How to choose universities and your five UCAS choices

What actually differs between universities

• The course. The same subject is taught differently in different places, so compare the modules first. See how to choose a university course.
• Entry requirements, and whether your predicted grades meet them.
• Teaching: the size of lectures and classes, how much small-group teaching there is, and who teaches it.
• Place: a campus university, where most of life happens on one site, or a city university spread across a city. A few, including Oxford, Cambridge and Durham, are collegiate, which means you belong to a college as well as the university.
• Cost of living, which varies a lot between cities, and whether first-year accommodation is guaranteed.
• Support: bursaries, scholarships, disability and wellbeing support, and careers services.

League tables: useful, with limits

League tables combine measures such as entry grades, student satisfaction, research quality and graduate outcomes, and each table weights them differently. That is why the same university can sit in very different places in different tables.

• Use subject tables rather than overall rankings. A university's overall position says little about any one department.
• Ignore small differences. A few places apart is usually within the noise.
• Look at the measures, not just the rank. If small-group teaching matters to you, find the measure closest to it.

For course-level data that isn't filtered through a ranking, Discover Uni (opens in a new tab) publishes official figures for each course.

Building a balanced set of five

The aim is to finish the cycle with offers you would be happy to accept, including one you are confident of meeting. A common approach is to compare each course's typical offer with your predicted grades:

• Ambitious: courses asking for grades at or slightly above your predictions.
• Realistic: courses asking for grades in line with your predictions.
• Safer: at least one course asking for grades comfortably below your predictions, which can become your insurance choice.

Some rules limit your options. You can apply to Oxford or Cambridge, not both, in the same year; you can list at most four courses in medicine, dentistry or veterinary science; and your choices need to be close enough in subject to share one personal statement. See how UCAS works.

Count the extra work each choice brings

Some choices add work beyond the UCAS form: an admissions test, an interview, written work or a portfolio. A set of five that needs three different tests means three lots of preparation in the busiest term of the year. Where courses use the same test, such as the TMUA for Mathematics, Computer Science and Economics at several universities, one test covers them all. See UK university admissions tests.

Open days and visits

Most universities run open days in the summer before you apply and again in the autumn, and many offer virtual tours. Use them to ask what the course brochure doesn't tell you: how large first-year classes are, how much contact time there is, how students are assessed, and what support is available. Current students are usually the most candid source.

Cost and fee status

Tuition fees depend on your fee status, home or international, which is decided by rules on residence and immigration status rather than nationality alone. Fees for home students are capped by the government; international fees are set by each university and are often much higher. UK students can usually borrow for tuition and living costs through the student finance system, explained on GOV.UK (opens in a new tab). Look at the total cost of the degree, including living costs, before you finalise your choices.