Decoding University Admissions

How do we make sense of the tremendous amount of admissions data generated every year? Where does our ability to understand the admissions environment and pass that on come from?

The Information

First step is our data. How do we source it, and what do we collect? At Spyglass, we collect a wide range of data from universities every year, where possible - this is done through our own personal contacts in the admissions departments of leading UK universities, but we also make broad use of the UK Freedom of Information Act to collect and process a very wide range of additional, supplementary data about admissions rates and criteria which aren’t on the website, such as break-downs by student nationality, school type, and qualifications. We combine all of this information with invaluable input from our former students, some of whom go on to study at leading UK universities and elect to feed back to us on department or degree-specific information from inside the university, often getting more candid data from officers as an “insider” who has already been through the process. Some universities make some of their data available (such as Oxford: https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/AnnualAdmissionsStatisticalReport2022.pdf Cambridge: https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/undergrad_admissions_statistics_2022_cycle.pdf, and Imperial: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/about/introducing-imperial/facts-and-figures/college-data-and-statistics-catalogue/college-overview/statistics-guide/transparency-information/) but many others do not, and for them - we secure the information by compelling them to disclose it legally.

We also closely monitor university and course web pages, as well as departmental bulletins and announcements from all major examination boards to ensure that we have up to date information on the content and structure of tests, as well as any possible changes to specifications. We combine this with our own network of contacts and colleagues who have direct insight into current operations at these organisations.

We also generate a lot of our own data. With years and years of families under our aegis, some have very graciously offered to help fill in surveys, and circulate them in schools. We annually create the Spyglass Admissions Survey, which is one of the largest of its kind in the country, and this is an invaluable source of information about the ways in which students are being supported and let down by their schools and other support networks. We also use our own contacts in schools up and down the country to collect anonymised data on everything from university preparedness to what medium makes the best revision materials (incidentally, it’s the combination of a good textbook and a 1:1 lesson to work through a topic). Our own survey data joins our existing database, but on its own is no help. We are also able to make use of data collected by our colleagues and other firms in the industry more generally, and use survey data collected by those firms, alongside our own surveys, information from universities, and from independent bodies like UCAS to shape our understanding of UK admissions.

All of this information becomes useful when it is added to the already considerable body of knowledge held by our academic staff, all of whom are former admissions officers, university academics, or school UCAS coordinators. They combine the latest updates with their own decades-long experiences in education and in university admissions to create genuinely unique levels of insight and expertise in the admissions landscape.

The Application

For all of us here at Spyglass, having access to the most up to date information from a huge range of sources is fantastic, it helps us remain at the forefront of admissions strategy and keeps us learning, but that’s no use if we can’t share it with the most important people of all. You.

In addition to being admissions experts, every single one of us at Spyglass is an experienced teacher and communicator. We’re all seasoned academics, and are in our element when visualising, sharing, and communicating the data, and our conclusions, to our clients. We share our knwoeldge and insights through the overall strategy that we provide to our students and parents, but also in the form of detailed admissions roadmaps, timelines, plans and guidance for supercurriculars, detailed coaching for interviews and admissions tests, editorial support for essay competitions and personal statement, and above all, our client approach.

At Spyglass, we all take the outcomes for our clients very seriously. That means we take you seriously too, and we make sure that, throughout your time with Spyglass, we are clearly, frequently, professionally, and openly communicating to you in a way which ensures that you know all the facts, while we take care of the challenges. Is it this approach that makes our data come to life, we pass it on to our students to empower them to make the most of their own future.