>>11511198I got rejected by Cambridge and Imperial, went to Durham instead. You can't change the past nor can you charge into Cambridge offices and demand they reverse their decision. I did the physics course but had many friends who enrolled on the MMath course.
My advice to you would be, if you choose a UK uni (not too sure with how it is in the US) do the first 2 years as if your life depended on it, ignore the people who say 1st year doesn't count. Apply for placements and schemes every holiday/break you can, apply at least 6 months in advance as for Maths they go really quickly. If by the end of the second year you feel as though you are at a disadvantage regarding your future plans, i.e PhD (or getting a real job, ugh) then you can switch from the MMath to the BSc program by emailing your course supervisor, the entire process is painless, you literally send an email, then confirm when they email back and that's that, you're switched from the 4 year to the 3 year course.
Then apply for a masters at somewhere else more prestigious, Cambridge, UCL, Imperial etc. Generally speaking a masters at a different more difficult institution than your bachelors speaks volumes to admissions staff when applying for PhDs or when searching for employment as it shows you took the initiative to up and go somewhere else rather than doing the easy thing of just taking your acceptance out of secondary/high school and cruising the whole 4 years at the same place and that you were able to adapt to a more challenging atmosphere. I ended up doing just this and don't regret it.
In all likelihood, by the time second year ends you'll have gotten over the name/prestige obsession and all the places you've got offers from are really good in their own right so as long as you have a solid academic record, good references and experience (from those placements) then your future won't be impacted. Be proactive and be resourceful
