What is pooling? Can you be pooled after being rejected for interview?

Based on what they do for medicine, but hopefully someone Mathsy in the know will turn up to clarify:

The second college is assigned completely at random. Colleges don't know which applicants are first choice and which were randomly-allocated. Candidates are ranked independently and colleges don't talk directly to each other. Colleges take their highest-ranked candidate with candidate preference taking priority if both want them.

As I understand it it's different for Cambridge, in which there is a formal "pool" to which oversubscribed colleges can assign their good-but-not the-best applicants and from which (relatively) undersubscribed ones can actively "fish" for better people.

Why are some candidates invited to a second interview at the second college?
At my college for maths, 3 people were kept longer on the last day because their second allocated college wanted a further interview??

I had two at my first choice and only one at the second..Is it possible for the second college to want you with only one interview?

...

The second college interview is purely to make sure that as many people as possible have spoken to a candidate so that the opinion formed of them is as fair and justified as possible.

I applied for Physics not Mathematics but the subjects are similar in process, it is policy to have a second interview at a different college but unlike Huw Davies said, the second college knows that the applicant has already had the main interviews at the primary college and they know which college they were at.

The secondary college uses their interview to help rank all applicants on performance and so no matter where you were interviewed, the best applicants will get through.
The second college can request to take an applicant and may be more likely to than others as they have seen them at interview but the primary college has the first say on said applicant and even if the primary or secondary college does not want this applicant, other colleges may use the rankings to choose them.

If its to rank them why do a few people get called for more than one onterview at the second college?....so most maths people had 3 interviews but some had 4?

If its to rank them why do a few people get called for more than one onterview at the second college?....so most maths people had 3 interviews but some had 4?

The second college interview is purely to make sure that as many people as possible have spoken to a candidate so that the opinion formed of them is as fair and justified as possible.

I applied for Physics not Mathematics but the subjects are similar in process, it is policy to have a second interview at a different college but unlike Huw Davies said, the second college knows that the applicant has already had the main interviews at the primary college and they know which college they were at.

The secondary college uses their interview to help rank all applicants on performance and so no matter where you were interviewed, the best applicants will get through.
The second college can request to take an applicant and may be more likely to than others as they have seen them at interview but the primary college has the first say on said applicant and even if the primary or secondary college does not want this applicant, other colleges may use the rankings to choose them.

I'm not sure this is a general truth. If you read the Chemistry thread, one person's scenario was that eight people were sent home directly after their first college interviews, while the rest had interviews at a second college. Those who were sent home seemed to be the one's accepted by the first college.

EDIT: If you are talking about pre-scheduled secon college interviews, that's another question. This was interviews arranged after the main ones were over.

So if you receive a proper rejection letter, that is one which doesn't contain the 'I believe another college is about to give you an offer soon' bit, that's it. And if your letter does contain that phrase, you will get an offer, just not from that college. It's all pretty straightforward.

Got one today from Exeter, it says that they cannot offer me a place, but 'another college is likely to accept me' and ends optimistically with 'I trust that the outcome of your Oxford application will indeed be successful'.

Now, from what you say I can already celebrate?!

What does it mean if you don't get pooled for another interview at a different college?
Ever since I didn't get pooled at my interview I've been feeling as though it was probably a negative indication of how well I did.