Dear Winnie Wang

I refer to your recent request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
regarding  Natural Sciences applications, which I copy below for clarity:

May I ask you to provide information about Natural Sciences Tripos 
applicants during application cycles 2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022,
please.  Including

1.Total number of applicants.

2. Number of applicants that’s been offered a place.

3. Number of applicants that’s been put into the winter pool.

4. Median NSAA score of offer holders.

5.Percentage of applicants from independent schools.

6.Percentage of International Applicants.

For Natural sciences biological and Physical respectively, please. Thank
you very much.

With reference to application cycles 2019/20 and 2020/21, some of the
information requested in points 1 and 2 can be found on the Cambridge
University website at
[1]https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.u.... The College
does not keep information about unsuccessful applicants once a particular
application round is finished, and therefore we do not hold the rest of
the information requested for these years.

With reference to the current application cycle (2021/22), as the
admissions round is still ongoing this information is exempt under section
36(2)(c) of the Act. To elaborate: the admissions cycle 2021/22 is ongoing
and because of this, release of the data would be likely to prejudice the
effective conduct of public affairs, in this case the integrity of the
College’s applications and admissions process which form a fundamental
part of its mission as an educational institution. (As the information
requested is statistical in nature, the opinion of the qualified person
did not need to be sought for this application of section 36.) The College
considers that the disclosure of detailed statistics about applications
made within the current cycle would be likely to prejudice the notion of a
fair and confidential admissions process whereby each applicant has the
same information at their disposal. The College considers that the public
interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in
disclosing the information in this case. While some people might have an
understandable private interest in these statistics, there is no genuine
public interest in them when set against the extensive statistical
information available about previous admissions cycles published by the
University (see above) and the prevailing public interest in maintaining a
level playing field in terms of the information available to all
applicants. Note that further information about the College’s
undergraduate admissions process can be found at
[2]https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate... linked pages. 

Once the admissions cycle, including time for any appeals, is complete
(normally in September) the exemption above will no longer apply. The
College would then be able to release the data requested, insofar as it is
held and within the terms of the Act. Please note that, in line with the
College data protection policy, detailed information about unsuccessful
applicants is deleted as soon as possible after the end of the admissions
round, normally in December of the year of admission. You should also note
that, if numbers of applicants are small, some of the data that you
request may not be disclosable as it would entail the release of personal
data, which is exempt under section 40(2) of The Act.

The College’s complaints procedure provides for an internal review of the
decisions regarding this response if you are dissatisfied with it.  You
should let me know if you wish to use it, letting me know your reasons for
dissatisfaction and any other matters to which the College should have
regard.  The review will be conducted by another officer of the College
who was not involved in responding to the original request. 

You have a right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision
whether, in any specified respect, your request to the College for
information has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act.  Details may be found on the Information
Commissioner’s website at [3]www.ico.gov.uk.

Kind regards

Kathryn

On behalf of the Freedom of Information Officer

Dr Kathryn Gee

Secretary to the Assistant Bursar

Magdalene College, Cambridge CB3 0AG Tel: 01223 330575

Registered Charity Number 1137542

Please note that I work part-time so response times may vary

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.u...
2. https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/