So obviously Cambridge University isn’t exactly the kind of place you’d automatically assume is massively inclusive, but that doesn’t make reading the recent admissions figures any less of a bummer.
According to the figures released today, the number of state school pupils offered a place at University of Cambridge last year dropped significantly as a record number of hopeful applicants chased fewer places. Just over one fifth of students from state schools got into the university compared to a (decidedly healthier) one third of privately educated pupils.
The disappointing figures are a setback for Cambridge because, only last year, they admitted the highest number of state school students in its history. The latest admission figures show that a total of 3,371 places were offered this autumn – a 2 per cent decrease in only one year. The number of applications ballooned by 3.1 per cent in the same period to an all-time high of 16,185. Stats show that 3,034 state-school sixth formers applied for a place at Cambridge but only 646 were offered a place.
Obviously something is going on here because admission figures suggest that a worryingly small number of state school students feel confident enough to even apply for school compared to privately educated students. Jane Hall, who studied architecture at Kings College Cambridge five years ago, thinks that some of the problems are down to the perceived culture of privilege at the university.
‘I was lucky because I was at Kings College, which has always worked hard to get state students to apply – there was a hammer and sickle over the bars for many years – but even I noticed that there was a huge majority of privately educated students,’ she explains to The Debrief.
‘It makes it difficult at first, because all of them seemed to go to the same schools and know all the same people – in the year above and year below – so they’d pretty much keep themselves to themselves. I’d never met anyone who went to boarding school before Cambridge and only knew a couple of people who went to private school, so it was a culture shock at first. But pretty quickly, that stuff fades away. Bar a couple of private drinking clubs that you have to be invited to join – which are so pompous they’re almost a joke really – state school students aren’t excluded.’
But Jane also says blaming Cambridge isn’t necessarily seeing the whole picture – and believes that the state school system has to take some accountability for the poor admission figures. ‘I went to a really good state school, and only a few of us were put on course to apply for Oxbridge, and of them only four got in.’ she explains. ‘At Cambridge, everyone who applies automatically gets an interview, so in theory that’s an opportunity for state school pupils to shine over and above their marks.
‘Unfortunately though, state schools don’t prepare students for Oxbridge interviews in the same way private schools do, so they’re automatically at a disadvantage. I think a lot of private school students have always been told that it's their God-given right to go to Cambridge so they have that confidence. What state school student can say the same?'
It’s worth asking whether changing economic circumstances are also affecting our reasons for wanting to go to university. Some of us think that a degree from Oxbridge has more of a cachet than ever, but equally there’s a lot debate around how much having a degree actually helps you get a job when you graduate.
‘I think a lot of state school students would be very put off by the cost of going to unversity in general, so first you have to convince them to do that and THEN you have to convince them that they’re good enough to get in. It’s a shame because when I was at university, state school students did just was well – if not better – than students from private school.’
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane
Picture: Rex
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.