Can someone give the approximate percentage weightings, of a Cambridge applicant?

Can someone please provide the approximate percentage weightings of the different aspects of an application to Cambridge university? For example, at Cambridge, GCSEs have a percentage weighting of x, A level predicted grades have a percentage weighting of y, and the entry test has a percentage weighting of y? Assuming AS levels are being taken (in the decoupled linear A levels).

(Feel free to add any other aspects which I didn't state)

GCSE grades - %
AS grades + UMS percentages - %
A level predicted grades - %
Entry test performance - %
Interview performance - %

Just wish to educate myself on the approximate importance of various parts of an application.

That is a very big ask. It will vary from subject to subject and any answers people do come up with will be massive approximations!

I'd welcome any approximations.

Can someone please provide the approximate percentage weightings of the different aspects of an application to Cambridge university? For example, at Cambridge, GCSEs have a percentage weighting of x, A level predicted grades have a percentage weighting of y, and the entry test has a percentage weighting of y? Assuming AS levels are being taken (in the decoupled linear A levels).

Assuming the course is Computer Science.

(Feel free to add any other aspects which I didn't state)

GCSE grades - %
AS grades + UMS percentages - %
A level predicted grades - %
Entry test performance - %
Interview performance - %

Just wish to educate myself on the approximate importance of various parts of an application.

There isn't any weighting for ant part of application.
All aspects of application of each candidate are looked at and assessed individually and holistically.

I'll tag some other veteran members of Cambridge forum (including people to back me up on this, in case you're in doubt.

@Murray Edwards Admissions
@Peterhouse Admissions
@Doonesbury
@Reality Check

Some years ago when I first got interested in the admissions process at Cambridge I was convinced there was a weighting, even though Cambridge wouldn't say what it was. I considered that an applicant's recent academic performance (i.e. UMS) was the primary filter to getting an interview - much more important than assessments/gcses/personal statements/etc. And that the interview then decided whether or not you got an offer. I mean look at the stages involved in the process...

UMS opened the door, the interview gets you in.

It's obvious isn't it?!

Except it isn't.

As @vincrows says the process *really* is holistic. They consider everything, and strengths in some areas can be offset by weaknesses elsewhere. An otherwise strong candidate can be weakened by a poor interview, but equally a strong interview won't be enough if you are weak elsewhere. It all counts. This is why they spend literally hours assessing your application. It also explains why Cambridge typically interviews approx 75% of applicants.

The only thing is that GCSEs really aren't that important, but there's no specific weighting for it. They just know that GCSEs aren't a great predictor of Tripos success. Strong GCSEs won't get you a place, and "weak" GCSEs won't prevent one.

Note. This is different for Oxford where some subjects certainly do have weightings for the interview shortlist stage.

Thanks for the response. What about Oxford, just out of interest? What would the weightings (for shortlisting stage) be for example, Mathematics?

Thanks for the response. What about Oxford, just out of interest? What would the weightings (for shortlisting stage) be for example, Mathematics?

Some years ago when I first got interested in the admissions process at Cambridge I was convinced there was a weighting, even though Cambridge wouldn't say what it was. I considered that an applicant's recent academic performance (i.e. UMS) was the primary filter to getting an interview - much more important than assessments/gcses/personal statements/etc. And that the interview then decided whether or not you got an offer. I mean look at the stages involved in the process...

UMS opened the door, the interview gets you in.

It's obvious isn't it?!

Except it isn't.

As @vincrows says the process *really* is holistic. They consider everything, and strengths in some areas can be offset by weaknesses elsewhere. An otherwise strong candidate can be weakened by a poor interview, but equally a strong interview won't be enough if you are weak elsewhere. It all counts. This is why they spend literally hours assessing your application. It also explains why Cambridge typically interviews approx 75% of applicants.

The only thing is that GCSEs really aren't that important, but there's no specific weighting for it. They just know that GCSEs aren't a great predictor of Tripos success. Strong GCSEs won't get you a place, and "weak" GCSEs won't prevent one.

Note. This is different for Oxford where some subjects certainly do have weightings for the interview shortlist stage.

Brilliant post.

There isn't any weighting for any part of application.
All aspects of application of each candidate are looked at and assessed individually and holistically.

I'll tag some other veteran members of Cambridge forum to back me up on this, in case you're in doubt.

@Murray Edwards Admissions
@Peterhouse Admissions
@Doonesbury
@Reality Check

Brilliant post.

Completely agree.

Tag them and you can go to bed with peace of mind that one of them will look after OP very well.

Thank you @Doonesbury. Great job, as always

Most subjects at oxford don't publish this sort of information, I know from my tutors that for chemistry (at my college atleast) they give a score for each aspect of someones application (including grades, personal statement, teachers reference and some form of score to account for your results in the context of your school). The scores are then used to determine who is interviewed (for chemistry virtually everyone is interviewed ~95%) at interview, the highest scorers would have to have a bad interview to miss an offer and the lower scorers would need to interview very well to get an offer. So although there is some systematic scoring the final decision is holistic and includes a bit of everything.

Completely agree.

Tag them and you can go to bed with peace of mind that one of them will look after OP very well.

Thank you @Doonesbury. Great job, as always

Thanks but you know as well as I do it's a team effort - we've all learned and shared a lot about admissions on this forum and continue to do so

#MythbustersUnited!

Yes, as @vincrows and @Doonesbury say, there is no weighting. The point is that each candidate has their own strengths and weaknesses and that these are assessed individually. For one candidate we might judge that the GCSEs tell us a great deal about them, for another the GCSEs may tell us very little. Similarly with any aspect of the application so we try to avoid being mechanistic about it.

I think we make a great team - and are lucky to have the support of people like @Murray Edwards Admissions and @Peterhouse Admissions amongst others. It's a great resource for would-be applicants to get the facts, rather than speculation and hearsay.

The way I look at how Cambridge uses info on applicants is a bit like building 3D jigsaw puzzle.
Each applicant comes with a different set of pieces, all different in sizes, shapes, colours, etc. etc. The admission people build an image of each candidate with those varied pieces and try to find out what sort of student they have been so far and what sort of student they're likely to grow in the environment Cambridge can offer them.
Then you compare those 'images' of candidates and decide which one/s would be good for them and whether Cambridge will be a right place for them.
So no comparison of a certain element across candidates or fixed weighting for each element.

Please class me as a temporary & seasonal worker for the team. I'm supposed to have retired last summer.......

I like it. Although I think most candidates' applications would render into something from the surrealist/cubist school with that analogy.

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