The Student Room Group

Official Cambridge Adjustment 2021 thread

In 2019 and 2020 Cambridge offered places via UCAS Adjustment for the first time. There is a whatdotheyknow FOI request that shows about 1,100 candidates were flagged as eligible for the 2019 scheme.

Edit to add: 152 applied for Adjustment on results day via the scheme. See the breakdown in this post: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=87223862&postcount=37

And according to https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/17760 71 students who opted into the Adjustment process were offered places and 67 accepted, including 17 medics.

Cambridge will be again be participating in the Adjustment process this summer (2021). Adjustment allows students who have met all the conditions of their conditional-firm offer, and exceeded at least one, the opportunity to be considered by other universities without jeopardising their place.

IMPORTANT:
All applicants who meet the eligibility criteria will have already been notified within the decision letter or email sent in January 2021. Applicants who do not meet the criteria will not be considered for Adjustment.

More info about the Cambridge scheme here:
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/adjustment

And here's last year's thread:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6318474

We should have more detailed data on how many applied and were accepted via the 2020 scheme later this year (hopefully May).

So please use this thread to chat about the scheme. For example, have you been flagged as eligible and are you considering using it (if so good luck!). It would be great if you could mention your course and college when you post :smile:
(edited 3 years ago)

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Reply 1
Hi, I have made this thread for the 2021 Adjustment for Cambridge.
Who else is looking forward to applying? What course? I hope we all make it in :-)
Reply 2
@Peterhouse Admissions is there any way to see the statistics of the 2020 Adjustment? I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Original post by lelales
@Peterhouse Admissions is there any way to see the statistics of the 2020 Adjustment? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

I don't think they've been published yet, I'm afraid.

Adjustment has only run for two years. Because they have been quite different in terms of the way exams results have been delivered, I'm not sure we can draw any conclusions from it, other than that Admissions Tutors and Directors of Studies are genuinely keen to use it.
Reply 4
Original post by Peterhouse Admissions
I don't think they've been published yet, I'm afraid.

Adjustment has only run for two years. Because they have been quite different in terms of the way exams results have been delivered, I'm not sure we can draw any conclusions from it, other than that Admissions Tutors and Directors of Studies are genuinely keen to use it.

I see, thanks for your reply. Would you say there would be fewer adjustment applicants this time round, or around the same as 2019 (the year I found on FOI requests, where I think 67 got in.)
Original post by lelales
I see, thanks for your reply. Would you say there would be fewer adjustment applicants this time round, or around the same as 2019 (the year I found on FOI requests, where I think 67 got in.)

I can't say, I'm afraid. We don't know what A level results distributions are going to look like and how many offer holders are likely to make their offers. I think the number of eligible applicants (at this stage, based only on the Widening Participation criteria) may well have increased, but it's difficult to guess what the situation might look like in August until we hear how A levels are being awarded.
Reply 6
Original post by Peterhouse Admissions
I can't say, I'm afraid. We don't know what A level results distributions are going to look like and how many offer holders are likely to make their offers. I think the number of eligible applicants (at this stage, based only on the Widening Participation criteria) may well have increased, but it's difficult to guess what the situation might look like in August until we hear how A levels are being awarded.

Thanks for that. Final question for now - in 2019, Peterhouse accepted 4 people. Is it possible to say in which subjects?
Original post by lelales
Thanks for that. Final question for now - in 2019, Peterhouse accepted 4 people. Is it possible to say in which subjects?

I don't think so. Because the number is so small, it may risk identifying individuals, so I don't think I can.
Reply 8
Original post by Peterhouse Admissions
I don't think so. Because the number is so small, it may risk identifying individuals, so I don't think I can.

Okay, then is it possible to say which colleges took in Engineering students via Adjustment?
Original post by lelales
Okay, then is it possible to say which colleges took in Engineering students via Adjustment?

I don't think I have an answer to that one either. If it helps at all, just because they took students in previous years doesn't mean they're more likely to this year. What it means that that college had more offer holders miss their offer so they took a strong applicant from Adjustment.
Reply 10
Original post by Peterhouse Admissions
I don't think I have an answer to that one either. If it helps at all, just because they took students in previous years doesn't mean they're more likely to this year. What it means that that college had more offer holders miss their offer so they took a strong applicant from Adjustment.

Makes sense.
So if everyone gets their offer, there will be no places for adjustment?
Secondly, what's the leniency in offers, what happens if you miss a grade? Because some unis still let their students in.
Original post by lelales
Makes sense.
So if everyone gets their offer, there will be no places for adjustment?
Secondly, what's the leniency in offers, what happens if you miss a grade? Because some unis still let their students in.

Essentially, yes. But that has never yet happened.

If someone who's holding an offer misses their grades, then the Admissions Tutor will make a decision on an individual basis. They're more likely to take someone who was made a harder offer, missed it, but still made the typical offer than someone who has missed the typical offer. But we do not relax all offers. Every year we will make (slightly) more offers than we have places in the knowledge that some offer holders will not meet their conditions.

In terms of leniency in Adjustment, there isn't any, I'm afraid. We already get more applicants for Adjustment who have met or exceeded the offers than we have spaces available. However, Admissions Tutors would often rather take someone in Adjustment who has met or exceeded the typical offer than someone from the Summer Pool or from their own offer holders who has not met the typical offer for their course.
Reply 12
Original post by Peterhouse Admissions
Essentially, yes. But that has never yet happened.

If someone who's holding an offer misses their grades, then the Admissions Tutor will make a decision on an individual basis. They're more likely to take someone who was made a harder offer, missed it, but still made the typical offer than someone who has missed the typical offer. But we do not relax all offers. Every year we will make (slightly) more offers than we have places in the knowledge that some offer holders will not meet their conditions.

In terms of leniency in Adjustment, there isn't any, I'm afraid. We already get more applicants for Adjustment who have met or exceeded the offers than we have spaces available. However, Admissions Tutors would often rather take someone in Adjustment who has met or exceeded the typical offer than someone from the Summer Pool or from their own offer holders who has not met the typical offer for their course.

So surely, people who have been pooled have a higher chance?
Also what is the difference between the summer pool and adjustment? Are they the same, or do you automatically get included in the summer pool?
Thanks for all the answers.
Original post by lelales
So surely, people who have been pooled have a higher chance?
Also what is the difference between the summer pool and adjustment? Are they the same, or do you automatically get included in the summer pool?
Thanks for all the answers.

No problem, that's why we're here!

The Summer Pool and Adjustment ran concurrently last year. The Summer Pool is for offer holders who have missed the offer they were made by their college but Admissions Tutors still think are worth considering. Adjustment is a separate group for applicants who were not made offers but have Widening Participation flags and have at least met the typical offer for their course and have exceeded any offer they hold. Admissions Tutors and Directors of Studies will likely look in both groups if they have spaces remaining to fill.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the first question, but if you are asking whether applicants who were pooled and then rejected in January have a higher success rate than those who were just rejected, I don't know. I would guess that the success rate is reasonably similar.
Reply 14
Original post by Peterhouse Admissions
No problem, that's why we're here!

The Summer Pool and Adjustment ran concurrently last year. The Summer Pool is for offer holders who have missed the offer they were made by their college but Admissions Tutors still think are worth considering. Adjustment is a separate group for applicants who were not made offers but have Widening Participation flags and have at least met the typical offer for their course and have exceeded any offer they hold. Admissions Tutors and Directors of Studies will likely look in both groups if they have spaces remaining to fill.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the first question, but if you are asking whether applicants who were pooled and then rejected in January have a higher success rate than those who were just rejected, I don't know. I would guess that the success rate is reasonably similar.

Yes that's what I meant, thanks for that. I'll post on this forum if I have any more questions.
@Peterhouse Admissions
Hi,
How do tutors decide who gets an offer from adjustment - is it just on grades or also the rest of their application process like admissions test?
Original post by OgGOAT123
@Peterhouse Admissions
Hi,
How do tutors decide who gets an offer from adjustment - is it just on grades or also the rest of their application process like admissions test?

We look at the whole application again, but achieved grades play a very important part.
Original post by Peterhouse Admissions
We look at the whole application again, but achieved grades play a very important part.

Thanks :smile:
Also, can any college choose an applicant from adjustment or is it only the college originally applied to? Is there an advantage for applicants who meet more of the widening participation criteria over students who only meet the minimum required?
Original post by OgGOAT123
Thanks :smile:
Also, can any college choose an applicant from adjustment or is it only the college originally applied to? Is there an advantage for applicants who meet more of the widening participation criteria over students who only meet the minimum required?

An applicant can be chosen from Adjustment by any college, not just the one they applied to :smile:

There's no advantage as such to having more flags. I wouldn't expect it to make a significant difference.
@Peterhouse Admissions if my firm offer requires me to get 3 A*s, would I need to achieve 4 A*s to be eligible for adjustment? Also, is it true that there were no spaces available last year for Natsci in adjustment? Can we expect something similar to happen this year as well for very competitive courses?

Thank you in advance.

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