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Most popular Oxford Colleges?

bridgetfryer

Which colleges generally get the most applications per place, and which the least?

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Reply 1

LaurensL

I saw a thread somewhere about the applicants per place ratio, but that was only about Mathematics.
I remember Magdalen having one of the highest ratio's with 4:1 (which is still very doable imo)
My college, St.Catz, had 2.2

Of course, I don't know how accurate the information in that thread was.

Reply 2

bridgetfryer

Actually i'll be applying for Maths, so that is handy

Reply 3

Huw Davies

I wouldn't set too much store by it though, as there's probably a bit of variation year by year and more importantly admissions (particularly in sciences) use pooling and additional interviews to minimise the effect of college choice on your overall chances.

Reply 4

BJack

I made a post about this for maths about a week ago, which you can find here

But as RichE says, these figures aren't all that useful:

The average applicant :tongue:

lace is about 5 these days for maths.

Partly the difference is due to a growth in the number of applicants since those out-of-date figures. Secondly those figures never included open applications, which are not an insignificant number, and one reason why publishing those figures was never that helpful.

Further the open applications and the second-choice interviews are allocated so as to level the seeming differences in competition.

You'd be better-off applying for a college that you really like and that suits you, rather than applying to one that had marginally fewer applicants per place a number of years ago.

Reply 5

bodybuilder22

I would imagine it would be colleges like Magdalen, Christ Church and Baliol

Reply 6

cpchem

bodybuilder22

I would imagine it would be colleges like Magdalen, Christ Church and Baliol

That's about right, I think. Worcester also tends to be quite popular.

EDIT: except, ahem... it's Balliol. Two 'l's.

Reply 7

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Worcester has been the most oversubscribed college for the last 2-3 years :smile:

As others have said though, just apply wherever you want to. Don't bother with the numbers game :smile:

Reply 8

chocolatebear

just to echo everyone don't base your college decision on number of applicants as it doesn't affect your chances of getting into oxford.
i don't know the exact figures or order but i've been told by our senior tutor that last year worcester had the most applications, then brasenose, and i'm not sure after that but i would presume christchurch and magdelen after that perhaps

Reply 9

hobnob

cpchem

That's about right, I think. Worcester also tends to be quite popular.

EDIT: except, ahem... it's Balliol. Two 'l's.

Three, surely? :p:

Reply 10

cpchem

hobnob

Three, surely? :p:

Damn.

Reply 11

upturnedpalms

cpchem

Damn.

Fail.

Reply 12

Conall1

Is there a proper list anywhere? I know there's one for Cambridge.

Reply 13

letscallitmagic

Nope no proper list but generally speaking you have Christ Church, Magdalen and Balliol which are over subscribed because of obvious reasons but then you have others which are applied to for specific reasons. Brasenose is always competitive (though if you speak to people who went twenty years ago, it was considered the worst one after maybe Teddy Hall) and Worcester, Wadham and St Johns are also quite over-subscribed.

Reply 14

Mayfly

It changes all the time. The only people within the university who tend to notice or care are the people currently at the most subscribed college (ahhh how well I remember Balliol's year of smug smug glory), the rest is an organic surge and dip of applicant panic applying not dissimilar to the stock market. Just apply where you want to go.

Reply 15

RichE

Mayfly

Well said. Truth is no-one really knows the past details, apart from admissions tutors, and even they can't predict what will happen this autumn. Also if a college is over-subscribed one year that is unlikely to apply equally in all subjects. The bottom line is that the university has in place various mechanisms to ensure this shouldn't be a worry for an applicant.

Reply 16

cpchem

Mayfly

- 570 applicants in my year :biggrin:

Reply 17

j_w

bridgetfryer

Actually i'll be applying for Maths, so that is handy

If your just asking out of interest, then the biggest 'tourist' colleges are probably the most popular (Christ Church, Magdalen, etc) with a few exceptions (can't remember the source but a few smaller ones like Jesus and Queens seem to have become incredibly popular over the last few years).

If your asking in a tactical 'looking to maximize your chances of getting in' kind of way, then don't. I won't repeat too much as the forum is full of these kind of questions, but you can't play the numbers game. Applicants per place refers to the number of people applying or allocated to that college as their first choice. Consequently it doesn't reflect the number of people actually interviewed there, nor does it reveal anything about the quality of the applicants. The open application, multiple interview and pooling systems minimize the effects of any applicant numbers bias so whichever college you apply to you'll be competing against a similar number. The only thing you can predict is that there will inevitably be a greater number of international applicants at the larger, more well known colleges. But since no one knows if they are typically 'better' than home students (in fact popular opinion would suggest non-UK students self-select from applying to Ox/Cam less) this is irrelevant. In short, just chose the college you like the best and that offers the things you require - your much better off doing this than looking to the statistics, because your unlikely to gain any advantage and may well end up applying to somewhere that wouldn't suit you as well.

Reply 18

Christelle19

Is new college a popular college? As it looks great, but no one really mentions it as being oversubscribed.

Reply 19

Huw Davies

Christelle19

Is new college a popular college? As it looks great, but no one really mentions it as being oversubscribed.

All the colleges are oversubscribed in a sense, as they all get more applications than they have places.

I'd expect New to be a popular choice, as it has a lot going for it.