NHS STP Competition Ratios 2026 by Specialty, and How to Pick One

The latest NHS STP competition ratios are for 2026 recruitment: 11,109 applications for 389 direct entry posts across 32 specialties in England, about 28.6 applications per post overall (our arithmetic on NSHCS’s table). They range from 2.20 per post in Urodynamic Science to 221.75 in Clinical Microbiology, which had 887 applications for 4 posts.

Below: every specialty ranked by its official 2026 ratio, how each one has moved since 2022, what the odds look like at each stage from application to offer, and how to use the ratios (and when to ignore them) when you pick the one specialty NSHCS lets you apply for.

NSHCS STP 2026 recruitment statistics: competition ratios per post for each specialty, and applicants at each stage (both last updated 8 October 2026).

NSHCS’s 2026 table, sorted from the most to the least competitive. The ratio is the number of applications divided by the number of direct entry posts, as NSHCS prints it. The theme is NSHCS’s own grouping of the specialties. NSHCS: 2026 competition ratios.

Three things to read alongside the table. First, the ratio is counted before the SJT: NSHCS says direct entry applications are open to anyone and “can include speculative applications, those with limited information or from individuals who do not meet the entry requirements”, so the total should not be read as a count of verified eligible candidates. Second, each person applies for one specialty only (NSHCS disqualifies anyone who sends more than one application), so in 2026 a ratio is close to the number of people per post. Third, the figures cover England only, and only direct entry posts: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland recruit separately, and in-service posts are not in the table. NSHCS: stages of recruitment, 2026 · NSHCS: applying for a direct entry post.

Nine of the ten highest 2026 ratios are life sciences specialties (the tenth is Neurophysiology), and all ten had 16 posts or fewer. The ten lowest are all physical or physiological sciences specialties, six of them with ten or more posts.

Two warnings before anyone reads this as a shortcut. The least competitive specialties are not open to everyone: Reconstructive Science needs registration as a dental technician with the General Dental Council (NSHCS’s entry requirements say “current registration”; its list of relevant degrees says by the programme start date), and the five Medical Physics specialties want a degree with a high level of physics. And the biggest ratios sit on the smallest post counts: Clinical Microbiology had 16 posts in 2022 and 4 in 2026, so its ratio rose from 71.1 to 221.75 even though its applications fell, from 1,138 to 887. NSHCS: entry requirements.

Grouping NSHCS’s rows by theme shows the pattern behind the individual numbers. These totals and ratios are our arithmetic on NSHCS’s tables (2023 is left out, for the reason in the data notes below).

Life sciences is where the pressure has built: applications rose from 5,274 in 2022 to 6,651 in 2026 while its posts fell from 159 to 110, so the theme went from about 33 to about 60 applications per post. Physical and physiological sciences also became more competitive, to about 16 per post each in 2026, but with more posts than life sciences. NSHCS 2022 · NSHCS 2026 · NSHCS: the specialties.

NSHCS’s printed ratio for each year, in the order of the 2026 ranking. “Not listed” means the specialty is not in that year’s table. NSHCS prints 2024 and 2025 ratios to up to one decimal (cut, not rounded: Histopathology’s 146 for 3 posts shows as 48.6) and 2026 to up to two. We keep NSHCS’s printed precision, including trailing zeros.

* These are NSHCS’s printed 2023 ratios, which are inconsistent with its own listed counts in most rows (Audiology: 78 applications and 29 posts, ratio printed as 3.9); the sources do not say which column is wrong, so we compare 2023 with nothing. The 2022 table names Clinical Microbiology “Microbiology” and Medical Physics “Medical Physics undefined”; we use the later names. Intraoperative Neuromonitoring first appears in NSHCS’s 2019 to 2026 tables in 2026, with 1 post. 2022 · 2023 · 2024 · 2025 · 2026.

How much a ratio moves often comes down to posts, not applicants: with applications held constant, a change in a small post count has a much larger proportional effect on the ratio. Examples of changing post counts, from NSHCS’s tables:

Adding up every specialty row gives the overall picture (our arithmetic on NSHCS’s tables):

2026 had the highest overall applications per post of any year in NSHCS’s 2019 to 2026 tables (our arithmetic): applications rose by about 41% on 2025 (from 7,873 to 11,109, our arithmetic) while posts rose from 320 to 389. Comparisons with 2019 and 2020 are not like for like: NSHCS notes that 2021 applicants were “only allowed to apply to 1 specialty” as a COVID-19 change, which suggests some people were counted in more than one specialty before then. NSHCS: 2019 to 2023 tables · NSHCS: 2021 statistics.

A competition ratio is only the first number. NSHCS also publishes how many applicants were left at each stage of recruitment; the table adds up its counts (our arithmetic). These published totals differ slightly from the competition tables, and NSHCS’s pages do not explain why; accepted offers can also differ from advertised posts (2025: 323 accepted against 320 posts).

Our summary of NSHCS’s stages. Longlisting: every application that completes the SJT goes forward, and applications are longlisted on the SJT score alone. Shortlisting: applications that score adequately on the SJT are scored by two shortlisters, who see only the education and supporting information sections. Interview: applications are ranked and matched to interviews by rank and location choice, with at least two applicants interviewed per post. Offer: offers go from rank one downwards, matched to location. NSHCS: stages of recruitment · NSHCS: applying for a direct entry post.

So in 2026 more than half of all applications (55.5%, our arithmetic) were not longlisted, the stage decided by the SJT score, before any shortlister read them; an application without a completed SJT also stops here. NSHCS says there is no fixed percentage that passes: you compete with everyone who applied for your specialty, and the number longlisted depends on how many applied. Of those interviewed, 43% accepted an offer (382 of 884, our arithmetic). NSHCS: SJT FAQs. The test itself is covered in our STP SJT guide.

You can apply for one specialty a year and, if you are offered a post, you spend three years training in it; NSHCS also says you cannot transfer to another location once you accept. NSHCS’s own advice is that your choice “should be relevant to your choice of future career and your academic qualifications”. Check degree suitability and career interest first; use the ratios as secondary context.

Two honest points from the data. If your degree fits both a life sciences specialty and a physiological one, the gap is real: in 2026 life sciences had about 60 applications per post and physiological sciences about 16 (our arithmetic). Physiological specialties such as Audiology, Vascular Science and Respiratory and Sleep Science list biology and biomedical science degrees too. But NSHCS shortlisters score your motivation for the specialty you choose, so switch only to a specialty you would actually want to work in. And if you apply and are unsuccessful, NSHCS says you can reapply next year, in a different specialty if you like, with no impact on the new application; it does not give individual feedback. NSHCS: entry requirements · NSHCS: application FAQs.

Pick your degree subject to see the specialties where NSHCS lists it, ordered by the 2026 ratio; where NSHCS uses a slightly different title for that specialty, the result shows it. The lists are NSHCS’s “most commonly accepted” degrees and are not exhaustive, and a listed title alone does not settle eligibility; Urodynamic Science and Intraoperative Neuromonitoring have no list on NSHCS’s page.

In the table, the last column adds up every listed specialty: it describes that group of specialties, not a route you can apply to as a whole (you still pick one).

NSHCS adds specialty notes that the ratios do not show: Genomic Counselling applicants are “less likely to be shortlisted” without care or counselling experience; applicants for Medical Physics (undefined) or Clinical Engineering may be allocated to a post with a set specialty or one decided after the first year; and Reconstructive Science needs registration as a dental technician with the General Dental Council (“current registration” in the degree rules; “by the start date” in the relevant-degrees list, so ask NSHCS if your timing is close). NSHCS: entry requirements and relevant degrees.

NSHCS: FAQs about the STP · NSHCS: competition ratio publications · NSHCS: applying for a direct entry post.

Every application count, post count and printed ratio is copied from NSHCS’s pages as they stood on 8 November 2026 (the 2022 to 2026 competition ratio pages each show “updated on 8th October 2026”). Totals, theme ratios, stage percentages and the “1 in” figures are our arithmetic and are labelled as ours. Four quirks in the source data: NSHCS’s 2023 printed ratios are inconsistent with its own counts and the pages do not say why; 2024 and 2025 ratios are cut to one decimal rather than rounded; the 2019 publication prints 42.4 for Clinical Bioinformatics (Genomics) although 295 applications for 17 posts is about 17.4; and “Medical Physics – non defined” is the row NSHCS’s entry requirements call Medical Physics “undefined”: a successful applicant may be allocated to a post with a set physics specialty or one decided after the first year of training.