Cambridge scraps own entry forms

Cambridge will no longer have a separate application system

Cambridge University is to scrap its separate application form, in an attempt to remove barriers to any pupil considering applying for a place.

The £10 fee also goes. The changes should be in place for applications this year for courses starting in 2009.

Cambridge applicants will in future use standard university admissions forms, though the deadline remains 15 October.

The moves are part of the university's efforts to recruit students from a wider range of social backgrounds.

There have been fears that the current additional application procedure could deter students who might already be hesitant about applying to Cambridge University.

The 15 October deadline is three months ahead of the standard mid-January deadline and applies also to Oxford and to medical, dentistry and veterinary medicine schools.

Cambridge says it is necessary to allow for the logistics of interviewing 12,000 candidates in December.

Negative perceptions

Scrapping the separate application form is intended to remove any perception of artificial barriers to students from families which might not usually consider applying to Cambridge.

The university has been criticised for recruiting too low a proportion of students from state schools.

A report published last month suggested that teachers' negative perceptions of Cambridge's intake was part of the problem of under-representation.

"The changes reflect Cambridge's determination that its applications procedure should be as straightforward as possible for applicants, especially those from 'non-traditional' backgrounds," says a statement from the university.

At present, students wanting to apply to Cambridge have to fill in separate forms, including a supplementary application questionnaire, as well as the standard Ucas application.

The university highlighted the approval from state schools for a less complicated admissions process.

Dave Kelly, principal of Barrow in Furness Sixth Form College, said: "The changes will remove another perceived barrier to potential applicants and students will find the process less daunting.

"I hope that this will encourage more of our very brightest students to consider Cambridge as an option."

The online Ucas application process means that students can put in an application for Cambridge in October and then make other choices later in the year.

For any students who have not received any offers from their initial choices - or who have rejected the offers they have received - there is another window for applying to other courses, which runs from the end of February until the end of June.

This so-called "extra" application process from Ucas, limited to those not holding any offers after the first round of applications, allows students to apply to universities one at a time.