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quick question about oxford pooling!

is there a general consensus on which college(s) are 'better' for pooling? i.e., their rejects have a greater chance of getting accepted by another college?

thanks in advacne!

Reply 1

F1 fanatic

16

seanthebean50

is there a general consensus on which college(s) are 'better' for pooling? i.e., their rejects have a greater chance of getting accepted by another college?

thanks in advacne!

No, if the college system works the way it should then the colleges should confer and there should be an equal standard between all the colleges. In other words, in theory it makes no difference where you apply, you should get in if you're good enough.

Reply 2

Hoofbeat

14

Just to add what Stu said above - don't forget Open Offers in Science subjects which means, people get offered places but don't find out their colleges til after results day...in my opinion a fabulous idea by Oxford's Admissions department!

Reply 3

sjuthani

6

Hoofbeat

Just to add what Stu said above - don't forget Open Offers in Science subjects which means, people get offered places but don't find out their colleges til after results day...in my opinion a fabulous idea by Oxford's Admissions department!

Not just for science subjects- I have a friend that got one for Law last year. Not sure how widespread it is though.

Reply 4

seanthebean50

OP

awesome!

i realise that oxford are attempting to sort of standardise the process but surely it is not unreasonable to suggest that a Christ church reject may have a greater chance of re-acceptance than say a st. hughs reject (no offense to st hughs)?

Reply 5

F1 fanatic

16

seanthebean50

awesome!

i realise that oxford are attempting to sort of standardise the process but surely it is not unreasonable to suggest that a Christ church reject may have a greater chance of re-acceptance than say a st. hughs reject (no offense to st hughs)?

Well, while true that Christ church receives a lot of applicants, it does not necessarily mean that they are all good students, and even if they are, the standard by which they are measured is the same irrespective of the college. Good applicants will always be pooled elsewhere, wherever they applied.

You have to be good enough for where you get pooled to, so really it comes down to your ability, which is presumably a constant wherever you apply. So apply to a college you like!

Reply 6

thomasjtl

9

Well, some colleges boast in the prospectus about having a good track record of placing good candidates in other colleges when they can't take them themselves, but really i think that's just rhetoric.

What makes you think that chch rejects would do better than a hughs reject?
There really isn't that much of a heirarchy among colleges over quality of applicants, if that's what you were thinking.

Reply 7

Huw Davies

11

In practice, a college which gets a lot of applicants for a subject will have more good students both to accept and to pool. This is just a reflection of numbers rather than any comment on the average quality of applicant.

Reply 8

Derek_the_Sheep

8

Depends on the size of the subject as well, as the numbers per subject per college is always pretty small. Rule of averages might (just about) be usable in this way for history, PPE or engineering, say, but for earth sciences or music, it's likely to be down in single figures, so who knows what the quality of applicants to college X is going to be compared to college Y? And even St Posho's is likely to get some duff applicants and St Asbo's some good ones.

In short, don't worry about it. Apply where you want to, and let the system work ("Kill them all! God will know his own."). Or make an open application.

DtS

Reply 9

digital-observations

Yeah as far as I understood it, pooling happens so that the people they like but genuinely don't have space for will get a place. It's designed so that if you're good enough then you'll get a place, even if you inadvertently applied to a college which was over subscribed that year, and also I guess so that any college which was underscribed will fill their places. So it has nothing to do with the college you've applied to, but as others have said, more to do with how many apply for that subject at that college.

I was pooled from St Anne's (where there were 8 or 10 of us or something applying for History and Politics, and maximum 2 places we were told) to Pembroke. I went back to Pembroke to look round after getting my offer and bumped into one of the tutors who interviewed me who explained it wasn't that the first college didn't like me, just that they didn't have space. I guess in the end they all have their quotas to fill and to ensure that there's got to be a bit of shuffling around.

Reply 10

stumpy

seanthebean50

awesome!

i realise that oxford are attempting to sort of standardise the process but surely it is not unreasonable to suggest that a Christ church reject may have a greater chance of re-acceptance than say a st. hughs reject (no offense to st hughs)?

When I was at St Hugh's for interview, there were plenty of people who got allocated second interviews at loads of other colleges in my subject (Chemistry). I also know of someone who received an open offer from Hugh's (also in Chemistry), so apply where you like. If you'd prefer somewhere prestigious like Christ Church then go for it, but if you like the look of a less prestigious college then apply there. Don't worry too much about admission stats and/or prestige - just apply where you like. :smile:

Reply 11

Turdburger

16

Statistically I would imagine Magdalen, Merton and Balliol pool the most. In the end you can speculate whether or not this is due to the quality of the applicant or college, but you dont really know.

Reply 12

Beenybabe

interestingly despite many people being pooled to other colleges from Christ Church (and the 2 people ive spoken to since that were pooled got in at their pooled to colleges) the Christ Church Law tutors seem to have a thing about pooling - they actually said that it would be very unlikely that they would send anyone elsewhere, and they didn't this year, though they did reinterview just under a third of the applicants

Reply 13

cdcg88

ahh yes, I was one of those lucky people who got reinterviewed...one of the people i met at interviews though did initially apply to corpus christi and ended up at ChCh, so it really doesnt matter where you apply

Reply 14

F1 fanatic

16

Also, have the university not now introduced a policy where you are guarenteed a 2nd interview at a different college? Whether you get pooled there is a different matter, but you get 2 bites at the cherry as it were.

Reply 15

thomasjtl

9

that's apparently because law has so many applicants, the chances of a college not being able to fill the places with brilliant candidates is unlikely, according to a lawyer friend, who was telling me the same thing.

Reply 16

Cirsium

19

Surely that the colleges that pool most candidates will also be those that are hardest to get into? Because the reason they pool the most candidates is because they've had too many who are good but that they can't take. So while it may seem like you've got the best chance of getting into Oxford (note seem) your chance of getting into that college is even less...

Reply 17

F1 fanatic

16

Bekaboo

Surely that the colleges that pool most candidates will also be those that are hardest to get into? Because the reason they pool the most candidates is because they've had too many who are good but that they can't take. So while it may seem like you've got the best chance of getting into Oxford (note seem) your chance of getting into that college is even less...

worth a try if you fancy it though. If you like the college then I don't see that its popularity or otherwise should put you off. I applied to the 2nd most popular college in the university for physics and by a roundabout way still got in. I knew it was competitive but I also knew I liked it... and if you don't try...

Reply 18

Jonesy_LJ

F1 fanatic

Also, have the university not now introduced a policy where you are guarenteed a 2nd interview at a different college? Whether you get pooled there is a different matter, but you get 2 bites at the cherry as it were.

Are you talking specifically about Law, or subjects as a whole?

I'm not sure about Law, but for PPE I only got interviewed at Christ Church and that was the same for well over half of the Christ Church PPE applicants.

Reply 19

F1 fanatic

16

Jonesy_LJ

Are you talking specifically about Law, or subjects as a whole?

I'm not sure about Law, but for PPE I only got interviewed at Christ Church and that was the same for well over half of the Christ Church PPE applicants.

I was talking generally, I thought it was a new policy that they brought in for the latest application cycle (or maybe for the next one).

quick question about oxford pooling!

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