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prospective English student advice

Hey!

This forum is so useful! I want to ask you guys for some help please. I want to study English or (English literature) at university. However, my school (and my parents) are feeding me back a lot of information about how impossible it is to get in. I have reasonably good GCSE grades (and have done well on previous AS modules) but there seem to be two problems. Firstly, I got a B grade at GCSE History - I myself don't think it's that bad- but at the moment it doesn't look like I'm going to do much better at AS..exams :frown:

and it is a subject that's relevant to English. Secondly, I go to a private school. It's not one of the top private schools (for example, the boarding ones) but, given all the recent stories about this is the press, I'm really worried about getting no offers at all. There are people in the year above me who this has happened to!!

I absolutely love English and have got some work experience at local newspapers etc. I want to apply to Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle or maybe Durham or one of the Scottish unis. At GCSE I got 5A*s, 3 As and a B. Can you share some of your experience with me, am I being overambitious?

Thanks so much, any advice would be great, I feel totally lost!
xxx

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Reply 1

Charlottie

My GCSE Grades were slightly better than yours, but with 5A*s, you'll be in the 'very good' range, I should think, so I wouldn't let them worry you. Otherwise, your love for the subject and extra-curricular subject related interests seem appealing - they're just like mine. I'm far from perfect, and I got six offers.

Reply 2

glitterxsparkle

My teacher told me the same thing 'English is very competitive' and i was really worried i wouldn't get any offers. My GCSE grades wern't as good as yours but i still have got 5 offers to do English so i wouldn't worry. I think what you need to have is a really good personal statement that stands out.

Reply 3

~Jen~

Emma

I absolutely love English and have got some work experience at local newspapers etc. I want to apply to Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle or maybe Durham or one of the Scottish unis. At GCSE I got 5A*s, 3 As and a B. Can you share some of your experience with me, am I being overambitious?

Thanks so much, any advice would be great, I feel totally lost!
xxx

Your results shouldn't be a problem at all - they're really good! Besides, there are people studying English here at Warwick who don't have any A* - and I know of people with 10+ A* grades who got rejected without an interview. It's so much more important that you're passionate about your subject and can communicate that in a personal statement or interview.

Reply 4

Endymion

~Jen~

Absolutely! Universities are also interested in how you'll fit in as a person; not just academic ability. Be positive on your personal statement and excel in your interview and you'll be fine. :smile:

Reply 5

Emma

Thanks a lot.

My teacher told me the same thing 'English is very competitive' and i was really worried i wouldn't get any offers.

Yeah this is exactly the kind of thing I'm getting, it's off putting! So do you think I'm going for the right standard of uni? I went to Nottingham today, it was beautiful...
xxx

Reply 6

~Jen~

Emma

Thanks a lot.

Yeah this is exactly the kind of thing I'm getting, it's off putting! So do you think I'm going for the right standard of uni? I went to Nottingham today, it was beautiful...
xxx

There's no reason why you shouldn't apply for places like Nottingham, but if you're worried then it's a good idea to apply to at least one or two universities with lower grade requirements, just as a back-up.

Reply 7

Rose64

Go for it love! Your GCSE grades are much better than mine, and I'm hopefully off to study English at Oxford in October. :smile:

I can only reiterate what everyone else has already said, personal statement and interview are crucial. Good luck!

Reply 8

silence

as you get to apply to 6 unis, and looking at the ones you've chosen, i'm more than certain you'll get into at least one of them. it is competitive, but the only way you can get anywhere is by competing! good luck

Reply 9

glitterxsparkle

'Yeah this is exactly the kind of thing I'm getting, it's off putting! So do you think I'm going for the right standard of uni? I went to Nottingham today, it was beautiful...'

Yeah i think you are! You seem to be very passionate about this subject and if you can show this in an interview and your p.s you will definitely get an offer. What uni's are you applying to? I applied for Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and only Leeds asked for an interview...so depending what uni you choose you may not even have to have an interview!

Reply 10

kelamia

I wouldnt worry about GCSE grades that much, and besides u have great ones! I got 4A*s, 5As and 2bs which is pretty similar to you, but i rushed my personal statement and probably came across a bit blah instead of passionate about the subject - i feel i didnt say anythin special enough. I still got 4 out of my 6 choices - although warwick and Nottingham turned me down!
So best of luck, i wouldnt worry about the competition - you'll get somewhere. Dont get depressed when turned down - sometimes i think the choices are really random.

Reply 11

mousey

and i got much worse GCSE grades than Kelamia, but got accepted to Nottingham?! I think with the grades you've got and the universities you want to apply to you should be fine. Listen to what everyone else says about the personal statement. They're right. xx

Reply 12

Emma

OK thankyou.

I'll go crazy with the personal statement, I'm starting to write it soon....

Reply 13

LondonSteve181

Hey, English is THE most competitive humanities subject, but don't be deterred by that. You sound like you have a genuine interest and passion, and that is much more valuable than how many A* you got.

You mention Leeds and Durham, two of the best english schools in the country, however they are hideously oversubscribed. Leeds state ABB is their 'normal offer' yet you realistically have to be predicted AAA/AAB to get a place. A friend of mine applied for History at Leeds, the typical offer is BBB, he was predicted BBB and Leeds told the school that you need AAB (at least in predictions) and moire than 5As at GCSE. Both are extremely competitive.

Likewise my friend is off to Durham, and they receive like 4 candidates per place, and want AAA. However, a little bit of research will reveal some real gems. For example Glasgow is noted as one of the best English faculties in the UK, and they ask for BBB, yet you have to realistically be predicted ABB. Manchester (where I'm off to) want AAB but are known for their avante-guarde course modules. Keele is a fantastic campus and they want something like BB.

I'm not trying to put you off trying for Durham, Leeds etc, I wish you all the best in your application, however it is also worth at looking at some universities which are not typically considered the cream of the crop regarding English.

If you need any help with Personal Statements or anything give me a bell.

Steve

Reply 14

Tyler Durden

The best solution is to put two Unis you'd love to get a place but feel are perhaps slightly ambitious if you're expecting a B or two at A Level (Durham? even Oxbridge if you're looking at AAB?), two Unis you feel would be great but which give slightly lower offers (Manchester, Edinburgh etc) and then the other two should be insurance choices. People who get rejected from all 6 perhaps tend to have been slightly ambitious given their prospective grades. Having said that, there are equally some people who are unfortunate. I'd say go for it, I can't wait to start studying English (despite not making Cambridge which was somewhat of a dream for me). There are some great course knocking about the place. Good luck! :smile:

Reply 15

LondonSteve181

I agree with above, about having a tier system, two that are your ideals, ie Cambridge and Durham, then two which are great but lower offers. I don't necessarily agree with the examples given as far as Edinburgh and Manchester as both are extremely hard to get onto. I think if you want a Russell Group Uni (they're like the top 19 research unis in country) you're looking at AAB.

As controversial as this may sound, I don't particularly think it matters where you go, as long as you like the uni. I have a friend doin English Lit and Creative Writing at Winchester, she was predicted AAAA and her offer is for CCC, which she'll walk. However, the point is she absolutely loved the uni, even though it isn't known for English.

Reply 16

RachelBabyfrog

From what Durham told me after my rejection, they look for five A*s at GCSE as a minimum requirement (would have been nice if they could have said so in the prospectus, I thought! I got 4A*, 6A so I was one short, lol.), so you're in with a shot there I suppose! It is hideously competitive there, but go for it because if you don't you'll wonder what if.

I had a kind of tiered system with my unis as well. I applied to Oxford and Durham for AAA typical offers, Cardiff for AAB, Notts and Sheffield for ABB (though I ended up with an AAB offer from Notts!) and Loughborough for BBB (though I got an ABB offer).

Good luck! :smile:

Reply 17

sophieD

i really wouldn't be put off by competition, (someone's gotta get the places) just make sure you like all the places u apply to, thats what i did, so i thought even if i only get one offer i'd be happy. (i was told to expect 2 or 3 offers but got 5 in the end) Make sure you have an insurance that you'd like too. And i'd agree its all about the personal statement - its worth spending the time on it.

Reply 18

Jenni_Kitten

Emma

Thanks a lot.

Yeah this is exactly the kind of thing I'm getting, it's off putting! So do you think I'm going for the right standard of uni? I went to Nottingham today, it was beautiful...
xxx

Ugh, this whole thread is ridiculous! No offence, but I got 1 A* at GCSE and 5 offers from unis including Nottingham, York and Manchester (and by the way, Manchester's typical offer for English is AAB/ABB, so it's not that much lower than the highest offer you can get, and it's widely considered one of the best unis in the country, so to say it would give you a lower offer is a bit misleading).

You'll easily get offers to do English, you should try applying to places like Durham, York, Nottingham and Oxbridge with grades like that! English isn't *that* competitive, especially if you get an A in English Lit. at AS. I think unis prefer Lit. to Lit./Lang. in general, but it depends.

As regards to going to a private school, the people at state schools say that people at private schools are favoured over them and vice versa - to be perfectly honest, I don't think it makes any difference. The uni is hardly going to look up every applicant's places of education to find out whether they're state or private. At the end of the day, it's all down to how you as an individual perform in exams, your past grades and your personal statement - and of course, how competitive the course is and the uni.

Good luck :smile:

Reply 19

LondonSteve181

Your offer for Manchester English Lit is ABB? Is that single hons or joint? If it's single hons I am so p*ssed lol coz my offer is AAB!