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Most competitive degree in the UK?

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a toss up between economics and medicine, both attract very high calibre applicants, there are not very many other courses where most applicants have 8a*'s+ and crazy A-level combos with 5+ subjects.
I read somewhere something to do with veterinary science was very hard to get into (not vet).
medicine, law, dentistry, vet med etc

also, every course at oxbridge
JohnKennedy
a toss up between economics and medicine, both attract very high calibre applicants?


I would say, with regards to Econ, it depends where you apply... Not all Econ courses are as competitive as E&M and PPE at Oxford, Econ at LSE, Warwick, UCL, etc...
adilmorrison
German...


Well 1. Sole languages tend to have a lower entry requirement (no one wants to do them) and UCL must have really, really wanted them.

UCL have arguably the best German department after Oxbridge.
The ones where you get paid the most, dentistry, medicine economics etc. I think the main reason for the economics 'boom' is due to the massive amounts of money you could potentially make from a career in investment banking.
Reply 86
Avatar for _Fleur_
_Fleur_
9
adhesive
Why are you looking at entry requirements to see how competitive it is. Also, just because you don't know anyone applying for dentistry doesn't mean it's not competitive.

Manchester: Approx 900 applications for 75 places

Sheffield: Approx 1000 applications (300-350 interviewed, 200-220 offers) for 65 places

Leeds: Approx 1000 applications for 96 places

Bristol:Approx 750 applications (220 interviewed, 180 given offer) for 75 places

Kings: Approx 1000 applications (230 offers) for 150 places

Birmingham: Approx 1100 applications for 75 places

Queen Mary: Approx 1000 applications for 55 places

etc


Erm actually read carefully and you'll see I'm not looking at entry requirements, Im looking at offers. It seems to me that they're a pretty good indicator of how competitive a course is, as a University wouldn't make a relatively low offer to a mediocre candidate if there was a lot of high level competition for places. That would be craaazy.

I guess I was just suprised about dentistry as, like I said, I don't know anyone at all doing it, but if your stats are accurate then fair point. :biggrin:
Reply 87
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tomster
13
Greatleysteg
No.

And when you first applied to university, Oxbridge still gave out AAB offers...

Nah, UCL give BBB offers out for the more 'obscure' languages.

Examples being:

Dutch
Scandanavian Studies (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or old Norsk)
Eastern European languages (Russian in particular)
tomster
Nah, UCL give BBB offers out for the more 'obscure' languages.

Examples being:

Dutch
Scandanavian Studies (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or old Norsk)
Eastern European languages (Russian in particular)



Understandably so, but then languages is such an umbrella term.

Major (European) languages, then, are highly competitive.
Greatleysteg
Understandably so, but then languages is such an umbrella term.

Major (European) languages, then, are highly competitive.


I don't know why you keep on insisting this is the case. Yes, languages are competitive at the "top" universities, but then pretty much all courses are.

Comparatively speaking though, languages are not really that competitive when compared with the likes of economics, English, medicine, law and dentistry.
Grapevine
I don't know why you keep on insisting this is the case. Yes, languages are competitive at the "top" universities, but then pretty much all courses are.

Comparatively speaking though, languages are not really that competitive when compared with the likes of economics, English, medicine, law and dentistry.


In that case, Economics isn't that competitive, either, then. It's easy to get onto "an" Economics course, if we're not thinking of top 20 or so unis.
Reply 91
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adhesive
_Fleur_
Erm actually read carefully and you'll see I'm not looking at entry requirements, Im looking at offers. It seems to me that they're a pretty good indicator of how competitive a course is, as a University wouldn't make a relatively low offer to a mediocre candidate if there was a lot of high level competition for places. That would be craaazy.

I guess I was just suprised about dentistry as, like I said, I don't know anyone at all doing it, but if your stats are accurate then fair point. :biggrin:


My stats are taken from the unversity websites, I'm sure if you do a search you will see that thay are correct.
The ratio of applications to places is practically irrelevant when trying to determine the competitiveness of a degree. A much more useful statistic (often unavailable, unfortunately) is applications/offers. Oxbridge might not have as impressive applicants/place ratios, but they give hardly any more offers than they have places.
Reply 93
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Waheyyyy
OP
1
I'll just make this clear for the third time :p::

I am talking about the most competitive degree at a particular Uni - not a 'language degree', but French at UCL (for example).
Reply 94
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poossum
2
I think Economics at LSE
Reply 95
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gyyy2807
14
Economics at Cambridge or LSE
Medicine, Vet Med, Dentistry, Law, and Economics, since they're competitive pretty much everywhere.
Greatleysteg
In that case, Economics isn't that competitive, either, then. It's easy to get onto "an" Economics course, if we're not thinking of top 20 or so unis.


Yeah but economics is still way more competitive than languages at the top unis.
Reply 98
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*Gee*
physiotherapy is very competitive!
Reply 99
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Mark_E
10
I would say Musical Theatre at Mountview/Arts Ed - 3000+ applicants for only 30 or so places

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