College Shield

What are my Chances of Admission?

We typically have around 500 applicants for 105 places and statistically about 20% of applicants to us receive an offer. However these raw statistics hide a rather more complex picture:

Magdalene and other Cambridge Colleges use the Winter Pool extensively to ensure that the best applicants are admitted to Cambridge irrespective of their College of first choice. In some years we find that we have a wealth of strong applicants in one subject but shortages elsewhere. In recent years we have typically placed about 10-15 of our applicants each year in over-subscribed subjects at other Colleges and, conversely, we have accepted similar numbers through the Winter Pool in other subjects.

Since the numbers of applications in each subject vary year-on-year, statistical data on application numbers by subject is of little use in determining which College or subject to apply for. However, there is information on the University website at http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/statistics about applications and admissions in past years.