Which university subject has the highest entry requirements?

Thinking about which subject usually has the highest entry reqs. For me, Law, Medicine, and Engineering come to mind.

What other courses do you think Universities have entry reqs really high for?

Reply 1

marble arch

Ngl I’ve seen some pretty high maths and economics entry requirements. Pretty sure maths is A*A*A and Cambridge and Warwick plus STEP. I may be wrong though lol. Law isn’t actually too bad, don’t think it goes above A*AA anywhere. As for medicine it ranges between AAB-A*A*A

Reply 2

gjd800

Chemistry is A*A*A at Oxon.

Reply 3

ajj2000

Not really a sensible question as most courses have a range of offers depending on the university.

As such the answer will be courses like medicine, possibly optometry etc as limited numbers of universities offer them and they are competitive. You can add dentistry and vet surg to the list. However - the entry grades are likely no higher at many universities than those required for economics, cs etc.

Reply 4

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

Agree, medicine is competitive but the grade requirements aren't any higher than any other modestly popular course.

Lot's of unis ask for A*A*A for their headline programmes, COMPSCI, Law, ECON are usually top of the pops.

Reply 5

swanseajack1

Original post by Admit-One

You can add Maths to that list.

Reply 6

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by swanseajack1

You can add Maths to that list.

Yeah, good shout, had forgotten about that one.

Reply 7

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

I mean something also to note is that just because one uni has high entry criteria doesn't mean all do. There are law degrees which accept students with CCC at A-level, and there are law degrees requiring A*AA. The entry criteria really don't say anything about the degree subject - and also since published entry criteria can and will be inflated by some unis who know students use them as a reference point for "academic quality" (erroneously), they're not even good for gauging the "quality" of the course, or even the selectivity. There are some unis which have many of their courses with entry criteria of all As and A*s but when you look at the data of who they actually accept, the entering cohort's converted tariff scores are considerably lower than if they were all (or even mostly) at the level of their published criteria.

It's really just beyond pointless to spend any time speculating on the interpretation of entry criteria beyond just accepting they are a loose guide for the rough level one should be predicted to apply to that course competitively.

Reply 8

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

At Lancaster University, the entry reqs for Law are AAB, Medicine are AAA or AAB plus EPQ, and Engineering are ABB including Mathematics and a Physical Science. That being said, they might reduce these requirements at Clearing like they did for my course. They also didn't check the rest of my application before they accepted me through Clearing.

-Kao (Lancaster Maths & Stats Student Ambassador)

Reply 9

ParentMedStudent

Original post by Komodo772

Thinking about which subject usually has the highest entry reqs. For me, Law, Medicine, and Engineering come to mind.

What other courses do you think Universities have entry reqs really high for?

Due to A level grade erosion by highest entry requirement you must add things like specialist entrance exams, like UCAT for medicine, oxbridge entrance exams, interviews, personal statements.