Giving Feedback to Cambridge - 2017

More statistics regarding post vs pre-A level offers, re-applicants and gap year students would be great

Thank you. I figured it might only be one or two more places in each college anyway. Do you think most universities will use this extra allocation to bolster graduate numbers then? It hasn't occurred to me that it might work like that but I suppose it means they can get new doctors sooner.

... it seemed to be a bit of a jumble, with luck playing an equal part to ability. I imagine this is why so many reapply and get in at a later date because the system is personal to each college, you can impress in one where you failed to previously! Having said that this is how the university has clearly operated for 100s of years and I love tradition!

As a parent, I would just like to say that overall, I have been impressed by the transparency of the application process. There is so much information available on the Cambridge web-site. It negates some of the Oxbridge "urban myths" out there, especially as Dd was not my even my idea of a stereotypical Cambridge applicant. Dd now attends a sixth form which is very supportive of Oxbridge applicants, but from the point of view of information about the process, she said they didn't offer any more than was available on the university web-site.

It has also been really useful being able to come on to TSR and get information direct from Admissions Tutors at various stressful points such as when waiting to hear about interviews.

This does contrast to the other universities where dd applied. Three of them are also extremely competitive and although she applied in October she still has not had an offer or been rejected. One of them does send emails every 4-8 weeks saying she is still under consideration, and the others have only sent an acknowledgement, months ago.

While I fully understand the frustration and stress that applicants and parents feel during the process when things go a bit awry and they do not hear within some deadlines which have been very tightly set, I feel that In comparison to the other universities that Dd has applied to, it has been a very transparent and responsive process.

As an aside, one of the things that did impress my Dd at the interview and made her feel that her application had been read and was the interviewers using her preferred rather than given name. She said she immediately felt more relaxed.

Age and experience is a good combination in most things

I think it's certainly fair to say there is an *element* of luck to it. After all, there are many more good applicants than places.

But overall I do think the "ability" factor is greater than "luck", and the success rate of reapplicants is due to a number of things but includes having excellent grades in hand, being another year wiser (in the broadest sense), and having been through the process before. Age and experience is a good combination in most things (as I'm sure you'd agree )

And as the saying goes: "I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have."

the interviewers using her preferred rather than given name. She said she immediately felt more relaxed.

As a parent, I would just like to say that overall, I have been impressed by the transparency of the application process. There is so much information available on the Cambridge web-site. It negates some of the Oxbridge "urban myths" out there, especially as Dd was not my even my idea of a stereotypical Cambridge applicant. Dd now attends a sixth form which is very supportive of Oxbridge applicants, but from the point of view of information about the process, she said they didn't offer any more than was available on the university web-site.

It has also been really useful being able to come on to TSR and get information direct from Admissions Tutors at various stressful points such as when waiting to hear about interviews.

This does contrast to the other universities where dd applied. Three of them are also extremely competitive and although she applied in October she still has not had an offer or been rejected. One of them does send emails every 4-8 weeks saying she is still under consideration, and the others have only sent an acknowledgement, months ago.

While I fully understand the frustration and stress that applicants and parents feel during the process when things go a bit awry and they do not hear within some deadlines which have been very tightly set, I feel that In comparison to the other universities that Dd has applied to, it has been a very transparent and responsive process.

As an aside, one of the things that did impress my Dd at the interview and made her feel that her application had been read and was the interviewers using her preferred rather than given name. She said she immediately felt more relaxed.

No, I don't think other universities will necessarily follow the same strategy, not least because many of them don't offer Graduate Medicine. But I think at Cambridge, which will have (perhaps) 10 extra places to offer in total and which has for some time received around 20-25 applications per place for the Graduate Course, as against c.10 applications per place for the Standard Course, it makes a certain sense.

I think it's certainly fair to say there is an *element* of luck to it. After all, there are many more good applicants than places.

But overall I do think the "ability" factor is greater than "luck", and the success rate of reapplicants is due to a number of things but includes having excellent grades in hand, being another year wiser (in the broadest sense), and having been through the process before. Age and experience is a good combination in most things (as I'm sure you'd agree )

And as the saying goes: "I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have."

Hello everyone, congratulations to all who have received offers, commiserations to those who have not and best of luck (and apologies) to those few of you who are still waiting.

Every year we have an internal review of the Admission round at Cambridge and last year my predecessor at Christ's used this forum to elicit general feedback on our process from students who had gone through it. The feedback was very helpful to us in (we hope) improving things, so I wanted to follow his example this year.

I am not in a position to provide feedback on individual applications or say why you didn't get in but rather this is an opportunity for you to say if there are things about the process that might be improved and make comments I can then pass on. I will also try to explain some things which might seem odd about the process.

The thread will be open for a week and I will then report back to my colleagues with good points. Thank you for your points and also for the applications.