Admission Statistics
The statistics provided here give you data of the number of applications for each subject that we have received in recent years, and of the number of offers we have made.
Please bear in mind that the number of offers will include a certain number made through the intercollegiate Pool.
The key consideration is not to play statistical games that extrapolate from these numbers to reach a conclusion that we are either ‘easy’ or ‘hard’ to get into for certain subjects. The standard remains the same as a result of the subject moderation and Pool processes.
Subject moderation and the Pool
While it is the case that, in the first instance, each applicant is assessed by the College to which they apply, the final decision of whether or not to make an offer is guided by an understanding of the strength of the applicants across all of the Colleges. Each subject has a College-wide moderation process by which candidates are compared so as to ensure that the best candidates receive offers, regardless of the College to which they have applied.
The Winter Pool, held just after the New Year following the December interviews, is the process by which candidates are passed on from one College to another. Admissions Tutors and Directors of Studies put a large amount of effort into the Pool process to ensure this outcome. As a result, around 20% of candidates receive an offer from a College other than the one they originally applied for.
Each year a significant number of students receive offers from Selwyn having been pooled by other Colleges. Similarly, a significant number of candidates placed in the Pool by us are made offers by other Colleges.
University-wide statistics: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics
(note that there are small variations due to differences in treatment of applications that are withdrawn, deferred, etc)
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