Head to head

Oxford vs Cambridge,
compared properly

You can only apply to one. These comparisons set the two universities side by side using their own published entry requirements and admissions statistics, with a named source under every figure.

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Oxford vs Cambridge

You can only apply to one of Oxford or Cambridge in the same UCAS cycle, so the choice is forced. Cambridge makes offers to a higher share of applicants and interviews far more of them; Oxford shortlists harder before interview. The teaching is functionally the same. In practice the decision should turn on the specific course, not the university.

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Compare by subject

The university-level answer is rarely the one that matters. Admissions tests, typical offers and interview formats all move by subject, sometimes substantially, even where the course names match.

Medicine

UCAT at both

Oxford vs Cambridge for Medicine: typical offers, UCAT requirements, interview format and published competition data set side by side.

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Mathematics

TMUA at both

Oxford vs Cambridge for Mathematics: the TMUA, whether you also need STEP, typical offers, interviews and published competition data.

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Law

LNAT at both

Oxford vs Cambridge for Law: the LNAT, typical offers, interview format, course names and published competition data, side by side.

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Engineering

ESAT at both

Oxford vs Cambridge for Engineering: the ESAT, typical offers, when you specialise, interviews and published competition data.

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Computer Science

TMUA at both

Oxford vs Cambridge for Computer Science: the TMUA, typical offers, how mathematical each course is, interviews and competition data.

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History

No admissions test

Oxford vs Cambridge for History: submitted written work, typical offers, interview format and published competition data, side by side.

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Where the numbers come from

Entry requirements are read from each university's own course pages and verified for 2027 entry. Competition figures come from the Oxford Annual Admissions Statistical Report, the Cambridge Undergraduate Admissions Statistics, and the individual Oxford course reports that publish applicants per place.

Where a figure is derived rather than published directly, the page says so and shows the inputs. Where a university does not publish a figure at all, we leave the space empty rather than estimate. The full dataset behind these pages, including college, domicile and school-type breakdowns, sits on our admissions statistics hub.

よくあるご質問

No. You cannot apply to both Oxford and Cambridge in the same admissions cycle. You must choose one. The only exception is for Organ Scholars.

Oxford makes offers to a smaller share of its applicants than Cambridge at university level, so on that measure Oxford is the harder admit. But the university-wide figure is a poor guide to your own odds: the gap between subjects at either university is far wider than the gap between the two universities.

Entry requirements come from each university's own published course pages, verified for 2027 entry. Competition figures come from the Oxford Annual Admissions Statistical Report, the Cambridge Undergraduate Admissions Statistics and the individual Oxford course reports. Every figure names its source on the page.

Oxford publishes applicants per place for each course, while Cambridge publishes applications and offers. Those are different measures with different denominators, so a course cannot be scored head to head on them. Each comparison shows both universities' figures separately and says what each one measures.

Start with the whole-university comparison, then read the two individual admissions guides for your subject. The comparison pages here cover the subjects with the most published data on both sides, and more are added as the data supports them.

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Oxford vs Cambridge,compared properly