Cambridge Postgraduate College Allocation

Hi! So I got an offer for the MPhil POLIS in Cambridge. I was wondering if anyone knows how the Colleges assess who to accept / reject. I was unsuccessful at my first choice King's and am now worried about my second choice.

What's your second choice?

They select for a diverse cohort. So they want a decent spread of MPhil and PhD students, female/male, age, nationality, etc. The reason Kings, Trinity and Johns fill up first is not about selection, it's about sheer number of applicants. They get to see most applications from as soon as decisions are made, so if you are the fifth UK male POLIS applicant they've seen, they will pass, because they've already taken two. But if a Bahamian, female, archaeologist gets forwarded a month later, they might still be looking for archaeologists, females or Bahamians to create that diverse cohort and offer a spot.

Thanks! Do you know what are common colleges that the application is sent to if the first two choices are unsuccessful? Like I read that afterwards the application is sent to 5 colleges and one of them will accept

Hey everyone, got an offer recently and my first choice college is Gonville & Caius. Anyone know how likely I am to get membership? Or how quickly Caius tends to give out memberships and on what basis? Thanks!

Anyone got news on their college allocation yet? Still waiting on second preference

Still nothing. What were your first and second choices?

Did any PhD offer holder get admitted to Trinity? It was my first choice due to funding but my self service portal shows "seeking college membership" and I'm starting to get worried..
Do they send rejection if I'm not accepted to Trinity?

I also put Trinity first. I was unsuccessful there just over a week after my offer and it was reflected in my portal, but no email. It said ‘Unsuccessful at Trinity, seeking college membership’. I got my second choice two working days later!
I put Trinity first for a similar reason to you - funding. However it is an extremely competitive college and as you’ve probably read one of the big 3. Which get loads of applications and filled up really quickly. So my second choice (Queens) I actually prefer in its feel and other stuff from what I’ve read and seen. But the funding doesn’t seem as good, which I suppose is normal as Trinity is a particularly wealthy college.
Hope this helps and good luck with your college allocation 😊

Thank you so much! I just checked my portal and it says ‘Unsuccessful at Trinity, seeking college membership’, my second is Newnham also for funding so hoping for that to come soon!
Do you have any idea if unsuccessful at Trinity means unsuccessful of recieving funding from them as well? Or does allocarion and funding committees work separately?

Rejected from Churchill (1 Day after conditional Offer)
Accepted at Fitzwilliam (next day)