Explanation of the application statistics
These pages present applications and admissions statistics for the last four years (2008-2011). The information is provided in five forms:
- For the University as a whole
- For individual subjects
- For individual Colleges
- For individual subjects by College
- For individual Colleges by subject
The statistics provided are based on UCAS application cycles. For instance, the statistics for 2011 are for applicants applying via UCAS from September 2010 onwards for admission to courses starting in October 2011 or by deferred entry for courses starting in October 2012.
In interpreting the information provided on these pages, it is important to bear the following facts in mind:
- Medicine and Veterinary Medicine are the only subjects for which there are fixed quotas for the total numbers of admissions.
- Due to studio space constraints, there is an effective upper limit on the number of Architecture students that can be admitted.
- One of the aims of the admissions policy of the University of Cambridge and its Colleges is to ensure that, as far as possible, an applicant's chance of admission to Cambridge does not depend on choice of College. Thus the admissions process involves a strong element of cross-college moderation through our 'pool' system, which is explained in more detail below. Despite application numbers varying considerably each year, this system means that success rates are very similar from College to College.
- With the exceptions of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, there are no quotas for the numbers of students admitted by each College to study each subject. Applicants are thus not only in competition for places with all other applicants in their subject, but also with applicants in other subjects. Colleges adjust the numbers of students admitted in each subject to reflect the relative strengths of the gathered fields of applicants.
In the University as a whole and individual College pages some data categories are subdivided. These sub category figures are shown in brackets on the charts and in non-bold type in the data tables, and they are included in the overall category figure. For example, the correct interpretation of the Offers data for Cambridge as a whole in 2011 is that 3879 offers were made of which 788 were offers through the pools.
The Pool System
The 'winter pool' is designed to ensure that the best applicants are offered places, no matter where they apply. There are three circumstances in which applicants are 'pooled':
- If a College is over-subscribed in a particular subject strong applicants are pooled for other Colleges to consider.
- Applicants may be pooled if the College that interviewed them in December thinks they need reassessment.
- Applicants may be pooled to allow the pooling College the opportunity to consider other Colleges' pooled applicants as a 'calibration check' before finalising their offers.
Applicants placed in the winter pool may be asked to attend a further interview at another College, usually in January, or may be offered a place at another College, or indeed the College that pooled them, without further interview. Normally, around one in five applicants are pooled and, of these, around one in five receives an offer.
A second smaller pool takes place in August when the exam results are released and places are confirmed. Applicants who have narrowly missed their conditional offers are pooled to allow them to be compared with other such applicants. This again helps to ensure that the best applicants gain places.
The statistics for the University as a whole show the collective effect of the pooling system. The statistics for individual Colleges show in each year how many applicants to that College were made offers by other Colleges via the pools, and how many applicants pooled by other Colleges that College made offers to. Unsurprisingly, the Colleges with higher than average numbers of applicants per place tend to 'export' more applicants via the pools than they 'import', while Colleges with lower than average numbers of applicants per place tend to import more than they export. Thus, the overall success rates of applicants to each College in gaining places at the University are very similar, even though the numbers of applicants to each College can vary considerably.