The Student Room Group

Applying for university!

Hey guys,

I've just finished AS and I'm doing 3 a levels but I'm applying for university and I believe I done well in two of my a levels but not on the others.. what suggestions do you have as I'm scared I won't get into university next year??

I would be grateful for any help or suggestion :smile:
What A level and what course you want to learn at university? And it also depends on which universities you apply to and their entry requirement, you can always go to do same course at a universities with lower entry requirements.
What do you think you got in your AS?
Reply 2
Original post by Jackfinance17
What A level and what course you want to learn at university? And it also depends on which universities you apply to and their entry requirement, you can always go to do same course at a universities with lower entry requirements.
What do you think you got in your AS?


I'm currently doing biology, english literature and history but I believed I've done good in english and history but not biology, biology is the one I think I've failed
There's absolutely no point in speculating or worrying until you actually have your AS results. You may have done fine.

If you have fallen short of what you expected to achieve, you can resit AS modules in January, and you'll put that you're resitting on your UCAS form so that unis know that you expect to improve your grades.
Reply 4
Youll be fine. Supplement it with good extra-curricular activity and you'll be okay. I had CDE at the end of AS and was offered a place at Bristol for a course that's usually AAA but my offer was ABB. don't worry :smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by WriterC
I'm currently doing biology, english literature and history but I believed I've done good in english and history but not biology, biology is the one I think I've failed


What do you want to study? And which universities are you applying to? It depends very much on courses, some are competitive and some are not.
Reply 6
Original post by Jackfinance17
What do you want to study? And which universities are you applying to? It depends very much on courses, some are competitive and some are not.

I want to do english in university, maybe combining it with politics
Reply 7
Original post by WriterC
I want to do english in university, maybe combining it with politics


it's probably unlikely to be a problem at most unis; as long as your predicted grades meet the requirements and preferably get your referee to explain that you're likely to do better. are you continuing with biology?

at a-level i got a C in one (maths) but as my other 2 were A* and A i still got 5 offers. so don't worry too much. you can always do retakes.
Reply 8
Original post by canŵio
it's probably unlikely to be a problem at most unis; as long as your predicted grades meet the requirements and preferably get your referee to explain that you're likely to do better. are you continuing with biology?

at a-level i got a C in one (maths) but as my other 2 were A* and A i still got 5 offers. so don't worry too much. you can always do retakes.


Oh that's amazing, I still have some hope then. I'm hoping to get either 2 A's or 2 A*'s and biology, depending if I pass it so I can carry on and improve it more.

What universities did you get offers from?

Thanks once again
Reply 9
Original post by WriterC
Oh that's amazing, I still have some hope then. I'm hoping to get either 2 A's or 2 A*'s and biology, depending if I pass it so I can carry on and improve it more.

What universities did you get offers from?

Thanks once again


well there's always retakes! i got offers from durham, bath, york, nottingham and cardiff.
Reply 10
Original post by canŵio
well there's always retakes! i got offers from durham, bath, york, nottingham and cardiff.


I'm hoping they allow me to retake so I could try and push it up a grade because I really want to get into a good university like the ones you have got offers from.

They are all good universities, when did you apply and what university have you choose?
Original post by WriterC
Hey guys,

I've just finished AS and I'm doing 3 a levels but I'm applying for university and I believe I done well in two of my a levels but not on the others.. what suggestions do you have as I'm scared I won't get into university next year??

I would be grateful for any help or suggestion :smile:


no point in worrying at the moment, as others have said you may have done better than you have thought. Plus you can always resit modules which will give you a good shot. What are you thinking of doing at uni?
Reply 12
Original post by pink pineapple
no point in worrying at the moment, as others have said you may have done better than you have thought. Plus you can always resit modules which will give you a good shot. What are you thinking of doing at uni?


You're right, I'll wait till results day :smile: but I'm just worried that they will allow me to carry on biology if I have done badly which I hope I havent, plus my school is very strict on what to carry on, their expect a high D for us to carry on to A2.

I'm hoping to do an English degree which most universities are expecting AAA/AAB, I'm just worried about biology because I don't want that ruining my chances of doing the degree.
Original post by WriterC
You're right, I'll wait till results day :smile: but I'm just worried that they will allow me to carry on biology if I have done badly which I hope I havent, plus my school is very strict on what to carry on, their expect a high D for us to carry on to A2.

I'm hoping to do an English degree which most universities are expecting AAA/AAB, I'm just worried about biology because I don't want that ruining my chances of doing the degree.


I'm in pretty much the exact same position with my ASs, all the unis are looking for AAA/AAB/ABB and I feel like I've got nowhere near that. I doubt they will expect you to carry it on if you havn't done that great, hopefully they would understand that you would want to carry on with your strongest subjects.

What other subjects are you doing? Also, Biology isn't that closely related to English so if you have a strong PS and reference plus your other subjects have good grades, your Biology grade shouldn't ruin your chances :smile:
Reply 14
Original post by pink pineapple
I'm in pretty much the exact same position with my ASs, all the unis are looking for AAA/AAB/ABB and I feel like I've got nowhere near that. I doubt they will expect you to carry it on if you havn't done that great, hopefully they would understand that you would want to carry on with your strongest subjects.

What other subjects are you doing? Also, Biology isn't that closely related to English so if you have a strong PS and reference plus your other subjects have good grades, your Biology grade shouldn't ruin your chances :smile:



I'm only doing three A levels at the moment and they are English Literature, History and Biology. English and History are the ones I'm doing great at but Biology is the one I'm not doing too well in.

What about you? :smile:
Original post by WriterC
I'm only doing three A levels at the moment and they are English Literature, History and Biology. English and History are the ones I'm doing great at but Biology is the one I'm not doing too well in.

What about you? :smile:


I do English Literature, History, French and Politics. I really enjoy French, History and politics but can't wait to drop English. I'm hoping to do History and French :smile:
Reply 16
Original post by WriterC
I'm hoping they allow me to retake so I could try and push it up a grade because I really want to get into a good university like the ones you have got offers from.

They are all good universities, when did you apply and what university have you choose?


well i took a gap year so applied this year, i got my application done really early so they'd reply in good time! it's good applying after a-levels - then you get unconditionals which means your place is guaranteed and no stress!

i applied at the end of september i think, pretty much as soon as i could. i've chosen durham because it's definitely my favourite, i loved it there! can't wait to move in at the end of september!

i think for biology the unis seemed to care more about the personal statement than grades - i had quite a bit of experience and extra reading done so i reckon that helped me!

most of my friends are at uni now, and i've realised that (despite what a lot of people say on here) a degree from any uni in the top 20 or so is very comparable. it's all pretty scary when you're applying; it feels like you've got to decide your life at 17! but it's not like that really, if it doesn't work out how you want, applying post-alevel results puts you in a really strong position.

work hard next year :smile:
Reply 17
Original post by canŵio
well i took a gap year so applied this year, i got my application done really early so they'd reply in good time! it's good applying after a-levels - then you get unconditionals which means your place is guaranteed and no stress!

i applied at the end of september i think, pretty much as soon as i could. i've chosen durham because it's definitely my favourite, i loved it there! can't wait to move in at the end of september!

i think for biology the unis seemed to care more about the personal statement than grades - i had quite a bit of experience and extra reading done so i reckon that helped me!

most of my friends are at uni now, and i've realised that (despite what a lot of people say on here) a degree from any uni in the top 20 or so is very comparable. it's all pretty scary when you're applying; it feels like you've got to decide your life at 17! but it's not like that really, if it doesn't work out how you want, applying post-alevel results puts you in a really strong position.

work hard next year :smile:


I'm doing a lot of things on the outside such as volunteering and work experience to help me more as well so I'm hoping that will aid me :smile:

but yes, next year I will be working extremely hard :smile:
thanks again for your help, very much appreciate it

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