The hardest Russell group unis to get into, based on offer rate – and it’s not just Oxbridge

Well gals, it turns out some Russell Group unis are way, way harder to get into than others. And I’m not just talking about Oxbridge.

UCAS has released detailed data on the 2024 application cycle, including exactly what the offer rate is for each UK unis. The numbers are really surprising. Russell Group unis are supposed to all be super academic, but you’re actually four times as likely to get into some Russell Group unis than others.

The University of Exeter is officially the easiest Russell Group uni to get into. It has a super high acceptance rate of 85.1 per cent. I reckon this is scientific proof that anyone can get into Exetaaaaaah if they already own a hockey stick and a herd of horses. Newcastle University wasn’t far behind Exeter, with a very high acceptance rate of 80.2 per cent.

At the other end, the University of Oxford is officially the hardest Russell Group unis to get into. The uni has a measly acceptance rate of just 20.3 per cent. Yikes. The University of Cambridge is also a lot of effort to get into – only 24.5 per cent of people get an offer. It’s not a massive shock that Oxbridge is hard to get into. What’s wild is that the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is even harder to get into than Cambridge. Imperial College London and University College London (UCL) aren’t much easier – only around a third of applicants get offers.

Bear in mind the offer rate is the percentage of applicants who get offers, not the percentage of people who apply and actually end up going there. That topic is covered in this truly scintillating piece of journalism instead.

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Without further rambling, here are all the Russell Group unis ranked by how hard they are to get into (based on acceptance rates from 2024):

24. University of Exeter – 85.1 per cent

23. Newcastle University – 80.2 per cent

22. University of York – 79.3 per cent

A rare image of the sun shining in Yorkshire
(Credit: Cathy King)

21. University of Sheffield – 77.7 per cent

20. University of Southampton – 76.5 per cent

19. Queen’s University Belfast – 73.5 per cent

18. Cardiff University – 73.4 per cent

17. University of Liverpool – 73.2 per cent

16. University of Warwick – 70.8 per cent

15. University of Nottingham – 70.1 per cent

14. University of Birmingham – 69.6 per cent

=12. University of Bristol – 67.6 per cent

=12. Durham University – 67.6 per cent

11. University of Glasgow – 66.5 per cent

10. Queen Mary University of London – 64.5 per cent

9. University of Leeds – 59.9 per cent

Some Leeds students with impressive culinary skills

8. University of Manchester – 57.7 per cent

7. King’s College London – 44.3 per cent

6. University of Edinburgh – 43.6 per cent

5. University College London (UCL) – 35.2 per cent

4. Imperial College London – 32.8 per cent

3. University of Cambridge – 24.5 per cent

2. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 21.0 per cent

1. University of Oxford – 20.3 per cent

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