Do admissions tutors know...

When they interview you, do admissions tutors know whether you've made an open application or not?

I remember seeing my interviewers having my CAF, so they would have been able to easily find out whether I made a direct application or not. But now that the CAF has been abolished... hmmm.

Thanks for the replies ...I was just curious to know what kind of information the admissions tutors had.. I know it won't make a difference but it's good to know

But like Zhen Lin says, things might have changed since they abolished the CAF...

I'm not sure whether or not they would; I read an article ages ago, that had been posted on TSR, that outlined the process.

I suspect that the admissions office will know, as they do the paperwork, but that the actual Fellows interviewing you won't because they've not bothered to find out.

Either way, it doesn't actually matter, because at interview the interviewers are specifically asked not to question applicants about the reasons why they chose that particular college- because they got stupid answers, like "It's got the same name as my cat" or "I had baked beans there at an open day" or anything; as long as you don't specifically mention it, and they wouldn't ask you a question that required it as an answer, then no-one need know.

And, as Camdon confirms, they haven't. As you may have gathered from the user name, Camdon is a Cambridge don.

Generally, yes, we do. Central Admissions write the name of the allocated college in and it's typically in a different pen and handwriting from the applicant's.

However, what Camdon referred to might still be possible if you're applying from overseas, as they've converted the CAF and SAQ that we used to fill in previously into the COAF, which still appears to be handwritten.