Applying for highly competitive courses
Whether you are brand new to the university application process, or have been working in the education sector for as long as I have, you’ll undoubtedly have heard teachers, advisers and university staff talking about “highly competitive courses”.
It’s a term bandied about with little thought. On one hand teachers use it to make sure students take their applications seriously, and don’t make assumptions about their chances of getting into university. On the other, it is used by universities to make their courses seem more attractive; the more unattainable a course is, the more people want to get into it!
So, as students, applying through UCAS for the first time, how do you know which courses are genuinely “highly competitive”, and if they are, do you really need to do anything different with your application?
Which courses are genuinely “highly competitive”
First up, most courses simply aren’t all that competitive.
For the large majority of degrees, the grades required for entry are clearly shown on their websites. And for most courses, if you have predicted grades at the right level, and go on to get those grades, you’ll be just fine. Even if you don’t get those grades, you’ll probably be fine too, as when results come out the universities will accept students with a grade (or two) below the offer.
The reality is that even for courses with apparently high entry grades, there aren’t thousands of students clamouring to get every place.
For some courses, however, there really are.
Some courses have very high grade requirements, and stick to them.
Some courses have selection processes, like interviews and admissions tests, which mean that very few students who apply actually get an offer.
And some courses have both.
To find out which courses fall into these categories, you can check out the new UCAS Historical Entry Grades data.
Every course on UCAS now shows data about the past admissions, which give strong clues as to how competitive the course really is.
You can read all about these in my recent article: UCAS Historical Entry Grades data.
But in summary:
If the grades actually achieved by entrants are substantially lower than the published entry grades, it shows that the course is not actually as selective as the university would want you to believe.
If there is little or no difference at all between the published grades and the achieved grades (or where the commonly achieved grades are higher than the published grades), then it shows that the course really is as selective as they say.
If 9 out of 10 applicants are offered places, you can guess that the process isn’t very selective after all, and if you have predicted grades in the ball-park of what is being asked for, you’ll probably get an offer.
If only 1 in 5 applicants is offered a place, you’ll know that there is a tough selection process in place; whether it’s the interview, admissions test, audition, or how they assess the personal statement or portfolio.
If a course has no difference between the published grades and the most commonly achieved grades, AND only admits a small ratio of applicants, then you can tell it really is highly selective.
So what about a course like Medicine at Imperial College, with published entry grades at AAA? You’d think entry would be competitive, and you’d be right. They only offered 1 in 4 applicants a place last year, and the most common grades achieved on entry were A*A*A*. Ouch! That’s three grades higher than their published entry requirements! The lowest grades achieved were AAA; exactly as their requirements said.
What about English at York; a popular subject at a top university, also with entry grades AAA? Well they’ll tell you it’s highly competitive, but they are only telling you half the story. You see, their offer ratio was 1:1. Yep, pretty much every applicant was offered a place. Their most common actual entry grades are AAA, which is exactly what they ask for. Meanwhile, some students got in with BBB. We don’t know how many, but clearly this, combined with the offer ratio suggest that actually, the course is not as competitive as they might like you to think.
How to approach highly competitive courses differently
Admissions tests
Many of the courses that are genuinely competitive will have admissions tests. These fall into two categories: national tests, which you generally have to take before you apply, and those set by the university that you may be invited to take after you apply.
I’ve written about the national tests here: University Admissions Tests: Everything you need to know right now
I’m not aware of a more thorough or up-to-date list of all the current tests required in the UK, so if you think there is any possibility that you might be applying to a course that could have an admissions test, check it out to see if they do! (And don’t forget to check the university websites too in case there are any that I have missed!)
The links contained within the article will lead you to all sorts of sources of help, support and past papers (where these are available).
As regards admissions tests that kick in AFTER you apply, you’ll need to do a thorough search of the websites of the courses you are applying to. Universities will generally give you really good information about what to expect, and how to get support. After all, they want you to do well!
And if you can’t find much information from the universities, you can always seek tips and advice from current students at Open Days or through platforms such as The Student Room or Unibuddy.
Be aware that if a university has an admissions test, the result of that test will almost certainly have a direct bearing on the outcome of your application. While they won’t always be able to tell you exactly what grade or outcome will be required, there will almost certainly be a cut off point below which your application will not be successful. So take the tests seriously and do whatever preparation you can.
Writing your Personal Statement
If you are reading this, you probably already know that I have done a whole load of content about Personal Statements. I wrote a short guide, turned it into a Podcast (on Apple and Spotify), and also made it into a free video course that you can watch at my website or on YouTube.
So, is writing your Personal Statement any different for highly competitive courses? Well yes and no. You still need to go through much the same writing process, as for less competitive courses, but you are going to have to take the process just that little bit more seriously.
That is, you still need to brainstorm what might go in. Then you need to decide on what is the most important stuff to include. And then you need to decide your structure; what goes where.
You still need to write reflectively; talking not only about what you did, but also why you did it, what you learned, why it’s relevant, and what you did next. And you need to proofread it really, really well.
Finally, you’ll want to get feedback and input on it, going through a number of drafts that you improve each time with the help of friends, family and advisers.
But… for a highly competitive course it is very likely that the Personal Statement will be even more important. And so, you’ll want to take a little more care at every stage. You’ll want to do a little more than just look at one source of ‘how to write your statement’. Instead of relying just on my guide, or going to one school talk, you are going to go directly to sources that discuss statements for your specific subject, and check the information from the specific universities that you are applying for.
It should be obvious, but a Personal Statement for a Medicine application is going to be radically different from a Personal Statement for History at Oxford.
A statement for Medicine is going to focus on everything to do with the profession of being a doctor. You’ll discuss the knowledge you have, the work experience you’ve done, the skills you gained; all focusing on the profession in hand, to show that you have the potential to be a great doctor.
For history, meanwhile, you’ll want to show your deep interest in learning history, through every thing you’ve learned, both inside and outside of the classroom. What have you read, seen and experienced that makes you want to learn more?
For Law, it’ll be different again, as it will for Computer Science, Architecture etc.
So, when writing your statement, you’ll want to work just that little bit harder to make sure your statement is as strong and as relevant as it possibly can be.
Approaching your interview
And of course, while not all highly competitive courses will have an interview, many will. This is another area where there is so much potential to do well and sure up your application, and so much potential to go wrong.
Once again, I’ve written all about preparing for your interview previously. You can read my article at:
University admissions interviews: What they’re for, what they’ll include and how to prepare for them! (You can also download it as a shareable pdf guide)
There is far too much in that guide to summarise here, but the most important thing for you to know right now is that interview preparation isn’t something you do a few days before. You should be starting your preparation as early as you possibly can.
The truth is, regardless of how clever you are, how well you can write, or how good your grades are, what will determine your interview success more than anything else is practice. The more practice you get discussing academic matters with an adult, the better you will do.
The importance of a safety choice
Another area where applying for highly competitive courses should impact on your decisions and your application is when making your five course choices on UCAS.
I would argue that everyone should have at least one safety choice (that is, a course that they will get into even if things don’t go as they hoped), but this becomes doubly important if some of your choices really are highly competitive.
Essentially this means having one or two choices which don’t rely on an interview AND which have grades that you could achieve even on a bad day. This course may well need to be your insurance choice, so take the choice seriously and choose a safe option that you would be genuinely happy to go to.
For more guidance on this, have a look at:
You are not on your own
One final thought about applying to highly competitive courses; you don’t need to do this all on your own. If you have family or friends who have gone to university, talk to them and seek their support and advice.
Some of you will have careers advisers, UCAS advisers and heads of sixth who will have helped countless students before you with getting onto some really tough courses. So speak to them about what to do to maximise your chances.
And even if you don’t have these types of advisers available, every one of you has access to a subject teacher who has literally devoted their life to helping students just like you to succeed. They’ll love to hear about your aspiration and ambition to go on and challenge yourself at university; and I just know they’ll want to help you in any way they can.
So never be shy to ask for help; this is not something you need to do on your own.
