Today UCAS publishes its first statistical release from the 2015 undergraduate cycle, for courses with an October deadline (15 October 2014) only.
2015 applicant figures – October deadline
Overall, the number of applicants to 15 October deadline courses is 56,360. This represents a fall of 1,840 applicants (-3%) from the previous cycle.
15 October is the 'equal consideration' deadline for most medicine, dentistry, and veterinary courses, as well as all courses at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford.
Key figures for the 2015 cycle October deadline:
- There are 38,720 October deadline applicants from the UK, a decrease of 2,020 (-5%) from 40,740 the previous cycle.
- There are falls of 5% in the number of applicants from England, 9% from Scotland, and 5% from Wales. The number of applicants from Northern Ireland is similar to last year.
- The number of international applicants has increased. There is a 2% rise in applicants from the EU and a 1% increase from outside the EU.
The largest single age group of October deadline applicants is 18 year olds from England. There are 23,500 applicants from this group, compared to 24,110 last year (-3%).
English 19 year old applicants have fallen from 4,340 to 3,880 (-11%) this year, with the majority of this decrease amongst those who are reapplying.
Mary Curnock Cook, UCAS Chief Executive, said: “These figures show a small but real decline in demand for these specialised courses, which are typically chosen by around one in twelve UK applicants. We will have a fuller picture of demand for this cycle following the main January deadline.”
Students have been able to submit applications for all 2015 courses since early September. This release only covers applicants selecting courses with a 15 October deadline and is a near complete measure of the demand for these courses.
ENDS
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NOTES TO EDITORS
Applicants to courses in Northern Ireland are not shown separately in the tables to avoid disclosing figures for individual universities before the admissions cycle is complete.
UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, is a charity and the UK's shared admissions service for higher education. We manage applications from over 650,000 people each year for full-time undergraduate courses at over 370 providers across the UK.