How do unis actually strategise giving offers to applicants?

I was just curious, what strategy do unis actually employ to ensure that they have the right numbers of students attending the course when it starts?
Do they ‘oversubscribe’ courses, in the sense that they give out more offers than the course usually has the capacity for to allow for some declining the offer, or do they give out the same number of offers as their capacity for the course, then use clearing for any spare spaces?

I suspect its sort of a mix, but I was just curious about what goes on in the application people’s heads during that process.

Reply 1

swanseajack1

Original post by Haneul_Sol

Universities give out several times more offers than they have spaces, They have years experience and stats to know what numbers they need. They know that not everyone they make offers to will accept the offer and some wont reach their grades. They are able to accept students slightly below their grades if they need to meet their numbers or they can go into clearing. It depends on how popular the university and course is.