Thank you for the opportunity to give you some feedback.
Whilst delighted to have an offer I was upset that the offer was so much higher than had been indicated in the Handbook and what others on the same course, even the same college had received.
First, the Handbook implies that A*A*A is a typical offer for Sciences and A*AA is a typical offer for Arts whereas it has become clear from TSR that these are more honestly described as MINIMUMS not typical. For the sake of transparency this should be made clear.
Second, Cambridge go to great lengths to explain what they look for in assessing applications for an offer but hardly mention the possibility of giving different offers for the same course within the same collage let alone explain the basis of them. Cambridge say that the pooling system is designed to ensure that people of similar ability get offers irrespective of the college they apply to, yet how can that be squared with then introducing a different academic attainment level to achieve that offer both within and between colleges?
I have been left wondering why some are given higher offers than others. Is it because of going to Private school?, is it being an International?, is it because the Interviewer didn’t like the applicant but they looked good on paper? Is it because one interviewer liked them and one didn’t? I wonder if I have been discriminated against because there is nowhere where I can find why this takes place.
Third, I have noticed that many offers specify particular grades in particular subjects while others don’t. This of course makes missing an offer more likely and is therefore a more difficult offer without the headline offer appearing very different. There also seems to be a trend to specify an A* in Further Maths and not for Maths which is a little underhand since to achieve an A* in FM it is almost inconceivable not to get it in core Maths. This seems a way of making a offer contain more A*s than is stated.
I would be very grateful if on one of the Cambridge TSR forums you could explain why some people have to achieve higher academic standards than others to take up their places on the same course and same college as others. I have thought about firing off FOI requests asking for a list of the offers given in particular subjects in particular colleges and encouraging others to do the same and to ask the colleges to identify which offers went to Internationals and Independent schools to see if there is a bias, but it would be far better if you could explain to people why some people are given lower offers than others.
I can’t think of a more important aspect of the entry process to be completely transparent about if you wish to be seen a fair and unbiased than why some people get lower offers than others to do the same course.