What, like it’s hard? These are the toughest subjects to get into at Oxbridge in 2023

One course only accepts 4.6 per cent of all the people who apply


Consistently topping most uni league tables, Oxford and Cambridge are obviously notoriously hard unis to get into. After you get past having to send in your UCAS personal statement at practically age two and then suffer through an admissions exam as well as an interview, you really question your choices as to whether you actually have a passion for economics or whether some niche course like Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic studies with a high acceptance rate would be more your kind of thing.

We’ve already looked at the easiest subjects to get into at Oxbridge in case you literally don’t care what you’re studying as long as you have bragging rights to say that you go to Oxford or Cambridge. The easiest Oxbridge subject to get into is music at Oxford with a 54 per cent acceptance rate, closely followed by European and Middle Eastern Languages at Oxford with a 48 per cent acceptance rate. But which courses are actually the hardest to get into? And which Oxbridge degree do you have to be studying to claim that you were one of only 4.6 per cent of applicants accepted?

If you want to shoot your shot, here are the toughest subjects to get into at Oxbridge in 2023:

20. History and politics at Cambridge

14.6 per cent acceptance rate

19. Land economy at Cambridge

13.1 per cent acceptance rate

18. Law at Oxford

13 per cent acceptance rate

17. Engineering at Cambridge

12.9 per cent acceptance rate

16. Human, social and political sciences at Cambridge

11.3 per cent acceptance rate

15. Architecture at Cambridge

11.3 per cent acceptance rate

14. PPE at Oxford

11 per cent acceptance rate

13. English and history at Oxford

11 per cent acceptance rate

12. Maths at Oxford

10 per cent acceptance rate

11. Maths and computer science at Oxford

Hardest subjects Oxbridge

10 per cent acceptance rate

10. Economics at Cambridge

10 per cent acceptance rate

9. Psychological and behavioural sciences at Cambridge

9.3 per cent acceptance rate

8. Computer science and philosophy at Oxford

8.6 per cent acceptance rate

7. Computer science at Cambridge

8.4 per cent acceptance rate

6. Biomedical sciences at Oxford

7.9 per cent acceptance rate

5. Medicine at Oxford

7.6 per cent acceptance rate

4. Medicine at Cambridge

7 per cent acceptance rate

3. Economics and management at Oxford

5.2 per cent acceptance rate

2. Computer science at Oxford

4.6 per cent acceptance rate

1. Maths and statistics at Oxford

4.6 per cent acceptance rate

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