The easiest university courses to get into prestigious Oxford and Cambridge
Revealed: The easiest university courses to get into prestigious Oxford and Cambridge - where up to 70 per cent of applicants are accepted | Daily Mail Online
At Cambridge, 69.7 per cent of modern and medieval languages applicants in 2024 were offered a place at the university - the highest rate of any other subject. This was up from 48.8 per cent a decade earlier, reported The Times. With 2,654 applications, engineering was the most sought-after degree at Cambridge. However, only 371 received offers, or 13.9 per cent. Meanwhile, half of the sixth-formers who applied to study European and Middle Eastern languages at Oxford were accepted, compared to 8.1 per cent in 2014. Philosophy and modern languages (42.6 per cent), and geography (33.8 per cent) are also ranked among the highest success rates for applicants.
At Cambridge, 69.7 per cent of modern and medieval languages applicants in 2024 were offered a place at the university - the highest rate of any other subject. This was up from 48.8 per cent a decade earlier, reported The Times. With 2,654 applications, engineering was the most sought-after degree at Cambridge. However, only 371 received offers, or 13.9 per cent. Meanwhile, half of the sixth-formers who applied to study European and Middle Eastern languages at Oxford were accepted, compared to 8.1 per cent in 2014. Philosophy and modern languages (42.6 per cent), and geography (33.8 per cent) are also ranked among the highest success rates for applicants.
Reply 1
To be blunt, these figures are useless and expressly do not note how ‘easy’ it is for any one candidate to receive an offer.
At best, you might infer which courses have candidates who are better at self selecting.
Having worked in admissions for many years, I always use the following example to explain this. I work at a nominally prestigious RG uni. One of our courses has a low acceptance rate on paper, which might make you think the offer making process is highly selective. In reality we’ll accept anyone with a pulse onto the course, it’s just because it has low grade offer that it attracts a lot of speculative applicants who don’t take the time to read the subject requirements.
I’d also be wary of sourcing info from the Daily Fail, whose entire business model is predicated on emotive headline rage bait.
At best, you might infer which courses have candidates who are better at self selecting.
Having worked in admissions for many years, I always use the following example to explain this. I work at a nominally prestigious RG uni. One of our courses has a low acceptance rate on paper, which might make you think the offer making process is highly selective. In reality we’ll accept anyone with a pulse onto the course, it’s just because it has low grade offer that it attracts a lot of speculative applicants who don’t take the time to read the subject requirements.
I’d also be wary of sourcing info from the Daily Fail, whose entire business model is predicated on emotive headline rage bait.
Reply 2
Yes this really tells you nothing about how “easy” a course is to get into, it just tells you some statistics about the popularity of some courses vs others.
Reply 3
Does the article mention that you can only apply for MML at Cambridge if you're doing a language A level? And your predicted grades are AstarAA? That pool of students is, sadly, getting smaller, so less competition. Not sure that makes it 'easy'.
Reply 4
Yes and for EMEL at Oxford you not only have to have an A level in MFL but also be enthusiastic about starting a Middle Eastern language you have probably never studied before. That is going to be a very self-selecting group of 18 year olds. And probably a fiercely committed and talented group too - not an easy field to be in the top half of.
Reply 5
18
Provisional entries for GCSE, AS and A level: summer 2025 exam series - GOV.UK
There were only 6,405 entries for A-Level French in June 2025.
Also, A-Level German had just 2,125 entries in June 2025.
However, A-Level Spanish had 7,830 entries in June 2025.
There were only 6,405 entries for A-Level French in June 2025.
Also, A-Level German had just 2,125 entries in June 2025.
However, A-Level Spanish had 7,830 entries in June 2025.
(edited 1 month ago)
Reply 6
Also for other RG universities the same is true. For example, at UCL to apply for a French degree , you must have at least an A in French A level. Even though, your other subjects could be a B, studies have shown that Language A levels are notoriously difficult in which to obtain high grades.
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