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What are the most competitive courses at top universities

I know for a fact PPE is a highly competitive course around the top unis, but what about other courses.
Maths, Physics?
Economics/Business and Law I guess are highly competitive as well...

Reply 1

A Stranger in Moscow

12

IMO... Law, Medicine, PPE, History, English, Philosophy, Economics/Finance...

Reply 2

Audrey Hepburn

12

The most competitive courses at ANY university are medicine and law

At top unis, though, most courses are pretty competitive. Physics and the sciences aren't generally, unless your going for oxbridge (your gender also applies slightly with the sciences)

Reply 3

lvindy

most of the competitive courses are the ones which will get you high wages when you get a job

Reply 4

βored

14

Medicine, Vet med, Dentistry, Law

Mainly the ones that require entry exams or an earlier deadline, ect.

Reply 5

*pitseleh*

20

Harriellie

IMO... Law, Medicine, PPE, History, English, Philosophy, Economics/Finance...

Yeah - I'd say that's pretty spot on. I reckon Law and Medicine probably pip the others (Medicine especially) - and I think English, Economics, PPE and History are next. Philosophy, whilst very competitive, doesn't strike me as *quite* as competitive as the others - but it is still a difficult course to get onto.

Reply 6

A Stranger in Moscow

12

*ellen marine*

Yeah - I'd say that's pretty spot on. I reckon Law and Medicine probably pip the others (Medicine especially) - and I think English, Economics, PPE and History are next. Philosophy, whilst very competitive, doesn't strike me as *quite* as competitive as the others - but it is still a difficult course to get onto.

I'm probably just saying that because I know someone who has got rejected for a lot of straight Philosophy courses, and...most of the places I've seen offer AAA or AAB, while rather bizarrely, Durham want only BBB...[apparently]...

I think mostly because it's part of PPE.

I know loads of people applying for Physics and Maths and things but they all seem to have got in everywhere! I don't know why, but it doesn't make sense. Maybe I hang around with more mathematically minded people.

Reply 7

Dionysus

15

Medicine, Law, History, Politics (arguably above even History)

Reply 8

EvenStevens

OP

17

Physics is apparently not a very "popular" course nowadays, and thus less people are applying for it.

My girlfriend got in everywhere she applied to for Physics, all top 10 universities.

Reply 9

Renal

17

Vetmed - there are disproportionately few places in this country to study it, presumably because of the prohibitive cost of running the course.

Reply 10

Doji

17

1st: Med, Law, Econ/Finance, Vet Sci (Only because of the high apps :tongue:

lace ratio as renal said)

The others stated is a bit less competitive

Reply 11

Kater Murr

20

Dionysus

Medicine, Law, History, Politics (arguably above even History)

History and Politics is more competitive than History itself, but I'm not sure that Politics alone would be *that* competitive, would it?

Anyway - Med, Law, English, Economics, History, and... I hear - Architecture? They all seem to want high grades.

Reply 12

The West Wing

18

At Cambridge:

1. Architecture
2. Economics
3. Philosophy
4. SPS

Reply 13

TI-84

18

architecture?
it doesn't seem to have high asking grades =\
my friend got into UCL for architechture with ABB.

Reply 14

kates:)

15

I think it depends on the uni, even if they are in the top 10-20.
e.g. Economics (which is a competitive course as it stands) at LSE is notoriously harder to get onto than say some like Exeter/York who are still respectable in their own right.

Reply 15

The West Wing

18

Cambridge:

(by acceptance figures 2005)

1 Architecture – 10.34%
2 Philosophy – 17.04%
3 Economics – 18.43%
4 SPS – 19.89%
5 Law – 20.68%
6 Medicine – 21.94%
7 English – 25.17%
8 Oriental Studies 27.02%
9 Engineering – 27.25%
10. Vet. Med. – 27.35%
11. Land Economy 27.38%
12. History – 31.65%
13. MML – 32.04%
14. History of Art – 33.88%
15. Geography – 34.33%
16. Natural Sciences 35.71%
17. Computer Science 36.8%
18. Mathematics – 36.92%
19. ASNAC – 48.28%
20. Music – 48.39%
21. Arch and Anth – 50.00%
22. Theo & RS – 52.03%
23. Classics – 52.80%
24. Ed. Studies – 55.78%

Reply 16

plagaan

West Wing, are you talking most competitive in terms of applicants per place?

I think we should be talking about hardest to get into, ie. a combination of applicants per place and average standard of applicants, otherwise we'd get some seriously weird results.

I would put oxford PPE,E&M and medicine in there, oxbridge law, and perhaps Imperial medicine and LSE economics.

But these are all guesses, as it is impossible to determine the average standard of applicants on each course, as each department within each university will all look for slightly different things. Unless we're taking personal statement out of the equation and using just grades, in which case I haven't seen any figures.

I know loads of people applying for Physics and Maths and things but they all seem to have got in everywhere! I don't know why, but it doesn't make sense. Maybe I hang around with more mathematically minded people.

Don't know if they still do it, but a few years ago the government would give you extra grant money, unconditionally, if you studied physics.

Reply 17

*pitseleh*

20

I think this should show that Medicine is by far the most competitive of all.

Not sure how UCAS find these statistics - and I'm not sure how it's possible to have more acceptees than applicants, but hopefully that table gives a rough idea...

Edit: Ugh.. it appears to have erased my table. Here is a C&P version:

Subject / ALL APPLICANTS / DEGREE ACCEPTS
- Accounting (N4) / 5917 / 5905
- Architecture (K1) / 4734 / 3642
- Biology (C1) / 3970 / 4331
- Chemistry (F1) / 3222 / 3583
- Classical studies (Q8) / 971 / 868
- Drama (W4) / 9997 / 5827
- Economics (L1) / 6240 / 5314
- English studies (Q3) / 10169 / 8862
- Fine Art (W1) / 5679 / 4461
- French studies (R1) / 651 / 612
- Geology (F6) / 1114 / 1258
- German studies (R2) / 214 / 261
- History by Period (V1) / 8300 / 7175
- Information Systems (G5) / 2441 / 3337
- Journalism (P5) / 2124 / 1911
- Law by Area (M1) / 17694 / 14982
- Mathematics (G1) / 5608 / 5412
- Music (W3) / 5761 / 4501
- Philosophy (V5) / 1512 / 1369
- Physics (F3) / 3249 / 2934
- Politics (L2) / 4343 / 4152
- Pre-clinical Dentistry (A2) / 2577 / 1114
- Pre-clinical Medicine (A1) / 18949 / 8011
- Pre-clinical Veterinary Medicine (D1) / 1391 / 1015
- Psychology (C8) / 15036 / 13113

Reply 18

suek

17

That's interesting :O

I'd say for something like Economics though, the competition comes because a lot of those applicants will be aiming for top schools whereas something like Drama which is quite close in terms of how many places are available, is probably more spread out across different unis. Or Psychology even - LOADS of unis do Psychology, look at those numbers!!

Reply 19

MdKb_88

*ellen marine*

I think this should show that Medicine is by far the most competitive of all.

Not sure how UCAS find these statistics - and I'm not sure how it's possible to have more acceptees than applicants, but hopefully that table gives a rough idea...

Edit: Ugh.. it appears to have erased my table. Here is a C&P version:

Subject / ALL APPLICANTS / DEGREE ACCEPTS
- Accounting (N4) / 5917 / 5905
- Architecture (K1) / 4734 / 3642
- Biology (C1) / 3970 / 4331
- Chemistry (F1) / 3222 / 3583
- Classical studies (Q8) / 971 / 868
- Drama (W4) / 9997 / 5827
- Economics (L1) / 6240 / 5314
- English studies (Q3) / 10169 / 8862
- Fine Art (W1) / 5679 / 4461
- French studies (R1) / 651 / 612
- Geology (F6) / 1114 / 1258
- German studies (R2) / 214 / 261
- History by Period (V1) / 8300 / 7175
- Information Systems (G5) / 2441 / 3337
- Journalism (P5) / 2124 / 1911
- Law by Area (M1) / 17694 / 14982
- Mathematics (G1) / 5608 / 5412
- Music (W3) / 5761 / 4501
- Philosophy (V5) / 1512 / 1369
- Physics (F3) / 3249 / 2934
- Politics (L2) / 4343 / 4152
- Pre-clinical Dentistry (A2) / 2577 / 1114
- Pre-clinical Medicine (A1) / 18949 / 8011
- Pre-clinical Veterinary Medicine (D1) / 1391 / 1015
- Psychology (C8) / 15036 / 13113

here's another table: Here

What are the most competitive courses at top universities

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