Oxford Admissions Statistics By Course

Oxford University is consistently ranked by the Times Higher Education (opens in a new tab) organisation as being the number one university in the world. As a result of this, it can be challenging to apply and be awarded a place to study there. 

In this article, you’ll find Oxford admissions statistics from the university itself and a breakdown of these statistics by course. I’m an Oxford graduate, so I’ll also include some general information about the application process. 

Top 5 Oxford Admissions Statistics 

• Overall in 2024, 23,061 students applied to Oxford University for an undergraduate course.

• Of those, 3,793 students received an offer and 3,245 got the grades they needed to meet their offer and attend the university.

• Approximately, four-fifths of these students were from the UK.

• 19% of these students declared themselves to have a disability.

• Economics and Management was the course with the highest number of applicants per place at 19.1.

All data in this article is taken from the University of Oxford’s Annual Admissions Statistics Report (opens in a new tab).

Oxford Admissions Statistics: By Course

This table includes looks at for Oxford’s 25 largest courses by total number of places. It doesn’t split the data by year, and instead includes the total number of applicants and offers, from 2022 to 2024.

Key Trends about 2024 applicants

• Law attracted 10 applicants per place, making it one of Oxford’s most oversubscribed humanities courses.

• Medicine received 11.1 applicants per place, making it one of the most competitive science courses. 

• Psychology, Philosophy & Linguistics had the highest proportion of female students, at 75%. 

• Mathematics & Computer Science had the lowest proportion of female students, with 19.8% being female.

This data is taken from the University of Oxford’s Annual Admissions Statistics Report (opens in a new tab).

Frequently Asked Questions

What Percentage of Oxford Applicants Get Accepted?

In 2024, 16.07% of Oxford applicants received offers for their chosen course. The offer rate dipped in 2021, but has remained relatively consistent over the past five years.

This data is taken from the University of Oxford’s Annual Admissions Statistics Report (opens in a new tab).

Is Oxford Harder than Harvard?

Both Oxford University and Harvard have very high academic standards. The undergraduate experience at both universities is very different, and this should be taken into account when comparing the two. 

Harvard has a much lower acceptance rate because there are significantly more applicants for each place. For students that started in 2024, Harvard had 54,008 applicants for just 1,937 places (opens in a new tab). That means only 3.97% of applicants went on to study at Harvard in 2024.

What Percentage of Oxford Students Drop Out?

According to the University of Oxford (opens in a new tab), Oxford has one of the lowest drop-out rates in the country. Recent data suggests a drop-out rate for Oxford is 0.9% of students, whereas for the rest of the country this is 5.3% on average. 

Is Oxford Hard to Get Into?

Oxford is hard to get into compared to other universities. When considering the process of getting into Oxford, the admission statistics alone don’t paint a full picture of the difficulty of the process.

Many courses require you to take a test during the application process, such as the LNAT for law or the UCAT for medicine. The results of those tests, as well GCSE results, your UCAS application, and teacher-predicted grades will all be taken into account by the admissions staff at the university. 

Following that, you may be invited for an interview. Most students will have two interviews at two colleges. The interview process is very rigorous. The outcome of these interviews will determine if you will be given an offer to attend the university. 

A personal note from the author of this article: I almost didn’t apply to Oxford because I was worried it would be too difficult, and I was concerned it would waste a spot on my UCAS application, however, I changed my mind at the last minute and ended up going to Oxford. Don’t let the difficulty put you off from trying because you never know what you can achieve unless you try. 

Also, getting help from teachers and resources online can make a huge difference and make the application process much easier, so make sure to make the most of all the resources you have available to you. When students that I taught used to ask me if it was hard to get into Oxford, I used to tell them “yes, but you can do hard things”.

What Is the Hardest Subject to Get Into at Oxford?

In terms of number of applicants per place, Economics and Management, Computer Science and Mathematics and Computer Science are the hardest courses to get into.

Which Is Harder to Get Into, Oxford or Cambridge?

Oxford has a lower acceptance rate than Cambridge, suggesting it is harder to get into. In 2024, Cambridge University had a total of 22,153 applications and gave out 4,760 offers. That means that Cambridge has an acceptance rate of 21% compared to Oxford’s 16%. The application process for both universities is very similar but will vary by course. 

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References

Times Higher Education - University of Oxford (opens in a new tab)

University of Oxford’s Annual Admissions Statistics Report (opens in a new tab)

The Harvard Crimson: Harvard Accepts 3.59% of Applicants to Class of 2028 (opens in a new tab)

University of Oxford - Facts and figures  (opens in a new tab)