lower grades (especially since Oxbridge place such a high emphasis on grades), but it will certainly boost your application over those that don't have work experience.

The other thing to bear in mind is that Oxbridge is usually more lenient towards IB students who have missed a grade in one of their subjects than they are towards A level students. They might still take you if you get, say, 7/6 in maths/physics, but it depends on your individual application and how much they like it.

Edited April 19, 2011 by CocoPop

[why bother...]

Yeah well I will definately try for a 7 it's just that apparently it's rare to get one :/ But at least it's nice to know they are more linient, I mean to a certain extent I think they need to be asking for such high scores.

And so in your opinion it's better getting down and studying in the summer rather then looking for a summer intership or somthing?