The OFFICIAL Pool Thread

I didn't find it that difficult, but hey here I am in the pool and if I'd been that good i'd have got an offer! Mine were a bit odd, the interviewer said i was the only one of the five who took the test to get the final three right, but I also was the only one to get the first two wrong. Once he pointed out my mistakes i found it easy to see how to justify them, but unless he'd have told me which ones were wrong I'd have struggled. I didn't actually have an interview with the DoS for Downing, I only had the main admission tutor. Did they ask you directly about your written test?

Reply 383

If it makes you feel any better in the first year there's only a single philosopher at Downing so competition is very fierce. Good luck all of you!

Reply 384

*gingerbread*

That does make me feel better :biggrin:

Thanks! Although, do you think they will have pooled more than one of the other applicants or is it impossible to tell? Its such a shame that we couldn't all have gone, everyone I met at the interview was so nice! xxx

Reply 385

absolutely impossible to tell! I'll be interested to see the stats when they are released though. In my interview i wasnt asked anything about logic or about my essay, seems like most people this year did.

Reply 386

Subbacultcha

nina - you're at cambridge, so on the offchance do you have any idea why i've been asked back for an interview but for 2008 entry?!

Reply 387

I'd check in the interview that they realise you didnt originally apply for deferred entry (which im assuming you didnt). I know a few people who were pooled because of lack of places but were offered deferred entry so they could still go to Cambridge. Definitely ask in interview. If it wasnt an error it sounds like they are very interested in you.

Reply 388

Subbacultcha

-x-Nina-x-

I'd check in the interview that they realise you didnt originally apply for deferred entry (which im assuming you didnt). I know a few people who were pooled because of lack of places but were offered deferred entry so they could still go to Cambridge. Definitely ask in interview. If it wasnt an error it sounds like they are very interested in you.

thanks for your help! :smile:

Reply 389

Dan=)

5

*gingerbread*

I didn't find it that difficult, but hey here I am in the pool and if I'd been that good i'd have got an offer! Mine were a bit odd, the interviewer said i was the only one of the five who took the test to get the final three right, but I also was the only one to get the first two wrong. Once he pointed out my mistakes i found it easy to see how to justify them, but unless he'd have told me which ones were wrong I'd have struggled. I didn't actually have an interview with the DoS for Downing, I only had the main admission tutor. Did they ask you directly about your written test?

I wasn't asked about any of my essay, so I'm presuming it was pretty average and the sort of thing they were expeciting to read (if thats possible with philosophy). Is it weird I've got an interview at what I think is a tougher college to get into? (Tit Hall to Clare)???

Reply 390

one of the people in my year got pooled from Pembroke and accepted by Trinity. I'd generally say that was harder to get into but hey, thats the beauty of Cambridge!

Reply 391

WhatAboutWinston?

I think I may have found the perfect antidote to "pool fever":

1) Choose any of the uni's which have given you an offer/you are likely to get one from. I used University College, Durham.

2) Get browsing. Use wikipedia, TSR and any other websites you can find about that uni.

3) READ!!!!. Look at any pictures, look at clubs/socs hell even look at what they're having for dinner tonight. Read about the workload, life there, gossip, whatever. Anecdotally: I get to live in the oldest uni buildings in the world, there's a boathouse literally 30m from the college :smile:

The bar is hideously cheap, and in a cellar older than anything at Cambridge. There's an abundance of attractive if not slightly alcoholic people :smile:

4) Think!!! I doubt many at Cam would be able to do clubs/go out 5 nights a week and still get a top degree, so you can get more invloved and build up an impressive CV of ex-cur stuff. You'll have longer terms so could be going back this week rather than sitting at home reading this.
We must accept that being pooled, even if we get in, we probs won't be one of the smarter students, so won't have the stress/ embarrasment of moving from top of sixthfom to bottom of Cam.

5) If you're an Oxbridge applicant; then you must have applied to other top 10 uni's in the country and so will be applying for exactly the same sort of jobs in a few years time, this is where your ex-cur experiences/confidence will win over. Anyway, after a couple of years of work; it's what work you've done that counts, not where you studied. You'll do well anywhere, and probably have more fun :smile:

Good luck,

PS. Those at/soon to be at Cam: please read this with a pinch of salt, i don't mean it as a dig at cam. rather to relieve the stress many of us are going through. Anyway, after a month, you'll never have to read most of our posts again.

Reply 392

*gingerbread*

hyper-little-mushroom-men

No, just lucky! I tossed up between Clare and Downing, but hey what's done is done. I'm glad I don't have to go back for another interview but it is a little disconcerting- doesn't exactly look promising. Good luck anyway and I'm sure I'll catch up with you afterwards xx

Reply 393