How to work the system

Do you want a place at a good university, but feel daunted by the competition to study popular subjects such as medicine, history, English and law? Then maybe it is time to start thinking laterally. Many students pick their degree without much thought, on the basis of what they enjoyed doing at A-level, but the possibilities are much wider. If you are willing to open your mind to other options, the university world can be your oyster. Even the most popular universities have courses for which people aren't queuing round the block.

This is what one mother calls "taking the theology option", in memory of her younger son who dive-bombed at A-levels, but still wangled himself a place at a good university by professing a sudden interest in spiritual matters. And the real bonus, she says, is that having gone into it cynically, he took to the course like a duck to water and is now considering doing an MA.

The options are wide-ranging. In the theological realm alone, you can combine theology with business studies, classical studies, war studies or archaeology, at prime locations including London, Glasgow and Exeter. Other arts possibilities include cultural studies, war and peace studies, or history of art, while at one northern university, sociology has acquired a reputation among students for being easy to get into – and easy to do, once you are there.

There are ways of thinking around your main interests. If you are a linguist, say, you might be able to shun French and Spanish for more unusual options – Russian at Bristol University has only 1.5 applicants for each place, while German has three.

If you'd like to join one of the élite professions, but fear your A-levels aren't up to it, consider courses in related subjects. Wannabe vets could look at veterinary nursing, or animal behaviour; would-be doctors might consider biochemistry, or biomedical studies; and those interested in the law could scrutinise the array of business and administration degrees on offer.

But sneaking on to a less popular course at an illustrious university won't do you much good if you can't stand the subject. Don't be sniffy about new universities, the former polytechnics. Many offer strong courses, particularly in vocational subjects, and excellent graduate employment prospects. Facilities can be surprisingly plush – Greenwich University, for example, is now housed in the Old Royal Naval College. Its nursing and midwifery, pharmacology, pharmacy, architecture and construction courses are highly rated for teaching, and get good graduate employment figures. The university is also involved in an unusual collaboration with an "old" university, Kent, to set up a pharmacy school at Greenwich's Medway campus.

Another new university, Staffordshire, is excited about its latest figure for graduate employment – 95 per cent – which puts it in the top rank. It credits its strength in vocational courses for this success, and is proud of its innovative courses. A new offering, a BSc in football technology, trains coaches and managers. The university also has good facilities –forensic-science students do mock-investigations in a crime-scene house, one of only a few in the country, and film and technology students play with the latest industry-standard kit.

Media-studies courses, usually the preserve of new universities, have sometimes received undeserved stick. You need to look carefully at the degree on offer. Liverpool John Moores university says that graduates of its BSc in broadcast engineering have been snapped up.

The really canny student plans early and takes maths at A-level. This is a great move on a number of levels. For a start, research shows that having this A-level is likely to add 10 per cent to your earnings over a lifetime. Then there is the plethora of rich degree pickings that open up to you.

Many universities struggle to fill their engineering places, and will take on applicants with lower A-level grades. But an engineering degree is one of the best there is for adding value to earnings, making engineering a great higher-education investment – although it's worth noting that the popularity of courses varies. At Bristol, electrical engineering has 6.8 applicants per place, while engineering design has 3.8, and engineering maths has 2.8.

National figures of ratios of applicants to places show how much variety there can be between subjects, although like all statistics, they need to be read with care. Small departments can quickly look vastly oversubscribed, while large ones can mop up hundreds of students. Last year's figures show that physics, agricultural sciences, general engineering, mineral technology and linguistics were all good areas to head for if you wanted to avoid the crowds. Medicine and law were the places to be if you liked a lot of company. While this year's figures show increasing numbers heading for pre-clinical medicine, medical technology, general studies, nutrition and business studies, and a decline in applications for computer science, information systems, electronic engineering, social policy and anthropology.