Important stuff on UCAS and a huge thanks!

First of all I wanted to say thanks to all of you commented on the blog about your interviews. I'm sure you encouraged the last few coming through and I'm glad we can confirm that Cambridge interviews aren't either too scary or arbitrarily bizaare. It was great to meet a few of you around the place and to say hello!

I'm also really touched you found this experimental blog so useful. From our side, it was the smoothest round of interviews ever and I'm sure it's because most of you were using the blog and knew what to expect, when to turn up and what to do if you had problems. It's a win-win situation. We'll keep it going for at least a few weeks into the New Year so we can debrief you about decisions etc. Obviously, I won't post anything about any individuals situation but I can explain about how feedback works etc.

Anyway, a few important things about how we work after Christmas.

On 2nd January (a Friday), we post all decision letters. Some will arrive on the 3rd. I'll be in the office on the 2nd but really CAN'T tell you any decisions so please don't ask.

On 5th January (Monday), I'll be back in the office. Most of you will get your letters that day but, if you don't, please feel free to e-mail in for a decision. I know it may be hard to hear bad news but we're always nice about it (and thrilled when we have good news for you - I feel like Santa!) Please try and avoid phoning if you can as I have a lot of phone calls to make OUT that day but, by all means, if you have no internet access, do phone in.

The Pool runs from the 1st - 3rd January. By the time you know if you've been pooled or not, the pool will be over so there's genuinely no point in e-mailing in about that, either requesting to be pooled or asking for special consideration - we consider everyone again who is pooled. You MAY however get a phone call from another College on Sunday 4th who want to interview you later that week before you even get our letter saying you've been pooled. I'm not in the office on the Sunday so will need to phone my pool candidates on the Monday, hence requesting as few incoming phone calls as possible. I will also phone as many of our unsuccessful candidates as I can reach to tell them where they stand. This means I have about 60 calls to make that day all told - e-mail is GOOD if you have questions!

Finally, and this is really important, YOU WON'T SEE ANYTHING CHANGE ON UCAS TRACK UNTIL MID-JANUARY! At Cambridge, we first have to send our decisions to a central office before they can be loaded into UCAS and this doesn't usually happen before the pool is over so you won't see anything change until at least the 6th January, probably several days later. Please trust our letters or e-mails - UCAS will catch up in due course. This is the same for all colleges so do reassure any friends you have applying.

In the mean time, I hope you all have a very happy Christmas, a well-deserved break from school or work and very Happy New Year, whatever it holds.