More students than ever are applying to the University of Dundee this year and more than ever are changing their applications into firm acceptances on offer of a place.
An early rise in applications of 21 per cent has continued to hold throughout the recruiting season and the latest figures show that the crucial "conversion rate" into acceptances has gone up by a staggering 38 per cent compared to last year.
Director of Admissions and Student Recruitment Gordon Craig said: "More students than ever are thinking Dundee and ultimately deciding Dundee - and it is a good endorsement that these increases are right across subjects and across geographical areas. Students are daring to be different - they're discovering there is life outside the central belt. The penny is clearly dropping that the University of Dundee has a great deal to offer both in terms of the academic calibre and the quality of student life here."
Local recruitment figures are up 36 per cent; there has been a 50per cent increase in science acceptances and 40per cent increase in law acceptances for example.
He attributed the dramatic rises to a range of factors including the quality and range of new courses - 34 over the last two years - such as sports biomedicine, innovative product design and interactive media design all of which have proved popular.
While some of the rise could be attributed to the recent merger with Northern College, even when these applications were stripped out the conversion rate remains 27.5 per cent above last year.
"We thought initially the rise might be due to people responding earlier than usual but the 21 per cent increase in applications has been sustained week on week so we are now allowing ourselves to be optimistic."