Oh, Cambridge was not a backup option by any means. It is just that they didn't have the subject GRE constraint, which made it one step easier to apply.

As for applying without an undergrad, I was able to parlay my industry work as relevant, because I was applying to the systems group. I'd have had far less trouble if I had just stuck to systems. I would have had to brush up on algorithms and statistics and control systems, and I would have been set.

But noooo, that would have been too easy!!

I found my attention drifting to programming languages, and then I was on totally thin ice.