What is 'Access' all about?

The Access Officer deals with increasing access to Queens’ College by students from all types of backgrounds. We generally try to get people who wouldn’t normally apply to Cambridge to apply to Queens’. We also work with CUSU and implement all their access schemes in Queens’.

What can you do?

Please think about what you can do to improved Access at Cambridge. Even a quick chat to people thinking of applying, and even more importantly, to people not thinking of applying, can make a huge difference in terms of their perception of the Cambridge system. Please also consider picking up an Access pack from the Admissions Office, which is full of helpful information and ideas.

Queens' Open days are July 5 and 6; any student help on those days would be greatly appreciated. Please contact either the Admissions Office, or AA/A Officer for further information.

I would also really encourage anyone to see if they can go back to their school and have a chat with any students, maybe even give a short presentation to those interested students. Information can be found in the access pack, or by contacting me directly.

Start spreading the truth

Despite having been through the system many Cambridge students continue to believe many of the myths about the application procedure. If you pass these on to prospective students it can be very damaging to Access so please start spreading the truth!

MYTH: Certain colleges are easier to get into.

REALITY: Applications by subject and college vary hugely each year. In 2005, the success rate of applicants across all colleges was 28.3%. One college often thought of as easier to get into took 28.4% of its direct applicants but accepted a further 70 students via the pool. Research has consistently shown that college choice does not affect an applicant's chance of winning a place at Cambridge.

MYTH: 'Cambridge is an expensive place to live'

REALITY: Cambridge has very low living costs compared to other universities as students only pay rent for 30 weeks a year instead of 52, don't have to buy many books thanks to excellent libraries and don't really have any travel costs. The University offers an excellent bursary scheme and has numerous other funds to help prevent students from struggling financially;e.g. the Access to Learning Fund awarded just over £497,000 in 2005-6.

MYTH: 'Some Colleges don't really care about widening participation'

REALITY: 'The number of state school applicants taken by a College does not always reflect the effort put into access and outreach. Some Colleges currently take fewer state-educated students than the average, but these Colleges are often very focused on outreach too: one College, in addition to doing its own access work, also donates £115,000 a year to the Cambridge Admissions Office for central access initiatives.

MYTH: 'Interviews are crucial when applying to Cambridge'

REALITY: 'Colleges rank all the applicants they can on paper in most cases: by GCSE, AS unit score, school/college reference and, depending upon subject, results from any aptitude tests. After interview, that rank order remains around 80% intact; in other words, for most applicants, interviews serve principally to confirm what we already know about them' - A long serving Admissions Tutor. In all Colleges, decisions are based on many indicators and no one interviewer decides an applicant's fate. If you are called to interview, there will be current students there to take of you, and reassure you! Don't worry!

MYTH: 'Cambridge is a playground for public school kids'

REALITY: 56% of students come from the state sector. This is from an eligible cohort (i.e. students achieving at least grades AAA at A Level) of whom 62% are in the state sector.

MYTH: 'The University doesn't care about access'

REALITY: The University has published an undertaking stating how much access work it is going to do annually. The University has targets: to see 9000 students at the Oxbridge Conferences, to offer 750 places in Easter/Summer schools, to see 5000 students in visits from Cambridge or to Cambridge, and to see 1650 gifted and talented students, and much more. This year the University surpassed these targets in all areas. Last year, the University and Colleges spent far in excess of £1.3 million on admissions and access.

Access Links

CUSU produce their alternative Prospectus designed to bust those myths as well as providing some useful insights into Cambridge life. It can be found by clicking Here.

The Cambridge University Website provides information about undergraduate admissions Here.

You can request yourself a prospectus Here.

And the Undergraduate Admissions Office provides a wide range of publications that cover bursaries, interviews, advice for teachers and much much more that can be accessed Here.

And if you would like to contact the Queens' admissions office specifically for more information about the college and applying click Here.

Recent News: The New A* Grade and Admissions

Cambridge University intends to use the A* (Awarded for a mark of over 90% at A2)in admissions from this year onward. The colleges have agreed on a standard offer to students doing A levels of A*AA. If a student has applied through the Cambridge Special Access Scheme, thier offer may be lower whilst an application that is considered marginal and the alternative if no offer may recieve a higher one. Other universities who have decided to use the A* in some of their admissions are UCL, Imperial and Bristol. The university argues that the A* allows students to prove themselves in examinations rather than applications increasingly relying on interviews or admissions tests. Analysis by the University of A2 attainment at several colleges suggests that the majority of students would have made the A* offer or even exceeded it. Due to the difficulty of predicting an A* grades, teacher predictions will not form part of a decision to make the student an offer.

To view the university's statement on using the A* grade you can visit the section on the admissions page by clicking Here.

Contact

If you have any issues surrounding access, or if you are a prosepctive student who wants some more information, feel free to contact The Access Officer or fill in the email box below if you are a current Cambridge student. Also if you are a current student who wants to become mroe involved in access then please give me a shout and I will add you to the Queens' volunteers list!