Russel Group Law

Ok so after going through the stalking pages for some top law universities (Birmingham, Bristol, warwick, UCL) I was wondering whether good A level results trump GCSE results. Like which applicant is more likely to get an offer here:

GCSE: A*A*A*A*AAAAB AS Level: AABC
GCSE A*A*AAAABBBC (Dist* Dist*) AS level: AAAB

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1

kr2rgg

This is really difficult to say because universities do consider your GCSE at this stage.. The first one seems to have more potential due to GCSE results but seems that he is unable to adopt to the hardwork in A levels.. I would actually take the second person.
But extra-curricular activities, ambition and enthusiasm plays a large role when applying.

I only achieved 1A,4Bs and 4Cs at GCSE's (did not care at all about education). I thought that it would have a profound impact on me when i apply for universities, but i achieved AAAA at AS level and pretty much all the universities I applied for took me into consideration even though I achieved not so excellent GCSE's.

But you should know, A level results matter more. Especially when you are applying for graduate jobs. Employers only care if you have got GCSE maths and english at C (sometimes B), but to even apply for graduate scheme, a lot of companies require like 300 ucas points minimum from 3 A levels etc

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 2

DanJHunter

Original post by kr2rgg

Thank you for your help :smile:

Ive been worrying about my GCSE grades for ages now, do you mind me asking where you applied?

Reply 3

tehforum

Original post by kr2rgg

Extra curriculars don't.

OP - just focus on getting the best grades.

And, top employers look for 320/340 UCAS points for the record.

Reply 4

DanJHunter

Original post by tehforum

Extra curriculars don't.

OP - just focus on getting the best grades.

And, top employers look for 320/340 UCAS points for the record.

Thanks for this, I was also wondering how big a part theLNAT plays in distinguishing between applicants, some with considerably lowerGCSEs like candidate B

Reply 5

tehforum

Original post by DanJHunter

Thanks for this, I was also wondering how big a part theLNAT plays in distinguishing between applicants, some with considerably lowerGCSEs like candidate B

No clue.

I think they're equally important.

Reply 6

Rascacielos

Impossible to say. It depends on your predictions as well. As long as you have a few A*s at GCSE and are on track for AAA then you stand a good chance of getting an offer (provided admissions tests, personal statement, interviews and references are all in order).

Reply 7

kr2rgg

Original post by DanJHunter

Thank you for your help :smile:

Ive been worrying about my GCSE grades for ages now, do you mind me asking where you applied?

Applied to Imperial, UCL, University of Birmingham, Kings, University of East Anglia. I got an offer from all of them and took UoB

Reply 8

kr2rgg

Original post by tehforum

Extra curriculars don't.

OP - just focus on getting the best grades.

And, top employers look for 320/340 UCAS points for the record.

0.0... The companies I have looked at want 300 UCAS points at most. Could you give me an example of a company that wants 320+?

By the way, extra curricular activities helped me a lot when applying. During the interviews, they were really curious :wink:

Reply 9

tehforum

Original post by kr2rgg

what interviews?

of course they'll ask you at the start, to ease you into the interview.

the top commercial law firms will ask for those UCAS points.

Reply 10

nulli tertius

Original post by DanJHunter

You are posing the question in the wrong way.

There are very few universities which are selective at their offer grades. That is there are very few universities who are rejecting applicants who they nevertheless think will achieve their standard offer. UCL is one of them, possibly Bristol. Otherwise rejections are largely of people who are not predicted the standard offer grades or of people for whom such predictions are not borne out by the existing hard evidence and are essentially not accepted by the universities as accurate. That is the most common use of GCSE results, along with AS level results; the validation of A level predictions.

Most of the universities that are selective are using the LNAT. That is their second line discriminator.

Only after that is the personal statement, reference narrative and prior exam results entering into the mix as discriminators between candidates and different universities will have different attitudes to these.

You pose your question, but omit the most important pieces of evidence, what are the two candidates' predicted A level grades and what are the referee's reasons for thinking those candidates will achieve those grades?

Reply 11

Cynical Laughter

Original post by tehforum

what interviews?

of course they'll ask you at the start, to ease you into the interview.

A friend of mine, now in her second year, applied and was accepted at Cambridge for Law having spent 90% of her second interview discussing the crop and grain testing work on a farm she'd carried out through the previous summer, despite it being just a job - what is perhaps the most surprising thing about this is that she only discussed it in one line of her personal statement.

It really does vary whether they acknowledge your extra-curricular activities or not; even at prestigious universities that focus primarily on your academic achievements, it can be entirely dependent on as little as whether the tutor finds something particularly interesting.