Independent Schools University Applications

ANALYSIS OF

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS’

UNIVERSITY APPLICATIONS

Peter Mason

August 2011 Index

Sections 1 Introduction to the 2011 survey and report 2 Executive summary 3 Main findings 4 Analysis of Universities 5 Analysis of courses Analysis of the most popular subject areas at the most popular universities, including 6 Oxbridge 7 A more detailed analysis of the five most popular main subject areas 8 A close look at some high profile subject areas 9 Offers 10 Final remarks Tables: note, tables take their designation from the section of the Report in which they appear Table 3 Headline data Table 4a Top 25 universities by number of applications with offer rates Table 4b Comparison of national application number rankings with ISC rankings Table 4c Most popular universities by region Table 4d Proportion of applications to Scottish universities Table 4e Comparison of applications to Scotland from Scottish schools and other UK regions Table 5a Analysis of courses by UCAS/JACS main subject area Table 5b Rank order of main subject areas by number of applications Table 6 Analysis of top 5 main subject areas by university Table 7a Main Subject Area L: Social Studies Table 7b Main Subject Area N: Business & Administrative Studies Table 7c Main Subject Area V: Historical and Philosophical studies Table 7d Main Subject Area C: Biological Sciences Table 7e Main Subject Area Q: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects Table 8a Medical applications and offer rates ranked by university Table 8b Profile of Medicine offers per applicant Table 8c Dentistry applications and offer rates ranked by university Table 8d Profile of Dentistry offers per applicant Table 8e Veterinary Medicine (Science) applications and offer rates Table 8f Profile of Veterinary Medicine (Science) offers per applicant Table 8g Group R Table 8h Group T Table 8i Applications and offers for Mathematics (G100 – G190) Table 8j Applications and offers for Biology (C100 – C190)

2 Table 8k Applications and offers for Chemistry (F100 – F190) Table 8l Applications and offers for Physics (F300 – F390) Table 9a Universities making A* offers Table 9b A closer look at selected applications

3 1. Introduction to the 2011 Report

This Report presents an analysis of 2011 UCAS application data from a survey carried out in July 2011 among schools in four of the independent schools’ associations: GSA, HMC, ISA and SHMIS which are the constituent heads’ association members of the Independent Schools’ Council (ISC). The survey was commissioned by the schools’ Universities Sub-Committee. 246 schools responded with data from their final applicant status reports obtained from UCAS (or the school’s self-generated equivalent data) for the 2011 round of university applications. All data in all schools’ returns were used resulting in 107,242 applications (choices) from 22163 applicants being analysed. All identities of schools and students have been removed; applicants who had completely withdrawn from UCAS were not included in the analysis. The terminology used in the Report is that used by UCAS (see Appendix 1). In summary this means that: an applicant applies via UCAS for a place at university. S/he may make up to five1 applications (choices) and may receive offers which can be either conditional on gaining specified results or unconditional. The applicant responds by confirming which offer(s), if any, s/he wishes to accept, either as firm acceptance or as insurance. The survey data were issued before examination results were known and did not, therefore, provide any information about accepted applicants (accepts) which UCAS defines as: successful applicants, i.e. those that met the requirements of their offers. It is hoped that this Report will be useful at both an individual school level by informing staff and students about aspects of university applications, and also provide the Associations with reliable data from which to comment on national issues related to university entrance. Caveats: it must be stressed that these data and subsequent analysis represent one year only. Nevertheless, with such a large sample it can be assumed, with reasonable confidence, that the sample was representative of ISC schools’ UCAS applications as a whole. However, even with such a large population of applicants and applications, caution should be exercised when drawing too definite conclusions from more detailed analyses where the large overall sample becomes a much smaller population, for example the analysis of applications to an individual course at a specific university. Caution must also be exercised in attempting to extrapolate from historic data and analysis to future outcomes. The pattern in last year’s applications does not guarantee next year’s. The Report presents its analyses in tables with limited commentary where relevant. The data speak for themselves and need minimal further explanation. The term post-qualification is used in a general sense in the Report to mean any candidate who has completed their main course of study, whether A-level, Scottish Highers, Pre-U or IB, and is applying, or re-applying having received their results thus gaining an unconditional offer. The term university is used rather than HEI.

2. Executive summary Data from UCAS applicant status reports from 246 ISC schools’ 2011 UCAS applications were analysed. From these reports 107,242 applications from 22,163 applicants were available for analysis. This high return is thought to represent over 50% of the total applicants and applications made from ISC schools in 2011 and should therefore be a reliable guide to applications made by students in ISC schools as a whole.

1 Candidates may increase the number of their applications by using UCAS Extra (see www.ucas.co.uk)

4 The average number of applicants per school was 90, slightly higher than in 2010, ranging from 5 in the smallest to 331 in the largest, including post A-level applicants whose applications were estimated to represent around 18% of the total, the same as in 2010.. Deferred entry applications represented 6.6% of the total, a significant drop on 2010 (10.7%) which is unsurprising given the change in university funding for 2012.

The offer rate, defined as the percentage of applications receiving an offer2 was 72.0% across all courses, slightly greater than in 2010 (71.7%).

The percentage of applicants who received at least 1 offer was 97.0% (2010: 96.7%). The average number of offers per applicant was 3.4, again, slightly higher than in 2010 (3.3). Given the increased competition for places in 2011 this is noteworthy.

The top 25 universities by number of applications all received well over 1,000 applications, the highest, Bristol, receiving marginally over 5,000. Of these 25, 18 were Russell Group and 6 were 94 Group3 universities. Almost 70% of all applications were to Sutton Trust Top 304 universities.

Offer rates from the top 25 ranged from 28.4% at the lowest (Oxford University) to 88.0% at the highest (Loughborough University). Five of the top ten most popular universities were also in the top ten most popular universities nationally.

As in 2010, Oxford (2,850) received more applications than Cambridge (2,256) and its offer rate was again lower (28.4% compared with Cambridge 35.1%). Over 94% of schools in the survey had at least one Oxbridge applicant; the average number per school was 21.

Applications to popular universities differed across the regions of the UK. The most popular universities: Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Durham, Manchester appeared in the top 10 choices across all regions other than Scotland where the top 10 universities were all Scottish Universities. Of these, only two (Edinburgh and St Andrews) had a greater proportion of applicants from elsewhere in the UK than from Scotland. Whilst the offer rate from Edinburgh was slightly higher for students from schools in Scotland, the reverse was true for St Andrews. In view of the high profile of country of residence and fees payable a more detailed study was done on applications to Scottish universities.

Applications for 4,413 different courses (as defined by course code) were identified at 225 different universities. The most popular subject areas were within UCAS/JACS code L: Social Studies gained 16,310 applications, representing 15.2% of the whole (2010, 15.4%). This was followed by Business & Administrative Studies (code N: 11,540 applications, 10.8%); Historical and Philosophical Studies (code V: 10,776 applications, 10.0%); Biological Sciences (code C: 10,087 applications, 9.4%) and Linguistics, Classics and related subjects (code Q: 7,108 applications, 6.6%). Medicine and Dentistry (code A) registered 6,905 applications, 6.4% of the whole. The profile of these most popular courses is largely mirrored in applications to the most popular universities.

Economics (UCAS code L1XX) dominated the applications within the Social Studies subject area accounting for 28.5% of all applications within code L. Management Studies dominated applications within main subject area code N. In main subject area code V, History by Period accounted for almost half (44.3%) of the applications whilst in main subject area code C Psychology (34.2%) was the most popular. English Studies easily dominated code Q with 52.6% of all applications in this subject area.

2 Strictly this is the number of offers as a percentage of the total number of applications less any withdrawals. 3 See www.russellgroup.ac.uk and www.1994group.ac.uk for details of the Russell Group and the 94 Group universities. 4 See Appendix 2 for the list and explanation of this Group.

5 A more detailed analysis of applications for Medicine showed that Bristol was the most popular (441 applications), followed by Leeds (423), King’s London (359), Birmingham, (340) and Newcastle (315). The overall offer rate was 30.2% (2010: 29.8%) varying between 57% (Birmingham) to 14% (Oxford). 63.3% of the 1,598 applicants for Medicine received at least one offer with a small number (37, 2.3%) receiving 4 offers.

Smaller numbers applied for Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine (Science) where the offer rates were 28.0% and 25.9% respectively. The percentage of applicants who received at least one offer for these courses was 56.2% (Dentistry) and 60.3% (Veterinary Medicine (Science)).

Uptake of Modern Languages is of continuing national interest. Subject group R (European Languages, Literature and related subjects) attracted 4,744 applications largely (30.8%) a combination of two subjects within this domain. However, almost 1900 applications included one of these languages as a subsidiary in combination with a subject from another subject area.

Subject group T: Eastern, Asiatic, African, American and Australasian Languages, Literature and related subjects proved less popular being dominated by American Studies and combinations within which a group T language was a subsidiary. Chinese Studies, as a single defined subject, attracted 93 applications.

Applications for the Physics Sciences (Group F) increased compared with 2010 rising from 5.8% to 6.3% of the whole. Large numbers of schools had applicants for Mathematics and the Sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) with offer rates remaining high even at very competitive universities.

Analysing the actual offers made by universities to applicants proved less easy because of the many ways in which offers are denoted by UCAS. However, it was possible to identify those offers that required, for the second year, one or more A* grades at A-level. In 2010 only Cambridge University included A* within its offers. This year 13 universities did so. In 2010 14 of the 405 conditional offers at Cambridge required 2 A* grades with Maths (5) and Engineering (3) accounting for over half; this year 41 Cambridge offers required 2A* grades covering 11 subjects. Five Cambridge offers required 3 A* grades for entry to courses in Natural Sciences (1), Engineering (3) and Economics (1). Imperial College, London also appeared to increase its grade requirements in 2011 with 17 offers that included two A* grades.

Listing of actual IB grades was inconsistent. Where they could be identified they followed the similar patter to the A star grade requirements above. For example, Cambridge offers ranged from 39 points to 44 points, Imperial College: 39 to 40 points and offers for Medicine ranged from 32 points (St George’s) to 41 points (Cambridge).

In conclusion, this survey and subsequent analysis has provided detailed information about the pattern of university applications from students in ISC schools in 2011, a pivotal year in university admissions given the change in student fees from 2012. It shows applicants from the sector being ambitious and very successful in their choice of course and university. Given the changes to university funding in England from 2012 it will be useful to repeat this survey and analysis over each of the next 2 years, 2012 and 2013, to monitor any changes in applicant or university behaviour.

6 3. Main findings

Table 3: Headline data and comparison with 2010

2010 2011

Applicants

Number of applicants in the study 17264 22163

Average number of applicants per school 89 90

Range of applicant numbers in the schools

Largest 337 331

Smallest 10 5

Number of post-qualifications applicants (best estimate) 3046 4040

Percentage of post-qualification applicants 18% 18%

Applications (choices)

Number of applications in the study 82744 107242

Average number of applications per applicant 4.8 4.8

Number of deferred applications for 2012 (2011) entry 8858 7059

Percentage of deferred applications 10.7% 6.6%

Offers

Number of applications resulting in an offer 57486 74754

Percentage of applications resulting in an offer (the offer rate) 71.7% 72.0%

Number of applicants gaining at least one offer 16693 21204

Percentage of applicants gaining at least one offer 96.7% 97.0%

Average number of offers per applicant 3.3 3.4

Numbers of post -qualification (PQ) applicants and their applications were identified from those who had received unconditional offers. This method provides a best estimate only; some PQ applicants may have been given offers conditional on achieving certain re-take grades and would not be identifiable from the data. By contrast those applying for deferred entry are identified with accuracy from the data.

Both the average number of applicants (90) and the range (the smallest was 5, the largest 331 of which 94 were PQ) suggest that the survey data covered a wide variety of ISC schools.

Analysis of Universities

7 The universities to which applicants applied were analysed according to their University Code. From the 107,242 applications, 225 different universities received at least one application. This shows the range of institution that students in ISC schools considered. The top 25 universities, ranked by application numbers are shown below together with the offer rate. Table 4a: Top 25 universities by number of applications, with offer rates Russell (R) or 94 Total University Rank Offers Offer rate Groups Applications (94) R University of Bristol 5273 1 2292 44.9% R University of Leeds 4886 2 3736 77.6% R The University of Nottingham 4698 3 3664 79.5% 94 Durham University 4349 4 2461 57.1% R The University of Manchester 4247 5 3470 84.3% 94 University of Exeter 3830 6 3149 83.0% R The University of Birmingham 3568 7 2986 85.2% R University College, London 3354 8 1545 47.6% R The University of Edinburgh 3297 9 1574 49.3% R Newcastle University 3164 10 2454 78.9% R The University of Warwick 2895 11 2085 73.8% R Oxford University 2827 12 794 28.3% R King's College London 2402 13 1315 58.1% R University of Southampton 2385 14 1937 84.7% R University of Cambridge 2235 15 780 35.1% R The University of Sheffield 2221 16 1762 80.1% 94 The University of York 2111 17 1783 87.0% Oxford Brookes University 1901 18 1502 80.5% 94 University of Bath 1846 19 1473 81.9% R The University of Liverpool 1745 20 1356 80.0% R Cardiff University 1725 21 1262 75.5% 94 University of St Andrews 1498 22 682 47.4% 94 Loughborough University 1492 23 1295 88.0% R LSE 1432 24 448 31.8% R Imperial College London 1340 25 933 71.2%

Of these top 25 all except one, Oxford Brookes University, is a member of the Russell Group or 94 Group of universities. 18 of the 20 Russell Group universities are in the top 25, the two which are not are the University of Glasgow (896 applications, ranked 26th) and Queen's University of Belfast (328 applications; ranked 61st).

8 The offer rate is determined from the number of applications that resulted in an offer being made once the number of withdrawals has been deducted. The offer rates vary quite markedly across these universities but caution should be exercised in drawing conclusions. Some universities, such as LSE, offer a relatively small number of highly competitive courses. Others, whilst offering a wide range of courses, may have had a large number of applicants for the most competitive courses.

Comparison with the UCAS national data on 2011 degree applications (June 2011), is of interest. The top 10 universities, in order of numbers of applications are shown below.

Table 4b: comparison of national application number rankings with ISC rankings Total Rank Univ National University applications (this Code Rank (national) survey) M40 The Manchester Metropolitan University 57146 1 39 M20 The University of Manchester 56992 2 5 L23 University of Leeds 52447 3 2 N84 The University of Nottingham 46739 4 3 S21 Sheffield Hallam University 45430 5 43 K84 Kingston University 43892 6 50 L27 Leeds Metropolitan University 43277 7 34 B32 The University of Birmingham 42512 8 7 N91 Nottingham Trent University 42099 9 31 E56 The University of Edinburgh 40265 10 9

Regional variations: applications across regions of the UK The profile of applications shown above was not uniform across all regions5 in the UK. The table below gives the 10 most popular universities in terms of applications by UK region.

5 The regions are defined in Appendix 3. Only 1 return was received from Northern Ireland hence this region is not included. The one return from a school in South Wales is included in the data defined by West.

9 Table 4c: Most popular universities by region

East Total London Total North East Total Leeds 610 Bristol 1794 Newcastle 507 Bristol 549 Nottingham 1739 Manchester 487 Manchester 484 Leeds 1515 Leeds 450 Nottingham 479 Durham 1340 Northumbria 398 Newcastle 469 Manchester 1287 Nottingham 352 Durham 428 Exeter 1164 Durham 345 Exeter 409 UCL 1142 Bristol 258 Birmingham 399 Birmingham 1109 Sheffield 247 Sheffield 350 Warwick 1034 Liverpool 246 UCL 277 Oxford 1028 Birmingham 235

North West Total Scotland Total South Central Total Leeds 424 Edinburgh 998 Bristol 1055 Nottingham 350 Aberdeen 898 Exeter 821 Birmingham 337 Glasgow 834 Durham 727 Newcastle 319 Dundee 633 Leeds 655 Manchester 306 Strathclyde 545 UCL 603 Sheffield 284 St Andrews 437 Nottingham 598 Liverpool 273 Robert Gordon 359 Manchester 584 Durham 236 Edinburgh Napier 309 Birmingham 548 Bristol 194 Stirling 269 Oxford 524 Edinburgh 152 Heriot-Watt 250 Southampton 486

South East Total South West Total West Total Bristol 498 Cardiff 338 Bristol 529 Exeter 452 Birmingham 323 Nottingham 525 Durham 443 Bristol 304 Exeter 522 Nottingham 423 Leeds 289 Leeds 517 UCL 397 Southampton 285 Manchester 478 Leeds 347 Exeter 283 Durham 471 Warwick 324 Oxford Brookes 250 Birmingham 419 Manchester 314 Manchester 241 UCL 362 KCL 297 Durham 238 Oxford 345 Southampton 269 Nottingham 228 Warwick 329

There does not seem to be any dominant geographical preference for universities from the English regions. However, among students in the 15 Scottish schools in the survey, the preference is very

10 definitely towards Scottish Universities; the highest ranking English university from them was Newcastle, ranked 11th. The importance of this regional analysis of applications may become apparent in 2012 when higher university fees take effect. Will the large fee increases cause students to apply to universities nearer their home?

By contrast there is quite wide variation across the regions for deferred entry (overall average 6.6% of all applications) ranging from 2.4% in the North West to 9.5% in the East.

Applications to Scottish universities merit their own analysis given the differential in fees chargeable to students resident in Scotland and in the rest of the UK. The table below shows the proportion of applications split by students from Scottish schools, and those elsewhere in the UK, to the 10 most popular Scottish universities. Only Edinburgh and St Andrews gained a higher proportion of applicants from the rest of the UK than from Scotland.

Table 4d: Proportion of applications to Scottish universities Proportion of Applications Scottish Rank University Other UK Schools 1 Edinburgh 30.2% 69.8% 2 Aberdeen 78.0% 22.0% 3 Glasgow 69.3% 30.7% 4 Dundee 78.8% 21.2% 5 Strathclyde 92.1% 7.9% 6 St Andrews 29.1% 70.9% 7 Robert Gordon 92.3% 7.7% 8 Edinburgh Napier 79.4% 20.6% 9 Stirling 67.6% 32.4% 10 Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh 72.7% 27.3% All universities 8.4% 91.6%

If there is suspicion that offer rates from Scottish universities are consistently lower to students from non-Scottish schools, this is not borne out by the analysis as the table below confirms. Of the two universities that commanded a large number of applications from the other UK regions, Edinburgh and St Andrews, Edinburgh had a slightly lower offer rate but St Andrews was slightly higher.

11 Table 4e: Comparison of applications to Scotland: Scottish schools & other UK regions Scottish Schools Other UK regions

Total Rank offer rate Total Rank¶ offer rate

Edinburgh 998 1 54.2% 2312 1 47.3%

Aberdeen 898 2 77.5% 254 4 53.1%

Glasgow 834 3 70.8% 370 3 65.6%

Dundee 633 4 73.1% 170 5 79.3%

Strathclyde 545 5 75.0% 47 9 72.7%

St Andrews 437 6 46.2% 1067 2 47.8%

Robert Gordon 359 7 91.2% 30 10 85.7%

Edinburgh Napier 309 8 74.8% 80 8 72.5%

Stirling 269 9 48.6% 129 6 49.1%

Heriot-Watt 250 10 81.7% 94 7 89.0%

¶ that is, rank order within this group of 10 universities. The ranking of these 10 across all universities for other UK regions is very different: Edinburgh was 9th but Heriot-Watt 60th.

Applications to Oxbridge and other highly selective universities Entry to Oxford and Cambridge is always high profile news as the recent (July 2011) Sutton Trust Report6: Degrees of Success, University Chances by Individual School, illustrates. Clearly, unless a student makes an application to Oxford or Cambridge s/he can’t be considered for a place. Of the 246 schools in this survey 232 (94.3%) had a least one applicant to either Oxford or Cambridge providing a total of 5,106 applications. The average number of Oxbridge applicants per school was 21 with one school having as many as 211 applicants, of whom 95 were post-qualification applicants. There is no suggestion that schools in the survey are inappropriately focused on Oxbridge entry to the exclusion of other universities, but the survey does confirm that Oxbridge is part of the routine applications of students in ISC schools.

That same Sutton Trust report looked also at entry to 30 highly selective universities in Scotland, England and Wales, including Oxbridge – the so-called Sutton Trust 30 (see Appendix 2). According to Sutton Trust, these 30 universities, most of which are members of the Russell Group or 94 Group, also emerge as the 30 most selective universities according to the latest Times University Guide. Analysis of schools’ data in this survey shows that there were 73,210 applications to these 30 universities in 2011 representing 69.2% of all applications.

6 See http://www.suttontrust.com/research/degree-of-success-university-chances-by-individual-school/

12 5. Analysis of courses From the UCAS coding7 a total of 4,143 different courses were identified in these 2011 applications (2010: 4,088). To gain an overview of the profile of these courses, applications were analysed according to the UCAS/JACS main subject areas, as shown in Table 5a below. Table 5b gives the same data in rank order. Table 5a: Analysis of courses by UCAS/JACS main subject area

UCAS Number of % of Offer Main Subject Area Rank Code Applications Total rate

A Medicine & Dentistry 6905 6.4% 6 29.9% B Subjects Allied to Medicine 5309 5.0% 10 69.1% C Biological Sciences 10087 9.4% 4 81.6% Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related D 1410 1.3% 15 59.0% subjects F Physical Sciences 6768 6.3% 7 85.2% G Mathematical and Computer Sciences 4148 3.9% 12 82.2% H Engineering 6553 6.1% 8 85.5% J Technologies 380 0.4% 19 85.0% K Architecture, Building & Planning 2013 1.9% 14 68.7% L Social Studies 16310 15.2% 1 71.3% M Law 3827 3.6% 13 75.9% N Business & Administrative Studies 11540 10.8% 2 81.8% P Mass Communications and Documentation 978 0.9% 18 74.0% Q Linguistics, Classics and related subjects 7108 6.6% 5 65.9% European Languages, Literature and related R 4744 4.4% 11 75.7% subjects Eastern, Asiatic, African, American and T Australasian Languages, Literature and related 1057 1.0% 17 84.2% subjects V Historical and Philosophical studies 10776 10.0% 3 70.4% W Creative Arts and Design 5717 5.3% 9 56.9% X Education 1073 1.0% 16 60.1% Y Combined and General Courses 331 0.3% 20 56.4% Z Miscellaneous 0 0.0% 22 Other Other (see comment below) 208 0.2% 21 Total courses chosen (applications) 107242 100%

Applications made for combined courses involving more than one main subject area, were analysed according to their lead code letter. For example, the course with code M9D4 (Criminology with Equine Studies) was included in subject area M, not subject area D.

7 UCAS course codes are closely aligned with, but not exactly the same as, those used by JACS, (Joint Academic Coding System). See Appendix 4 and also http://www.ucas.ac.uk/he_staff/courses/jacs/codingprinciples

13 Courses within the category of other were mainly two year HND or Nursing Diploma programmes. The descriptors of the main subject areas are reasonably self explanatory but more detailed analysis of some of the most popular and high profile subject areas, is given in section 8.

Table 5b: Rank order of main subject areas by number of applications

UCAS Number of % of Offer Main Subject Area Rank Code Applications Total rate

L Social Studies 16310 15.2% 1 71.3% N Business & Administrative Studies 11540 10.8% 2 81.8% V Historical and Philosophical studies 10776 10.0% 3 70.4% C Biological Sciences 10087 9.4% 4 81.6% Q Linguistics, Classics and related subjects 7108 6.6% 5 65.9% A Medicine & Dentistry 6905 6.4% 6 29.9% F Physical Sciences 6768 6.3% 7 85.2% H Engineering 6553 6.1% 8 85.5% W Creative Arts and Design 5717 5.3% 9 56.9% B Subjects Allied to Medicine 5309 5.0% 10 69.1% European Languages, Literature and related R 4744 4.4% 11 75.7% subjects G Mathematical and Computer Sciences 4148 3.9% 12 82.2% M Law 3827 3.6% 13 75.9% K Architecture, Building & Planning 2013 1.9% 14 68.7% Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related D 1410 1.3% 15 59.0% subjects X Education 1073 1.0% 16 60.1% Eastern, Asiatic, African, American and T Australasian Languages, Literature and related 1057 1.0% 17 84.2% subjects P Mass Communications and Documentation 978 0.9% 18 74.0% J Technologies 380 0.4% 19 85.0% Y Combined and General Courses 331 0.3% 20 56.4% Other Other 208 0.2% 21 Z Miscellaneous 0 0.0% 22 Total courses chosen (applications) 107242 100%

The top 5 are exactly the same, and in the same order, as in 2010.

14 6. The most popular subject areas, at the 10 most popular universities plus Oxbridge Table 6: Analysis of top 5 main subject areas

Univ Total University 1 2 3 4 5 Code Applications B78 University of Bristol 5273 V L F A R L23 University of Leeds 4886 L V A Q C N84 University of Nottingham 4698 L V C H Q D86 University of Durham 4349 L V Q C F M20 University of Manchester 4247 L V N F H E84 University of Exeter 3830 L V C Q R B32 University of Birmingham 3568 L A N V C U80 University College London 3354 L V F Q R E56 University of Edinburgh 3297 L V C Q A N21 University of Newcastle upon Tyne 3164 L A V N C

C05 University of Cambridge 2235 L B V H Q O33 University of Oxford 2827 L V Q F A

With few exceptions, the most popular subject areas as shown in Table 5b are reflected in the applications to the most popular universities.

7. A more detailed analysis of the 5 most popular main subject areas: L, N, V, C & Q Tables 7a to 7e below give the breakdown of choices within the five most popular main subject areas. Unsurprisingly, quite significant variations occur within each area. Table 7a: Main Subject Area L Social Studies

No. of Code Subject descriptor % of total applications L1 Economics 4636 28.4% L2 Politics 2606 16.0% L3 Sociology 1047 6.4% L4 Social Policy 84 0.5% L5 Social Work 127 0.8% L6 Anthropology 429 2.6% L7 Human and Social Geography 2415 14.8% L9 Others in Social Studies 42 0.3% LL Combinations within Social Studies 1599 9.8% Other combinations in main subject area L 3325 20.4% Total Group L 16310 100% Total: any course involving L 19152

15 Note: other combinations in main subject area L are courses with Social Studies as the lead subject area, For example, course L1R1 (Economics with French). Other combinations in main subject area L includes all courses where Social Studies are included in the course irrespective of whether Social Studies is the lead subject area. For example, G1L1: Mathematics with Economics.

Table 7b: Main Subject Area N Business & Administrative Studies No. of Code Subject descriptor % of total applications N0 Business & Admin studies: any area 36 0.3% N1 Business studies 2086 18.1% N2 Management studies 3980 34.5% N3 Finance 211 1.8% N4 Accounting 793 6.9% N5 Marketing 626 5.4% N6 Human Resource Management 51 0.4% N7 Office Skills 4 0.0% N8 Hospitality, Leisure, Tourism and Transport 491 4.3% N9 Others in Business & Admin Studies 55 0.5% NN Combinations within Business & Admin Studies 2328 20.2% Other combinations involving Group N 879 7.6% Total Group N 11540 100% Total, any course involving N 14618

Table 7c: Main Subject Area V Historical and Philosophical studies

No. of Code Subject descriptor % of total applications V1 History by Period 4775 44.3% V2 History by Area 30 0.3% V3 History by Topic 1359 12.6% V4 Archaeology 137 1.3% V5 Philosophy 1252 11.6% V6 Theology and Religious studies 759 7.0% V9 Others in Historical & Philosophical studies 39 0.4% VV Combinations within Historical & Philosophical studies 658 6.1% Other combinations involving Group V 1767 16.4% Total Group V 10776 100% Total, any course involving V 13989

Table 7d: Main Subject Area C Biological Sciences No. of Code Subject descriptor % of total applications C0 Biological Sciences: any area of study 14 0.1%

16 C1 Biology 2033 20.2% C2 Botany 14 0.1% C3 Zoology 588 5.8% C4 Genetics 78 0.8% C5 Microbiology 62 0.6% C6 Sports Science 1195 11.8% C7 Molecular Biology, Biophysics & Biochemistry 1093 10.8% C8 Psychology 3448 34.2% C9 Others in Biological Sciences 211 2.1% CC Combinations within Biological Sciences 123 1.2% Other combinations involving Group C 1228 12.2% Total Group C 10087 100% Total, any course involving C 12645

Table 7e: Main Subject Area QLinguistics, Classics and related subjects No. of Code Subject descriptor % of total applications Q1 Linguistics 110 1.5% Q2 Comparative Literary studies 9 0.1% Q3 English studies 3737 52.6% Q4 Ancient Language studies 3 0.0% Q5 Celtic studies 4 0.1% Q6 Latin studies 10 0.1% Q7 Classical Greek studies 0 0.0% Q8 Classical studies 1454 20.5% Q9 Others in Linguistics, Classics & related 6 0.1% QQ Combinations within Linguistics, Classics & related 200 2.8% Other combinations involving Group Q 1575 22.2% Total Group Q 7108 100% Total, any course involving Q 7814

17 8. A closer look at some high profile subject areas:

8.1 Medicine, Dentistry & Veterinary Medicine (Science)

Table 8a Applications for Medicine (A100 – A106) with offer rates

University Total Rank Offer rate University of Bristol 441 1 16.0% University of Leeds 423 2 22.1% King's College London (University of London) 359 3 32.8% The University of Birmingham 340 4 57.2% Newcastle University 315 5 24.4% The University of Nottingham 286 6 28.9% University of Southampton 272 7 26.0% Imperial College London 262 8 31.5% Cardiff University 256 9 27.1% University College London (University of London) 250 10 38.3% The University of Edinburgh 249 11 28.3% Oxford University 228 12 14.0% The University of Sheffield 217 13 20.8% The University of Liverpool 214 14 37.2% Keele University 211 15 16.3% University of Cambridge 205 16 27.0% The University of Aberdeen 197 17 35.1% The University of Manchester 186 18 53.6% University of Leicester 183 19 25.7% University of Dundee 146 20 28.5% University of Glasgow 132 21 30.2% University of East Anglia 125 22 19.5% Brighton and Sussex Medical School 116 23 25.2% Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry 116 23 46.4% St George's, University of London 114 25 25.5% University of St Andrews 111 26 46.3% Queen Mary, University of London 95 27 44.0% Hull York Medical School 73 28 48.6% Queen's University Belfast 24 29 52.2%

18 OVERALL 6146 30.2%

From the 6,146 applications, 1,770 offers were received divided as 278 unconditional and 1,492 conditional. The large majority of A-level offers were AAA (or A*AA at Cambridge) though common offers at both Bristol and Sheffield were for AAB.

The number of applicants making at least one application for Medicine was 1,598 giving an average number of applications for Medicine per applicant as 3.85. Of the 1,598 applicants, 1,011 (63.0%) received at least 1 offer and as many as 37 (2.3%) received 4 offers. The distribution of offers is shown in below.

Table 8b: Profile of Medicine offers per applicant

Number of offers for Medicine 0 1 2 3 4 Number of applicants receiving the offers 587 480 340 154 37

Dentistry is available at 13 universities in the UK, all of which were represented in the 2011 applications, as shown below.

Table 8c: Applications for Dentistry (A200 – A206) with offer rates

University Total Rank Offer rate University of Leeds 107 1 15.2% University of Bristol 76 2 21.3% The University of Manchester 74 3 32.4% King's College London (University of London) 73 4 23.0% The University of Sheffield 69 5 23.2% The University of Birmingham 65 6 34.9% The University of Liverpool 65 6 20.3% Newcastle University 62 8 33.9% Cardiff University 61 9 34.4% Queen Mary, University of London 39 10 33.3% University of Glasgow 36 11 41.7% University of Dundee 19 12 63.2% Queen's University Belfast 7 13 33.3% OVERALL 753 28.0%

19 From 753 applications, 204 offers were received of which 15 were unconditional and 189 conditional. The large majority of A-level offers were AAA though Glasgow appears to have made two offers of BBB and two of BBC.

201 applicants made at least one application for Dentistry giving an average number of applications for Dentistry per applicant as 3.75. Of the 201 applicants, 113 (56.2%) received at least 1 offer. The distribution of offers is shown in below.

Table 8d: Profile of Dentistry offers per applicant

Number of offers for Dentistry 0 1 2 3 4 Number of applicants receiving the offers 88 52 37 18 6

Veterinary Medicine (Science) is available at only 7 universities in the UK. All were included in the applications made.

Table 8e: Applications for Veterinary Medicine (Science) (D100 – D104)

University Total Rank Offer rate

University of Bristol 123 1 21.6% The University of Liverpool 117 2 27.5% The University of Nottingham 106 3 16.5% The University of Edinburgh 90 4 25.8% Royal Veterinary College (University of London) 89 5 49.4% University of Glasgow 70 6 17.6% University of Cambridge 43 7 19.5% Overall 638 25.9%

Of the 638 applications, 155 offers were received split between 36 unconditional (assumed to be to post-qualification applicants) and 119 conditional. Offers ranged from A*AA (Cambridge), AAA (Bristol, Nottingham and Royal Veterinary College) to AAB (Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool).

174 applicants made at least one application for Veterinary Medicine (Science) in 2011 giving an average number of applications per applicant as 3.67. Of the 174 applicants, 105 (60.3%) received at least 1 offer. The distribution of offers is shown below.

Table 8f: Profile of Veterinary Medicine (Science) offers per applicant

20 Number of offers for Veterinary Medicine (Science) 0 1 2 3 4 Number of applicants 69 65 31 8 1

21 8.2 Modern Foreign Languages R: European Languages, Literature and related subjects and T: Eastern, Asiatic, African, American and Australasian Languages, Literature and related subjects

Table 8g: Group R Code Subject descriptor Applications % R0 European Languages, Literature & related: any area 304 8.6% R1 French studies 369 10.5% R2 German studies 104 2.9% R3 Italian studies 34 1.0% R4 Spanish studies 244 6.9% R5 Portuguese studies 0 0.0% R6 Scandinavian studies 2 0.1% R7 Russian and East European studies 82 2.3% R8 European studies 86 2.4% R9 Others in European Languages, Literature and related 168 4.8% Combinations within European Languages, Literature and RR 1191 33.7% related Other combinations involving Group R 946 26.8% Total Group R 3530 100% Total, any course involving R 4998

Table 8h: Group T

Code Subject descriptor Applications % T1 Chinese studies 65 8.4% T2 Japanese studies 63 8.1% T3 South Asian studies 7 0.9% T4 Other Asian studies 4 0.5% T5 African studies 2 0.3% T6 Modern Middle-Eastern studies 44 5.7% T7 American studies 207 26.7% T8 Others in non-European Languages & related 0 0.0% TT Combinations within non-European Languages & related 22 2.8% Other combinations involving Group T 361 46.6% Total Group T 775 100% Total, any course involving T 1191

22 8.3 Mathematics and Sciences G1: Mathematics, C1: Biology, F1: Chemistry, F3: Physics and Cambridge Natural Sciences (BCF0)

G1: Mathematics 620 applicants from 206 different schools (84% of the total) made at least one application for Mathematics as defined by subject codes G100 – G190. 600 applicants (96.8%) received at least 1 offer; 81.2% of the applications resulted in an offer. 62 different universities received applications. The 15 most popular universities all with at least 50 applications, are shown below together with their offer rates. As in 2010, the seemingly low offer rate (28.7%) from Oxford perhaps deserves continued monitoring as does LSE, where only 7 out of 35 applications (20.0%) resulted in an offer. Table 8i: Applications and offers for Mathematics (G100 – G190)

Total University Offers Offer rate Apps

Imperial College London 180 129 72.1% The University of Warwick 155 152 98.1% University of Bristol 151 126 85.1% Durham University 138 96 70.6% University College London 133 89 67.4% Oxford University 123 35 28.7% University of Bath 109 91 91.0% University of Cambridge 104 60 57.7% University of Exeter 95 90 95.7% King's College London 77 72 93.5% The University of Nottingham 66 63 96.9% University of Southampton 62 60 96.8% The University of Manchester 55 51 98.1% The University of York 52 50 98.0% The University of Birmingham 50 50 100%

23 C1: Biology 733 applicants from 204 different schools (83% of the total) made at least one application for Biology as defined by subject codes C100 – C190. 692 applicants (94.4%) received at least 1 offer; 87.9% of the applications resulted in an offer. 72 different universities received applications from the Biology applicants, 17 receiving 50 or more applications. These are shown below together with their offer rates. Table 8j: Applications and offers for Biology (C100 – C190)

Total University Offers Offer rate Apps University of Bristol 123 92 76.7% Durham University 112 77 68.8% The University of Edinburgh 111 69 64.5% University of Exeter 100 95 95.0% The University of York 100 97 98.0% University of Bath 91 90 98.9% The University of Birmingham 89 86 96.6% The University of Nottingham 87 83 96.5% University of Leeds 73 69 94.5% The University of Warwick 72 71 98.6% Oxford University 71 26 36.6% Imperial College London 70 65 94.2% Newcastle University 69 67 97.1% The University of Manchester 60 50 90.9% The University of Liverpool 58 56 100% University of Southampton 57 40 70.2% The University of Sheffield 54 52 98.1%

24 F1: Chemistry 487 applicants from 182 different schools (74% of the total) made at least one application for Chemistry as defined by subject codes F100 – F190. 454 applicants (93.2%) received at least 1 offer; 89.6% of the applications resulted in an offer. 52 different universities received applications from the Chemistry applicants, 14 receiving 50 or more applications. These are shown below together with their offer rates. Table 8k: Applications and offers for Chemistry (F100 – F190)

Total University Offers Offer rate Apps University of Bristol 133 102 92.7% Imperial College London 111 87 79.8% The University of York 104 87 89.7% Oxford University 96 55 59.1% The University of Warwick 96 96 100% Durham University 88 68 78.2% University of Southampton 87 85 98.8% University College London 83 58 72.5% University of Bath 81 79 98.8% The University of Nottingham 79 71 98.6% The University of Manchester 73 69 100% The University of Birmingham 69 63 95.5% University of Leeds 68 62 95.4% The University of Edinburgh 67 42 62.7%

25 F3: Physics 427 applicants from 156 different schools (63% of the total) made at least one application for Physics as defined by subject codes F300 – F390. 414 applicants (97.0%) received at least 1 offer; 86.0% of the applications resulted in an offer. 42 different universities received applications from the Physics applicants, 12 receiving 50 or more applications. These are shown below together with their offer rates. Table 8l: Applications and offers for Physics (F300 – F390)

Total University Offers Offer rate Apps Imperial College London 134 106 82.2% University of Bristol 112 100 93.5% Oxford University 108 23 21.3% Durham University 107 85 81.0% The University of Manchester 83 81 100% University College London 83 61 75.3% The University of Nottingham 81 77 100% The University of Warwick 81 81 100% The University of Birmingham 78 72 92.3% University of Southampton 66 66 100% University of Bath 55 49 98.0% University of Exeter 55 49 96.1%

Cambridge Natural Sciences (BCF0) Entry to Cambridge science courses is via Natural Sciences (code BCF0). 306 applications were made with 122 offers received, an offer rate of 40.1% (2010 offer rate: 43.6%). Given that applicants can only make one application to Cambridge in any given year these numbers also represent the applicant numbers.

Of the 122 offers, 12 were unconditional and 110 conditional. Of the 101 conditional offers based on A-level results, 93 required 1 A*, 7 required 2 A* and 1 required 3 A* grades. The six identifiable IB offers ranged from 40 to 42 points.

26 9 Offers

Of the 107,242 applications (choices) made, 74,754 offers were received giving an offer rate of 72.0%, (2010, 71.7%)

Of the 22,163 applicants in the survey sample 21,204 (97.0%) received at least one offer (2010, 96.7%). The average number of offers per applicant was 3.37.

These increases in offer rates compared with 2010 are noteworthy, given the greater competition for places nationally in 2011.

As shown in the various tables above, these figures mask wide variations between universities and between courses.

Offers received

The wide variety of universities and courses translate into an equally wide range of offers. Some are stated in terms of UCAS points or specific A-level grades or IB points, whilst others have subject specific requirements attached to them. IB and Cambridge Pre-U offers are often represented only by the symbol K preventing any analysis.

Offers requiring A* grades at A-level

Notwithstanding the comment above, analysing the offers requiring A* grades was reasonably straightforward. In 2010 only one university, Cambridge, made offers requiring A* grades. In 2011 thirteen (13) universities made offers requiring at least one A* grade. They are shown in Table 9a below. In addition both Cambridge and Imperial made offers requiring 2 A* and Cambridge made 5 offers requiring 3 A* grades.

Table 9a: Universities making A* offers

B16 Bath  Mathematics, Mathematics and Statistics

 Economics, Economics and Mathematics, Economics and Politics and B78 Bristol Economics and Finance

27 All courses required at least 1 A*. In addition 41 offers requiring 2 A* grades were required of some students for  Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Computer Science, Engineering, English, History, Law, Mathematics, Modern and Medieval Languages, C05 Cambridge Natural Sciences, Philosophy, Politics  Psychology and Sociology and Theology and Religious Studies Cambridge also made 5 offers requiring 3 A* grades in  Economics, Engineering and, Natural Sciences

D86 Durham  Mathematics

H72 Hull§  Law with Politics

Imperial College, London made offers requiring 1 A* grade in  Chemistry with a Year in Industry, Physics, Physics with a Year in Europe, Physics with Theoretical Physics, Computing, Computing (Games, Vision and Interaction), Information Systems Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering I50 Imperial with a Year Abroad, Mechanical with Nuclear Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Chemical with Nuclear Engineering Imperial also made offers requiring 2 A* grades in  Mathematics and Chemical Engineering

L14 Lancaster§  Geography

L72 LSE  Economics, Law

L79 Loughborough§  Geography and Sports Science, Mechanical Engineering

 Computer Science, Mathematics, Mathematics and Philosophy, Mathematics and Physics, Mathematics with Finance, Physics, Physics M20 Manchester with Astrophysics, Physics with Philosophy, Physics with Study in Europe, Physics with Theoretical Physics

S90 Sussex§  History, Philosophy

U80 UCL  Psychology

W20 Warwick  Mathematics

§ A* requirements at these universities appear to be individual offers.

The offer from Hull was to one applicant and required A*BC.

The offer from Lancaster in Geography was A*BB or AAB

The offer from Loughborough in Geography and Sports Science was also to one applicants and required A*BB

The 3 offers from Sussex (1 History, 2 Philosophy) were for AAB or A*BB.

28 IB offers

As mentioned above it was difficult to identify all IB offers with certainty due to the inconsistent way in which the universities, or UCAS, denoted them. However, those that were denoted as XYP, where XY denotes the number of points required and P represents ‘Points’, or those that were denoted simply by XY, where XY was a number between 24 and 45 inclusive, were analysed. Thus an offer denoted by 32P (or simply 32) was taken as requiring 32 IB points.

A total of 1,049 offers expressed in this way were identified within the range 24P to 44P. At the top end Cambridge made offers in the range 39P to 44P (one offer only, for Economics). No Oxford IB offers were identifiable from the way the data were denoted. Offers for Medicine were in the range 35P (Bristol) to 41P Cambridge with the standard offer from most medical schools seeming to be 36P.

Bristol’s offers range from 32P to 37P across a variety of courses; Durham was similar though 39P appeared to be the standard offer for Mathematics. Care should be taken when trying to generalise from these. In many cases there will be further stipulation about achievement at Higher Level in specific subjects.

29 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Terminology The terminology used in the Report is that used by UCAS in its own reporting (see www.ucas.co.uk ), i.e. Applicant: UCAS applicants are those who apply to full-time, undergraduate higher education courses offered by universities or colleges in membership of the UCAS scheme. Application: Up to 2007 entry, each applicant could make up to six applications to different courses and/or institutions. From 2008 entry onwards, each applicant may make up to five applications. From 2000 entry onwards applicants to Medicine were limited to four applications. From 2001 entry this restriction also applied to Dentistry and Veterinary science applicants. Decisions: The offers made by institutions to their applicants. Some details of the conditions are recorded by UCAS. Subject: UCAS subject classifications now employ the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). JACS, introduced for 2002 entry, replaces UCAS' Standard Classification of Academic Subjects (SCAS), which was used up to and including 2001 entry. Usually presented by broad subject area, (Subject group) or detailed subject of study (Subject line). See also: http://www.ucas.ac.uk/about_us/stat_services/dictionary_of_terms

Appendix 2: Sutton Trust Top 30 universities. This group comprises universities with over 500 undergraduate entrants each year, where it was estimated that less than 10 per cent of places are attainable to pupils with 200 UCAS tariff points (equivalent to two D grades and a C grade at A-level) or less.

University of Bath London School of Economics University of Birmingham University of Manchester University of Bristol University of Newcastle University of Cambridge University of Nottingham Cardiff University University of Oxford University of Durham University of Reading University of Edinburgh Royal Holloway, University of London University of Exeter University of Sheffield University of Glasgow University of Southampton Imperial College University of St Andrews King’s College London University of Strathclyde Lancaster University University of Surrey University of Leeds University College London University of Leicester University of Warwick University of Liverpool University of York

Appendix 3: UK Regions defined

30 Definition of regions of the UK takes several forms and can seem arbitrary. For the purpose of this study the HMC divisions were used as the basis for naming and defining regions and all schools in the survey were assigned to one on the basis of their location. Thus East covers East Anglia and the East Midlands including Lincolnshire London covers greater London with roughly a 30 mile radius though extending as far north as Bedfordshire Northern Ireland covers all Northern Ireland. North East covers South, East and North Yorkshire, Humberside, Cleveland, Teesside, County Durham, and Northumberland North West covers North Wales, Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria Scotland covers the whole of Scotland South Central covers the Thames Valley as far as Oxford and the area south to Hampshire and East Dorset and East Wiltshire South East covers Kent and Sussex South West covers Avon, West Dorset, West Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon & Cornwall and South Wales West covers Shropshire, the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and North Oxfordshire

31 Appendix 4: JACS coding system: What is the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS)? JACS is used by UK institutions to identify the subject matter of programmes and modules. These institutions include the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Home Office and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). JACS codes do not indicate the level of study, as the same codes may be used for undergraduate, postgraduate, research programmes, and continuing education. JACS codes are different to UCAS course codes in that a JACS code can only ever be in the 'letter plus 3 numbers' format, but a UCAS course code can be any combination of letters and numbers. How are JACS codes formed? JACS codes are formed from a letter and three digits: the letter indicates the subject area; the numbers indicate the topics within the main subject area. For example: Q - LINGUISTICS, CLASSICS AND RELATED SUBJECTS Q100 is Linguistics Q110 is Applied linguistics Q120 is Historical linguistics Q130 is Phonetics & phonology Q131 is Phonetics Q132 is Phonology Each code also has a description that explains the subject area in more detail. For example: Q150 Psycholinguistics - the study of cognition and the effects of psychology on linguistic understanding and ability. Appendix 5: Applicant Status Report (extract from UCAS website) All schools and colleges on our mailing list are invited to request the Applicant Status Report for their centre. The report provides up-to-date details of the status of your applicants. If a report has been generated, it will be available to view / download either as a delimited (CSV) file or as an HTML page in the Adviser Track section of Apply. The report is updated on the 1st of every month. Each updated report will overwrite the report published in the previous month. Footnote The applicant status reports in this survey provided the following details for each candidate:

Candidate’s Offer University University Course Offer or Course Year of application requirement code name code rejection title Entry number (1 – 5) (grades)