Reapplication after rejection from Cambridge winter pool

[mids2019]

Just a general oxbridge question for a friend.

Is it worth reconsidering applying to Cambridge after being placed in the winter pool and rejected?

Does pooling mean a college would make an offer if they were not oversubscribed?

Well, I guess winter pool means they go closer to success than if given a straight no, so possibly in a bette replace for re-application for three straight no gang

If this was a normal year: It would definitely be worth re-applying for 2021 entry if the A-level results they gained were stellar. The entry assessments for pre-A-level candidates and post-A-Level candidates will always be different and it is worth a shot.

The Winter Pool exists because of the 17,000ish applications that Cambridge receives, they can only make offers to 3,400 and the chances are that at least 6,000 of the applicants are of broadly equivalent excellent ability and potential and tbh there is a certain amount of luck as to which of those candidates will be selected and which equally brilliant people will be rejected. There simply aren't enough spaces for the number of excellent candidates so there is nothing wrong with trying again.

The one thing is that obviously the A-level results for the cohort of 2020 are generated by algorithm and no one knows what universities are going to do when faced by a choice between a candidate assigned A A A* A by an algorithm vs one who will actually be taking their exams (and hopefully receiving the same amazing grades) in Summer 2021.

The person had better have some excellent plans for how to spend the 2020-21 academic year in such a way as to boost their attractiveness to the admissions tutors. Needs to be something lockdown-compliant obviously depending on where you are, but they will need to show they used their time well.

The one thing is that obviously the A-level results for the cohort of 2020 are generated by algorithm

Only where the algorithm gave the student a higher grade than their school / college did.

Kiho clearly has a 2021 applicant and is trying to put off extra competition. If the applicants's CAGS were 4 x A he has grades of 4 x A. If he scores highly in any aptitude test and at interview and let's face it Cambridge interview 80-90% of applicants then of course having made it to the winter pool puts you in with a good shot this year too.

Hi

Thanks for the comments Might have made the issue more clear cut if they hadn't been pooled

Left with a 'near yet so far' feeling. Grades for Cambridge met....

Part of the problem is generic feedback and not knowing which part of the application could have been improved on.

Probably none actually - just too many excellent ones to chose from and despite what anyone says he now does have grades in hand!

If re-applying I would suggest you advise the friend not to over-invest emotionally. DS re-applied to Cambridge with great grades and extremely high admissions test score and was pooled and rejected again. But if applying next year, nothing wrong with having a go.

Because Cambridge allowed anybody who did not meet their offer this year to sit the autumn exams and also allowed people who did get grades from CAGs to defer, the number of places for 2021 will be lower than usual.

It is also true that there are a lot more high grades for the summer 2020 A level cohort - that is just a fact.

So I would say go for it, but be ready to embrace the second choice.

Agree with monkey2001. Also ps needs to reflect constructive and relevant plans for the gap year, some courses may be more open to this than others.

I do know of a couple of outstanding candidates, A*'s in everything, fistfuls of GCSE's and ALevels, lovely and talented boys. Rejected for Oxford, tried Cambridge the next year, then gave up and went to Durham. Both quite happy now. It happens a lot.