Camb decide before interview...

This could be a well known fact but... my dad (head of sixth form) is currently at a teacher day at cambridge, here they were told by admission tutors that in 80% of cases cambridge have decided before interview whether they will make you an offer or not. Only for the remaining 20% are interviews crucial.

This surprises me as this does not seem to be true of oxford where they say interview is crucial. Also cambridge interview more than oxford for most courses if they doubt you have the grades this would seem strange. My only thoughts are that cambridge ask for the UMS or grades for AS modules don't they (can't remember), could this be the deciding factor? Otherwise it seems with lower grades you have more chance at oxford (unless you have good reason). Any thoughts?

Reply 1

blissy

15

Does not apply in my case at least. My grades weren't impressive across the board (but were in my chosen subject). I sat an exam and had three interviews. I personally think the exam had A LOT to do with the decision.

On top of that, supervisors and admissions tutors KNOW that A levels are very different from degrees: in terms of subject knowledge required, amount of personal effort needed etc etc. so A levels themselves are not sufficient to qualify you for a place in any way, shape or form.

In other words, I don't believe it. Yes they will have studied the application and have preconceived ideas about how promising a candidate is - maybe that is what the admissions tutor was going to get across. They would NOT put as much effort and money into interviewing if it only counted in 20% of cases.

Reply 2

alispam

OP

12

blissy

They would NOT put as much effort and money into interviewing if it only counted in 20% of cases.

that's what i thought, yet it seems a strange thing to say to heads of sixth form as surely this would make them less likely to encourage people with lower grades to apply?

Reply 3

blissy

15

The other issue is that your interviewers are going to be stuck with you for three years. They want to get to see whether they can work with you (academically and personally) and you can't get that from a bit of paper. I don't know who said what to how many people, what they said etc, how they said it. It seems like a misinterpretation or a misleading statement because it's not like that at all in my experience. :smile:

Reply 4

alispam

OP

12

it was quite clearly stated and perhaps due to the more university centred admissions process (compared to more college based at oxford) they place less importance on tutor-student relationship at interview-also the pooling system is more widely used at camb so perhaps this tutor-student relationship is more irrelevant at interview as you are more likely to end up at a different college?

Reply 5

blissy

15

Can you give some sources/elaborate on this "anti-collegiate" thing Cambridge has going on? Every aspect of my application was dealt with by the college.

This all seems to be whispers and misinterpretations to me.

Reply 6

alispam

OP

12

not anti-collegiate, just that applications are more centrally dealt with than at oxford e.g. applications are dealt with on a department scale rather than purely within the college (although this is true of sciences at oxford arts tend to be more exclusively "the college you apply to interviews and only accepts/rejects people that apply to that college", pooling is much much more rare). departments discuss applicants and offer to the best overall rather than just the best that applied to each college.

Reply 7

apd35

9

Sorry, but that sounds like crap to me. Cambridge interviews are extremely college based. Cambridge departments can't give offers, only colleges, whereas I am led to believe, you can get an "open offer" at Oxford where you are guaranteed a place by the department, but they haven't specified a college yet. Also, teachers (even those you happen be related to, as is the case with both my parents), don't know everything about uni admissions, one of my teachers tried to convince me to play the numbers game, i ignored him and got in to my college of choice. I doubt Cambridge would say such a thing, especially as most of the information given to prospective students is how important the interview is to see your intelligence, as opposed to your ability to pass school exams.

Reply 8

kellywood_5

17

That seems really strange to me. As someone else mentioned, why would Cambridge bother interviewing such a high proportion of their applicants if they'd already decided whether to accept or reject the vast majority of them? Surely they'd save a lot of time and money by only interviewing borederline cases? If anything, I'd say students with lower grades have a better chance at Cambridge because they're less likely to be rejected without interview than at Oxford, giving them a chance to prove themselves. In my case, both my GCSEs and my ASs were below average by Cambridge standards and I don't see how my personal statement, reference and a couple of essays were enough on their own to get me an offer.

Reply 9

Jigglypuff

16

Maybe your dad misheard and actually interviews are crucial for 80% of applicants. Even that seems weird though.

Reply 10

alispam

OP

12

apd35

Sorry, but that sounds like crap to me. Cambridge interviews are extremely college based. Cambridge departments can't give offers, only colleges

that's not what i meant, i mean that departments have a say in who are given offers, offers are issued by collegesbut directors of teaching etc are involved rather than just individual college tutors.

apd35

Also, teachers (even those you happen be related to, as is the case with both my parents), don't know everything about uni admissions. I doubt Cambridge would say such a thing, especially as most of the information given to prospective students is how important the interview is to see your intelligence, as opposed to your ability to pass school exams.

it was clearly said at a meeting today by the cambridge admissions tutor to a room full of sixth form heads, thats all i can say. he was surprised as he's never heard this before either.

Reply 11

hermajesty

6

It seems strange - as others have said, why would they go to so much trouble interviewing everyone if they'd already decided on 80% of them? Maybe the statement made more sense in context - perhaps he was replying to someone who was criticising the system for ignoring non-interview factors, or perhaps he was trying to reassure heads who were worrying too much about interview preparation?

Reply 12

CamSPSer

contradicts somehwhat what I read Geoff parks (director of admissions for the uni) writing. they spend about 3 hours per candidate deciding whether they want you and although they may have a fair idea before interview there are plenty of people who dont get in with 6As whilst people who get 3 low As get in. So you can't really take anything from granted from this statement, whether it was true or not

Reply 13

coldfish

12

Perhaps what was said is that they could correctly guess in 80% of cases whether an applicant would be succesful? I very much doubt that they have already decided in 80% of cases, and even if it were true I very much doubt they would say that.

Reply 14

Trundle

2

It seems to me that the Cambridge interview is important. My grades were not particularly impressive either, but I think (as has already been said), they look to see how well they can work with you at interview. I think to take the attitude that the interview is more or less worthless in the majority of cases would lead to many not applying, something which definitely shouldn't happen. Cambridge say a lot of what they look for is potential. You can't always see that on paper.

Reply 15

anna2

1

Given that they were addressing sixth form teachers, perhaps the admissions tutors were trying to emphasise the importance of the quality of information given by teachers on academic references on UCAS forms.

Reply 16

magicalsausage

10

It's actually at Oxford where the faculty have the greater say: in some subjects (Biochemistry I think, or certainly one of the sciences) there is actually quite centralised admissions with candidates being ranked university-wide rather than simply within college. At Cambridge the pool is indeed more open than at Oxford, and borderline cases will get seen by more colleges perhaps, but I can't think of any subject where the faculty or university has any real role in the admissions process...

Reply 17

apd35

9

alispam

that's not what i meant, i mean that departments have a say in who are given offers, offers are issued by collegesbut directors of teaching etc are involved rather than just individual college tutors.

Itis the college's director's of studies who conduct interviews often, so it is people from the college from the appropriate department. The interviews are very subject based, so yes the department is involved, as the interviewer is a member of the department and the college. However, these are the people you would expect to interview, there's no point in an ASNAC academic interviewing for Maths students.

alispam

it was clearly said at a meeting today by the cambridge admissions tutor to a room full of sixth form heads, thats all i can say. he was surprised as he's never heard this before either.

Also, could it be they have decided for 80% of applicants whether they stand a good chance of an offer, barring very good/bad interviews, that would make more sense.

Reply 18

KaiserSoze

1

alispam

that's not what i meant, i mean that departments have a say in who are given offers, offers are issued by collegesbut directors of teaching etc are involved rather than just individual college tutors.

The 80% question aside, this is certainly wrong (I'm afraid) - there is no department input whatsoever in applications for (undergraduate) degrees at Cambridge, it is entirely dealt with at college level. It is true that the same academics are also members of the department, but this is merely coincidental; their authority to accept you comes from their position in the college.

Reply 19

HannahZ

4

I was wondering whether it is that 80% of the people are chosen before interview or whether 80% of the decision is done on the basis of the other criteria eg GCSE grades, predicted grades UMS marks test results, written work, personal statement and reference only leaving 20% based on the interview.

Camb decide before interview...

Related discussions

Articles for you