Applications to the University from state schools have risen by over 5% for the last year.

The proportion of maintained sector admissions now stands at 63.3%, up from 58% last year. This reflects a 3% rise in applications from state schools, despite the rise in tuition fees which came into effect this year. The University has attributed this to its intensive drive to encourage applications from state schools across the UK, and has also highlighted the investment in access schemes, and in the selection process itself.

The new cohort represents over 700 state schools, with the total for the last three years standing at 1100. The statistics cannot therefore be said to be dominated by a handful of ‘high-performing’ schools. Director for Admissions Dr Mike Sewell told Varsity that Cambridge has ‘become more research driven in our decision making’. He added that ‘we’re not looking for something airy-fairy.’ Investments in electronic application management now enable tutors to compare candidates from across subject and college boundaries from the start of the admissions process.

The University’s target is to admit between 61 and 63% of home students from the maintained sector. This year’s statistics therefore exceed the higher bracket of that target. Sewell explained that Cambridge ‘adopted a target range, not a figure, because year on year fluctuations may result from external factors outside our control.’ The University negotiated the target with the Office for Fair Access, incorporating the alterations made by specific course requirements and subjects not offered at Cambridge.

Admissions tutors have favoured AS module marks rather than grade predictions, and concentrated on students’ performance in public exams. Commenting on the recent fiasco regarding GCSE grade changes, and speculation about political manipulation, Sewell stressed that tutors are concentrating on a very narrow margin at the high end of the A-grade, and use an average taken across three subjects. He was ‘cautious’ about Universities becoming involved in public examinations or forming links with schools, such as the recent UCL partnership with Islington and Camden College.

As the Cambridge Tripos is so exam ‘heavy’, he believes that public examinations are the key indicator for future success. Rather than taking extra-curricular achievements as evidence of ability, Sewell stated that “students who aim to excel, aim to excel in everything they do” He considers it “damaging to students themselves to let them in for non-academic reasons.”

The rise seen in this year’s statistics is the result of a decade-long process, including the creation of the Area Link scheme providing all schools with a named University contact, and investment in Sutton Trust summer schools which provided 370 places in 2010. Sewell claimed that the long-term target for university admissions ‘has been, is, and will be fair admission.’