Official Cambridge Adjustment 2021 thread

Because there were changes to exam results, did the people who didn't get an offer using Government grades get their place after CAGs, assuming they got their conditional? Is that why admissions were so high last year?

I really don't know, I'm afraid. Don't forget that last year we weren't expecting the situation that occurred (both in terms of exams being cancelled and then the U-turn from algorithm grades to CAGs). This year, we were aware that exams in the UK were unlikely to happen when we made most offers and had this confirmed by the time they were all finalised, but we don't know how grades will be awarded and what the impact on our offer holders will be.

We want to use Adjustment if we can. I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know a) what this year's numbers are going to look like or b) what last year's numbers might have looked like without the pandemic and cancellation of exams. Remember that we only have one year's worth of pre-pandemic data to go on and we can't be certain whether the number of applicants taken through Adjustment would have remained the same, increased or decreased without exam disruption.

Yes and yes

‘Don't forget that last year we weren't expecting the situation that occurred (both in terms of exams being cancelled and then the U-turn from algorithm grades to CAGs). This year, we were aware that exams in the UK were unlikely to happen when we made most offers and had this confirmed by the time they were all finalised’

hi! Could you please clarify what you mean by this? Like what’s the implication here - that because admin knew that exams were likely to be cancelled, offers were given to the most able and strong candidates so unfortunately yes, there will be a minute number of adjustment places, LET ALONE acceptances ??

Okay, so does that mean that fewer offers were given this year, or the same amount?

Hi there!

What I meant was that, as I've said before, colleges are likely to have been more cautious about how many offers they make for the number of places available for most courses, but the number of places available has not changed. I do not know whether fewer offers have been made across the board: at Peterhouse, our number is within our usual range.

Offers are always given to the strongest applicants, so I'm not sure what you mean here. Even with the strongest applicants, we don't know how grades are being awarded (although the consultation has closed, I'm not aware of a final outcome) so we cannot guarantee that they will get the grades in the offers we have made. In any given year, we don't know whether there will be places available through Adjustment or how the subject or college distribution of these will fall because we don't know how many offer holders will meet their offers. Without exams for the majority of offer holders, it's more difficult to make a reasonable estimate. We can make an educated guess overall, but even we don't know exactly how things will turn out until we have the majority of results in.

I know it's frustrating not to know how many places might be available through Adjustment or in what subjects. We don't know this either. What I do know is that we want to use Adjustment if possible.

Did Peterhouse make tougher offers this year, since the number of offers is within the usual range?

We only need evidence from students who qualify because they're on FSM. We can check postcodes and school data, but there's no way to independently verify whether you're eligible for Free School Meals or not.

Sorry to piggyback off this question but my email also just mentioned I met the "widening participation criteria". I could have qualified because of FSM but I also might meet 3/5 of the 5 checkpoints.
Since the email didn't tell me to send proof of the FSM I'm not sure if I should take any action- basically will admissions specifically ask FSM-qualifiers to send evidence or do they assume we know who we are & what to do?

Thank you in advance!!

@Peterhouse Admissions i sent my fsm eligibility to my college's email (the email which sent me the rejection) literally ages ago and they haven't sent me a confirmation email - should i be worried? im worried

It's really nothing to worry about. We get lots of emails and can't reply to them all. It won't hurt double checking they've got it.

i definitely have sent it to them and i've also sent a follow up email asking them to confirm that ive sent it to the right place etc 13 days later, but no reply. i will do it one more time a month before the fsm deadline. also has the date for filling the adjustment form changed? because you said it would be in august on results day but obviously boris has changed the results day now to july. thanks

The deadline will still be on results day, whenever results day is! At the moment, it hasn't officially been changed from 24th August, but there's a consultation to move it to early July. If it does move, the University website will be updated accordingly.

@Peterhouse Admissions I got the email saying I fit in the widening participation criteria and I could use adjustment if I got the grades. Do I need to submit evidence to them? And as I don’t know which evidence do I need to contact them?

Hi @Peterhouse Admissions
After the recent update on exams, what are your thoughts on Adjustment? The grades are expected to inflate more this year, too.