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Oxford University applicants fall out rate

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Reply 20

Original post
by KLBinSE
Can I please ask what you mean by “fall out rate” as, to me, this implies the candidates/applicants are themselves withdrawing from the application process rather than being ‘deselected’ or their application ‘going no further’.

By "fallout rate", I am referring to the proportion of people filtered out after the interview, seems like about 2/3 rd of the interviewed.

Reply 21

Original post
by Adiscoverer
Is there some issue with this sub-forum? People seem to use quite an abrasive tone. The issue arises due to the fact that candidates are refrained from applying to both Cambridge and Oxford at the same time. And I am trying to understand a few bits here, starting from the high fall out rate to the delta between the finals. If you are absolutely clear about the rationale, good for you. I may still probe until I get a satisfactory view.

Why don't you just come clean and explain your beef? Your question has been answered more than once. You appear not to like the answers, but they won't change to make you happy.

Finance bro terminology doesn't apply to the selection of undergraduates.

Reply 22

Original post
by Stiffy Byng
Why don't you just come clean and explain your beef? Your question has been answered more than once. You appear not to like the answers, but they won't change to make you happy.
Finance bro terminology doesn't apply to the selection of undergraduates.

Guess, I may have misunderstood your tone. Now that I looked at your profile, it makes sense lol.

Reply 23

The university’s processes aim to filter down the applicants to around 3 applicants per place for interview. If it is a subject where there are only about 4 applicants per place, therefore most of them will get an interview. If it is a subject where there are around 10 applicants per place, most of them won’t.

After this, logically, only around 1 in 3 applicants who are interviewed will be successful. So you are right that about 2/3 of the interviewed don’t get a place - this is how the system is designed.

The colleges can’t just create more places because there are good applicants. Every year there are more good applicants than there are places available - the entire purpose of the exercise is to work out who the very strongest are.

Reply 24

Original post
by xyz1234567
The university’s processes aim to filter down the applicants to around 3 applicants per place for interview. If it is a subject where there are only about 4 applicants per place, therefore most of them will get an interview. If it is a subject where there are around 10 applicants per place, most of them won’t.
After this, logically, only around 1 in 3 applicants who are interviewed will be successful. So you are right that about 2/3 of the interviewed don’t get a place - this is how the system is designed.
The colleges can’t just create more places because there are good applicants. Every year there are more good applicants than there are places available - the entire purpose of the exercise is to work out who the very strongest are.

I think I understand the full picture now (given my discussions with few other folks as well). I kind of agree with someone who said "it is about applicant would benefit from the tutorial system at Oxford" than the "strongest one". The bit that I was worried about is the time and effort children put into this and with a tiny delta between the finalists. However, it makes sense as to the seats should go to the ones who would benefit from the Oxford education than "the strongest one" similar to the MIT and the Harvard.

Reply 25

You can check the selection criteria on the Physics department website. They are purely academic.

Reply 26

And yes there will be very tight decisions between candidates, especially for the final places. That is in the nature of any highly competitive process where there are many good applicants per place. No one says the system is infallible - the admitting tutors are trying to make the best decisions they can on the (limited) evidence they have.

Reply 27

What do you mean by “the strongest one”?
Having high exam results doesn’t mean you are the strongest candidate - they are looking for so much more than that. Plus all exam results aren’t equal, background/type of school all counts and make some results less impressive than others.

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