Earlier this month, Director of Admissions at Cambridge University, Mike Nicholson, announced that the university would be scrapping its numerical targets for state school pupil intake. The university had set a target of 69.1% of intake to be from pupils at state schools by 2024-25. However, as of last year, it had already smashed its target, accepting 72.9% from state schools.
This sharp increase had let to accusations of discrimination and a decline in academic standards from some quarters. At Clarendon, we’ve noticed some parents taking their children out of independent schools and into state schools for sixth form, with Oxbridge in mind (with mixed results for this transparent tactic). We’ve also seen straight 9 students (that’s straight A or straight A*, depending on your generation) at schools such as St Paul’s, Eton and Westminster being advised not to apply to Cambridge (and Oxford for that matter).
The message from the university was that they would still take into account the “applicant’s schooling” and “other socio-economic factors”, so don’t expect a return to the 1999 levels of 53%. However, the move is at odds with announcements from Oxford last year, with Helen Mountfield, principal of Mansfield College, saying that her college was pursuing a 95% state school intake, which was in line with the 95% of students nationwide that go to state schools. This shows how important it is to pick the right college. If you’d like more information on this, please get in touch with Clarendon.