Every year from around April to September, we see an uptick on people sharing links to our Freedom of Information site, WhatDoTheyKnow on Reddit forums. The reason? It’s the peak time for anxieties around university entry.

As we know, universities are generally looking for the brightest of minds. Perhaps that includes those who have enough initiative to source data around things like their entry requirements and shortlisting criteria. 

As public bodies, universities are subject to the Freedom of Information Act, so a lot of this data can be requested; and where people have used WhatDoTheyKnow to do so, the responses are publicly available for other potential students to access in years to come.

So what kind of information are these bright sparks asking for? In a brief analysis, we came across requests which address seven distinct questions for university applicants. 

What A-Level subjects should I take to get into the university course of my choice?

Forward planning never hurts, and for some smart kids this comes into play as early as Year 11. 

“Does a fourth A-level help you get into the Computer Science course at a top-level university?”, asked a student who was about to pick their sixth form subjects.

A response pointed them to this FOI response from the University of Oxford, indicating that passing four A-levels does indeed appear to help for Oxford, while astutely adding that cause does not always align with correlation: “It’s hard to know whether other things impacted the offer rate there, eg are people more likely to do well on the admissions tests if they’re doing four?”.

What GCSE marks do I need to achieve in my exams to enter the university I want?

The anxieties start early, as we see from this post asking “Does Cambridge ever reject people because of slightly weaker GCSEs compared to the applicant pool?” and this one wondering whether a B in Maths GCSE is enough to get into Bath Uni.

The required data was provided here and here, for the prospective students to consult and draw their own conclusions.

How can I access past university entry tests for practice purposes?

One chemistry enthusiast found that old Oxford Uni entry tests were available only to current students on the student portal — not much use for those wanting to practice before the real thing! 

A kind soul was able to point them at this request, giving access to several past papers from 2003 to 2017. That’s just one of many such requests across multiple subjects at several unis: in fact, there have been so many on WhatDoTheyKnow that we’ve created a ‘past exam papers’ section on our categories page.

How do universities decide shortlists?

This Reddit post was subsequently deleted by its author, but from the responses it is clear that it was asking whether the author’s results would be likely to see them shortlisted for interview.

The FOI request provided in the comments is a smart one, referring back to a previous successful request and asking that the same data be provided for the most recent time period.

When do universities send out offer letters?

Once you’ve done all you can on your application, interview and any entrance tests, all that remains is to sit back and wait for the hoped-for offer letter. 

This helpful Redditor, sharing dates from previous years around the Maths with Data Science course at LSE, said, “I thought the following would be worth mentioning for those who have applied, and are agonisingly checking their emails at 8pm; waiting for news that will seemingly never come.”

They shared this request, the response to which provided rich data beyond just the decision dates for each applicant: we can also see predicted grades, country of residence, and their TMUA test scores.

What’s the best way to pick university course modules?

So you’ve been accepted onto the course? The usefulness of FOI doesn’t stop there! In this request, a student about to start their first year studying Maths at Warwick University was wondering which optional course modules to select. 

They were asking which might have the best lecturers or be the most interesting overall; but in a comment, another fresher shared that they had already submitted an FOI request to understand which modules resulted in the highest number of exam/coursework marks — so not only were they able to provide useful extra context, but also to identify themselves as a soon-to-be classmate!

What are the stats around Postgrad waiting lists?

Finally, for those who got onto a uni course and then enjoyed it so much that they went on to apply to a postgraduate degree, there are still more questions to be asked.

Questions like the total number of applications received, the number of applicants placed on a waiting list, and the number who subsequently received an offer.

This kind Redditor gathered together three FOI requests to answer those questions.

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If you’re a student wondering about similar questions to those above, we hope this has been a useful guide to everything you can discover thanks to Freedom of Information. The first step is to search WhatDoTheyKnow to see whether what you need has already been requested — and if the exact information you seek isn’t already on there, check out our handy guide for some basic guidance in making a request yourself.

Requests come thick and fast at this time of year, and we suspect from a younger userbase than is our norm. We don’t mind it at all — in fact, we hope it provides a gateway to using FOI for life, and perhaps exploring all mySociety’s other useful online tools for civic action.

Oh, and if you’re a member of university staff yourself, here’s food for thought: as we’ve demonstrated above, this type of information is very much in demand. You could consider proactively publishing it on your site, so there’s no need for students to make requests at all. WhatDoTheyKnow will also be a useful resource for you — check what students have requested from your uni, and from others, to help understand what type of information people are keen to access.

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Image: Chris Boland