Key findings from the January Application Deadline 24/25

This week, UCAS released the January application deadline applicant figures, offering some interesting insights—though no major surprises for us at IDP. 

Back in November, in our article ‘Looking Ahead to the January Application Deadline’, we analysed historical trends and key demand indicators within IDP to anticipate application volumes for this cycle. In that article, we forecast: 

• More than 5,000 additional 18-year domestic applicants 

• No growth and potential further declines in mature applicants 

• Health and Medicine growth based on strong demand 

• Declines in Computer Science 

The latest UCAS data validates all of these predictions.  

The headline finding is that UK domestic applicant volume is up  0.6% which is positive news, following year on year declines since 2021.  

Overall, applicant volume is closely aligned to 2023 levels, but still notably below the 2021 and 2022 peaks. The growth is driven exclusively by 18-year-olds (or younger) whilst mature (19+) applicant volume is down, despite some indication in the 2024 end of cycle reports suggesting a potential recovery in mature applicant numbers. Institutions who recruit a high proportion of 18-year-olds will therefore be the big winners this cycle and with this demographic set to continue to grow over the remainder of the decade, this is a trend that will likely continue.

• Computer Science is down -10.2% evidence we have seen in IDP demand data since October and published in our UCAS deadline report published earlier this week. Important to note that at an individual course level, Computer Science remains the fourth most searched-for title across our demand data collected across WhatUni and the Complete University Guide sites

• Subject Allied to Medicine

  has seen growth of 1.7% but there is interesting nuance within this. Nursing applicants are down despite growth in 18-year-old applicants. It is specifically the 35+ applicants that are significantly down indicating challenges attracting the mature applicants into the profession. Midwifery is also flat, so where is the growth coming from? Our demand data indicates Physiotherapy to be one of the top 10 most search-for titles this cycle and increasing demand also for Medical Technology / Pharmacology

• Law: We previously highlighted the LLB to be the most searched-for title this academic year, and this is reflected in applicant growth which is up 9.4%

• Business and Management and Engineering are also both up, 6.4% and 8.9% respectively

• Architecture albeit a smaller volume subject has also seen strong growth, with applicants jumping up 8.7% year-on-year and is now a top 10 title for student search across our sites

• Languages unfortunately, continues to see a decline in applicants, dropping a further 6.7% in 2025

IDP data based on students self-reported predicted grades on our sites indicates that predicted grades have shifted downwards year-on-year with a 9.1% decline in the number of students searching for courses with entry requirements at 129+ points (>ABB). Despite this we have seen further growth in High Tariff applicants (+4.3%) and declines for the Low Tariff institutions across the sector (-3.1%).

Contact us for more information on course-level opportunities and portfolio evaluation and how your institution can improve your conversion this cycle. For a copy of our latest UCAS deadline report, email UKclientpartnerships@idp.com.