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Oxbridge and other universities

Can i apply to Oxford or Cambridge and at the same time apply for other universities in the UK or outside of it ? And why is it that you have to choose to apply to either Oxford or Cambridge , why can' t you apply for both at the same time ?
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PL1234
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No you can’t apply to both for undergrad but you can for postgrad. You can apply to one of Oxford and Cambridge and then 4 other unis due to a total of 5 universities.
If you want to apply elsewhere you can apply to as many countries but you have to check each country to know how many you can apply to and their individual systems. (If you’re thinking the US you can apply to as many as you want)
This doesn’t mean go overboard look at the QS or THE rankings and decide to apply to every top 30 university but I doubt anybody would do that lol.
You can apply to up to 5 UK universities through UCAS - if you were only allowed to apply to oxbridge most people wouldn't end up going anywhere! You have to chose to apply to one or the other bc the application process is a lot more intense than for other universities, with entrance exams and interviews. You wouldn't physically be able to do the interviews at both places as they happen at a similar time! Have a look at the various oxbridge threads on here for lots more info, as well as the websites
It's mainly so they don't have near on jhalf their cohorts ditching them for the other. It would make for a very unstable situation as to how many students accept their offer. They would have to substantially over offer and given the collegiate system, when there's vastly different and varying acceptance rates between colleges, that makes things very difficult indeed. At the end of the day, why accept a student that doesn't want to go to your uni? Especially when you're considered joint best.
For undergraduate, you can only apply to one of either Oxford or Cambridge (unless you are applying for Graduate-Entry Medicine). You may also only apply to one course at either university. This will constitute one of your five UCAS choices, and thus you can apply for four other courses with few restrictions (except for in cases such as Medicine and Veterinary Sciences). You may apply to as many other international, non-UCAS courses as you wish.

So you could, for example, apply to Oxford, four other UK universities, and then 100 other international universities.
Original post by Anonymous
Can i apply to Oxford or Cambridge and at the same time apply for other universities in the UK or outside of it ? And why is it that you have to choose to apply to either Oxford or Cambridge , why can' t you apply for both at the same time ?

Its a resource thing re: why you can't apply to both. Oxbridge commits vastly more resources into finding the best candidates - one of the key things that sets it apart from other unis. There isn't even another uni that interviews all of its candidates! And if half of those selected candidates turned them down it would be a huge waste. So they have agreed between them, that its one of the other.
Original post by Anonymous
Can i apply to Oxford or Cambridge and at the same time apply for other universities in the UK or outside of it ? And why is it that you have to choose to apply to either Oxford or Cambridge , why can' t you apply for both at the same time ?

As well as the other reasons mentioned, the processes are very draining and interviews, etc would clash.

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