It’s official: the UK’s best school for getting Oxbridge offers is in London

Getting into a good uni isn’t the only reason you should pay attention in school, but for some people it’s a pretty big one. Just shy of 45,000 people apply for Oxford and Cambridge every year, and only around 7,300 of those people will be offered a place. It’s not a secret that you need to be very clever to get into either of these universities, but some people have better odds than others.

Going to a good school doesn’t by any means ensure you a place at one of the country’s top institutions of higher education, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. And lucky for Londoners, the capital is absolutely packed with quality schools. 

In fact, several of the top 10 performing schools in terms of Oxbridge offers, according to Which School Advisor, are in London. Although last year saw the highest ever intake of state-educated students to the universities, four of those were private schools, and none are non-selective.

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The best school for students who want to go to Oxford or Cambridge was Westminster School, where 65 out of 169 people who applied received offers. That’s pretty good odds. 

It isn’t a surprise; Westminster was also named the best private school in the country last month. It has an entire Wikipedia page of notable alumni, with hefty sections for each century since the 1560s, featuring people like Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Helena Bonham-Carter, and even Nick Clegg. Clearly, it’s doing something right.

Other London schools in the top ten included St Paul’s Boys School and its girls’ counterpart, Brampton Manor Academy, Harris Westminster Sixth Form, and the Queen Elizabeth School, the latter three of which are non-fee paying. 

You can have a look at the full list of schools to get your kids into if you see academia in their futures here. 

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