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Once you have your degree do A levels matter?

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Reply 20

queenofwands

Cup of Inspiration

I'm about to start a post-grad and I was asked to bring my degree and GCSE certificates to various interviews and inductions. In fact I don't think I have had to show my A-levels results since my interview for my first degree.

Reply 21

queenofwands

KadeK

GCSE's Really? Why not A levels?

For my post-grad, everyone has to have at least a 2:1 in their degree and GCSE English, Maths and Science. Those were the academic entry criteria. I think it is to show core competence in these areas, as you could potentially have failed these at GCSE level but managed to have obtained a degree via other routes. Not sure why but rarely have I been asked for A-level certificates. Once you get your degree no-one cares about what came before it. From my exerience.

Reply 22

EierVonSatan

Sadly some employers (typically finance) do use A-levels (in the form of UCAS points) as filters. I'm not sure if re-siting to improve them would be of any benefit as the company will know that you re took them.

I've never heard of GCSEs being an issue in graduate employment as you'd expect all graduates to have basic passes at GCSE in the core subjects :s-smilie:

Reply 23

El Torres

i got some advice of a teacher saying companies like big law firms, the really well established ones wont really look at A-level grades but then they will look at what university you went to and some only accept people from Oxford and Cambridge etc.

For the normal companies, not only do they not have much knowledge of universities, only by word of mouth because they aren't going to waste their time looking at league tables but they will only look at what you got at university. I.e a 1:1 or something.

When i mean normal companies i mean ones that arent extremely selective and if you have the right university degree you can get in. Some banks come into this so there are still big important companies that dont look at A level grades.

The most important thing is the degree that you get.

Reply 24

Oh I Really Don't Care

Good bloke

Some employers operate pre-interview screening on A level results as well as degree results.

Is general studies included in this? How many subjects are taken into consideration?

Reply 25

Terry Acky

i hope not. i did bad too but managed to get on a decent course and manchester through clearing. i just drowned my sorrows with alcohol so its ok anyway.

Reply 26

El Torres

they might ask for Alevel grades if the course you are doing is unheard of, to get more information on your education but if you studied medicine at a decent enough uni they wont need to look past it.

Reply 27

ColdVein

tokyorose888

can anyone give me examples of fields or types of careers where they do prescreening?

Banking and Accountancy firms tend to specify how many UCAS points they require for different divisions on their graduate schemes (and summer internship programmes)

Reply 28

Pink Bullets

queenofwands

I assume you are talking about a PGCE. That is a legal requirement for teachers. It has nothing to do with anyone else.

Reply 29

0404343m

In short, while there is the odd anecdote of employers looking at A-Level grades, for the vast, vast majority of graduates, it will not matter one jot. You could have scraped into Aberdeen through clearing with CCD, but you'd be statistically extremely unlucky for that to count against you in the future.

And I was never asked (for MPhil or D.Phil) to provide school grades when I applied for postgrad anywhere, and I got into Oxford without any hassle...

Reply 30

King4eva

Terry Acky

i hope not. i did bad too but managed to get on a decent course and manchester through clearing. i just drowned my sorrows with alcohol so its ok anyway.

what is bad ? because some people here think ABC is bad

Reply 31

ggonex26

0404343m

It's not really the odd anecdote, all of the big four accountancy firms require A-level results, investment banking, civil service fast stream, Rolls Royce and a fair few others.

The vast majority of jobs will still be open with a good score in a degree, but there are quite a few that will require specific Alevels and gcses. I've seen in some of the big four accountancy firms that they actually require an A in maths GCSE. I got a B in maths gcse, then an A in Alevel maths and further maths and now i'm getting a degree in it. Literally i could get a first and they still wouldn't consider me, they even make a point of saying so in the faq. It's ******* stupid but i suppose they'll have people with the same degree and A levels as me and so the gcses help them decide.

Reply 32

0404343m

George231086

And out of 300,000 graduates, how many does that affect as a percentage? It's nice to aspire to this, but unless you're at one of the (about six) universities these firms really target, since they're also the ones who care about where you got your degree from (and thus you'll probably have As anyway), it isn't going to matter. The big four take on a few hundred grads a year, if we're talking 3,000 out of 300,000 graduates who need good A-levels in order to get into a scheme (and I've both been interviewed and been part of assessment for grad recruitment), then I'd take my chances with the other 99%.

Reply 33

ggonex26

0404343m

I'm not claiming A-levels are significant for the majority or even a large minority of graduates, i just thought it overly minimising to talk of the odd anecdote. In some areas A-levels aswell as gcses are hugely important. That said, i take your point that many areas, indeed the vast majority of areas, are wide open with a good degree.

Reply 34

neverstandstill

If you can get on the course you want to do at university with those A-levels, that's all that matters. After you have a degree your A-levels are just a few lines on the C.V. that will be dwarfed by the degree.

Reply 35

Good bloke

DeanK22

Is general studies included in this? How many subjects are taken into consideration?

That would depend on the employer, but you should know that GS is not usually of much interest to anywhere that has high academic standards.

Reply 36

Stressworthy

To an extent, but then after that, it's your degree and experience you get and what you do which counts more. There's really potential for things to go onwards and upwards if you apply yourself. I'm hoping my A levels don't hold me back too much even though I'm doing a law degree (although, admittedly, I don't know for sure where I want to work afterwards).

Reply 37

Cup of Inspiration

queenofwands

yeah just to show you can read and think....

Reply 38

Terry Acky

King4eva

what is bad ? because some people here think ABC is bad

bad as in, i did bad for me. so if i wanted a good job, i would hope they didnt look at my a levels because it wasnt a true reflection of me.

Reply 39

AceAlex

Reading this is making me slightly less worried.
My uni wanted AABB but missed it by 1% and got ABBB, but got accepted.

Against what i thought, this thread suggests that A levels arn't looked at quite as much as i thought they were, especially if you get a 2:1 degree in a respectable subject at uni.
At least i think this is the general trend of this thread?