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Twitter - HONOUR OUR OFFERS - MEDICINE/ OXFORD/ CAMBRIDGE

Open Letter from Alumni of Cambridge University on honouring the offers made to students in 2020 admissions cycle
To the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellors, and Heads of the Colleges,We, alumni of Cambridge University, are writing to ask that the University honour all offers made to students from the state sector in the 2020 Admissions Cycle. The University has always maintained that examination results alone are not a sufficient indicator of a student’s potential, or their suitability for a Cambridge education. The interview process, which is so central to the admissions system, is evidence of this belief. The University website argues that ‘it's difficult to select fairly based on the UCAS application alone’, and that the interview process gives candidates the opportunity both to ‘demonstrate their interest in and commitment to their subject’, and to show ‘their ability to think critically and independently.’ Any student offered a place at the University under those circumstances must be assumed to have demonstrated their interest, commitment, skill, and potential. Ordinarily, of course, offer holders are required to fulfil the conditions of their offer through A-level examination. But this has been no ordinary year, and students have already suffered. Now, the current fiasco surrounding the government’s approach to grading – especially its flawed algorithm, and the disproportionately negative impact on students educated in the state sector and those from disadvantaged backgrounds – risks further damaging the prospects of a generation, and further entrenching existing inequalities.The University’s Access and Participation Plan 2020–21 to 2024–25 makes clear that the University is ‘committed to widening participation, and to achieving an intake that is reflective of UK society’. It states that the University’s ‘ultimate objectives are to admit a student body in which no identified priority group is under-represented, and to eliminate gaps between such groups in continuation, attainment and progression.’ The same document also notes the University’s aim to ‘deliver an admissions process that is fair, transparent, and sufficiently sophisticated to measure ability and potential for academic success.’ Clearly, the UK government’s approach has not been fair, nor has it been sufficiently sophisticated: after moderation, private schools saw a year-on-year increase in A*/A attainment of 4.7%, against increases of just 1.7%, 2%, and 0.3% for England's academies, comprehensive schools and colleges respectively. This demonstrates an inherent inequality in the moderation process, and we now see exceptionally able students from communities that are grossly underrepresented at Cambridge unjustly being denied a place due to circumstances that are entirely out of their control. The University can, and should, do better than the government. Now is the moment to act on your plan – to demonstrate that the University is capable of seeing the inequality in the current crisis, and acting in the interests of parity and justice. We hope that the University can be ‘sufficiently sophisticated’ in its approach to offers in this Admissions Cycle, and that it does not simply double-down on an unjust grading system which has already proven itself unfit for purpose. It would be for the benefit of all that Cambridge welcome all these talented students, giving them the opportunities they wholeheartedly deserve. We look forward to your response. Yours sincerely,
Alumni of Cambridge University
This is old - before the government's U-turn.

It also doesn't refer to Oxford or medicine at all? Oxford have already said they are going to be lenient.

Medicine will be very difficult to honour all - the most difficult of any course. Its controlled by quotas due to the placements in hospital needed, cost of teaching, and number of jobs available after graduation. Altering all of that will be a huge and costly logistical challenge. I'm not sure how they will deal with that.
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Max4722
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Original post by nexttime
This is old - before the government's U-turn.

It also doesn't refer to Oxford or medicine at all? Oxford have already said they are going to be lenient.

Medicine will be very difficult to honour all - the most difficult of any course. Its controlled by quotas due to the placements in hospital needed, cost of teaching, and number of jobs available after graduation. Altering all of that will be a huge and costly logistical challenge. I'm not sure how they will deal with that.

Medicine have tested students also and interviewed them and made offers . All students had predicted UCAS A grades, I can understand that Universities are saying that these may be over-predicted, but they are still accepting students who have not taken the exam.
A few students at my school, who have got in and deserved their places but I also know a few other less able students than me, who cheated at school tests, mocks etc, no one cared as they didn't count for anything at that point. Now even they have offers through clearing because they can't believe their luck and are delighted by their over predicted grades. Many are humble enough to admit that the few students that lost the places deserved those grades before them and that our school system is flawed.

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