The Student Room Group

Access to he Cambridge Stats

From a recent FOI request regarding the number of Access students getting an offer from Cambridge, I see that the course they apply to matters.

For certain subjects there seems to be a higher success rate e.g. English and History.

Whereas for some other subjects the success rate is near to 0. E.g. Psychological and Behavioural sciences, Vet Med, Law

Does that mean if I aim for certain courses my access course will likely not be enough to get me into the course?
Original post
by Anonymous
From a recent FOI request regarding the number of Access students getting an offer from Cambridge, I see that the course they apply to matters.

For certain subjects there seems to be a higher success rate e.g. English and History.

Whereas for some other subjects the success rate is near to 0. E.g. Psychological and Behavioural sciences, Vet Med, Law

Does that mean if I aim for certain courses my access course will likely not be enough to get me into the course?

There's some more information on this web page about qualifications that they accept, including the Access to HE Diploma:

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/before/accepted-qualifications

Reply 2

Original post
by melancollege
There's some more information on this web page about qualifications that they accept, including the Access to HE Diploma:
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/before/accepted-qualifications


Thanks for the link, I've seen it already when researching my target unis.

However, the information from the FOI request was in 2020-2021 (around that period), so certain courses should still be able to consider Access students (but they had low success rates).
Original post
by Anonymous
Thanks for the link, I've seen it already when researching my target unis.
However, the information from the FOI request was in 2020-2021 (around that period), so certain courses should still be able to consider Access students (but they had low success rates).

The information on the website is much more likely to be accurate and up-to-date. Qualification and entrance requirements change somewhat regularly year-on-year. If you're unsure, email the admissions department at your college. Note they may be busier at the moment due to offers but they will still happily answer your query.

Reply 4

Hi. I work in the admissions department at St Edmund's College. We are a College for mature students (those over 21) and get lots of applicants from Access Courses, many of whom are successful.

We (and the other Colleges at Cambridge) accept Access to HE courses for entry to all our Arts, Humanities and Social Science Courses. They are not accepted on their own for entry to Science, Medicine and Mathematics courses. The best entry qualification for these courses is A Levels, although sometimes we accept the Access Course plus one or two A Levels.

Please do reach out to the admissions departments of a few Colleges you are interested in. They will be able to tell you whether the access course you are doing/planning to do will be suitable for admission to your chosen course.
(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 5

Original post
by St Edmund's Admission
Hi. I work in the admissions department at St Edmund's College. We are a College for mature students (those over 21) and get lots of applicants from Access Courses, many of whom are successful.
We (and the other Colleges at Cambridge) accept Access to HE courses for entry to all our Arts, Humanities and Social Science Courses. They are not accepted on their own for entry to Science, Medicine and Mathematics courses. The best entry qualification for these courses is A Levels, although sometimes we accept the Access Course plus one or two A Levels.
Please do reach out to the admissions departments of a few Colleges you are interested in. They will be able to tell you whether the access course you are doing/planning to do will be suitable for admission to your chosen course.

Hi there,

I’m interested in applying for classics,

I was thinking of doing an access to he course and a level English lit,

I was wondering wether this qualification combo would make my application any less competitive than applicants applying with three a levels?

Thanks very much!

Reply 6

Original post
by Anonymous
Hi there,
I’m interested in applying for classics,
I was thinking of doing an access to he course and a level English lit,
I was wondering wether this qualification combo would make my application any less competitive than applicants applying with three a levels?
Thanks very much!

Hi,

Your application would be just as competitive as one from a student studying three A Levels.

Kind regards
The Admissions Team

Quick Reply

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.