Top 10: The highest required grades at UCPH in 2018

For the second year in a row, Psychology is the most difficult study programme to get into on the Danish quota 1 admissions process at the University of Copenhagen.

1,641 had applied for one of the approximately 230 coveted places on the programme, and the great interest has pushed the average up to 11.7, which is 0.2 grade points higher than last year.

In a featured comment on the Politiken news site, the management of the Department of Psychology question the high grade requirements. They write that when UCPH introduces a new ‘quota 2’ system in 2020, they will work towards being able to absorb up to 50 per cent of all students on the ‘quota 2’ that will benefit students who have other qualifications than a high grade point average.

In general, the required grade point averages for the top 10 study programmes have continued to increase in recent years. UCPH has previously explained that the so-called quick start bonus – which there now appears to be a political majority for abolishing – has helped to inflate grades. But other factors may also come into play. In an interview with the University Post, the head of section at University Education Services Pernille Kindtler says that she “fears that some students choose based on prestige, so that study programmes are selected only because they require a high grade point average.”

The list is identical to 2016 (and 2015) with only internal shifts between subjects. Actuarial Mathematics has in this way crawled up next to Medicine and past Political Science, while Film and Media Studies has dropped from 8th to 10th place.

So here it is then:

The highest required grade point averages at UCPH in 2018

(Last year’s placing and required grade point average are indicated in parenthesis)

1. (1) Psychology: 11.7 (11.5)
2. (2) Molecular biomedicine 11.4 (11.4)
3. (3) Medicine 11.4 (11.2)
4. (5) Actuarial Mathematics 11.3 (11.1)
5. (3) Political Science: 11.2 (11.2)
6. (6) Anthropology: 11 (10.8)
7. (6) Comparative literature 10.9 (10.8)
8. (9) Veterinary medicine 10.8 (10.6)
9. (9) Dentistry 10.7 (10.6)
10. (8) Film and media studies 10.3 (10.3)

Read more about the 2018 admissions here. UCPH to admit 400 fewer students