Figures for the January Equal Consideration Deadline show 314,660 UK 18-year-olds have applied, down slightly from 320,420 at the same point in the cycle last year (-1.8%) but significantly up on the pre-pandemic figure of 275,300 in January 2020 (+14.3%). This puts the application rate for UK 18-year-olds at 41.5% compared to 43.4% in 2022 but up from 39.5% in 2020.
This is mirrored in the number of total applicants (all ages, all domiciles) compared to last year - 596,590 this year, down from 610,720 in 2022 (-2.3%) but higher than 568,330 in 2020 (+5.0%).
There are also strong variations by subject (all ages, all domiciles), with robust growth in courses such as computing (+9.6%) and law (+2.1%) but a fall in courses such as nursing (-18.6%) and education teaching (-15.6%) – although the number of applications for these courses exceeds the number of acceptances seen in last year’s cycle, showing there is still plenty of demand for places.
