The Official Cambridge Winter Pool 2013 Thread (includes FAQ and Status Reports)

A mate of mine been pooled by kings and fished by homer ton yesterday for history. I am thinking so much of you guys......

I'm nurturing a small flicker of hope for being taken back. They don't need to drag out rejections this long Which subject did you apply for?

You know what I don't get about pooling? I understand the fairness of the system however stressful for us, but when a college X pools an applicant from a course, let's call her Katie. And say college Y pools another applicant for the same course, let's call him Tom. Cambridge says that "no college is better than another in the end when you get here" and that "you have an equal chance of getting into cambridge wherever you apply because of this pooling system". But if college X fishes Tom out and college Y fishes Katie out, which evidently happens a lot, it mean both Katie and Tom were Cambridge material, however their skills as such were not what the college they applied to were looking for, but the college they were pooled to.

Therefore this basically means that the colleges are looking for different things when they pick candidates, evident in their application as each college sets different tests etc. But this means that technically it does matter where you applied to in the first place as if you got pooled from one college and the colleges that like your type of application are full, then you won't get a place even if you are of Cambridge material.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why they pool. I just can't help seeing this point when i think about the big swimming pool we are in.

I agree, hence why people are given the choice of choosing their colleges. People may choose colleges that appear to suit them, for example, some people may not want any admission tests, just want the interview, some people want both. But, ultimately, the problem is that Cambridge can only accept X students a year, so they have to reject some very good candidates unfortunately. The pool is just a way to try to balance these things out. After all, the course you take will be the same regardless of which college you apply for.

I'm waiting to hear something from Selwyn too. Is so stressful now lots of people are starting to get rejection letters!

Anyone heard anything from Homerton?

I'm the red fish. My friend sent me the video yesterday.

Geography, you??

This is my point though, if colleges fish students from other colleges, there is no point in Cambridge saying don't stress about the college you apply to because it does evidently matter... even though like you said, the course is ultimately the same.

HSPS, the only activity from Downing was to take back two applicants it pooled -.-Otherwise, nada.

Hi Everyone,

Am new to this thread and I know late in the day. Am the mother of super stressed linguistics applicant and trying to instil calm but without much success.

Ok so he is pooled but no word since. Wonder if anyone knows how or if they work out UMS when we have combination of Pre U and A Level? Obviously there is no equivalent AS for Pre U so we have a slightly artificial UMS as it's only on 2 subjects? Anyone any idea?

You know what I don't get about pooling? I understand the fairness of the system however stressful for us, but when a college X pools an applicant from a course, let's call her Katie. And say college Y pools another applicant for the same course, let's call him Tom. Cambridge says that "no college is better than another in the end when you get here" and that "you have an equal chance of getting into cambridge wherever you apply because of this pooling system". But if college X fishes Tom out and college Y fishes Katie out, which evidently happens a lot, it mean both Katie and Tom were Cambridge material, however their skills as such were not what the college they applied to were looking for, but the college they were pooled to.

Therefore this basically means that the colleges are looking for different things when they pick candidates, evident in their application as each college sets different tests etc. But this means that technically it does matter where you applied to in the first place as if you got pooled from one college and the colleges that like your type of application are full, then you won't get a place even if you are of Cambridge material.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why they pool. I just can't help seeing this point when i think about the big swimming pool we are in.

DO you know which subjects they were for!! This wait is so painful...

I think one was for Economics and I have a sneaky suspicion the other was Law, you'll have to check

Yeah, the pool is pretty a much a last minute attempt to create some sense of equality and to reinforce their statement that it doesn't matter which college you apply to. But I think they say that it doesn't matter which college you apply to because they don't want to make you too stressed before you even apply. I mean, how many people really follow Cambridge's advice about not worrying about which college one chooses? Everyone has a preference of some sort otherwise they would have forced everyone to send in an open application.