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Law, medicine, vet med, economics & architecture I would guess are the top 5.
I know that overall there are around 5 applicants per place (seems low compared to others!)


but arguably most (though i accept not all) others don't have all 5 applicants expecting to get straight As at A level - for example Bristol has up to 20 apps per place for philosophy,compared to ~5 at cambridge, but i guess there'll be more variety in the applicants - maybe...
leannemann
Law, medicine, vet med, economics & architecture I would guess are the top 5.


History is one of the most competitive as I recall.
JohnStuartMill
History is one of the most competitive as I recall.

25% of History applicants get in while only 10%-19% for the ones I mentioned but that's only going by statistics.
Reply 5
In terms of number of applicants per place, Cambridge is very self-selecting; people will often apply to other universities without thinking about them to the same degree as they would about Cambridge (i.e. choosing college, is the course right, will they get in etc).
Reply 6
Also, it's low because this is applicants per place. Look at applicants per offer, and you'll get a very different statistic for many universities. Cambridge gives out around 1.2 offers for every person who matriculates. Bristol, in contrast, gives out 5-6. So while Bristol may have 20 applicants per place, over 25% of applicants get offers, it's just many of them refuse their offer or don't meet their grades.
Reply 7
Drogue
Also, it's low because this is applicants per place. Look at applicants per offer, and you'll get a very different statistic for many universities. Cambridge gives out around 1.2 offers for every person who matriculates. Bristol, in contrast, gives out 5-6. So while Bristol may have 20 applicants per place, over 25% of applicants get offers, it's just many of them refuse their offer or don't meet their grades.

I've never thought of that! Thats v. true.
There are the fully new stats on Cambridge's websites. Maybe u can look over.
Reply 9
how about sps ,.,, i head that it was very competitie.. true?
also while on the subject which are the most competitive colleges? (esp for SPS)
THNX :smile:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/statistics/detailed.html

That'll be of use to most of you, since it breaks it down into subjects, and then colleges, so you can see the "Offers to applicants" ratio for each college.
Reply 12
dam it! engineering is REALLY popular! Would being a girl be an advantage???
Reply 13
ali p
dam it! engineering is REALLY popular! Would being a girl be an advantage???


It shouldn't be!
Reply 14
ali p
dam it! engineering is REALLY popular! Would being a girl be an advantage???



Certainly, looking at the stats, if the admissions tutors are conscious about maintaining a sex balance then you might have a slightly greater chance on a course like engineering or Comsci which is 90% male if i rememeber rightly. However, if you're ****, they're not gonna say 'oh bless, shes a girl. Let's let her in'. But I'm sure you're not ****. :biggrin:

How comes Cambridge want a photo and ucas don't? I always wondered that.
How comes Cambridge want a photo and ucas don't? I always wondered that.


They use it to identify you at interview, I think. :smile:
Reply 16
Evangeline
They use it to identify you at interview, I think. :smile:


Most likely, however despite Cambridge being one of the hardest universities to get into in the country it does have one of the lowest application rates. Surely if photographic identification was of such importance other universities would have adopted this...Though I suppose Cambridge endeavours to interview the majority of it's applications within the entry requirements so maybe they have more interviews to hold...

What a rather pointless question I asked. My apologies.
Reply 17
Its Theology... so damn hard to get into LOL
Reply 18
THEY LIE!!

I went to St Catz open day and the admissions tutor for med said they got around 60 applicants (for around 11 places) and they all had about 10A*. I think he was trying to scare us, tbh It certainly scared me! The stats here says St Catz got about 40 applicants! And most medics don't seem to have perfect rows of A*s for GCSE (I got 12 A*s so that's a moot point for me, but regardless!).
Reply 19
sassygirl
THEY LIE!!
...The stats here says St Catz got about 40 applicants!


i don't know how the stats/process work in Cam - but i certainly do know the numbers interviewed for Medicine at Oxford college X are considerably higher than the applicants : offers published stats ratio in the prospectus.

reasons being - the published stats are normally 3 year averages (to try & make more reliable & less susceptible to 'playing the numbers game' applicant fluctuations?) but overall application numbers are generally going up each year.
& usually the published stats are only first choice college applicants - so don't take into account the allocations of open application people.

so on the applications : offers point - it may not have been quite as simple as you being 'lied' to. :smile: