Prospective students trying to secure an undergraduate place at Sheffield in 2010 are facing some of the toughest entry requirements yet.
The University has raised the standard of A-level grades required for entry to more than 20 undergraduate courses
The rise is the result of a surge in applications to Sheffield, which has already received 33,574 submissions for places for next academic year compared to 29,000 last year – an increase of nearly 14 per cent.
Only 13 per cent of this year’s applicants will succeed in getting one of the 4,500 places available.
The University has increased its entry requirements over the last three years, with many of the most popular courses demanding higher A-level results compared with 2007, 2008 and 2009.
School leavers applying for the BA History course are now expected to achieve AAA instead of the AAB expected for 2009 entry.
The BSc Mathematics course has also increased its entry requirements since last year, asking for ABB with an A in Maths instead of the ABC expected in 2009.
The BA Journalism Studies undergraduate programme now requires ABB, the highest entry requirements for any such course in the country. Applicants in 2007 and 2008 were only asked to obtain BBB in their A-levels.
And popular course BA English Literature now demands grades of AAB at A-Level, despite applicants before 2007 only needing ABB.
The increase fuels concerns that many well-qualified students may lose out on their top choices.
Gap-year student Lucie Cross, 19, applied to study History at the University of Sheffield last year but missed out on a place.
She said: “I’m now spending a year taking re-sits to try and get the three A grades I need.
“When I first looked at applying to Sheffield the requirements to take History were AAB.”
A spokesperson from the University of Sheffield Admissions department said that the increase in applications had inevitably resulted in higher levels of competition for popular courses.
They said: “The selection process continues to use a combination of achieved and predicted grades and, where relevant, other information on the UCAS form to select the best applicants from the total number of applications.
“The increase in applications has also resulted in some delays in processing, though the Admissions Service has been working hard to minimise this.”
The spokesperson added that although the general trend has been for entry requirements for courses to stay the same or increase during the period 2007-2010, in a small number of cases, entry requirements were reduced for one or two admissions cycles before being increased again.
Union Education Officer Holly Taylor insisted that the rise in entry requirements was good for the University.
She said: “I think the grade inflations are fair.
“As a Russell Group university that sits where we do in the league tables, the University needs to be constantly reviewing entry grades and making sure they accurately reflect the demands of the courses offered.
“The committees responsible for looking at the entry grades thought very carefully about the implications for prospective students who may be missing out under the new requirements but it was deemed to be a progressive measure.
“It’s possible that these changes will have a positive effect on drop out rates too as there is a perception that students who are already high achievers will react well to the academic challenges that they face when they arrive at university.”
Despite a 23 per cent rise in UCAS (University and College Admissions Servcice) applicants hoping to start higher education this September, funding cuts have forced a nationwide reduction of around 6,000 university places.
The cutbacks are part of government plans to minimise spending to improve the country’s debt problems.
UCAS chief Mary Curnock-Cook said: “The current application cycle looks to be very challenging and competitive for applicants.”
With record numbers of students attending university, the Government is under pressure to deliver on its promise of Higher Education for half of all school leavers.
But Minister of State for Higher Education, David Lammy, said: “Getting into university has always been, and should be, a competitive process.”