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Does you success rate of getting into Oxford depend on the college

So Balliol has a 10% success rate. Since I applied to it, is that my only chance to get into Oxford. If I instead applied to Lincoln college which is a 20% success rate, would I have a better chance getting into Oxford overall?

I heard rumours of me getting referenced to another college but I'm not certain. Any of you guys know?
This must be second only to "Do I have a chance of getting into Oxford with these terrible grades?" as the most FAQ in this forum.

I don't know where you have obtained the figures you quote - the stats quoted on the University website for 2015 indicate that, for all subjects, Balliol has an acceptance rate of 12% (accepted at Balliol), and an overall acceptance rate of 18% (accepted at Oxford), whilst Lincoln's figures are 17% and 19% respectively i.e. for all subjects, there is only a single percentage point difference - easily small enough to be the result of random variations.

In any case, the answer to your question is that choice of college makes no difference to your chances of getting an offer. If you are good enough, you will get into Oxford.

So - apply for the college you like best, and try not to fret.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by OxFossil
This must be second only to "Do I have a chance of getting into Oxford with these terrible grades?" as the most FAQ in this forum.

I don't know where you have obtained the figures you quote - the stats quoted on the University website for 2015 indicate that, for all subjects, Balliol has an acceptance rate of 12% (accepted at Balliol), and an overall acceptance rate of 18% (accepted at Oxford), whilst Lincoln's figures are 17% and 19% respectively i.e. for all subjects, there is only a single percentage point difference - easily small enough to be the result of random variations.

In any case, the answer to your question is that choice of college makes no difference to your chances of getting an offer. If you are good enough, you will get into Oxford.

So - apply for the college you like best, and try not to fret.



We would endorse this advice and the data presented. The crucial things are a) the number of applications received for your chosen COURSE relative to available places and b) how well you perform in the different stages of the selection process relative to other candidates.

At some other Universities, if (say) Contemporary History is full you may be offered a place on (say) Politics as an alternative. At Oxford, this very rarely happens (it might happen if you apply for History & Politics [or similar] and are offered a place to read History sole - but instances of this are uncommon).

In contrast, every year students applying to college J may be offered instead a place at college K. In fact, around 1 in 4 of all offer holders are offered places at a college other than the one applied to. The reason for this is to ensure that the highest ranked candidates are offered places regardless of the college applied to.

Brasenose Admissions
I have applied to Oxford through open application but after visiting, I wanted to know if it is too late to change as I would like to apply to either Brasenose or St John's.
Original post by eleonoreolympie
I have applied to Oxford through open application but after visiting, I wanted to know if it is too late to change as I would like to apply to either Brasenose or St John's.


Highly doubt you can do anything about it now, tbh!

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