The rejection letters from Oxford and Cambridge tend to be very straightforward: you also know that our school is very competitive, so you get rejected. Even many rejections don't give a clear reason. Oxbridge needs to reject a lot of people every year, and it's no wonder that Oxbridge is "too lazy to say why".
University of Cambridge
Reason 1: The competition in the applied major is too fierce
This student is applying for a 2024 entry in engineering at Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge, and the reason for the rejection is that the number and quality of applicants are very competitive.
In this admission, the University of Cambridge as a whole received more than 21,000 applications for around 3,600 undergraduate degrees. Gonville & Caius College has 1,199 applicants, with 160 rooms for first-year undergraduates. In addition to the college's own applicants, they have reviewed the files of hundreds of other applicants.
Some students who did not get the interview invitation due to the fierce competition:
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Reason 2: Mismatch of educational background
This Cambridge rejection letter did not explain the reason, but the student's own analysis may be due to various reasons such as direct application of general high school grades, mismatch of pre-emptiveness, lack of international courses, and weak competitiveness of high school grades
理由:3：放进了Pool但没人捞你
This classmate was put into the Cambridge Winter Pool, but unfortunately it was not picked up by another college.
Because of this major, the competition is fierce in terms of the number and quality of applicants.
In October 2023, applications to colleges and universities were once again on the rise. Pembroke College received 990 applications and issued 161 offers in 2024 or 2025.
The rejection letter also said that this year is the most competitive year, so it can only disappoint many excellent candidates, but it is already very good to be able to enter the interview.
Oxford
Reason 1: The academic background is not strong enough
An Oxford applicant received a rejection letter for a defence-breaking reason!5A* application results were simply rejected, and the reason was actually related to IGCSE and written exams?
The rejection letter is from the University of Oxford's Biomedical Sciences major, and the student's score is a 5A* in the practical examination, and it is clear from the rejection letter that the institution has established a ranking based on BMAT results and GCSE results.
There are a total of 40 admission places in Oxford Biomedical Sciences in this round, but 495 applications were received, 120 people were invited, and more than 370 applicants with excellent grades could not give face-to-face invitations, which shows the fierce competition.
Every application season, there are many students with excellent A-level results, but they are rejected because their IGCSE scores are not competitive enough or the IGCSE subjects are insufficient, which is very embarrassing.
Reason 2: The performance in the written interview is not outstanding
THE UNIVERSITY RECEIVED 494 APPLICATIONS FOR BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES COURSES AND ISSUED ONLY 49 OFFERS.
While your interview and academic performance impressed your tutor, it didn't stand out. Considering your BMAT scores, unfortunately we are unable to offer you a place in this highly competitive course.
Reason 3: The competition is too fierce
To sum up the whole text in one sentence, the Oxford application is too competitive and you are rejected.
LSE: PS isn't good enough
This is one of the most frequent reasons for rejection of LSE applications. Of course, there are many examples of rejection because of GCSE results.
The student below is a sophomore in high school who applied early this year, but didn't want to go to the UK so early, so he applied for autumn 2025 entry. The major to apply for is Data Science, which is one of the popular majors at LSE.
Contrary to previous statements that were too competitive, the reason for the rejection was more sincere, stating that "the instrument is spelling and/or grammatically inaccurate and does not meet the criteria set out in the LSE guidelines." ”
Imperial College London: Academic background is not strong enough
The main reason for the rejection of Imperial College is that the competition is too fierce and the written interview is not passed, but when everyone has similar grades, PS will be the reason for rejection, saying that I did not see the applicant's motivation to study chemistry...
For example, the rejection letter said that IC Chemistry competes for about 200 positions each year with more than 1,000 people. The first stage comprehensively evaluates the existing academic achievements, estimated grades, course selection combinations, PS, extracurricular achievements, recommendation letters, etc. Students who pass the above stages can proceed to the second stage - interview, but the student does not pass the first stage of screening.
UCL: There are many reasons for rejection
Lack of competitiveness occurs most frequently, grades are not good enough, and PS is not good enough, which may be the reason for UCL to issue a rejection letter.
For example, the reason given by the UCL Mathematics major is that your actual or estimated results do not meet the entry requirements of this major.
The Medical Sciences program at UCL is highly competitive and has many excellent applicants. After evaluation, and comparison with other applicants, the application is not as competitive as other applicants.