Cambridge University Offer Statistics

Hello everyone,

I have brought the Cambridge College and Course Gffer statistics to TSR. I have also simplified the statistics from the Cambridge website into percentages and simple fractions so that people can compare courses and colleges more easily statistic-wise.

Please note that these statistics are only one aspect of applying to Cambridge one should consider when making a decision on College or Course.

The statistics will be given in the fields:

| College or Course | Offers as % of Applicants | Offers as a simple fraction of Applicants | Offers/Applicants as figures |

Here are the statistics:

2009 Offers by College:

| 18% | 1/6 | 140/762 | Christ's
| 26% | 1/4 | 168/645 | Churchill
| 22% | 1/5 | 162/749 | Clare
| 25% | 1/4 | 089/362 | Corpus Christi
| 20% | 1/5 | 149/733 | Downing
| 22% | 1/5 | 163/756 | Emmanuel
| 32% | 1/3 | 158/495 | Fitzwilliam
| 32% | 1/3 | 161/512 | Girton
| 27% | 1/4 | 167/631 | Gonville & Caius
| 47% | 1/2 | 217/467 | Homerton
| 18% | 1/6 | 047/226 | Hugh's
| 20% | 1/5 | 150/771 | Jesus
| 18% | 1/6 | 142/782 | King's
| 28% | 1/4 | 070/252 | Lucy Cavendish
| 26% | 1/4 | 118/453 | Magdalene
| 38% | 1/3 | 134/352 | Murray
| 47% | 1/2 | 165/350 | Newnham
| 20% | 1/5 | 144/721 | Pembroke
| 26% | 1/4 | 088/345 | Peterhouse
| 26% | 1/4 | 189/739 | Queen's
| 35% | 1/3 | 143/415 | Robinson
| 24% | 1/4 | 138/565 | St Catherine's
| 23% | 1/4 | 061/268 | St Edmund's
| 23% | 1/4 | 188/826 | St John's
| 26% | 1/4 | 127/488 | Selwyn
| 22% | 1/5 | 112/516 | Sidney Sussex
| 23% | 1/4 |237/1036| Trinity
| 25% | 1/4 | 118/481 | Trinity Hall
| 31% | 1/3 | 082/268 | Wolfson

2009 Offers by Course:

| 49% | 1/2 | 023/047 | Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic
| 49% | 1/2 | 089/181 | Archaeology and Anthropology
| 10% |1/10| 044/484 | Architecture
| 38% | 1/3 | 057/149 | Asian & Middle Eastern Studies
| 56% | 1/2 | 082/148 | Classics
| 46% | 1/2 | 015/033 | Classics 4 Year Course
| 30% | 1/3 | 082/272 | Computer Science
| 15% | 1/7 |198/1342| Economics
| 47% | 1/2 | 048/108 | Education
| 22% | 1/5 |389/1798| Engineering
| 25% | 1/4 | 222/875 | English
| 36% | 1/3 | 121/337 | Geography
| 30% | 1/3 | 220/731 | History
| 22% | 1/5 | 031/139 | History of Art
| 28% | 1/4 | 065/230 | Land Economy
| 21% | 1/5 |241/1143| Law
| 41% | 1/3 | 035/086 | Linguistics
| 37% | 1/3 |441/1196| Mathematics
| 17% | 1/6 |295/1742| Medicine
| 15% | 1/7 | 034/226 | Medicine Graduate Course
| 33% | 1/3 | 190/580 | Modern & Medieval Languages
| 41% | 1/3 | 064/157 | Music
| 29% | 1/4 |698/2378| Natural Sciences
| 21% | 1/5 | 054/254 | Philosophy
| 18% | 1/6 | 145/798 | Politics, Psychology & Sociology
| 47% | 1/2 | 052/111 | Theology & Religous Studies
| 20% | 1/5 | 090/446 | Veterinary Medicine

2009 Offers in total:

| 25% | 1/4 | 4025/15966 | Cambridge University

Hope you all find this useful. For more specific statistics go to: Cambridge University Website

Evan MF :smile:

(edited 13 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

a daedalus

Not sure if this gives you any helpful info, or whether it applies at all to other unis, but a quick manipulation of these statistics demonstrates the following:

Note on methodology: rounded to no decimals, includes only the years 2006-8

course / % of applicants receiving an offer

architecture : 12%
economics : 16%
medicine graduate course : 18%
politics, psychology and sociology : 19%
medicine : 19%
philosophy : 20%
veterinary medicine : 22%
law : 22%
english : 24%
land economy : 25%
engineering : 27%
history of art : 29%
history : 30%
classics 4 year : 32%
asian and middle eastern studies : 33%
natural sciences : 33%
computer science : 34%
modern & medieval languages : 34%
geography : 35%
mathematics : 38%
theology & religious studies : 44%
music : 45%
anglo-saxon, norse & celtic : 51%
archeology & anthropology : 52%
education : 54%
classics : 56%

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 2

Craghyrax

Original post by Evan MF

Could this go for Sticky? :smile:

Evan

We don't have room for any more stickies right now, but I'm sure people will easily find it in search thanks to putting 'statistics' in the title.

Thanks for putting this together. Nevertheless I would encourage people not to base college choices and especially not subject choices on statistics. The actual difference in practical competition is very small. Even the 'least' competitive subject or college is still really competitive by anybody's standards. I personally don't think its worth applying to a subject you'll hate or a college that you don't really fancy just for an imperceptibly small improvement in chances.

You also have to remember that colleges (including the 'most' competitive like Trinity) take people from the pool. If you're crap and you apply to the least competitive college, that college may well choose to reject you and take a better applicant from the pool instead. So basically, no matter where you apply to or what for, you still need to be Cambridge standard.

For this reason the University encourages people to look at other very important factors when choosing colleges and courses. Getting in is just step #1. After that, what accommodation do you want to live in? Do you want to be in a small or large college? Old or new? How close will you be living to your department? Do you want a college gym? Do you want a 24hour library? etc.

When it comes to applying for a subject, remember that you need to convince academics at interview that you are really passionate about their subject. If you tried to get into an 'easier' subject in order to switch later into a more competitive subject, that would be very silly. Remember that you'd be disadvantaged in applying for the 'easier' one by seeming less passionate. Even if you got admitted, most competitive subjects require you to get high 2.1s or firsts, and sometimes to be reinterviewed before they allow you to switch into them. High 2.1s and firsts are a challenge at the best of times, nevermind when you don't even like the subject you're admitted for.

Finally remember that statistics are dynamic. The situation in your year of applications won't be the same as things were in 2008. If loads of people read somewhere that Peterhouse had the lowest rate of applicants for MML (for example) then the following year, Peterhouse might be hit by the highest number of applicants who all wished to take advantage of that fact.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 3

sentiment

should have applied for Classics..

Reply 4

thefish_uk

Original post by a daedalus

Not sure if this gives you any helpful info, or whether it applies at all to other unis, but a quick manipulation of these statistics demonstrates the following...

I don't think it does apply much to other unis. Oxbridge generally has lower applicant/place ratios than other universities because the reputation of the university means the pool of candidates tends to be self-selecting - i.e. only the best apply, unlike at other universities where there are lots of weaker applicants who get rejected.

There may be some applicability to other universities of the relative ratios for different subjects, but even this might be skewed by the fact it's Cambridge - it depends a lot on the size of the department (e.g. the architecture department is tiny so it's not surprising there are over 8 applicants per place) as well as other things.

TBH these sorts of statistics don't tend to get discussed much on here... mainly because everyone knows it is a very poor way to choose your subject!

Reply 5

a daedalus

Original post by thefish_uk

Lol I wouldn't choose my subject based on how easy it was to get in .. but I read a few threads about which courses were the most competitive and I wanted to get some statistics.

It's just a curious thing for people who are applying because it shows that Cambridge is not *just* Cambridge.. if you apply to Classics with 3 A*s your chances of getting in are much higher than if you apply with the same grades to Architecture.

Also makes me wonder why these statistics are so.. is it because the department needs to grow but doesn't want to? Or because Architecture, for example, has been growing steadily (in terms of student interest) while Classics is on the decline?

On the other hand it's almost universally true that Medicine is hard to get into, as are Economics, English, and Law. So the stats can't be that far off..

Reply 6

Slowbro93

For maths, the amount of offers is quite high, but then STEP is required

Reply 7

Dirac Delta Function

Original post by cpdavis

For maths, the amount of offers is quite high, but then STEP is required

STEP used to be required for some other subjects as well, don't know if it still is.

Reply 8

thefish_uk

Original post by a daedalus

Also makes me wonder why these statistics are so.. is it because the department needs to grow but doesn't want to? Or because Architecture, for example, has been growing steadily (in terms of student interest) while Classics is on the decline?

I suppose if the university thought it could offer the same level of teaching to more people, it would admit more people for these subjects. I think increasing the intake for a given subject is quite complicated - colleges have to accomodate them (and there's already been problems with at least one college this year admitting more freshers than it had rooms for, I think?) the facilities might need expanding, and people are needed to teach them - particularly supervisors might be more difficult to find on a smaller subject. Also the number of academics (which determines the size of the department and its capacity to teach, I guess) is going to be decided by how much research the university is doing in that area. There will of course be discussions both in the department and colleges on whether they get sufficient high quality applicants to ensure there won't be a drop in standards - what if the other 88% of architecture applicants are actually rubbish?

Interesting you should mention Architecture actually as I believe it might be a department that's been getting smaller - there was some rumour about the possibility of them closing it or it even becoming part of the Engineering Department. Though the last time they closed a department (Portugese I think?) there was a massive outcry. The Architecture department is housed in a few terraced houses on Trumpington Street and a studio in their garden, and it's a wonder how they fit any lecture theatres at all in there (apparently it's a bit cosy). Compare to the huge departments like the Natural Sciences ones, or Engineering, where they have gigantic lecture theatres, labs set aside for teaching etc and admit several hundred undergraduates every year. (Perhaps not surprising given that the sciences and engineering are things that Cambridge is Really Really Good At, so they have hundreds of academic staff.)

Reply 9

Rob da Mop

You've got to bare in mind two things. Firstly, everyone applying will have top grades in their subject, so although you might be competing with "only" six people for your medicine place, they'll be on average tougher than the 10 you're facing at Nottingham. Secondly, because they attract all the top applicants they can take their pick. If you're a straight A* student you'll generally have a fairly easy walk into any mid-high ranking uni, while at Cambridge you'll be weeded out if they don't think you have the required passion for your subject.

As for explaining the trend, honestly how many people do you think apply for classics or ASNAC? And of those that do they've obviously got to be pretty sure they want to do it and are able to do it so they're generally let in I suppose.

Reply 10

Felix101

Original post by Dirac Delta Function

STEP used to be required for some other subjects as well, don't know if it still is.

I know engineers have to take it for sure.

Reply 11

Dirac Delta Function

Original post by Felix101

I know engineers have to take it for sure.

I had to take it for Comp Sci. I think some colleges still ask for it.

Reply 12

thefish_uk

Original post by Felix101

I know engineers have to take it for sure.

Only at some colleges - I didn't have to.

There is lots of information on the Engineering Department website on how colleges' preferences differ when it comes to admissions including a table on whether they do things like STEP. Most colleges require it "Rarely". (I suspect this means they reserve the right to require it, but in reality never do.)

Reply 13

Felix101

Original post by thefish_uk

Oh, my mistake. Weird though that all the engineers that got in last year had STEP offers :tongue:

Reply 14

Zoedotdot

Original post by thefish_uk

Though the last time they closed a department (Portugese I think?) there was a massive outcry.

Sorry, I know your post wasn't about this, but I feel that I should clarify in case someone sees it: the Portuguese department is still up and running and you can still take it as one of your two languages. It survived the cull, in which Dutch and Modern Greek were removed from the list of languages that can be taught as one of your two (probably because in my year there were two people taking Dutch and none doing Modern Greek) but you can still take both of these as part of your degree - eg, you can do German and Spanish with a paper in Dutch. None of the MML departments have actually been shut down, the scope has just been reduced. Which is, in many ways, a good thing - we lose the diversity of offering 8 languages rather than 6, but we also increase the share of funding for the other languages that are taken by many many more of the 200 undergrads. And MML is pretty poor so it's no bad thing. They still offer French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian (and Arabic, Hebrew and Persian can also be combined with MML, as well as Ancient Greek and Classical Latin) and you can take papers in Catalan, Dutch, Modern Greek, Ukrainian, Occitan and Neo-Latin.

Reply 15

Evan MF

Could this go for Sticky? :smile:

Evan

Reply 16

dd4483

Original post by Evan MF

| 15% | 1/7 |198/1342| Economics

That's me. I feel quite good now lol :biggrin:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 17

comrade_jon

They say it over and over again and it needs to be said even more often:

Don't play the statistics game.

Anyone here who is looking at the 18% King's and Hugh's going :O just look how many people they take from the pool... King's have taken only one or two in the past five years. Like previously said, the less popular colleges are just more likely to dive into the pool looking at candidates from the likes of King's and Christ and reject you that way, so... DON'T PLAY THE STATISTICS GAME :biggrin:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 18

Bumbl

It would be far more interesting to know what the ratio offers / interviews is.
But there are no official statistics, just the rule of thumb that 90% of all applicants are interviewed - which I doubt is true for all courses and colleges.