Are certain colleges harder to get into?

I'm applying for Physics at Merton, and I got the impression that this college might be particularly competitive for my subject. Does such competition affect how easy it is to get an offer from a specific college?

Thanks

Well yes, if a single college is relatively speaking oversubscribed then you are less likely to get into that specific college (assuming all applicants are roughly equal). At least in theory though, your chance of getting into the university should be roughly constant since you're interviewed by tutors from more than one college and there are cross-college consultations when discussing offers. In reality, the percentage of applicants who get into the university does vary by college (the overall trend, even though it's weak, is that applicants to more competitive colleges tend to be slightly over-represented in the pool of offer holders relative to the proportions applying in the first place) but I do not think this is a causal relationship, I think the more likely reason is that not all applicants are equal and stronger applicants may have a tendency to apply to certain colleges.

Merton is indeed one of the more competitive colleges for Physics (at least in the 2011-2013 period that we have data for). If you're sure that Merton is the college for you, apply - it shouldn't influence your chance of getting into the university, it just means that the chance of reallocation is slightly higher. On the other hand, if there's another college that you like just as much but which has fewer applicants per place then you might want to consider applying there, simply because it means the chance of reallocation to a random college is lower, not because it means you're more likely to be an offer-holder.

Yeah thanks I am going to apply there regardless of competitiveness I was just wondering whether or not it would make a significant difference but given that another college will do an interview it may not be too influential.