Commenting on the undergraduate applicant statistics released on Wednesday 4 January, UCAS Chief Executive Mary Curnock Cook said: "Evidence of a late surge as the 15 January deadline approaches is now emerging. Applicants are taking longer to research their choices but the applications flow has speeded up, as these statistics show. It remains too early to make predictions about the final year-on-year figures but we will be able to get a clearer picture after the deadline has passed."