Natural Sciences applications

The request was partially successful.

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

I would like to ask you to provide information about applicants to
the Natural Sciences course, for application round 2015/2016.

I would like to get a list of applicants' predicted or held
qualifications , and subjects, with their interview scores and
overall application scores.

Please identify whether it was an application to Biological
or Physical Natural Sciences and if the applicant got an offer/
was rejected / was placed in the Winter Pool.

Information , format and detail to be provided as per attached
response from Pembroke College :

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

Please confirm receipt of this request.

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

Angelica Hamilton

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

By law, public authorities must respond promptly to requests.

Even if they are not prompt, in nearly all cases they must respond within 20 working days.

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

King's College, Cambridge

1 Attachment

 

Dear Angelica Hamilton,

 

This is in reply to your enquiry received by the College on February 22^nd
and made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). The College
does not hold the information of predicted or held qualifications, it is
held by the CAO. Therefore I can confirm that the College does not hold
the information you requested.

 

I attach a leaflet outlining the College's FOI Act policies and
procedures.  If you have further questions please ask me in the first
instance. If you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has
been dealt with you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for
a decision. Generally, the Commissioner will not entertain your complaint
unless you have exhausted any relevant internal review procedures.

 

Yours sincerely

Peter Jones

 

 

Peter Jones

Freedom of Information Officer

King’s College, Cambridge

Cambridge CB2 1ST

 

Email: [1][King’s College, Cambridge request email]

 

References

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1. mailto:[King’s College, Cambridge request email]

Angelica Hamilton

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of King’s College, Cambridge's handling of my FOI request 'Natural Sciences applications'.

Other Colleges (Murray Edwards, Pembroke, Magdalene, Corpus Christi and Fitzwilliam) have provided this data comprehensively and very promptly. So I am convinced that King’s College must have this information on file.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

King's College, Cambridge

Your review is under way.

-Patricia McGuire

-----------------------------------
Patricia McGuire (Dr)
Archivist
King's College
Cambridge CB2 1ST
 
Tel: 01223 331444
FAX: 01223 331891
 

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Angelica Hamilton

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

Thank you, when do you think the review will be completed ?

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

King's College, Cambridge

Dear Angelica,

I don't know.

-Patricia

-----------------------------------
Patricia McGuire
Archivist
King's College
Cambridge CB2 1ST
 
Tel: 01223 331444
FAX: 01223 331891
 

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King's College, Cambridge

1 Attachment

Dear Angelica Hamilton,

 

The first step in an internal review is that you return to me for
clarification, which is now provided below.

 

Qualifications. King’s College Admissions print out CAO applications for
every applicant and put them in the applicant file. There is a field for
predicted/held qualifications. For A levels this is straightforward. For
the many international applicants to King’s the information often does not
appear in that field. Sometimes it appears in pages supplied separately by
the CAO or the student and filed elsewhere in the applicant’s file,
sometimes the qualifications appear in whole or in part in the reference
letter, and sometimes they are not given at all. For applicants who were
pooled and taken up by other Colleges, we no longer retain their files and
therefore do not have the qualifications of those students.

Overall application scores. At King’s these are created only for students
placed in the pool. This is information held only on paper in each file
and the files physically make the rounds during the pool so we only have
the information for the few applicants who were pooled and not taken up by
other Colleges.

 

Interview scores. There is no overall interview score. Individual
interviewers do not always assign scores to candidates.

 

Paragraph 27 of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) advice at
[1]https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio...
says “if one of the building blocks is absent altogether, ie the
information has never been inputted into the database, then information
that could only be constructed using that building block will not be
held.” You have essentially asked for a database where each record is an
(unnamed) student, and the fields are for predicted or held qualifications
and specified by subject, interview scores, overall application score, the
Faculty/Department  applied for, and the result (offer/ rejected /
pooled). Because the interview scores are not always created and the
overall application scores are rarely created and only held at King’s for
pooled applicants who were not take up by other Colleges, the information
you requested fits the ICO advice as being not held.

 

For the reasons described above, the information as held at King’s is
laborious to collect and the creation and populating of the database you
propose would approach exceeding the FOIA time limit. It is personal
information about third parties and thus (under section 40 of the FOIA and
the Data Protection Act) it can only be disclosed if it is anonymisable.
Nearly every UK student will be taking Maths, Physics and Chemistry or
Biology A levels but may have an unusual other A level profile, making
those records non-anonymisable. Our international applicants will have
nearly unique profiles and thus be identifiable by any sort of publication
of their qualifications, and their information will be exempt. Therefore
any information that is disclosable under FOIA will be only partial. The
ICO guidance at
[2]https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
says “if the cost and resources required to review and remove any exempt
information are likely to be so great as to place the organisation under a
grossly obsessive burden then you may be able to consider the request
under Section 14 instead. (vexatious requests).” We consider that the
value of the data after anonymization to ensure compliance with the Data
Protection Act does not justify the work required to create it. Thus the
information we do hold is exempt under section 14.

 

If you are not satisfied with this explanation, the next step in the
complaints procedure is to contact the First Bursar as on the attached
leaflet.

 

Yours sincerely

Peter Jones

 

 

Peter Jones

Freedom of Information Officer

King’s College, Cambridge

Cambridge CB2 1ST

 

Email: [3][King’s College, Cambridge request email]

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Angelica Hamilton

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

In light of your refusal to release the information it is disappointing especially as other Colleges have been so transparent and supportive, unlike your response.

So after taking advice from the FOI Team and guidance from the Information
Commissioner's Office I make a revised request for information :

I would like to ask you to provide information about applicants to
the Natural Sciences course, for application round 2015/2016 :

1. How many people applied for Biological Natural Sciences ?
2. How many people were given an offer for Biological Natural Sciences ?
3. How many people were put into the pool for Biological Natural Sciences ?
4. How many people , from the pool, did you offer Biological Natural Sciences to ?

5. How many people applied for Physical Natural Sciences ?
6. How many people were given an offer for Physical Natural Sciences ?
7. How many people were put into the pool for Physical Natural Sciences ?
8. How many people , from the pool, did you offer Physical Natural Sciences to ?

For the people given an offer for Biological Natural Sciences :

10. What % studied A Levels in Chemistry AND Biology ?
11. What % studied A Level Maths and NOT Further Mathematics ?
12. What % studied A Level Maths AND Further Mathematics ?
13. What % studied A Level Physics ?
14. What % studied A Level English ?
15. What % studied A Level Drama ?
16. What % studied A Level French ?
17. What % studied A Level History ?
18. What % studied A Level German ?
19. What % studied A Level Economics ?
20. What % studied A Level Geography ?

For the people given an offer for Physical Natural Sciences :

21. What % studied A Levels in Chemistry AND Biology ?
22. What % studied A Level Maths and NOT Further Mathematics ?
23. What % studied A Level Maths AND Further Mathematics ?
24. What % studied A Level Physics ?
25. What % studied A Level English ?
26. What % studied A Level Drama ?
27. What % studied A Level French ?
28. What % studied A Level History ?
29. What % studied A Level German ?
30. What % studied A Level Economics ?
31. What % studied A Level Geography ?

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

Angelica Hamilton

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

A reply with the requested information is long overdue.

You have not replied to this FOI request Natural Sciences applications,
as required by law.

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

Angelica Hamilton

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

A reply with the requested information is long overdue.

You have not replied to this FOI request Natural Sciences applications,
as required by law.

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

Angelica Hamilton

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of King’s College, Cambridge's handling of my FOI request 'Natural Sciences applications'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

King's College, Cambridge

1 Attachment

Dear Angelica,

Please see item 9 of the attached information leaflet.

-Patricia McGuire
-----------------------------------
Patricia McGuire
Archivist
King's College
Cambridge CB2 1ST
 
Tel: 01223 331444
FAX: 01223 331891
 

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Angelica Hamilton

Dear King’s College, Cambridge,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of King’s College, Cambridge's handling of my FOI request 'Natural Sciences applications'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...

Yours faithfully,

Angelica Hamilton

King's College, Cambridge

1 Attachment

 

Dear Ms Hamilton,

 

This is in reply to your enquiry received by the College on May 4^th, made
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). I can confirm that the
College does hold some information related to your enquiry. The
information as held by the College is:

 

1.      How many people applied for Biological Natural Sciences ? 56

2.      How many people were given an offer for Biological Natural
Sciences ? 6

3.      How many people were put into the pool for Biological Natural
Sciences ? 12

4.      How many people , from the pool, did you offer Biological Natural
Sciences to ? 1

5.    How many people applied for Physical Natural Sciences ? 93

6.    How many people were given an offer for Physical Natural Sciences ?
10

7.    How many people were put into the pool for Physical Natural Sciences
? 23

8.    How many people , from the pool, did you offer Physical Natural
Sciences to ? 0

 

For the people given an offer for Biological Natural Sciences:

10. What % studied A Levels in Chemistry AND Biology ? 83 (rounded to 2
significant figures)

11. What % studied A Level Maths and NOT Further Mathematics ? 33

12. What % studied A Level Maths AND Further Mathematics ? 50

13. What % studied A Level Physics ? 67

14. What % studied A Level English ? 0

15. What % studied A Level Drama ? 0

16. What % studied A Level French ? 0

17. What % studied A Level History ? 0

18. What % studied A Level German ? 0

19. What % studied A Level Economics ? 0

20. What % studied A Level Geography ? 0

Though you didn’t ask, you might like to know that only 5 of the 6 people
given offers studied A levels.

 

For the people given an offer for Physical Natural Sciences :

21. What % studied A Levels in Chemistry AND Biology ? 20

22. What % studied A Level Maths and NOT Further Mathematics ? 10

23. What % studied A Level Maths AND Further Mathematics ? 30

24. What % studied A Level Physics ? 40

25. What % studied A Level English ? 0

26. What % studied A Level Drama ? 0

27. What % studied A Level French ? 0

28. What % studied A Level History ? 0

29. What % studied A Level German ? 0

30. What % studied A Level Economics ? 1

31. What % studied A Level Geography ? 0

Again, though not one of your questions, you might like to know that only
4 of the 10 people given offers studied A levels.

 

I attach a leaflet outlining the College's FOI Act policies and
procedures.  If you have further questions please ask me in the first
instance. If you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has
been dealt with you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for
a decision. Generally, the Commissioner will not entertain your complaint
unless you have exhausted any relevant internal review procedures.

 

Yours sincerely

Peter Jones

 

 

Peter Jones

Freedom of Information Officer

King’s College, Cambridge

Cambridge CB2 1ST

 

Email: [1][King’s College, Cambridge request email]

 

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