The easiest and hardest Oxbridge colleges to worm your way into in 2026, by offer rate

The University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford have a dazzling array of colleges. You could pick one based on how nice it looks… or you could pour over the admissions statistics and strategise accordingly. Even in 2026, the Oxbridge colleges have wildly different offer rates.

Although you may have heard differently, the official line of the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford is that every college is just as easy or as hard to get into. The “pooling system” means clever students who apply to oversubscribed colleges should still get a place at a different college.

If you apply to a college with a low offer rate, though, you’re less likely get into your first-choice college. Students who make an open offer often wind up at colleges with very high offer rates, which nobody else wants to go to.

The absolute easiest Oxbridge college for undergrads to get into is St Edmund’s at Cambridge. A whopping 42.2 per cent of applicants got offers in 2025. Fewer people may be applying to Eddie’s as it’s only for students aged 21 or older. The hardest Oxbridge colleges to get an offer from are Worcester and Magdalen at Oxford. Perhaps all these applicants are desperate to study by Magdalen’s gorgeous deer park?

These stats all refer to undergrads from the 2025 admissions cycle. These are the students who at currently freshers, or are on a gap year and will start uni in October 2026.

So, here is an up-to-date ranking of all the Oxbridge colleges by offer rate, from the hardest to the easiest to get into:

59. Worcester, Oxford – 9.1 per cent

58. Magdalen, Oxford – 10.3 per cent

57. Balliol, Oxford – 11.9 per cent

56. Braenose, Oxford – 12.0 per cent

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55. New, Oxford – 13.1 per cent

54. Keble, Oxford – 13.2 per cent

53. St John’s, Oxford – 13.3 per cent

52. Trinity, Oxford – 13.8 per cent

51. Merton, Oxford – 14.7 per cent

50. Christ Church, Oxford – 15.1 per cent

I guess lots of students want to swan around Christ Church and pretend to live in a castle

49. Jesus, Cambridge – 15.5 per cent

48. The Queen’s, Oxford – 16.5 per cent

47. Wolfson, Cambridge – 17.1 per cent

=45. Emmanuel, Cambridge – 17.2 per cent

=45. Lincoln, Oxford – 17.2 per cent

44. Pembroke, Cambridge – 17.3 per cent

43. Clare, Cambridge – 17.5 per cent

=41. Downing, Cambridge – 17.6 per cent

=41. Exeter, Oxford – 17.6 per cent

40. St John’s, Cambridge – 17.8 per cent

39. University, Oxford – 17.9 per cent

38. Hertford, Oxford – 18.3 per cent

37. Jesus, Oxford – 18.9 per cent

36. Gonville and Caius, Cambridge – 19.1 per cent

=34. King’s, Cambridge – 19.2 per cent

=34. Trinity, Cambridge – 19.2 per cent

Trinity College is so humble that the students get special blue gowns

33. Pembroke, Oxford – 19.3 per cent

32. Mansfield, Oxford – 20.0 per cent

=30. St Catherine’s, Oxford – 20.1 per cent

=30. St Hugh’s, Oxford – 20.1 per cent

29. St Edmund Hall, Oxford – 20.3 per cent

=27. Somerville, Oxford – 20.4 per cent

=27. St Peter’s, Oxford – 20.4 per cent

=25. Lady Margaret Hall – 21.0 per cent

=25. Selwyn, Cambridge – 21.0 per cent

24. Christ’s, Cambridge – 21.1 per cent

23. Corpus Christi, Oxford – 21.2 per cent

22. Magdalene, Cambridge – 21.3 per cent

21. St Catharine’s, Cambridge – 21.4 per cent

20. St Hilda’s, Oxford – 21.7 per cent

19. St Anne’s, Oxford – 22.1 per cent

18. Oriel, Oxford – 23.1 per cent

=16. Churchill, Cambridge – 23.6 per cent

Churchill has a lot of character x

=16. Wadham, Oxford – 23.6 per cent

15. Fitzwilliam, Cambridge – 23.7 per cent

14. Trinity Hall, Cambridge – 23.8 per cent

=12. Queen’s, Cambridge – 24.2 per cent

=12. Sidney Sussex, Cambridge – 24.2 per cent

11. Robinson, Cambridge – 24.8 per cent

10. Corpus Christi, Cambridge – 24.9 per cent

=8. Homerton, Cambridge – 25.5 per cent

=8. Newnham, Cambridge – 25.5 per cent

7. Harris Manchester, Oxford – 28.4 per cent

6. Lucy Cavendish – 29.0 per cent

5. Girton, Cambridge – 30.5 per cent

4. Hughes Hall, Cambridge – 30.7 per cent

3. Regent’s Park, Oxford – 31.2 per cent

2. Murray Edwards, Cambridge – 33.1 per cent

1. St Edmund’s, Cambridge – 42.2 per cent

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