Is Edinburgh University exceedingly competitive?

Hello everyone,

I would be really grateful if someone could enlighten me about how competitive Edinburgh University is (I know that on their website they say that a typical offer is about AAA, but basically all the universities that I've looked at say that so it's difficult to judge which ones are more competitive than others). I want to study English Literature, so does anyone have any idea about how difficult it is to get in?

I'm completely aware that it's not going to be easy to get in, as I am not an international student (in fact, I live in England ).

Any replies would be great; thanks!

Having seen my daughter apply and her boyfriend also apply I can confirm it is difficult. It helps if you are Scottish and living there as the entry requirements are much lower. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to who they pick. My daughter was offered for maths AAA ( Predicted A*A*A) and her boyfriend - French rejected. He is predicted 3A* They are both state school pupils.

I think you just have to put it as one of your high risks and cross your fingers.

Please don't believe all of the Daily Mail esque junk about Edinburgh admissions - getting an offer at Edinburgh has nothing to do with whether your Scottish or whether you go to an independent/private school. The entry requirements are not lower for Scottish students, why would they be? At the end of the day all of the students have still got to sit in the same classes when they get to university - what would be the point of accepting an average ability Scot and putting them in a class of higher ability students from the rest of the UK? It is in every university's interest to attract the highest performing students and Edinburgh is no different. It's hardly like an English university is going to go "well we'll accept everyone from England with BBB because they're English, but if you're from Wales we're definitely going to require AAA" - that would be stupid and it works the same way in Scotland too.

The vast majority of people applying to Edinburgh have a string of A*s at A level and GCSE as standard. Having good predicted grades doesn't mean anything if EVERYONE has the same grades as you, it just means you're normal and puts you on the pile for consideration rather than on the auto reject pile. The thing which distinguishes these applicants is the personal statement and Edinburgh is one of the most competitive universities in the UK, and interestingly, one of the few that saw an increase in applications for 2012 entry. For whatever reason, it was deemed that your daughter's application was worthy of an offer whereas her boyfriend's application was not. It's as simple as that.

I am very sorry that your daughter's boyfriend was rejected as that is always difficult, but it has nothing to do with where they are from or what qualifications they have studied. Please don't give space to rumours which simply aren't true as it isn't helpful to anyone.

actually, Edinburgh's Scottish offers are generally in Higher grades, (as this is the standard) and are roughly equivalent to AS levels, although they may put a couple of Advanced Highers in the offer if you're studying them.

The A level offers are in A2s, as this is again the standard that university offers are usually done by.

The reason for this is that the Scottish university system is designed so that pupils go after their Highers and study for four years, as opposed to studying for A2s and going to university for three years. Advanced Highers were largely for specialisation (many scottish unis require an Advanced higher in the subject you're studying) or for if you wanted to study in England or internationally.

Please don't believe all of the Daily Mail esque junk about Edinburgh admissions - getting an offer at Edinburgh has nothing to do with whether your Scottish or whether you go to an independent/private school. The entry requirements are not lower for Scottish students, why would they be? At the end of the day all of the students have still got to sit in the same classes when they get to university - what would be the point of accepting an average ability Scot and putting them in a class of higher ability students from the rest of the UK? It is in every university's interest to attract the highest performing students and Edinburgh is no different. It's hardly like an English university is going to go "well we'll accept everyone from England with BBB because they're English, but if you're from Wales we're definitely going to require AAA" - that would be stupid and it works the same way in Scotland too.

The vast majority of people applying to Edinburgh have a string of A*s at A level and GCSE as standard. Having good predicted grades doesn't mean anything if EVERYONE has the same grades as you, it just means you're normal and puts you on the pile for consideration rather than on the auto reject pile. The thing which distinguishes these applicants is the personal statement and Edinburgh is one of the most competitive universities in the UK, and interestingly, one of the few that saw an increase in applications for 2012 entry. For whatever reason, it was deemed that your daughter's application was worthy of an offer whereas her boyfriend's application was not. It's as simple as that.

I am very sorry that your daughter's boyfriend was rejected as that is always difficult, but it has nothing to do with where they are from or what qualifications they have studied. Please don't give space to rumours which simply aren't true as it isn't helpful to anyone.

I would like to hope that you are right - apart from the fact that my son has a friend doing physics at Edinburgh and she says that virtually all the Scottish students in her year had lower offers than her - they can't all be from tougher schools in poorer areas.

And I am pretty sure this was covered in the press last year - no not the Daily Mail although I am sure it foamed at the mouth - I think it was the Times but I may be wrong

Until recently, the biggest supplier of undergraduates to the University of Edinburgh was Eton College, an English school. Hope this helps to show that they are fair.

They do not favor Scots over the English. Scottish Advanced Highers are worth slightly more than A levels, hence Scots receive lower offers.

Other universities such as Oxford also gives lower offers to Scots.


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Er how can this be fair - "the biggest supplier of undergraduates to UofE was Eton" - how does this help the vast majority of the great unwashed who are not privileged to go to the top private school in the country and the 50% of applicants who are of the xx variety ( as opposed to the xy)

I was at an admissions day the other day and they higlighted that an enormous proportion of people get 3 As at A-level (I believe over 30%) compared to a much smaller percentage who get straight As at Scottish higher (I believe it's usually about 5%). Therefore to cut the equivelent academic ability from the top of each population you must demand what appear to be higher A-level results.

Also, almost all university applicants in Scotland do stay on to complete Advanced Highers which are equivelent to A-levels. I don't know about other subjects, but advanced higher maths has apparently got quite a bit more content than A-level.

Just my penny-worth!! :-)