This article is included in the Oxbridge Essentials® “Computer Science Volume”.
I. Comparison of Popularity in Applications
1. Overview of 2020 Application Data for Computer Science at Oxford and Cambridge
From the hot majors ranking in the dynamic graph below, we can see that among Chinese students applying for Computer Science, the subject ranks 9th at the University of Oxford and 5th at the University of Cambridge. Hence, Computer Science can be considered a popular major. In the 2020 application season, the global number of applicants to Cambridge for Computer Science was roughly double that of Oxford, and the proportion of Chinese student applicants was consistent with the global figure. This indicates that students worldwide tend to prefer Cambridge for Computer Science.
2. Proportion of Chinese Student Applications from 2016-2021
Over the six years from 2016 to 2021, the proportion of applicants from mainland China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) for Computer Science at Oxford was less than 4%. The small number of applicants does not imply that Computer Science is not popular; it is mainly due to the extremely low acceptance rate at Oxford. In the same period, the Chinese students applying for Computer Science at Cambridge accounted for about 7%, which is actually quite a high proportion.
3. Application Difficulty for Chinese Students from 2016-2021
The scatter plot below vividly shows the intensity of the applications to Oxford and Cambridge for Computer Science, which can be described as “painfully competitive” (the size of the circles in the graph represents the acceptance rate): Oxford Computer Science can basically be classified into the fourth tier — fewer applicants and a quite low acceptance rate; Cambridge Computer Science falls into the third tier, but it is also one of the majors with the lowest acceptance rates in this tier. In fact, the graph above still does not fully illustrate the low success rate of Chinese students applying for Computer Science at Oxford — in most years, the number of offers does not exceed five, and in some years, it is even zero.
These are truly desperate numbers… Oxford, Cambridge Chinese Student Admission Data (Free Trial, Paid Subscription)
II. Comparison of Application Trends
For the 2020 application season, the global acceptance rate for Computer Science at Oxford and Cambridge has dropped to a third of what it was ten years ago, at about 6% and 8% respectively. This equates to 13-17 people competing for one offer.
If we only look at the acceptance rate for Chinese students, it is actually slightly better than the global rate, but since the number of Chinese students admitted by the two universities is too low, the significance of the acceptance rate as a reference isn’t very large.
III. Comparison of Application Difficulty Between Genders
For the 2020 application season, the global acceptance rate for Computer Science at Oxford and Cambridge has dropped to a third of what it was ten years ago, at about 6% and 8% respectively, which means 13-17 people are competing for one offer.
Looking at the acceptance rate data, even though the number of female applicants for Oxford’s Computer Science is only about a fifth of the males, the acceptance rate for females is only half that of males. This suggests that Oxford’s Computer Science prefers to select males and does not in any way favor females. The acceptance rate for females applying for Computer Science at Cambridge is much higher than that for males — consistently about 8 percentage points higher for several years. In the admission data for various majors at Cambridge, this gender difference is quite significant!
IV. Comparison of Other Dimensions
Due to the limitations of article length and the functionality of dynamic data display, the above only compares the application difficulty for Computer Science at Oxford and Cambridge from three dimensions.
The official YouYi website (ueie.com) supports dynamic charts of Oxford and Cambridge admissions data, allowing analysis by region, application method, college, and other methods, including global admissions data for various majors at Oxford and Cambridge over the past ten years and Chinese student admissions data over the past six years.
