Oxford Acceptance Rates by Subject: Every Course Ranked

Oxford acceptance rates by subject vary widely: across the university as a whole, 16.7% of applications received an offer in the most recent admissions round covered by Oxford's Annual Admissions Statistical Report, from 23,329 applications, 3,891 offers and 3,302 students admitted. Individual courses sit well above or below that average, from a successful share of 5% for Economics and Management to 44% for Modern Languages.

Oxford publishes three figures on every undergraduate course page: how many applicants were interviewed, what share received an offer, and the average yearly intake, each averaged over the three most recent admissions rounds. The table below ranks every course by these figures; understanding what each one measures, covered next, explains why a low successful share can reflect factors besides course difficulty.

What is Oxford's overall acceptance rate?

Oxford's overall acceptance rate, across every course and all student domiciles in the most recent admissions round reported by its Annual Admissions Statistical Report, was 16.7% of applications: 23,329 applications produced 3,891 offers and 3,302 students admitted. That university-wide figure hides large differences between courses. Each undergraduate course page carries three figures, averaged over the three most recent admissions rounds, and the table below is built from them: Interviewed, Successful and Intake.

Interviewed is the share of applicants shortlisted for an interview. Successful is the share of all applicants who were offered a place, not the share of interviewees, so it is the closest figure to a course-level acceptance rate. Intake is the average number of students the course admits each year.

Which Oxford courses have the lowest success rates?

The lowest successful share among Oxford's undergraduate courses is Economics and Management, at 5%, followed closely by Computer Science and Biomedical Sciences. These three are also among the courses with the highest applicant numbers relative to the places available, covered further below, which affects how their Interviewed and Successful figures compare with other courses. Several mathematics, physics and law courses cluster just above them, with successful shares at or below 10%.

• Economics and Management: successful 5%, interviewed 18%, intake 82 a year
• Computer Science: successful 7%, interviewed 21%, intake 55 a year
• Biomedical Sciences: successful 8%, interviewed 24%, intake 45 a year
• Physics and Philosophy: successful 9%, interviewed 24%, intake 13 a year
• Law with Law Studies in Europe: successful 9%, interviewed 26%, intake 28 a year
• Mathematics / Mathematics and Statistics: successful 9%, interviewed 32%, intake 183 a year
• Mathematics and Computer Science: successful 10%, interviewed 29%, intake 59 a year
• Law (Jurisprudence): successful 10%, interviewed 31%, intake 187 a year

Which Oxford courses have the highest success rates?

The highest successful share among Oxford's courses belongs to Modern Languages, at 44%, where 94% of applicants are also interviewed, one of the highest interview shares of any course. Every course with a successful share above 35% is a language course or Music, and each also interviews the large majority of its applicants, so relatively few are turned away before the interview stage compared with the courses listed above.

• Modern Languages: successful 44%, interviewed 94%, intake 141 a year
• Music: successful 42%, interviewed 92%, intake 77 a year
• European and Middle Eastern Languages: successful 40%, interviewed 93%, intake 13 a year
• Modern Languages and Linguistics: successful 39%, interviewed 95%, intake 38 a year
• Classics and Modern Languages: successful 39%, interviewed 95%, intake 8 a year
• Philosophy and Modern Languages: successful 36%, interviewed 91%, intake 19 a year

Which Oxford courses have the largest intakes?

The largest average intake of any Oxford course is Philosophy, Politics and Economics, admitting around 227 students a year, with a successful share of 12%. History, at 215 a year with a successful share of 23%, and English Language and Literature, at 208 a year with a successful share of 22%, follow. Law (Jurisprudence) and Mathematics, together with Mathematics and Statistics, are also among the largest intakes, at the figures given above, and Chemistry admits around 180 students a year, with a successful share of 17%.

• Philosophy, Politics and Economics: 227 students a year, successful 12%
• History: 215 a year, successful 23%
• English Language and Literature: 208 a year, successful 22%
• Law (Jurisprudence): 187 a year
• Mathematics / Mathematics and Statistics: 183 a year
• Chemistry: 180 a year, successful 17%

Does a low success rate mean an Oxford course is harder to get into?

A low successful share does not, on its own, show that a course is harder to succeed on than one with a higher share. It also reflects who chooses to apply and how many applicants there are for each place. Oxford's Annual Admissions Statistical Report lists the courses with the most applicants for each place over three years: Economics and Management, at 18.8 applicants per place, Computer Science at 14.8, Biomedical Sciences at 12, Mathematics at 10.4, Mathematics and Computer Science at 10.3, Law at 10, Medicine at 9.4, Physics and Biochemistry at 9, and Experimental Psychology at 8.6.

For courses that use an admissions test, applicants sit it in October, before shortlisting begins at the end of November, so the result is available when the interview shortlist is drawn up. Engineering Science, which uses the ESAT, has a successful share of 15% and interviews 37% of applicants; Physics, which also uses the ESAT, has a successful share of 11% and interviews 31%. Oxford uses five admissions tests, each for a defined group of courses.

• ESAT: Biomedical Sciences, Engineering Science, Physics, Physics and Philosophy
• TMUA: Computer Science, Computer Science and Philosophy, Mathematics, Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Computer Science, Mathematics and Philosophy
• TARA: Economics and Management, History and Economics, History and Politics, Human Sciences, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Experimental Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics
• UCAT: Medicine
• LNAT: Law

How should you read the Interviewed figure against the Successful figure?

The gap between the Interviewed and Successful figures shows how much of a course's competition happens at the interview stage itself, after shortlisting. History interviews 74% of applicants, English Language and Literature interviews 67%, and Chemistry interviews 63%; in each case the Successful figure, given above, sits well below the Interviewed figure, showing that most interviewees are still not offered a place.

A narrow gap, where the Successful figure sits close to the Interviewed figure, points the other way: once an applicant reaches interview, the odds of an eventual offer are comparatively better, as with the language courses and Music named above. Comparing both figures for a given course, instead of the Successful figure alone, gives a fuller picture of where its competition actually falls.

What can't Oxford's acceptance rate figures tell you?

Oxford's published figures cannot show how competitive a course is at an individual college, since the Interviewed, Successful and Intake figures on each course page are university-wide averages across all the colleges that admit for that course. Oxford's Annual Admissions Statistical Report also warns that small yearly figures for individual courses and colleges can give a misleading picture, which is why the course pages average results across three admissions rounds instead of a single year.

How should you use these figures when choosing a course?

Use the Successful figure as a guide to a course's competition, not as a reason to rule a course out. A course with a low successful share can still suit a well-prepared applicant, particularly where the figure reflects a high volume of applicants or an admissions test, discussed above, and not the difficulty of the course content itself.

Check whether the course sets an admissions test or asks for written work, since both affect how and when an applicant needs to prepare during Year 12 and Year 13. Oxford's minimum standard offer for A-level candidates is AAA, and many courses, particularly in the sciences, require at least one A*, so it is worth checking the specific offer for each course alongside its Successful figure.

Related guides

• Cambridge acceptance rates by subject
• Oxford vs Cambridge compared
• Oxbridge application guide
• Oxford and Cambridge admissions tests
• Oxford interview preparation

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