Ask an Admissions Tutor IX, 4th August - 2nd September

Hello and thanks for your questions. Obviously I can't comment in detail on what another college may or may not do. Unless, however, your offer letter explicitly stated that were you to achieve your A Level grades but miss STEP then you'd be offered Comp Sci w/something else then the college isn't obligated to make you an offer for something else and track probably won't update. You'd need to send your UMS and ask about what might happen in the email you send with the UMS.

It would be up to the college to tell you how you did in the CSAT. Some DoSes would do this, others wouldn't but it's doubtful whether your DoS would still have the information about how your score compared to other candidates in the university.

Hello

I'll be applying for History (2017 entry) and I've read a couple of history books which I found interesting. I've read on the internet that Cambridge looks for "wide" reading but I don't know whether this means extensive reading on one or two subjects which interest me or reading lots of books on different subjects. Would only reading about one or two things (I'm reading about the American Civil War at the moment) be seen as narrow or would reading about lots of different topics be seen as not having a strong interest - or neither?

Also, while I'm expecting As in three of my AS levels (with good UMS), would a B in Maths matter too much given that it's not that relevant to History? (others are History, Geography and French)

Thanks

I'm considering applying to Cambridge the year to study medicine. Considering I have only done 2 AS levels, what emphasis would be placed on my predicted grades and BMAT considering my lack of AS's?
Thanks in advance 😊

I understand that there isn't a particular formula for the applications, and you look at applications individually and holistically. Though I was wondering, in a teacher reference, how much weight would you put towards school prizes at GCSE level?

In my case I got the prize night award for "Top GCSE" and top in 4 individual subjects, and will (hopefully) be applying for Computer Science. The subjects I was top in were Maths, Statistics, ICT and LLW. Are these considered to be a good sign, or are they something you would be less interested in?

I ask this because my GCSE performance isn't among the best for Cambridge applicants. I achieved a grade A in my Maths, although, the whole year sat the exams a year early, and I was the only person who got an A in 2014 (some people repeated and got an A the second time). No one got an A* in the whole year.

If even though they said it at the interview, I should just play it out as if I've missed the offer?

Hello everyone and welcome to a new Ask an Admissions Tutor thread, back for its fourth year.

I will be here for the next month to answer your questions about admissions to Cambridge, especially if you are planning to apply this year but also to help those already holding an offer for this year and waiting for your results.

Do please fire away and I'll answer them as well and as quickly as I can.

Hello there,

This year, the College gave me A*A*A*A offer for a humanity subject and I am currently so nervous since I will end up getting A*A*AA..
Basically, if my college reject me with A*A*AA grades, does this mean that I will be automatically rejected again if I reapply to the same college for the same course? I am aware that applying to different colleges will give me a different experience but I really do love my college..

Also, how many students still get their place although they failed to meet their condition?(especially BA land economy?) Why those students are picked up before they are placed in the summer pool?

Thanks.

How efficient is Cambridge at confirming offers on Track on results day? Are they usually quite slow, or can we except to know from 8am?

The colleges don't handle track. We send our decisions to CAO (the central admissions office) and then they inform UCAS so my knowledge of this isn't certain but from my recollection if you have been accepted then UCAS track should update from 8am.

Thank you. If I haven't met my offer, will anything have changed when I check track at 8am? Or will my offer just have stayed as conditional?

You're welcome. If you haven't met your offer, then two things might happen. It may update with a rejection and you will thus be released straight away to your insurance. This will happen if the college decides that they don't wish to honour the offer and have decided not to place the application in the Summer Pool. Usually this would be if you miss by two grades.

If the college hasn't yet decided for themselves or has decided to put your file in the Summer Pool then track will not update. if you are taking A Levels, then the first thing to do is to send your UMS to the college as soon as you can so that they have the detail necessary to help them make a definite decision or so that others can see it in the Summer Pool.

So, if I have definitely been rejected by Cambridge on results day (not put into the pool), and my insurance has yet to either make my offer unconditional or send me into clearing, will there still be a status update informing me that I have not met my Cambridge offer?

So, if I have definitely been rejected by Cambridge on results day (not put into the pool), and my insurance has yet to either make my offer unconditional or send me into clearing, will there still be a status update informing me that I have not met my Cambridge offer?

Has the college already made decisions ? and Will the college look positively on those who have submitted their financial guaranty form over those who haven't (intl students)?

Your Firm (i.e. Cambridge) will show as Decision: Unsuccessful on your Choices page.

I doubt that many colleges have made decisions yet. The results arrived on Friday night and some colleges will spend today going through them and contacting DoSes to inform them if students in their subjects have missed. it's unlikely that there would have been much of a definite response yet though and initial decisions will be made on Monday and Tuesday.

At Christ's, Jan (our admissions co-ordinator) and I go through the results tomorrow morning with a fine toothcomb to ensure that everything is correct and we know who has and hasn't missed. We will then email DoSes in relevant subjects to call and discuss the cases with me. I will also have an initial discussion with the Senior Tutor about the situation and we may make some straight forward decisions immediately.

By Tuesday the picture should be fairly clear about those who are definitely in, those who we are going to take despite missing their offer, those about whom we need more information (UMS mainly) and those whom we are definitely not going to take. Among this latter category will be some whose files will go into the Summer Pool and some whose won't.

In the case of international students, if they haven't submitted a financial guarantee at this stage that's not a great sign and it would be good to send it in as soon as possible so that we know that if we do decide to honour the offer then they can definitely come.

I hope that helps explain things a little.

You're welcome. If you haven't met your offer, then two things might happen. It may update with a rejection and you will thus be released straight away to your insurance. This will happen if the college decides that they don't wish to honour the offer and have decided not to place the application in the Summer Pool. Usually this would be if you miss by two grades.

If the college hasn't yet decided for themselves or has decided to put your file in the Summer Pool then track will not update. if you are taking A Levels, then the first thing to do is to send your UMS to the college as soon as you can so that they have the detail necessary to help them make a definite decision or so that others can see it in the Summer Pool.