Choice of College
Admissions policies and procedures differ somewhat from College to College, which can make the process of choosing a College seem complicated. In order to try to make this process easier, this guide contains a summary of relevant information provided by all the Colleges. If you need further information, contact the Admissions Office at the appropriate College directly.
Do not attach too much importance to the differences in admissions procedures between the Colleges. The admissions process at any College inevitably entails trying to choose between a number of well-qualified applicants. If a particular College uses, say, a written test at interview as part of its selection process, then it will have chosen to do so in order to provide more information upon which to base its final admissions decisions. This is done in the interests of making the selection process as fair as possible.
The chances of being made an offer do not depend greatly upon which College you apply to. Even if the College handling your application does not make you an offer (perhaps because it has an unusually large number of good applicants), you will be ‘pooled’ if your application meets certain criteria agreed by all the Colleges. This enables other Colleges to consider your application. The pool is designed to even out possible imbalances in application levels between Colleges, so that the best applicants find places. The Department takes an active role in facilitating the effective functioning of the pool.
All the lectures and coursework associated with the Engineering courses are organised by the Department and these are therefore the same whatever your College. In trying to choose a College you might like to think about other factors which might be important to you (such as age, size, location, and provision of accommodation, sporting, musical or drama facilities) rather than worrying about small differences in admissions procedures.
It is recommended that, before you make up your mind about a choice of College, you also read:
- The entries for each College and about Open Applications in the Cambridge University Undergraduate Prospectus;
- The Alternative Prospectus, which is published by Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU), Old Examination Hall, Free School Lane, Cambridge, CB2 3RK, telephone: (01223) 333313;
- The prospectuses of the Colleges you are interested in. These are available, on request, from College Admissions Offices and on individual Colleges' web pages.