State & Private School Applications

Stay tuned to hear Marcus, our Director of Admissions, discuss whether Cambridge has a bias towards school types. Our 'How will we assess your application?' podcast where Marcus and Siam go through lots of hypothetical situations, can be found in the link below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn4e8XTcgOwA list of topic discussions can be found below:00:00 Introductions01:30 Does the University of Cambridge have a preference between state school and private school applications?02:00 What are state/maintained schools and independent/private schools?05:10 How we don’t generalise applicants based on the school they’ve attended09:40 What are the different types of state/maintained schools?10:30 What are grammar schools?13:45 What are sixth form colleges, and how are they different from grammar schools and comprehensive schools?15:00 How has the number of applications from independent vs. maintained sector schools to Cambridge changed over time?18:10 Where to find the Cambridge Admissions Statistics Reports for each academic year23:00 Some people think that Cambridge is an elitist institution — is that true? Where does that idea come from?229:00 Why has there been an increase in the proportion of students admitted to Cambridge from state/maintained schools?37:20 If 94% of students in the UK attend state/maintained schools, why is the proportion of state/maintained students at Cambridge below 94%?49:00 Marcus on students he’s taught and their backgrounds53:30 Could an applicant make a strong application to Cambridge solely using the podcast as their research?56:30 Why does the ratio of maintained vs. independent school acceptances differ between colleges?01:01:30 Why does the ratio of maintained vs. independent school acceptances differ between subjects?01:07:30 On cultural capital01:12:30 Do all students who come from maintained schools come from comprehensive schools?01:19:30 In an ideal world, would there be a correlation between school type and acceptance rate?01:22:00 What advice do you have for students who feel discouraged when looking at the admissions data?01:25:50 What Marcus’ school was like and his application to CambridgeFind the relevant webpages for the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford admissions statistics below:https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/before/application-statistics#:~:text=View%20application%20and%20admission%20statistics%20about%20people%20who,and%20learn%20about%20acceptance%20rates%20for%20undergraduate%20courses.https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics