Edinburgh University was accused of being "anti-English" after it emerged they are favouring candidates from north of the border.
Leading private school headteachers said they were "alarmed" that the prestigious institution has said it will "give weighting" firstly to applications for certain subjects from schools in the local area.
A statement on Edinburgh's website says: "We want to make sure that our local applicants are not prevented from studying their chosen subject because of the pressure on popular subject areas.
