Interviews usually take place in early to mid December, and we will send out more detailed information in advance. In late January, we will send decisions by email to all applicants, telling them whether we were able to offer them a place or not. Offer conditions will be specified in this letter.
Sometimes we may recommend strong applicants for consideration by other Colleges by placing their applications in the ‘Winter Pool‘. The ‘Pool’ is designed to even out applications across the Colleges. It takes place in January. If any application is ‘pooled’, the applicant may be asked to attend a further interview at another College, though this is very unusual. About one in five of all Cambridge applicants who are pooled receives an offer. After examination results are published in August, we can confirm applicants’ places if they have met the offer conditions that we set (i.e. A level grades).
We hope that applicants will find the interview experience useful, even if we cannot offer them a place. If unsuccessful, applicants can request feedback, but we do prefer to receive requests from schools/colleges instead as we find providing feedback to schools, rather than to the applicants themselves, means that the feedback is discussed within the context of their current academic performance and other university applications.