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IMPORTANT POOLING INFORMATION for winter pool 2008

Dragonfly1989

To engage in one of these 'games' sheerly for the pedantic sake of it: if you had 7a*s and 90+% in AS levels but had taken A2s as well and got less than 90% then it wouldn't count?

Reply 61

--

3

No one knows, they don't publish any information on what they do for completed A Levels, just ASs.

Reply 62

epitome

11

Dragonfly1989

To engage in one of these 'games' sheerly for the pedantic sake of it

Just to clarify, the "games" we were talking about were actual games...in the link Lidka posted a while back. :smile:

Reply 63

Lidka

13

epitome

Just to clarify, the "games" we were talking about were actual games...in the link Lidka posted a while back. :smile:

And she heartily recommends them for stressed applicants. ;yes;

Reply 64

--

3

Along with a couple of shots of whiskey and a healthy resignation that you've already been rejected.

Reply 65

epitome

11

Lidka

And she heartily recommends them for stressed applicants.

But really, really not for people with (a) essays to write or (b) Anything Else To Do! :p:

I'll go with 3232 -- a drink and a healthy pessimistic attitude! :wink:

Reply 66

Camdon

I'm a Cambridge lecturer involved with interviewing and working through the winter pool. I can't put anyone's mind at ease during this painful period of waiting but I can correct a few of the myths I see cropping up here.

Being entered in the pool is not merely a matter of having the right numbers on your application form. The regulations stipulate that a candidate will be entered in the pool if they aren't accepted by their preferred college, but it isn't the only reason a candidate will be entered in the pool. Interviewers put candidates in the pool when they think they have a genuinely good chance of doing well at Cambridge even if, for various reasons, they did not pass the entrance criteria at their preference college. They may have been too nervous at their interview to assess properly, and the interviewers might feel that they would benefit from being interviewed again; there may have been a considerable discrepancy between the opinions of the interviewers, with one of them rating a candidate very highly and the other not; there may have been a significant difference between the quality of a candidate's interview and their written work; there may, quite simply, have been an exceptionally strong group of applicants that year for a particular college, whose intake is always limited, and in any other year you might well have made it in. Interviewers do not put candidates in the pool to "make up the numbers". Anyone who gets into the pool is there because the preference college genuinely feels they are worth considering for a place.

Reply 67

Opsimathmo

6

Cambridge doesn't have dons!! :wink:

Reply 68

Master Polhem

15

Maybe his name is Camdon?

Reply 69

epitome

11

Just read (and believe) what s/he says, for goodness' sake!

Reply 70

city_chic

13

Yes, thank you very much Camdon :wink:

Reply 71

Galatea

11

I know the questions on this forum are getting increasingly absurd and fussy, and the following is definately one of those questions, but I really want to know anyway;
when the auto pooling criteria states that an applicant must have 90%+ in the three most relevant AS levels where the college has preferences; the website gives four subjects that are useful in preparation for my course (RS, history, english lit and French); I've done all four, but got 90%+ in only three. Would the 88% in the fourth one prevent me from automatically qualifying? Would they really be that anal about it?
I know there are many other reasons why an applicant might be put in the pool, and also that being pooled doesn't carry with it any likelihood of getting a place, but it would certainly calm my nerves about Thursday, (which have really clouded my Christmas)

Reply 72

Tom

15

We don't know; we're just students. Unless camdom comes back and answers. You'll find out in a few days, anyway.

Technically, if you've quoted their guidelines accurately, one would assume that the three 90% marks you have would be sufficient. That the 88% would be more like a bonus on top. But that's pure, unfounded speculation.

Reply 73

sammyrj

15

Tom

We don't know; we're just students. Unless camdom comes back and answers. You'll find out in a few days, anyway.

Technically, if you've quoted their guidelines accurately, one would assume that the three 90% marks you have would be sufficient. That the 88% would be more like a bonus on top. But that's pure, unfounded speculation.

Never mind the fact that, supposedly, a few colleges are not following this 'auto-pool' rule.

Reply 74

Excalibur

15

Kaloki

Never mind the fact that, supposedly, a few colleges are not following this 'auto-pool' rule.

Oh? Do you know which ones?

Reply 75

ExRx123

17

Ahhh just 4 days to go...then all the questions'll stop :smile:

Well...spose there'll be the pooled lot!

Reply 76

Admonitor

11

El Mariachi

Ahhh just 4 days to go...then all the questions'll stop :smile:

Well...spose there'll be the pooled lot!

And those rejected wondering why, and those accepting perhaps complaining about the nature of their offer or the paper the envelope was in!

Reply 77

squeezebox

15

I would not be suprised if someone made a thread about whether to open their letter or not.

Reply 78

thelostchild

10

squeezebox

I would not be suprised if someone made a thread about whether to open their letter or not.

erm its been done already :wink:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=497428

Reply 79

Tom

15

edit: beaten to it :/

Someone already did.

They said they didn't think they'd be able to bear opening it, and the pressure leading up to A-levels afterwards, and wondered if it would be a problem leaving the letter un-opened 'till then.

IMPORTANT POOLING INFORMATION for winter pool 2008

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