These are the hardest UK unis to get into right now, based on how many UCAS points you need

The Guardian’s annual UK uni ranking has revealed which unis are the hardest to get into, and some non-Russell Group unis need a harrowingly high amount of UCAS points.

As part of The Guardian’s annual rankings of UK unis, it calculated the average entry tariff – the UCAS scores that freshers under 21 at that uni got. So, the higher the uni’s average entry tariff is, then the higher the grades were of the current students, and so the harder it is to get into that uni. Got it?

UCAS Tariff Points are a way for unis to compare the braininess of students who have done different qualifications in sixth form. You can get points for Level 3/SCQF Level 6 qualifications, such as A Levels, the International Baccalaureate, Extended Project Qualifications, and some music exams (weirdly enough). Guess I shouldn’t have quit the piano lessons at age 11.

Oxbridge students need to deflate their egos and stop bragging about their Oxford and Cambridge being the hardest to get into. Oxford and Cambridge really aren’t the hardest unis to get into, based on UCAS points.

Students at Oxford and Cambridge had an average of 203 and 208 UCAS points respectively. That’s below the University of St Andrews, the University of Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde and Imperial College London. (Although, some of this might be because Oxbridge professors care more about how clever you pretend to be in the interview than they do about how many UCAS points you have.)

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According to The Guardian’s data, the Uni of St Andrews is the hardest to get into – which feels rogue considering that it isn’t a Russell Group uni. Freshers at the Uni of St Andrews have about 212 UCAS points – which is roughly equivalent to three A*s and an A at A-level, or 36 IB points, or seven distinctions in Grade 8 music exams.

Here are the top 60 hardest UK unis to get into, based on the average UCAS points of successful freshers.

=59. Cardiff Metropolitan University – 133

=59. University of Sussex – 133

=52. Aston University – 134

=52. University of Chichester – 134

=52. Edge Hill University – 134

=52. Liverpool John Moores University – 134

=52. Manchester Metropolitan University – 134

=52. University of Plymouth – 134

52. Falmouth University – 134

51. University of Ulster – 135

50. University of the Creative Arts – 137

=47. City, University of London – 138

=47. Royal Holloway University – 138

=47. Swansea University – 138

=45. University of East Anglia (UEA) – 140

=45. SOAS University of London – 140

44. University of Surrey – 142

43. University of the West of Scotland – 145

42. Arts University Bournemouth – 146

41. Northumbria University – 143

40. Trinity Saint David – 143

39. University of Liverpool – 147

=37. Newcastle University – 150

=37. Queen University London – 150

=35. University of the Arts London – 153

35. Cardiff University – 153

34. University of Nottingham – 157

Did these swans have to get 157 UCAS points so they could swim on the lake by Nottingham Uni?
(Credit: Pebble Barling)

33. University of Lancaster – 154

32. University of Southampton – 156

=28. University of Birmingham – 157

=28. Queen’s University Belfast – 157

=28. University of Sheffield – 157

=28. University of York – 157

27. Edinburgh Napier University – 159

26. Robert Gordon University – 160

25. Loughborough University – 162

24. Abertay University – 163

You’ll need a lot of UCAS points if you want to pose in front of the very photogenic Exeter Cathedral

=22. University of Exeter – 163

=22. University of Leeds – 163

21. University of Manchester – 167

20. King’s College London – 169

19. Queen Margaret University – 170

18. University of Bristol – 174

17. Heriot-Watt University – 176

16. Glasgow Caledonian University – 178

15. University of Warwick – 179

14. University of Bath – 180

13. University of Stirling – 181

12. University College London (UCL) – 183

11. University of Dundee – 184

10. Durham University – 185

9. University of Aberdeen – 187

8. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 191

7. University of Edinburgh – 197

6. University of Oxford – 203

5. Imperial College London – 204

4. University of Cambridge – 208

3. University of Strathclyde – 210

2. University of Glasgow – 211

1. University of St Andrews – 212

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