Why can't I apply to both Oxford and Cambridge undergrad?

If Oxbridge pull out of UCAS, they'd not be that different from in the past European universities or oversea universities British people can apply to. Whilst there will be significantly more people who forgo a UCAS offer in this case, they are still two universities, and it doesn't affect anyone who isn't applying to Oxbridge at all (ie the vast majority).

No not at all.

I have 10 A* 2A at gcse/igcse level.

I am doing 6 AS subjects.

Stellar EC's related to subjects, e.g. olympiads, work experience, maths competitions etc.

I would rather not go to uni then not attend a top 5 in my eyes.

UCL is a poor man's LSE.



Thank you for your reply, I understand.

I won't take up being an organ scholar then since it would have little effect.

Thank you for your response, very detailed.

I'm not saying you have to attend this university, it's just always wise to have an insurance... Just in case... You could be the smartest person in the world with a 40 page CV yet still not get in because of how competitive some of these universities interview systems are, I have seen some of the smartest people I know, with academics and extra curriculars as strong if not stronger than yours get rejected because of the crazy systems!!

All I am saying is it helps... I wish you all the best of luck and congrats on your amazing grades... What course are you applying to?
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Thank you for your reply.

Straight up Econ at Cam, Warwick and LSE, and Econ and maths at LSE.

I do understand what you are saying though, my friend had a girl in his class only apply to Yale and then got rejected srs.

Where are you thinking of applying

When people say economics I always imagine you 10 years down the line as the next millionare sat stacking cash... I dont know why... but lets be hopeful you can do that.

and sucks really to have your hopes set on something and get rejected

I am in year 13 and so have already applied and have got an offer from Cardiff for medicine. Medicine applications are an absolute pain!!! its so competative!

The simple truth is that, when UCCA (as it was then) started in 1962/63, it did not handle the Oxbridge admissions. They joined a couple of years later (for 1966 entry), once the system was working properly and with the proviso of applicants being allowed to apply to only one of them. They would not have joined in other circumstances.

From their point of view, the chief issue is that they would not be able to deal with double the number of applicants and would also lose nearer half their offer holders rather than 5% to 10%.

This would have a knock-on effect along the line, with other top universities losing higher proportions of offer holders, injecting chaos and doubt into the system.

This isn't quite right. Dual applications were allowed for all applicants at least into the 1990s. However dual offers were not made. Your application was only considered by your second choice university if you were rejected by your first choice.

I don't think so; that is not my recollection. In my day you had to order your choices in preference order and had to decline offers as they came in so that you never held more than one firm offer and one insurance offer at any one time. I'm pretty sure you could only apply to one of Oxford or Cambridge (and, for what it's worth, Wikipedia agrees) but I cannot prove it.

About 21/2 years ago I quoted from an Oxford prospectus:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2207754&p=40734589#post40734589

The rest of what you posted accords with my recollection.

Fair enough, though I'd imagine the forced and open preference ordering of choices in those days acted as a powerful disincentive to those thinking of applying to both, as universities were very touchy about being named behind their rivals and many people failed to get offers from their less-preferred choices.