CAMBRIDGE University has launched a charm offensive to woo the schoolmates of the North-East girl rejected by Oxford in a snub that sparked a storm of controversy.
Chancellor Gordon Brown blamed Oxford for operating an "old school tie" network after it turned down 18-year-old Laura Spence, from North Tyneside.
The university was accused of elitism. Now Cambridge has launched an effort to attract other pupils from Laura's school.
The vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, Professor Sir Alec Broers, sent a letter to Paul Kelley, headteacher of Monkseaton Community High School.
The letter says: "Cambridge is a world-class university and it is open to your students.
"That doesn't mean that just applying will get them a place, or that getting three As secures entry. What it does mean is that there are no secret rules and there is no hidden agenda.
"I hope that you will not let the controversy of the last few weeks be the basis of the advice that you give your students."
Cambridge boasts it admitted 53 per cent of first-year students from the state sector last year - better than Oxford's 49 per cent.
A spokeswoman for Cambridge University said the letter had been sent to 6,000 state and independent schools in Britain in response to the controversy over Laura
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