Dear Mr Barakat,

Thank you for your interest in admissions to Imperial College.

Information about all Imperial College courses can be found on the College’s website. This includes full details of the entry requirements and selection process as well as contact details for admissions enquiries.

Imperial College publishes undergraduate admissions statistics for the past 5 completed admissions cycles. These include:  
• Number of applicants, offers and places confirmed
• Average BMAT Scores
• Details of A level, IB and STEP offers made
• New entrants' achieved A level and IB grades
• Number of applicants, offers and places confirmed by nationality
• Number of applicants, offers and places confirmed by gender
• Number of interviews conducted

The published information can be accessed at the transparency pages of our website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/apply...

Information about the minimum grade requirements for Imperial College can be found on the College website, these vary depending on the course. Our entry requirements are based on A-level or equivalent level qualifications. The only GCSE grade that we may consider with respect to entry requirements is English language grade if the applicant is using the results of this qualification to show that they meet our required English language standard for entry, or a relevant modern foreign language for courses with a year abroad. We therefore do not retain information about applicants' GCSE grades.

In addition, Imperial College has compiled an information sheet which addresses the most frequently asked questions we receive regarding admissions to Medicine (A100). Please see the Freedom of Information FAQs on the ‘Introducing our Imperial College London Medicine degree’ web page: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/stud...

Information is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (Section 21) if it is already reasonably accessible to the requester.

The Freedom of Information Act created a right to access information to enable scrutiny of public authorities in the public interest. Section 14(1) of the Act aims to protect public authorities by allowing them to refuse any requests which have the potential to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption and are therefore deemed vexatious. While we appreciate that your request was made in good faith and was not intended to cause disruption, we are entitled to consider whether a request has a value or serious purpose in terms of the objective public interest in the information sought and to weigh that against the burden that would be placed on the organisation by having to produce that information. The public interest being the public good, not what is of interest to groups of or individual members of the public.

The College's view is that there is no public interest value in the information you have requested that would justify the College devoting resources to producing the information. The College’s view is that any legitimate public interest in admissions figures to our MBBS programme is met by the extensive information already in the public domain set out above. We are therefore refusing the elements of your request not covered by the published information in reliance on Section 14 of the Act.

Yours,

Freedom of Information Team
Imperial College London 

Please note that if you are unhappy with the way that we have handled your request, you can ask us to conduct a review. Please make your representation in writing within 2 months of the date you received this response. If you remain dissatisfied with how Imperial College has handled your request, you may then approach the Information Commissioner’s Office.  

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Dear Saleh Barakat,

Thank you for your email. I have copied your questions below for our ease of reference.

Your first question refers to the IGCSE Cambridge exams. It is not clear whether your subsequent questions refer only to those applicants with the IGCSE Cambridge exams or all applicants. We referred you to the FAQs document which states that GCSE results are not taken into consideration. We do not hold information on the GCSE results of applicants.

Information about the number of applicants, number of interviews, number of offers, BMAT scores and A Levels achieved by entrants and nationality of entrants is provided in the FAQs document and/or the published admissions statistics. It is not correct therefore that none of the information you have asked for has been provided. If you wish to specify what information has not been provided (bearing in mind that we cannot provide details of GCSE grades) please do so and we can review our handling of your request.

1) How many applicants to the A100 Undergraduate medicine program took the IGCSE Cambridge exams?
2) How many applicants were given an interview?
3) How many of these applicants were given an offer?
3) What were the IGCSE Cambridge grade results of the applicants that were accepted?
4) What were the UCAT and BMAT scores of the applicants accepted?
5) What were the A-level scores of the applicants accepted?
6) What were the countries the accepted applicants applied from?

Yours,

Anita Hunt
Access to Information Manager
Central Secretariat
Imperial College London

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