How do Universities Find Out This?

[janeeire244]

Does anyone know how universities verify whether you are at another university when you apply?

For instance, Oxbridge claim they don’t allow you to apply to them while studying elsewhere. But, how would they know for sure if you just applied and said you weren’t at another university on UCAS?

I understand that would be a fraudulent thing to do but I’m not asking whether or not it is right or wrong to do so; I’m just asking practically how they’d find out?

That’s strange. Does it say that on their website? Can’t see why it would matter 🤔 assume this is UG programme to another UG programme?

If you are receiving funding from Student Finance England this would flag if you tried to claim at both.

But what if you stopped claiming funding from SFE after your first year once you dropped out of university and got accepted into Oxbridge and then made a new claim for SFE?

OFS track HE enrolments

Is your question about funding? It's my understanding that SFE will fully fund four years of study - meaning if you drop out during year one, you can reapply for an alternative full honours degree

But you wouldn’t be at university if you dropped out after a year.

Furthermore, if (hypothetically) a student is currently enrolled at Liverpool (2024 entry) but feel course isn't for them, they would withdraw, halting the instalments (tuition fees aren't paid up front by SFE for obv reasons)

They can’t. SLC will know once the student applies for funding, and Jisc, who collect student data, will know. But there’s no way that Oxford or anyone else can check AFAIK.

So, someone could theoretically lie on UCAS to Oxford and say they aren’t studying at another university and are just taking a gap year and then reapply to Oxford?

Oxford and Cambridge don’t allow students studying undergraduate programme at another university to apply to them while studying there? Apparently it’s because they don’t want damage their relationship with other universities, presumably since if someone got an offer they would move to Oxbridge thus depriving the original university of talent and causing them to resent Oxbridge.

https://www.ucas.com/money-and-student-life/student-life/starting-university-or-college/changing-or-leaving-your-course

This is all v cryptic, however, in nicest possible way, Oxford are unlikely to consider applicants who have dropped out of other universities...

Many ways to find out. Could be something in the reference. Or if you’ve previously applied the Old application can be seen on UCAS with all 5 choices and whether a place was accepted. This is only visible to Oxford if you’ve previously applied there.
it is definitely a risk though and fraudulent. Depends how strict they are but if they found out you could be rejected for not declaring.

That’s true - if you’ve previously applied to Oxford they’ll be able to see where you were accepted. You could say you never started though and they wouldn’t know I don’t think. It would be fraudulent of course and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it.

Hmmm, another post asking strange hypothetical questions about Oxbridge, after a flurry a couple of months back….🧐

Yes, pretty sure this is the same OP who got BBB last August but is resitting and missed the Oxbridge deadline.

Other universities are available OP and they may well be better suited to you, especially if you decided against applying for the Cambridge Foundation Year in the end. Best of luck.

What if you applied to Cambridge but not Oxford in the first place then applied to Oxford so you wouldn’t have ever applied to Oxford?

x

You don't exactly sound suited to the supervision system, let it go.

they know because each person has a UCAS application portal thing. You apply via UCAS, so it's all recorded where you have offers from, what you've applied to, where you've accepted etc.

For instance on my results day (although 10 years ago), i had to ask my university to release me into clearing as i had accepted them so i could apply for a different course at a different uni.

A person can only have one portal so all your uni records are there. Also from what i know you can only apply for oxford or cambridge, not both.

I thought the same thing but she never got to any university at all though I don’t think. She is doing her resits as an independent candidate this year and didn’t apply to any university for 25/26.

Please stop with this Oxbridge obsession.

I don’t think that’s true…I work at a university and am heavily involved in admissions. I can’t see the other applications on a ucas form. I certainly can’t see who else has accepted them (or not).

I think what the OP is suggesting is possible and Oxford wouldn’t know.

I take back what I just said @ICouldBeVioletSkybecause I now see that Active is full of Oxbridge threads again. It is the same poster as last year.

You also have to declare your original A level grades, not just the resit results (if this does apply to you).

But why worry about it? What would be the point of trying to make a fraudulent long-shot resit Oxbridge application if already settled at a different university?