Engineering applicants Interview outcomes at Churchill

The request was partially successful.

Dear Churchill College, Cambridge,

I am making a request regarding the statistics for Engineering
applicants in the 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14 cycles.

For those applicants offering A-Levels as their highest
qualification please provide for each applicant the following data
in a single table with one row per applicant, and columns contain
the following data
* the application cycle (i.e. 2011/12, 2012/13 or 2013/14)
* the average UMS achieved in the most relevant 3 AS-Levels offered
* a yes/no to indicate if applicant was called for interview
* the interviewee's overall interview grade (1-10, with NA to
indicate if no interview)
* a yes/no to indicate if offer was made (includes pool offers)
* a yes/no to indicate if applicant was accepted
* a yes/no to indicate if entry was deferred by the applicant

Please do not hesitate to contact me if any part of this request
requires clarification

Yours faithfully,

David Dinsmore

Dear Churchill College, Cambridge,

I made a request to you under the FOI that by law should have been responded to by 30th January 2015. No such response has been received by me.

Please review and respond to my original request within 7 days otherwise I will request an Internal Review.

Yours faithfully,

David Dinsmore

Churchill Enquiries, Churchill College, Cambridge

Dear Mr Dinsmore

The identification of UMS averages by candidate could potentially allow their identification by third parties, and therefore this data cannot be released. We would be happy to provide you with summary data in respect of undergraduate Engineering applicants to Churchill College. If you wish for the summary data could you let us know.

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Senior Tutor
Churchill College
Cambridge
CB3 0DS

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Dear Churchill Enquiries,

Thank you for your response. I do not agree that UMS averages by (anonymous) candidate can enable candidate identification. Indeed, three other colleges have provided the data as requested:

* Christ's College
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

* Trinity College:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

* Queens' College : https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

I request that you reconsider your decision.

Yours sincerely,

David Dinsmore

Richard Partington, Churchill College, Cambridge

Dear Mr Dinsmore,

It is unlikely in practice that an identification by a third party would be made, but it is certainly possible. I think in particular of the teachers and in some cases the parents of applicants, who will know enough of their academic profiles to be able readily to deduce their identity from a mix of their UMS, knowing that they applied to Churchill College and in most cases knowing whether they received an offer or not. If we release the data in the form you request they could then learn additional information about the applicants, in respect of their performance in our admissions process, that is private and subject to Data Protection.

The decisions of other Colleges are matters for them.

As I say, I would be happy to provide you with summary data. This will show you that: academic track-record as expressed in exam-results (and especially UMS average) is highly correlated with outcomes in the admissions process; interviews are less highly correlated.

Yours,

Richard Partington.

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Senior Tutor
Churchill College
Cambridge
CB3 0DS

Telephone: 01223 336249
Assistant (Ms Karin Bane): 01223 336208
Fax: 01223 336180

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Dear Richard Partington,

I would have expected that school referees would already have this data for their own pupils in the feedback they receive post -application.

Anyway, please send me the summary analyses.

I'm interested to see how the success rate of students depends on their Interview score. I expect that a good score (>= 7) would likely lead to an offer.

Yours sincerely,

David Dinsmore

Richard Partington, Churchill College, Cambridge

Dear Mr Dinsmore,

But many schools and colleges do not receive feedback, because they do not request it or because it goes directly to students; and it is very unusual for parents to. In both cases students have to sign a specific Data Protection waiver.

Your inquiry only came to my attention a day or two ago (for which, apologies), and it may take us a further few days to pull together the summary information, but we'll get it to you.

So far as interview scores go, as a general rule strong scores do not in and of themselves tend to lead to offers; strong track-records are much likelier to; but worryingly low scores can sometimes (though by no means always) rule out people whose track-records are otherwise impressive.

Assuming we still have all the data, we'll provide you with the following for the rounds 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 for undergraduate Engineering:-

Average UMS and average interview scores for:

1) Those receiving offers from Churchill, including via the Pool;
2) Those being admitted;
3) Those being rejected.

Yours,

Richard P.

----
Senior Tutor
Churchill College
Cambridge
CB3 0DS

Telephone: 01223 336249
Assistant (Ms Karin Bane): 01223 336208
Fax: 01223 336180

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Richard Partington, Churchill College, Cambridge

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Dinsmore,

Please find attached the information promised.

Yours,

Richard Partington.

----
Senior Tutor
Churchill College
Cambridge
CB3 0DS

Telephone: 01223 336249
Assistant (Ms Karin Bane): 01223 336208
Fax: 01223 336180

show quoted sections

Dear Richard Partington,

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

David Dinsmore