You could choose a university based on the research specialisms of the lecturers, or the industry connections, or something similarly sensible. Or, you could blatantly pick the ones you are most likely to get into. Even though the UK’s 24 Russell Group unis are considered extra prestigious, some are way less competitive to get into than you might guess. The easiest Russell Group uni to get into only rejects about one out of every ten applicants. Really.
The hardest Russell Group uni to get an offer from isn’t Oxbridge anymore *gasp*. Over the last few years, it’s become more and more competitive to worm your way into the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). In 2025, just 15.8 per cent of hopeful students got offers. That’s worse than either the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge. Yikes. Keep in mind that Oxbridge tends to get far fewer applications than the other Russell Group unis. The complicated admissions process puts schools off from sixth-formers who are less likely to get in. Plus, nobody is putting down Oxford as the fifth option to bulk out their UCAS form.
For years, the University of Exeter has been the easiest of all the Russell Group unis to get an offer from. Exeter says yes to a whopping 87.6 per cent of applications. However, the University of Southampton and the University of York both dished out offers more frequently than they have in at least a decade. The offer rates for these unis now aren’t much lower than Exeter.
A nice sunny day at the Exeter Uni campus
These stats all come from UCAS, and refer to the proportion of applications that resulted in an offer in the 2025 admissions cycle. Although the vast majority of student use UCAS, approximately a third of Scottish undergrads don’t, and so aren’t included in this data.
So, here are the absolute easiest Russell Group unis for students to get into, based on offer rate:
24. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 15.8 per cent
23. University of Oxford – 16.1 per cent
22. University of Cambridge – 21.4 per cent
21. Imperial College London – 25.3 per cent
20. University College London (UCL) – 44.2 per cent
19. King’s College London (KCL) – 50.5 per cent
18. University of Edinburgh – 51.8 per cent
17. University of Manchester – 62.8 per cent
Manchester looking cold
16. Queen Mary University of London – 66.3 per cent
15. University of Leeds – 66.5 per cent
14. University of Glasgow – 68.9 per cent
13. University of Bristol – 71.9 per cent
12. University of Liverpool – 72.3 per cent
11. Cardiff University – 72.5 per cent
10. Queen’s University Belfast – 72.9 per cent
9. University of Birmingham – 73.1 per cent
I reckon these students in Brum are smiling because they’ve seen the high offer rates
8. University of Nottingham – 74.3 per cent
7. University of Sheffield – 75.3 per cent
6. Newcastle University – 77.6 per cent
5. Durham University – 77.9 per cent
4. University of Warwick – 78.6 per cent
3. University of Southampton – 79.5 per cent
2. University of York – 86.8 per cent
1. University of Exeter – 87.6 per cent
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