Cambridge Offer Holders 2015 thread

Yeah, well some anyway

Although ice cream will melt in fridges I think

Had my interview today and I don't think I will be an offer holder. I think I forgot to breath at one point!!!

What're your chances of getting in if you nearly miss your offer?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Extremely low unless your offer is for maths.


Posted from TSR Mobile

Extremely low unless your offer is for maths.


Posted from TSR Mobile

Whoa I thought it would be the opposite - in maths they give double the offers than places because a lot of people won't meet the step offer so that's an extra stage of selection (obviously I'd hardly anyone meets step then those who did better would still get in).
But for other subjects the number of offers is almost equal to number of places, so I guess they'd take you anyway most probably just to fill in the space? After all, why would they even bother with the summer pool then, is they just rejected most?

Posted from TSR Mobile

In maths they give much harder offers they give twice the offers to places and still don't have enough people meeting their offers.


Posted from TSR Mobile

So is there a chance of being accepted as a near miss for another subject?

Posted from TSR Mobile

It is best to assume no.
They only over offer about 5%.
A very few disappear to go elsewhere-abroad or another UK university.
Very few miss their offer.

The summer pool matches those who have missed with the spaces available.

For some there will have been major issues such as a hospital admission or close family bereavement on or near exam days. Some will have less pressing extenuating circumstances.
Some will have met a standard Cambridge offer but not in the subject combination required, or not a higher offer set specifically for them. Some will have missed by only one UMS point.

Some will come from disadvantaged schools/postcodes or families, others will have had every advantage.

The pool is very small. For example in 2013 there were 4220 offers and 3448 entrants (81.7%), of which 3396 were into their offer college and a further 52 from the summer pool. (887 were from the winter pool). In Maths there were 532 offers but only 236 entrants (44%) of whom 16 were summer pool (104 were winter pool)
It is rumoured that 50% don't make their step offer so probably around 5-6% get an offer
from the original college and probably don't show up as summer pool.

So for subjects other than Maths there were 36 summer pool places.(Plus a few accepted by their original college.)

This goes to show that most of the people (if not all, excluding the mathmos) who firm get a place. Doesn't this mean that if there are near miss people they are likely to be accepted?

Would you say this situation is a likely acceptance:

My offer is A*A*AA from 4 specified subjects.
Say I got A*AAA in those subjects and also an A*/A in an A2 that wasn't asked for and an A/B in an AS that wasn't asked for, with no real extenuating circumstances.
Would I be likely to get a place?

Posted from TSR Mobile

I think it means few miss their offer. The average entrant has 2.7A*, more in Sciences. If you look at http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/undergrad_admissions_statistics_2013_cycle.pdf you can see 57.6% got A*A*A* or better, 25.6% got A*A*A, 13.3% got A*AA leaving 0.4% with A*A*B and 3% with AAA, a few of whom will have been pre-A* (2009 mature candidates) and a few were the Arts near misses.
There are obviously IB/Pre-U candidates too.
It is impossible to predict without knowing what subject & how many others will fail. In Sciences they need to know you can manage the course so an A* in an irrelevant subject wouldn't make up, for example, for an A in Chemistry, F Maths & Physics. You should remember that most NatSci entrants have 3A*

The interesting thing to note is the summer pool success rates:

In 2013, 295 got summer pooled and 58 of those were accepted (20% success rate)
In 2012, 55 out of 246 got accepted (22%)
And in 2011 it was 54/232 (23%)

However, this does not take into account the near-miss candidates who were accepted by their original college. So assuming that most near-miss candidates (ie probably those who missed their offer by one grade) are placed into the summer pool, your chances of being accepted are probably as large as your chances were of getting an offer in the first place (the percentages are slightly larger but I'm assuming a significant number of those are for maths).

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hey can anyone please please help me with this?

The solutionbank is extremely unclear and I really cannot understand it!

What have you tried? What don't you get?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Hey can anyone please please help me with this?

The solutionbank is extremely unclear and I really cannot understand it!

Im no expert on TSR but this probably isnt the best place to ask maths questions, but since you've asked here ill post my solution (I hope this is right otherwise its embarrassing )
Hopefully this makes some sense I bashed it out quickly, let me know if there's any issues...

I dont know the method solutionbank used but this one appeared most obvious to me?