seek to admit, and take turns choosing applicants. Colleges with specific student requirements, such as mature colleges and women-only colleges, are given priority over applicants eligible for their colleges. Some applicants are selected from the pool by the college that originally pooled them. Once all the colleges have selected as many applicants as they need, the pool ends. Some applicants are then interviewed a second time by the colleges before final admissions decisions are made.
Colleges can pool any candidate, either because the college has no space but believes the applicant is strong enough to get a place, or because the college wants to compare that applicant to other pooled applicants. Most applicants in the pool are pooled at their original college's discretion, but some candidates meet the compulsory pooling criteria.
There were, as of the 2020–21 admissions cycle, only two grounds for compulsory pooling. For post-qualified applicants, their achieved grades at A level or equivalent and, for applicants with overseas interviews, an interview score of at least eight is achieved in all interviews. The second criterion does not apply to medicine applicants. Previously, AS-Level UMS have been used as pooling criteria, but after A-levels became linear this was discontinued.
As of 2012, there is only one specifically identified category for pooled applicants, which is known as S, meaning that the application is in special need of reassessment. This is used when candidates whose initial interview scores are of questionable accuracy, such as when a candidate received very different scores from different interviewers, experienced technical issues with interviews conducted over the internet, or was impacted by significant extenuating circumstances such as illness or the loss of a family member.
Pooled applicants who are fished by a college may be offered a place immediately or may be invited for an interview. In 2020, just 89 applicants were invited for second interviews, 34 of whom received offers of admission.
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