Can universities see where else you've applied to – and could this affect your chances?

Admissions tutors won't be able to see which other universities you've applied to, so it won't make a difference to your application.

Even if we could find out, it would not impact on your chances of being made an offer.Nathalie Mortimer (head of UK student recruitment, University of Nottingham)

The only time an admissions tutor could see another one of your choices is if you’d applied to more than one course at the same university – as it could be the same tutor assessing you for both.

• Read more: first and insurance university choices explained

Anonymous applications

Universities will only know where else you’ve applied once you’ve chosen your firm or insurance choices, but it won’t change anything.

We can see where you have applied once you have made your firm, insurance and decline choices, but this doesn’t affect any decisions made at Confirmation (which happens after we get your exam results).Karen Pichlmann (head of admissions, Bournemouth University)

What about Oxbridge candidates?

Even though universities don't know where you're applying, would they assume that students applying in October are Oxbridge applicants who would make Oxford or Cambridge their first choice if they were successful?

It’s probably reasonable to assume that at least a proportion of those applying before 15 October have also included Oxbridge among their application choices but we have no way of knowing this for sure and would not, in any case, take this into account in our own decision-making.Angela Milln (director of admissions, University of Bristol)

Also, a place at Oxford or Cambridge isn't guaranteed.

It is a very dangerous assumption for an admissions tutor to assume that anyone applying before 15 October must be applying to Oxford or Cambridge. Even if they are, 75-80% of those who apply to Oxbridge won’t get an offer, but that doesn’t mean they are poor applicants, it just reflects the very limited number of offers Oxbridge colleges make.Mike Nicholson (director of undergraduate admissions, University of Oxford)

• Read more: nine things to look for when comparing university courses