Is Trinity College Cambridge harder to get into

if you do well in the tests then great. As long as you wouldn't be that much more upset with being in one of the worst colleges compared to one of the middling ones.

Ah, of course. However, I can barely find anything on how competitive for History itself. I understand it is extremely difficult to get into trinity for Maths and Sciences, but after checking the application statistics they get fewer applicants for history. Perhaps it is not quite as competitive for history as for Maths, so the pool should not be my main worry as that could happen when applying to any college?

Hi, I am a year 12 student who is thinking of applying to Cambridge for History next year. After looking at all the colleges’ websites and going round a few myself, I’ve fallen in love with Trinity. However, I have been advised by family members not to apply there as it is, supposedly, a more competitive college and it is harder to get an offer.
Currently I have 8 A*s at GCSE (those include an 8 and a 9 for english lit and lang reformed gcses) and my initial predicted grades, from standardised assessments, are A*A*A.
Would applying to Trinity be a risk?

Ah, of course. However, I can barely find anything on how competitive for History itself. I understand it is extremely difficult to get into trinity for Maths and Sciences, but after checking the application statistics they get fewer applicants for history. Perhaps it is not quite as competitive for history as for Maths, so the pool should not be my main worry as that could happen when applying to any college?

A thread for @Doonesbury?

If you're applying for Maths I'd strongly suggest you know who Imre Leader is!
He tends to interview Mathematics candidates for Trinity.

If you've written about general relativity in your personal statement, try to know who Malcolm Perry is.
A physics applicant (who went on to get a double first etc) told me that this was his interviewer and he knew who he was!
But this is really rare though - I think he was just lucky and he applied a long time ago!

Hey, wait, what subj are you applying for?

i reckon the biggest risk is you don't get in and end up somewhere like Girton or Churchill. If I were you I'd only apply to Trinity if I had like 5 AS levels/4 A levels minimum

Looking at prior stats for the last 4 years; Trinity had 121 applicants for History, and they gave 47 direct offers and saw 16 offers coming from fishing colleges in the winter pool.

So that's an overall offer rate of 52% for History at Trinity, of which three out of every four offers were direct from the college.

This compares with a course overall offer rate of 38% for History across the university.

If I were the OP I'd apply to Trinity if I wanted to.

where do you get those stats from??? i've been looking for college-specific stats for ages

i reckon the biggest risk is you don't get in and end up somewhere like Girton or Churchill. If I were you I'd only apply to Trinity if I had like 5 AS levels/4 A levels minimum

Looking at prior stats for the last 4 years; Trinity had 121 applicants for History, and they gave 47 direct offers and saw 16 offers coming from fishing colleges in the winter pool.

So that's an overall offer rate of 52% for History at Trinity, of which three out of every four offers were direct from the college.

This compares with a course overall offer rate of 38% for History across the university.

If I were the OP I'd apply to Trinity if I wanted to.

Thank you. I'd looked at the stats and had only wondered whether (due to Trinity's reputation for having the best of the best for maths) that perhaps this would be similar for history and even though that would be a 38% chance, that 38% would be out of almost 121 of the best of the best.
Of course this is nothing against other colleges, as Cambridge itself is already for extremely intelligent people, I just wondered if Trinity's reputation affects what type of people apply there.

Have you ever spoken to people who were pooled from Trinity (or other allegedly ‘popular’ colleges) to Girton or Churchill (or other supposedly ‘unpopular ‘ colleges)?
It seems you’re not even at Cambridge. It’s not very helpful posting such a misinformed opinion on something you obviously do not know very well.


To OP.
Vast majority of Cambridge students are very happy with their college they end up at, including the people who were pooled there from their first choice college.
Apply to any college you fancy, but be prepared to be pooled somewhere else as about 20-25% of successful applicants are pooled to other college.
But no need to worry as whichever college you apply to, the system is there to ensure you’ll get a place somewhere as long as you’re good enough and almost everyone loves their college no matter if it was their original college or not.

Nope. Why do *you* like Trinity? Have you visited?
Anyway, if you like it apply there. Don't overthink things.

I don't think its certain that someone would get pooled to a 'bad' college (although getting into any college is still good). I have a friend currently at Downing in his final year studying Modern and Medieval Languages, who got pooled there after applying to (i believe) Christs (Although, I think he was the only person on that course to be pooled to Downing). Even though better located and better known colleges don't take people from the pool so often, there is always a chance.

I looked round as a possible future applicant and picked up a prospectus a few months ago, I just find it beautiful (and it's very well located too).

The link I posted above. But please don't get hung up on college stats, they vary significantly from year to year. Just apply to a college you like.

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/colleges/choosing-a-college

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oh, i graduated (from a uni that wasn't cambridge!) a few months ago. I am just obsessed with the renowned alumni of Trinity college, and in particular Mr Newton

I see... so not a very relevant background to advise a History applicant on college choice then

i was very careful not to advise him on college choice, all i put to him was to think about whether he'd be that much more upset with the risk of ending up at one of the least nice colleges compared to one of the middling ones.

i did go through an almost 'Asperger's' thought process when making my UCAS applications 4 years ago, including considering Oxford so i did think through the game plan!

But your point is completely valid as being so far out in a college like Girton could detract from the whole Cambridge experience.

It really doesn't...

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