Freaking out a bit

Hi guys! Hoping you can help me out a little here. I need some rational opinions on this...

Basically, I have my heart set on SOAS and have done for the past four years. I did extremely badly at AS (BCDDE, dropped the last two), and I don't have my predictions for A2 yet but according to my teachers, they are likely to be round about ABC + A in my EPQ. I'm doing all I can to help myself - studying like crazy to pull my grades up, taking two JLPTs between now and results day, taking the TOPIK in April, and doing my EPQ on political aspects of the Korean language. I also have a self-taught GCSE in Japanese, in which I got an A.

I'd like to know what my chances of getting an offer from SOAS are, considering my grades. I know that realistically I'm probably not going to get anywhere, but I am truly set on going, whether it's this year or the next or the one after that. I was basically one of the stupid people who thought AS was going to be easy, but have been predicted ABC/BBC for my resits (up from BCD).

Any insight would be extremely helpful, as I'm getting quite stressed about whether to apply for SOAS at all. The courses I'm planning to apply for are in my signature, and are all AAB.

Please be honest! Thanks in advance, guys

But yeah, although I can't really comment on actually getting IN with lower grades as I got in on clearing, I did reapply and retake so feel free to message me about whatever if you want advice

Korean was in clearing!? Oh man you've just made my morning :'D

If you don't mind me asking, what were your AS and A2 grades?

Yeah either Korean was under subscribed or everyone missed their grades. But the grades have actually gone up for Korean this year I think... Anyway if you're close enough it's quite possible they'll let you in (which doesn't go for Sheffield who rejected me from my firm and insurance course :|).

The requirements were ABB this year:

took English lit AS in 08 (maybe 09.. i forget) and got an A so as well as that I had:

AS- ABC
A2- ABC
biology chemistry physics respectively

although for physics I was 6/8 (can't remember exactly now) UMS off a B
and in bio I was like 10 UMS off an A*

(Another of my friends got in to linguistics last year with ABD/ABC or something like that... I think as long as you have one A they're a bit more lenient)

I called them up on clearing and was like these are my grades etc and I got a call back at 4pm the same day saying they were offering me a place.

Hope this wasn't too garbled for you and actually helped. Feel free to message me if you want PS help or anything

Languages at SOAS are incredibly difficult and you must have the attention/hearing of an insect to keep up. I'm doing intermediate Arabic and I'm dying already, and this is coming from a guy who can speak it natively.

LOL this
only i can't speak Korean natively.
You do have to prepare for a LOT of work. The amount for Korean is crippling and i think we actually get less than Japanese and Chinese (this could be wrong however, it's all different kinds of stuff obviously.)
But obviously the amount of work correlates to your overall language achievement/proficiency.

Yeah don't be put off though just make sure you're really passionate about the language and you're not doing it because you just like the culture or whatever. As soon as you hit the grammar modules trust me, that culture goes right out of the window lol. If you're really interested about the subject it'll be a breeze to you. Goodluck

LOL yeah. I should mention that it is REALLY fun.

I personally don't find the homework a chore but I know lots of people in my class just can't be bothered with it.

Are you taking the year abroad option or just a straight 3 year course?