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Number of course applicants

I’m trying to find out numbers of applicants for the courses I’m applying for. Is there anywhere I can find this information?
Original post
by Dramafifi
I’m trying to find out numbers of applicants for the courses I’m applying for. Is there anywhere I can find this information?

What will the number of applicants tell you? Are you actually trying to work out the likelihood of an offer, purely based upon the numbers? If so, that information is available.

In answer to your actual question, UCAS publish details how many applicants there were in every admissions cycle for each university and course area, but not to each individual course.

If you want more detailed information than that, you'd have to check directly with the universities concerned. Some universities publish this information freely (e.g. Cambridge and Imperial) but most don't. If a university's admissions team won't tell you (many won't) you may need to file a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, or find someone else who's done so a published the response. You can list of previous FoI requests on https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/.

Reply 2

It wont tell you anything meaningful - because what it cant tell you is how many of those people had a realistic chance of an offer. I think it would surprise you how many people do not read entry requirements, and apply without vital subjects, inadequate GCSE grades, or apply with CCC for A* courses etc - and get an immediate rejection. What you really need to know if 'how many people who met the entry requirements in full actually got an offer' - not 'applicants vs. places'.

An example : a Gateway to Medicine course that is only open to Contextual applicants and of those, only with predicted grades below a specific threshold. Yet hundreds of applicants who don't meet these basic requirements still apply every year - hundreds of them. This totally warps the admissions stats and makes it look as though the course is far more competitive than it actually is - ie. if applicants actually met those specific conditions, there were few enough of them that they stood a vey good chance of an interview, far better than the overall stats suggested.

So - be very careful about what you think 'admissions stats' can actually tell you, and don't use them as a guide to where you should apply.

Reply 3

Original post
by McGinger
It wont tell you anything meaningful - because what it cant tell you is how many of those people had a realistic chance of an offer. I think it would surprise you how many people do not read entry requirements, and apply without vital subjects, inadequate GCSE grades, or apply with CCC for A* courses etc - and get an immediate rejection. What you really need to know if 'how many people who met the entry requirements in full actually got an offer' - not 'applicants vs. places'.
An example : a Gateway to Medicine course that is only open to Contextual applicants and of those, only with predicted grades below a specific threshold. Yet hundreds of applicants who don't meet these basic requirements still apply every year - hundreds of them. This totally warps the admissions stats and makes it look as though the course is far more competitive than it actually is - ie. if applicants actually met those specific conditions, there were few enough of them that they stood a vey good chance of an interview, far better than the overall stats suggested.
So - be very careful about what you think 'admissions stats' can actually tell you, and don't use them as a guide to where you should apply.

Thank you, this is really helpful

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