The Student Room Group

The OFFICIAL Pool Thread

This is the official pool thread for 2006/7.

Please post:

Name:
Subject:
Pooled by:
Does that college still have an interest in you?
Auto-pooled?

If your original college still has an interest in you, it will say so in the letter. Wording varies from college to college.

To work out if you may have been auto pooled, do you meet the following criteria?

a) Original college hasn't retained an interest
b) 7 A* or better at GCSE
c) 90% or better in all three of your most relevant/best ASs

I'll post some links and guidelines about life in the Pool.

The main procedure is here:
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/admissions/handbook/appendices/winterpool.doc

I've posted some of it in further messages for convenience.

We have 83 swimmers that I'm aware of. Clare has the most with 10. Nat Sci leads the subject table with 14 (although that includes the biologists & physical scientists), Maths has 10. About 14 people think that they may have been auto-pooled. There were 7 where the college had retained an interest, although the college's first refusal on them expired at 5pm on Wednesday 3rd.

Offers
newbie17 (Call-back)
hyper-little-mushroom-men (Call-back to Queens':wink:
jumpshiftbite (Newnham)
kitsunechan (Corpus Christi)
AndyH (Corpus Christi)
Deedle (Caius)
824 (Queens':wink:
Benchmark (call-back to Jesus)
Firestone (Newnham)
3232 (Fitzwilliam)
AAJ1 (Magdalene)
ecila (New Hall)
FalconMike (Girton)
samwaudby (Fitzwilliam)
fibobs (call-back to Girton)
ty_che (Robinson)
xxsarahjwxx (New Hall)
apearlfender (Robinson)


Interviews
ecila Nat Sci (New Hall)
mousy English (New Hall)
danshutt Philosophy (Clare)
samwaudby Law (Fitzwilliam)
Subbacultcha Medicine (New Hall)
AAJ1 (Magdalene)
theduffy History (New Hall)
katie_butcher (Girton)
AlphaX (Selwyn)
xxsarahjwxx (New Hall)
3232 (Giton and Fitzwilliam)
louisekate (New Hall)
ty_che (Robinson)
AndyP (Robinson)
FalconMike (Girton)
estel (Girton)


Fish in the pool by subject:

Architecture: Howlettn, fibobs
Arch & Anth: apearlfender
Classics: Benchmark
Computer Science: corun, Deedle
Economics: upshine, lykabelle, .x.g.x., The Impaled Warthog, newbie17 nevsnev, ty_che, tjv
English: Astral Weeks, Reading Room, mousy, Niphredil
Engineering: jam_sister, WhatAboutWinston, Dandi
Geography: Fossi2, Trish
History: 3232, theduffy, Skylark
Japanese: kitsunechan
Land Econ: lizzie-ann, michaelbenson, cornflack
Law: ol3, britishgirl n17, AAJ1, samwaudby, katie_butcher, plocketyplock, Big_McLargeHuge, sasstress14
Maths: James!, estel, 824, Andy H, orizon, vwc, leigh_s123, Chiggs, vector771, raelthelamb, Vincent
Maths + CompSci xxsarahjwxx
Medicine: Subbacultcha, theredsox, chimpyang, Inka, Sir Jonathan
MML: lucho22, Ronove
Nat Sci: firestone, Petro, ecila, jumpshiftbite, themutantfishgirl, louisekate, suneilr, FalconMike, seroi, fruitsmoothies, BlackPenguin, AlphaX, A_Canadian, AndyP, the pinkpowerranger
Philosophy: *gingerbread*, hyper-little-mushroom-men, danshutt, daphy
SPS: tomdav, LizzieGC, bluesky5, glitteratiglue, missdaniil
Theology: jessiebrown123

By preference college:

Caius: louisekate, orizon, Chiggs, ty_che, louisekate
Christ's: upshine, lucho22, suneilr, Petro
Churchill: seroi, xxsarahjwxx
Clare: 3232, theduffy, kitsunechan, James!, ecila, jumpshiftbite, jessiebrown123, apearlfender, plocketyplock, Big_McLargeHuge
Downing: ol3, *gingerbread*, sasstress14
Emmanuel: lykabelle, Subbacultcha, WhatAboutWinston, fruitsmoothies, Dandi
Fitzwilliam: .x.g.x., Fossi2
Girton: The Impaled Warthog, katie_butcher, Vincent, SirJonathan, vwc,fibobs
Jesus: tomdav, Benchmark, leigh_s123, thepinkpowerranger
King's: Astral Weeks, LizzieGC, Skylark
Magdalene: Reading Room, Trish, theredsox, bluesky5, Howlettn
New Hall: themutantfishgirl
Newnham: cornflack
Pembroke: estel, 824, vector771, BlackPenguin
Peterhouse: Deedle, A_Canadian
Queens': Niphredil, hyper-little-mushroom-men
Robinson: glitteratiglue
Selwyn: firestone, chimpyang, AlphaX
Sidney Sussex: lizzie-ann, Ronove, nevsnev
St John's: britishgirl n17, Andy H, jam_sister, Inka, samwaudby
Trinity: FalconMike, missdaniil
Trinity Hall: michaelbenson, AAJ1, danshutt, daphy, raelthelamb, corun, mousy
Unknown: hmspinafore
(edited 3 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Pooling criteria

The wording for the overall grading scheme for interviewer reports, agreed by the Admissions Forum in 2002 (and modified in 2004), should enable greater consistency between Colleges in deciding which applicants to pool. The following overall grading scheme should be adopted, and used as a basis for pooling decisions:
10 Exceptional applicant must take
9 Very strong definitely worth an offer
8 Strong worth an offer
7 Probably worth an offer
6 Possibly worth an offer
5 Doubtful for an offer
4 Weak
3 and below, probably unacceptable

The Admissions Forum at its meetings on 14 May, 15 October 2004 and 28 January 2005 agreed several further recommendations designed to improve the effectiveness of the Winter Pool:

1. Colleges should endeavour to ensure that their internal use of the scoring system on Interviewer Report forms accords with the “official” scale as above. All references to pooling decisions should be removed from the official scoring system on Interviewer Report forms.

2. There are four criteria for pooling:
A Recommendation: If places are available, this applicant is strongly recommended [applicants pooled with tags/strings should normally be in this category]
B Recommendation: This applicant is probably worth an offer
P Applicant looked absolutely outstanding on paper but was less impressive at interview
S Applicant in special need of reassessment

The pool cover sheet has been redesigned so that the criterion (A, B, P or S) under which an applicant is being pooled is prominently displayed.
The criteria under which applicants could be pooled ‘in special need of reassessment’ (category S) should be:
a) When the applicant received wildly divergent subject interviewer assessments (e.g. scores of 8 and 4) large differences between subject interviewer and general academic (formerly tutorial) interviewer assessments were not considered grounds for an applicant requiring reassessment;
b) When the applicant’s interviews malfunctioned;
c) When the applicant was seriously disadvantaged at interview due to special circumstances (e.g. debilitating illness or recent family bereavement).
In circumstances (b) and (c) it may well be more appropriate that the preference/allocated College takes responsibility for ensuring reassessment takes place.
It was recognised that in some subjects, where applicants are already interviewed by more than one College as part of agreed moderation arrangements, the likelihood of an applicant needing reassessment except in a category (c) case was low.

3. In order to try to ensure that applicants most needy of reassessment are reassessed, the following procedure for the Winter Pool was agreed for subjects without shared interviewing arrangements:
(a) The subject convenor/moderator reviews the files of those pooled in category S (in special need of reassessment) in order to identify from among those the applicants most needy of reassessment in the interests of fairness;
(b) At the pool meeting in that subject the subject convenor keeps track of the files of those applicants identified at stage (a) and endeavours to persuade those Colleges fishing the pool in that subject to interview these applicants along with any other applicants they have selected for interview.
The Admissions Forum hopes that if applicants pooled in category S are genuinely deserving of reassessment then
their numbers should be relatively small (no more than 5% of those pooled) and
it should be well worth a pool-fishing College looking at them alongside those ‘probably worth an offer’. This being the case, the procedure detailed above should not be unduly burdensome on any of the parties concerned.

4. All applicants (including overseas applicants) in all subjects except Medicine and Veterinary Medicine (see below) with an average interviewer score of 7 or above should be pooled, unless the pre-Christmas moderation meeting in the subject in question indicates that the strength of competition is such that an even higher level of performance will be required to receive an offer from the Pool. CSAS applicants need special consideration. In shortage areas, pool slightly more generously (e.g. women in Mathematics, Engineering, Physical Natural Sciences, Computer Science).

5. All applicants in this round (except those for Medicine) who are not offered places by their preference Colleges but have attained both 7A*s or more at GCSE and 90% or more in each of their three best/most relevant (i.e. where the subject at a particular College has subject preferences at A/AS level) AS Level subjects MUST be pooled in category P if not in another category.

6. Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and PR China: all applicants who scored 8 or above when interviewed by the Cambridge team overseas MUST be pooled, and 7s at your discretion. Failure to pool an outstanding applicant in a previous year had serious repercussions.
Reply 2
WINTER POOL OPERATION STAGE

The Pool is open to College Senior Tutors, Subject Convenors, Admissions Tutors, Admissions Secretaries/Officers, Directors of Studies and other authorised persons. Everyone entering The Upper Hall will be required to sign in. Reading day is Tuesday 2 January 12.30pm to 5.45pm (for reading files only, no marking of files).
Files must not be removed from the Pool.
Photocopying facilities will be provided and the cost of photocopying will be charged to the individual Colleges requiring copies. Photocopying will be for pool lists, one off sheets etc. not for copies of applicants files/papers, these can be reviewed at the Pool or in CAO from 3.00pm Friday 5 January.
Access to the web from the Pool. Emmanuel have kindly agreed to give us access to a PC in their Admissions and Tutorial Office. There will also be a wireless internet connection available in the Upper Hall.

A) Fishing Stage: Wednesday 3 January 2007 (9.00am until 8.00pm) and Thursday 4 January 2007 (9.00am until 5.00pm)
The notes below outline an agreed procedure to ensure order and fairness in the Pool. These procedures apply to all subjects, except Engineering, Natural Sciences and History, where it has been agreed that no files will be marked before the meetings of Directors of Studies in those subjects. (These meetings will take place on Thursday 4 January. Subject Convenors are asked to inform Helen Reed in CAO by no later than 18 December 2006 when they wish to hold their meetings.)

1 All Colleges are free to inspect the file of any applicant and to mark the file to indicate their interest. Colleges may indicate:
O Willingness to make an offer
O2 Willingness to make an offer, having second-interviewed an applicant before Christmas (see note 6)
I Active interest and desire to interview
A Active interest but no desire to interview
X No further interest (preference College only)
Unless it marks the pool cover sheet with an ‘A’, the preference College loses all precedence from the time when the Pool opens. A mark of ‘O’ will take precedence over a mark of ‘I’, unless the College marking ‘I’ is the preference College but has not yet interviewed the applicant.
2 Any person marking more than three files in a single Tripos subject with ‘O’ must do so by 1.00pm on Thursday 4 January 2007 in order to give other Colleges an opportunity to respond.
3 Preference Colleges lose all claim on a file marked ‘A’ unless they change the mark to either ‘O’ or ‘I’ by 5.00pm on Wednesday 3 January 2007. It is hoped that preference Colleges will keep a claim on a file only in exceptional circumstances for example, when they have not yet been able to interview an applicant. Note that for Engineering it has been agreed that expressions of active interest from the preference College (a.k.a. “tags” or “strings”) should lapse after the pre-Christmas moderation meeting.
4 A preference College is free to make an offer until 5.00pm on Wednesday 3 January 2007 provided that the file has been marked ‘A’ or ‘I’.
If a preference College wishes to remove a file in order to make an offer, the CAO Pool staff must be informed so that the pool list can be amended for the subject/College. The applicant will be marked as ‘taken back’, and the member of staff from the College will sign that they have removed the file from the Pool in order to make an offer.
5 Colleges may establish a claim to an applicant by marking the file appropriately. They may not, however, communicate an offer to an applicant until after the files have been checked on 5 January 2007.
6 A College which has “second-interviewed” an applicant before Christmas in the authorised scheme for second or joint interviews in certain subjects has precedence over other Colleges (other than the preference College) at the pool stage, provided that, in indicating that it wishes to make an offer, it marks the file concerned O2 to indicate that it has “second-interviewed”. It would be very helpful if this could be done as early in the Pool as possible.
7 Colleges should bear in mind the number of available places that they have in a subject when deciding how many applicants to interview from the Pool.
8 In the case of Choral Award applicants the following precedence rules have been agreed:
i) If more than one College wishes to make an offer to a pooled choral applicant then Colleges who are prepared to offer both an academic place and a Choral Award should have priority over a College wishing to make only an academic offer.
ii) If more than one College wishes to offer both an academic place and a Choral Award then the applicant’s choral preference list should determine which College makes the offer.
iii) An applicant’s original first choice College would have priority where only an academic place without a Choral Award was on offer.

B) Negotiation Stage: Thursday 4 January 2007 starting at 5.00pm
With the increased use of Directors of Studies meetings to help with the fair allocation of pooled applicants, there should be less need this year for inter-College negotiations at the end of the Pool. There may, however, be some outstanding disputes to resolve to ensure that no applicant is called for interview by more than two Colleges. One representative from each fishing College involved in any outstanding disputes should attend the meeting starting at 5.00pm on 4 January. It will be assumed that unrepresented Colleges are prepared to waive their right to proceed to interviews/offers in cases of dispute.
If a file is marked ‘O’ by one College, and unmarked by other Colleges, the marking College must proceed directly to make an offer, without interview.
If a file carries several marks of ‘O’ by Colleges (but no marks of ‘I’), the Colleges have the option of agreeing to settle which of them makes an offer there and then, but this can be done only if all Colleges agree. If one or more Colleges do not agree, CAO is asked to arbitrate, probably by the toss of a coin or the drawing of lots. Colleges that have second-interviewed before Christmas (see 6 above) have priority at the negotiation stage provided they have followed the instructions given at 6 above.
If a file carries one or more marks of ‘O’, plus one or more marks of ‘I’, it is first determined whether the Colleges marking ‘I’ wish to change their marks to an ‘O’. All the Colleges finally marking ‘O’ proceed as above.
If a file carries no marks of ‘O’ but more than one mark of ‘I’, it is first determined whether Colleges wish to change their marks to an ‘O’. All the Colleges marking ‘O’ proceed as above. If no College changes its mark to an ‘O’ and there are more than two marks of ‘I’, the Colleges have the option of agreeing to settle which two of them interview the applicant. If one or more Colleges do not agree, CAO is asked to arbitrate, probably by the toss of a coin or the drawing of lots.
Please remember that it is in the best interests of the applicant for agreement to be reached, so that applicants from long distances are not called back unnecessarily for second interviews. Provided agreement can be reached, therefore, Colleges are encouraged to make offers to such applicants without requiring a further interview.
A College which marks a file ‘O’ must offer to the applicant once its right to do so has been established. Colleges cannot change their minds and decide not to offer to the applicant, as they may have been the means of preventing another College from making an offer.

Post Negotiation Meeting

The Pool will be open for about an hour at the conclusion of negotiation meeting. Colleges may use this period to decide on further applicants that they wish to call for interview or to whom they wish to make an offer. At this stage, only files that are not marked by any other College can be considered.

Checking Stage
During Friday morning on 5 January 2007, all files in the Pool will be checked by CAO, in the light of the negotiation stage. An interview list will be prepared for each subject, giving the names of applicants and the Colleges that wish to interview them. An interview list will be circulated by e-mail to Colleges at about 3.00pm on Friday 5 January 2007. It will not be possible to inspect any file during the checking stage.
Name: Michael
Subject: Mathematics
Pooled by: King's
Does that college still have an interest in you?: They didn't say so
Auto-pooled?: So it would seem.

I met the Auto pool requirements and I think that is the only merit for my poolage, as my interviews and test were all pretty bad..
Reply 4
Just out of interest, how would you know whether a college still has an interest in you?

Subject: Natural Sciences (Biological)
Pooled by: Selwyn
Does that college still have an interest in you?: No idea
Auto-pooled?: I'd guess so, or in S since one academic interview went well while the other was absolutely trash.
Reply 5
Subject:Economics
Pooled by:Christ's
Does that college still have an interest in you? How can you tell?
Auto-pooled? Maybe not as I didn't take GCSE
Name: *gingerbread*
Subject: Philosophy
Pooled by: Downing
Does that college still have an interest in you? Not sure, my letter says that they are not able to make me an offer at this stage. There's no explicit reference to them still wanting me.
Auto-pooled: Don't see how i can have been, i only have 4A*s and certainly dont meet the 90% AS criteria. Judging by the handbook i must have scored above an average of 7 in my interviews- or have i read that wrong?

Question, am i doomed to be left in the pool due to my not so good grades whilst others who maybe just had a dodgy interview will get offer? :s-smilie:

The waiting is the worst bit...
Name: Jessica
Subject: Theology
Pooled by: Clare
Does that college still have an interest in you? No, they didn't say so guess not
Auto-pooled? doubtful, gcse's were not great and messed up one of my AS's

this is hideous i just want 2 know the result =( im not very hopeful though
How do you know if the college that pooled you is still interested in you?
Reply 9
Subject: MML
Pooled by: Sidney
Does that college still have an interest in you?: **** knows
Auto-pooled?: Nope

I'm thinking it's likely I was pooled under S.
Reply 10
Astral Weeks
How do you know if the college that pooled you is still interested in you?

One person's letter from Jesus mentioned it, so now everyone's freaking out about why theirs doesn't. I wouldn't worry.
Name: Rich
Subject: English
Pooled by: Kings
Does that college still have an interest in you? No idea. Doubt it though, theyre oversubscribed enough without refishing from the pool I wouldve thought.
Auto-pooled? Nope. 4 A*s. Got 99% UMS average though:smile:. What good it did me..............:rolleyes:
Reply 12
Is auto-pool not applicable for those who didnt take GCSEs, eg. international students?
Ronove
One person's letter from Jesus mentioned it, so now everyone's freaking out about why theirs doesn't. I wouldn't worry.



Hehe, theyll be plenty of people freaking out in the next couple of days. I remember last year well enough.

Thanks for the info though. I was suprised at how many colleges actually offer places to people that they had pooled themselves. Almost 1/5 of all pool offers.
Name: TheImpaledWarthog
Subject: Economics
Pooled by: Girton
Does that college still have an interest in you? probably not?
Auto-pooled? Yes, I assume so.
Subject: Law
College: St. John's
Does that college still have an interest in you? No :frown:
Auto-pool: not sure. got 9 A*s at GCSE but only an average 85% for UMS
Is there any way of finding out the total number off people pooled by college or subject??
Ive often wondered what the figures are. It says 2878/14500 on the cover sheet which makes it about 1 in 5, and a very slightly smaller amount than those who get straight offers, but Im guessin certain subjects and colleges pool more than others.
Anyone know when we will hear from Cambridge about the results of the pool?
http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/publications/winterpool.pdf

I think we can hear any day from 5th-11th January whether or not another college is interested in us and wants to interview/make an offer without interview. If you've been interviewed you should hear between the 13th and the 31st of Jan. Although if you have heard nothing by the 11th it will probably mean that no college could find a place for you in the pool.

Name: glitteratiglue
Subject: SPS
Pooled by: Robinson
Does that college still have an interest in you? I don't know
Auto-pooled? Not with 2A*s at GCSE...wonder why I've been pooled then?
Reply 19
Name: Kate
Subject: History
Pooled by: Clare
Does that college still have an interest in you? No idea!
Auto-pooled? Possibly. I've got 11 A*s but I don't know about the average UMS. Never worked it out

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