The Official Cambridge Winter Pool 2013 Thread (includes FAQ and Status Reports)

Pooled and fished by the same college are counted within the direct offers.

I have a question about my interviews (I had two interviews at Fitzwilliam for German and Spanish).

The first was an "academic" one and was as I expected.

The second "general" one was quite odd in that the vast majority was about Economics/Law... I know it's a general interview, but is this not a bit weird?

It was a very interesting discussion, but to begin with I wasn't sure what to give as answers, as I couldn't think of MML-related responses to Economics questions .

Once I realised it was an "economics interview" it was all good though - at the end he asked me if I had any questions and I was on the verge of asking "what just happened?"

Hmm, that's a strange-sounding interview. Maybe they were just trying to see a different side of you. Or testing your ability to think on your feet, based on the pretty certain knowledge that you wouldn't have prepared for an Economics interview!

Hmm, that's a strange-sounding interview. Maybe they were just trying to see a different side of you. Or testing your ability to think on your feet, based on the pretty certain knowledge that you wouldn't have prepared for an Economics interview!

I can't improve on that hypothesis

I did take Economics A-level and mention an interest in German political thought, but this was literally like a typical Oxbridge Economics interview:
- He gave me a basic scenario, asked a question, added more conditions, more complicated questions and so on.
- If I got stuck he'd discuss the thought process a little, give me a hint or two, and then leave me to come to conclusions myself
- It all built up to a final problem where he said "can you see a solution?". I thought for 10-20 seconds, then said "no, it seems impossible" and he agreed, saying "there's no solution we can think of, that's the problem".

About as stereotypical as you can get for an Oxbridge interview

Certainly sounds like it

Compared to my last MML interview where they were like "how does this phrase relate to magical realism?" it went a lot better

May be you will end up with an offer to read Economics.

x

Maybe... (Would such a thing even be allowed, out of interest?)

I think at this stage I'm so fed up with the whole process that I would take an offer to read absolutely anything.

Damn my sister called them and they told her the same and even said the letters were sent first class but on Sat I checked, there was still no mail.
Seems like they have sent all of the letters. I doubt that they fish many people. But yeah, the wait will soon be over, probably end on Monday. How ironic it is to wait more than a week just for a rejection letter.

Maybe... (Would such a thing even be allowed, out of interest?)

I rather doubt it

Well you say that, but I know that Polymath is rather interested in Economics (to the point where he would like to spend some time on it at uni) and I suspect the fellow who interviewed him was Econ, there is a tiny-weeny chance he might just get an Econ offer given that UCAS does allow unis to give offers for subjects other than the one applied for

Right so it's officially the 14th... lets see what happens by the end of the day :/

Well you say that, but I know that Polymath is rather interested in Economics (to the point where he would like to spend some time on it at uni) and I suspect the fellow who interviewed him was Econ, there is a tiny-weeny chance he might just get an Econ offer given that UCAS does allow unis to give offers for subjects other than the one applied for

Indeed

I'm not publishing an update this morning as there has been very little change since yesterday. As I have a big piece of work to complete by Thursday I probably won't get another update done before then, but I'll be around from time to time.

I'm for everyone that they get an answer sooner rather than later, either way, so that those who need to can re-focus and move on.