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The Official Cambridge Pool Thread 2011 (includes FAQ)
So.... your decision letter has arrived, and you have been placed in the Winter Pool.... this thread is for you 
. Many people find being in the Pool a bit of a roller-coaster ride - but people can and do hit the jackpot, and even if you don't, being pooled tells you that your application was a good one.
How to make the most of this thread
First of all – do post your details and updates as they come in. Everyone is interested
Secondly, it really helps if people use the search function, rather than posting the question, to find out if people applying for their subject have been given offers/invited for interview. This avoids cluttering up the thread with repetitive posts, but even better you will get a quick answer!
Thirdly, remember that how people heard about their offer or interview really doesn't mean anything for anyone else. The colleges all work differently, and within that each subject works differently. So, there are lots of possible variations and you cannot read anything into someone else's experience to judge what yours might be. Irrelevant information includes where your surname comes in the alphabet, whether you are an international student or not, whether you *might* have been autopooled, whether they phoned you or emailed you, and whether there's an 'r' in the month.
Finally, don't forget that the TSR people represent less than 10% of the pooled population. It's therefore not necessarily representative, and especially likely to be unrepresentative once you get to college or subject level. For all we know all the Pool offers in your subject went to people who've never heard of TSR and wouldn't post on here if they had.
Purpose of the Pool
The Pool is the mechanism by which Cambridge colleges ensure that all applicants of equivalent standard have a fair chance of an offer. A significant proportion of the offers made each year by Cambridge colleges are to people who have been placed in the Pool – see here. Admissions statistics - which include numbers of offers made through the Pool – for individual colleges and subjects can be found here.
How does it work?
All applicants who have been pooled will have been sent a copy of this, which provides a summary of the process. If you want the detail, have a look at this.
In essence, colleges place applicants in the Pool for one of two reasons: either they want to benchmark people against those applying to other colleges in order make a final decision about them, or they know they definitely can’t take the applicant but think another college might be able to. After the interviews have been completed in December, admissions tutors for each subject participate in moderation discussions, where applicants are compared across colleges so that there is consistency in terms of standards and expectations. This then informs decisions at college level about which applicants should be pooled.
What are my chances of an offer?
Overall, roughly one in four. Around 75% of these offers will be ‘direct’ – ie made without further interview. Of those who are re-interviewed, about half will get an offer. The overall statistics for TSR poolees are about the same as those for all poolees.
I’ve been placed in the Pool. What do I do now?
First of all, take this as a tribute to quality of your application. No-one ends up in the Pool unless they are considered to meet the required standard. At this stage the issue is capacity in terms of places available, not capability of the applicants. Even if it turns out that you don’t get an offer, being pooled is an achievement in itself. As the statistics I’ve linked to above show, the great majority of applicants are rejected outright, and quite a few never even get to the interview stage.
Secondly, get organised. Keep that mobile topped up and make sure your voicemail is working. Check your email every few hours (not minutes!). Always have something to write on and with to hand. Wait and hope, but don’t let the rest of your life slide out of control either. Especially if you have exams coming up, try not to let yourself be distracted any more than you can help.
When will I hear anything?
No-one will be contacted before Friday 7 January with news of offers or interviews.
Admissions tutors will contact people over the weekend – including Sunday, judging by previous years – to make offers or to invite you for re-interview. It will be the college that is now considering your application that will contact you, not the one you applied to originally (or were allocated to if you put in an open application). The exception to this is if your preference college has decided to make you an offer after all. As the timetable shows, people getting ‘direct’ offers – ie without re-interview – will be contacted some time between 7 and 16 January.
Interview lists will have been agreed by the end of 7 January, and the interviews themselves start on 13 January, so if you are going to be invited to attend you should have heard by 10 January.
By the way, if the admissions tutor doesn't get hold of you first time, s/he will try again. The decision to make you an offer/invite you for interview has been made, and you won't lose out just because you don't happen to have been able to pick up the call!
If I have heard nothing by 17 January, will that mean I’ve been rejected? If you haven't heard anything at all by 17 January it is unlikely that you have been fished, though not entirely impossible. Every year there are one or two cases where someone gets an offer weeks after everyone else, sometimes without any contact from Cambridge at all between the 'you've been pooled' letter and the offer letter. This is because sometimes colleges interview people from the Pool, and then decide they prefer a candidate they pooled themselves, who didn't get picked up by another college. I emphasise however that these numbers are very small indeed, so the reality is that no news by 17 January is likely to mean a rejection letter is on its way.
Most colleges are pretty good about getting their final rejection letters out quickly (they will know by 7 January who hasn't been picked up by another college, and isn't on their own 'pending' list) so most people who have been unlucky will get 'closure' before 17 January. Last year Cambridge also updated Track much earlier than they used to, which did mean that for some people the first news they had of their rejection showed up on Track.
I think I met the ‘auto-pooling’ criteria. Does that mean I have less chance of getting an offer?
No. Some people expend a lot of energy speculating about which Pool category they might be in. This is totally pointless – even if you think you know, you are quite likely to be mistaken - your interview may have gone better or worse than you suppose, for example.
I’ve been pooled from a less ‘popular’ college – doesn’t this really mean that I stand no chance of an offer?
It is fair to say that the odds are probably less in your favour, but it’s not unheard of for someone to be pooled from Girton, for instance, and get an offer elsewhere.
Does the wording of my ‘you have been Pooled’ letter give any clues about my chances of an offer?
No. Each college writes their letters individually, and it is a waste of time and energy to speculate about the meaning of differences in their wording.
After all that, it was a rejection anyway
If you have not been successful, hold on to the fact that by being pooled you know you are of Cambridge standard. Wherever you land up, you have every reason to do well, and may even find that it suits you better than Cambridge would have done.
. Many people find being in the Pool a bit of a roller-coaster ride - but people can and do hit the jackpot, and even if you don't, being pooled tells you that your application was a good one.How to make the most of this thread
First of all – do post your details and updates as they come in. Everyone is interested
Secondly, it really helps if people use the search function, rather than posting the question, to find out if people applying for their subject have been given offers/invited for interview. This avoids cluttering up the thread with repetitive posts, but even better you will get a quick answer!
Thirdly, remember that how people heard about their offer or interview really doesn't mean anything for anyone else. The colleges all work differently, and within that each subject works differently. So, there are lots of possible variations and you cannot read anything into someone else's experience to judge what yours might be. Irrelevant information includes where your surname comes in the alphabet, whether you are an international student or not, whether you *might* have been autopooled, whether they phoned you or emailed you, and whether there's an 'r' in the month.
Finally, don't forget that the TSR people represent less than 10% of the pooled population. It's therefore not necessarily representative, and especially likely to be unrepresentative once you get to college or subject level. For all we know all the Pool offers in your subject went to people who've never heard of TSR and wouldn't post on here if they had
. Purpose of the Pool
The Pool is the mechanism by which Cambridge colleges ensure that all applicants of equivalent standard have a fair chance of an offer. A significant proportion of the offers made each year by Cambridge colleges are to people who have been placed in the Pool – see here. Admissions statistics - which include numbers of offers made through the Pool – for individual colleges and subjects can be found here.
How does it work?
All applicants who have been pooled will have been sent a copy of this, which provides a summary of the process. If you want the detail, have a look at this.
In essence, colleges place applicants in the Pool for one of two reasons: either they want to benchmark people against those applying to other colleges in order make a final decision about them, or they know they definitely can’t take the applicant but think another college might be able to. After the interviews have been completed in December, admissions tutors for each subject participate in moderation discussions, where applicants are compared across colleges so that there is consistency in terms of standards and expectations. This then informs decisions at college level about which applicants should be pooled.
What are my chances of an offer?
Overall, roughly one in four. Around 75% of these offers will be ‘direct’ – ie made without further interview. Of those who are re-interviewed, about half will get an offer. The overall statistics for TSR poolees are about the same as those for all poolees.
I’ve been placed in the Pool. What do I do now?
First of all, take this as a tribute to quality of your application. No-one ends up in the Pool unless they are considered to meet the required standard. At this stage the issue is capacity in terms of places available, not capability of the applicants. Even if it turns out that you don’t get an offer, being pooled is an achievement in itself. As the statistics I’ve linked to above show, the great majority of applicants are rejected outright, and quite a few never even get to the interview stage.
Secondly, get organised. Keep that mobile topped up and make sure your voicemail is working. Check your email every few hours (not minutes!). Always have something to write on and with to hand. Wait and hope, but don’t let the rest of your life slide out of control either. Especially if you have exams coming up, try not to let yourself be distracted any more than you can help.
When will I hear anything?
No-one will be contacted before Friday 7 January with news of offers or interviews.
Admissions tutors will contact people over the weekend – including Sunday, judging by previous years – to make offers or to invite you for re-interview. It will be the college that is now considering your application that will contact you, not the one you applied to originally (or were allocated to if you put in an open application). The exception to this is if your preference college has decided to make you an offer after all. As the timetable shows, people getting ‘direct’ offers – ie without re-interview – will be contacted some time between 7 and 16 January.
Interview lists will have been agreed by the end of 7 January, and the interviews themselves start on 13 January, so if you are going to be invited to attend you should have heard by 10 January.
By the way, if the admissions tutor doesn't get hold of you first time, s/he will try again. The decision to make you an offer/invite you for interview has been made, and you won't lose out just because you don't happen to have been able to pick up the call!
If I have heard nothing by 17 January, will that mean I’ve been rejected? If you haven't heard anything at all by 17 January it is unlikely that you have been fished, though not entirely impossible. Every year there are one or two cases where someone gets an offer weeks after everyone else, sometimes without any contact from Cambridge at all between the 'you've been pooled' letter and the offer letter. This is because sometimes colleges interview people from the Pool, and then decide they prefer a candidate they pooled themselves, who didn't get picked up by another college. I emphasise however that these numbers are very small indeed, so the reality is that no news by 17 January is likely to mean a rejection letter is on its way.
Most colleges are pretty good about getting their final rejection letters out quickly (they will know by 7 January who hasn't been picked up by another college, and isn't on their own 'pending' list) so most people who have been unlucky will get 'closure' before 17 January. Last year Cambridge also updated Track much earlier than they used to, which did mean that for some people the first news they had of their rejection showed up on Track.
I think I met the ‘auto-pooling’ criteria. Does that mean I have less chance of getting an offer?
No. Some people expend a lot of energy speculating about which Pool category they might be in. This is totally pointless – even if you think you know, you are quite likely to be mistaken - your interview may have gone better or worse than you suppose, for example.
I’ve been pooled from a less ‘popular’ college – doesn’t this really mean that I stand no chance of an offer?
It is fair to say that the odds are probably less in your favour, but it’s not unheard of for someone to be pooled from Girton, for instance, and get an offer elsewhere.
Does the wording of my ‘you have been Pooled’ letter give any clues about my chances of an offer?
No. Each college writes their letters individually, and it is a waste of time and energy to speculate about the meaning of differences in their wording.
After all that, it was a rejection anyway
If you have not been successful, hold on to the fact that by being pooled you know you are of Cambridge standard. Wherever you land up, you have every reason to do well, and may even find that it suits you better than Cambridge would have done.
(edited 13 years ago)
Scroll to see replies
I just wanted to add to this to say good luck to all those that have been pooled- I know how nerve-wracking it is waiting for news. If you have a question that isn't answered in the above post, then I'll do my best to answer it, though any response will be based on personal experience rather than anything else.
Original post by *Joanna*
I just wanted to add to this to say good luck to all those that have been pooled- I know how nerve-wracking it is waiting for news. If you have a question that isn't answered in the above post, then I'll do my best to answer it, though any response will be based on personal experience rather than anything else.
I can second this. Was pooled last year, it wasn't a nice experience. It feels like a rejection at first, but your chances are actually much higher than you think. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about it; and you will have, no doubt. I was stuck to this forum for the four days between being pooled and hearing about re-interview. Anyone pooled to Girton, or anyone pooled anywhere, send me a message.
Just received an email from Downing College (I asked them to email me the decision letter due to the Royal Mail being several days behind with deliveries), and I've been placed in the Winter Pool (applied for Computer Science). I guess it's slightly better than I expected, as tbh I was expecting outright rejection. 
Good luck to all of you - I was pooled and rejected last year and I remember the horrible feeling during the two weeks in the pool - still hoping but actually feeling it's hopeless, etc. I don't mean to make it worse though - at the moment I'm really happy they rejected me, or I would have missed some great experiences and I wouldn't have met some amazing people. It may sound weird, but sometimes you think you want something very badly, but you actually don't, or for the wrong reasons. I hope you'll all and up happy with your university, whether it will be Cambridge or not, and I'm pretty sure you will (although it sounds like stupid bull**** when you're really sad about a rejection, I know that).
Original post by Serojoal
Just received an email from Downing College (I asked them to email me the decision letter due to the Royal Mail being several days behind with deliveries), and I've been placed in the Winter Pool (applied for Computer Science). I guess it's slightly better than I expected, as tbh I was expecting outright rejection.
Downing snap.
They do tell you that you've been pooled on the decision letter right? I guess the auto-pooling criteria were guidelines afterall
Pooled from Christ's for English, hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Medicine Sidney Sussex- pooled
BMAT - 7.7. 5.2 2.5A
interview not great - was surprised to get pooled.. i guess my AS's were good enough..
no idea on a medics chances in the pool.. and i'm applying deferred so i guess that limits it even more ??!| aarghh not bothered for more waiting
BMAT - 7.7. 5.2 2.5A
interview not great - was surprised to get pooled.. i guess my AS's were good enough..
no idea on a medics chances in the pool.. and i'm applying deferred so i guess that limits it even more ??!| aarghh not bothered for more waiting
Original post by geotsr
Can someone explain what the "auto pool" is to me?
Am pretty sure you need 7A*s at GCSE and an average of 92 UMS in your ASs to get auto pooled.
Original post by frequent_flyer
Am pretty sure you need 7A*s at GCSE and an average of 92 UMS in your ASs to get auto pooled.
so anyone who wasn't given an offer but meets those standards gets auto pooled? i don't meet auto pool criteria by a longggg shot, is that good or bad?
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