Entry Requirements?!?!?! helppp

I want to study German at Manchester as my first choice and the entry requirements are BBC which is equal to 280 tariff points.
However, on the league table of Universities, it says that the average person who is accepted to study German at Manchester has over 400 tariff points, which is equivalent to about A*A*A, is this right?
If so, does this mean that they only really accept the applicants with higher grades?
It does seem a bit weird though, that it is possible to be accepted with BBC yet the average person accepted has such high grades?

Please reply and help if you can!! :biggrin:

Reply 1

MisanthropicLemon

Right. It is my understanding that those 'average tariff' things include not only A2s but also the AS(es) that you dropped and any extra-curricular miscellanea such as Young Enterprise. Therefore, the average tariff will be lower than A*A*A (but I can't be bothered to work it out at 1 am, haha)

Reply 2

JakeE10

Original post by MisanthropicLemon

Ah right ok!! So they don't really take any notice of your 'overall tariff points'? they just care about your three main A Levels which are included in the offer?
Thanks for the reply :biggrin:

Reply 3

porkstein

Dropped ASs and extra-curriculars won't account for much, however. I'd imagine it would still put the average grades at AAB or similar. That said, this is entirely normal - if BBC is the lowest possible set of grades for somebody accepted, of course the average will be higher! Perhaps it is higher than you expected, but Manchester is a good university, and you'll probably find a fair number of applicants who are very very good - much better than the offer, that is. I mean, you only need to take a look at the grades of successful medics who got into AAA universities to see that nowadays, it's getting the offer that's the tricky part, not meeting it!

All that said, there's no reason why you shouldn't apply if you're predicted to make their offer. Some applicants will be better than you, but that certainly doesn't mean you haven't got a good chance. If BBC is what they've set their offers at, it's because they're happy to take people who are going to achieve those grades. Sure, there'll be many successful applicants who far exceed those grades, but there'll also be a fair few who only just manage them.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

JakeE10

Original post by porkstein

Dropped ASs and extra-curricular won't account for much, however. I'd imagine it would still put the average grades at AAB or similar. That said, this is entirely normal - if BBC is the lowest possible set of grades for somebody accepted, of course the average will be higher! Perhaps it is higher than you expected, but Manchester is a good university, and you'll probably find a fair number of applicants who are very very good - much better than the offer, that is. I mean, you only need to take a look at the grades of successful medics who got into AAA universities to see that nowadays, it's getting the offer that's the tricky part, not meeting it!

All that said, there's no reason why you shouldn't apply if you're predicted to make their offer. Some applicants will be better than you, but that certainly doesn't mean you haven't got a good chance. If BBC is what they've set their offers at, it's because they're happy to take people who are going to achieve those grades. Sure, there'll be many successful applicants who far exceed those grades, but there'll also be many who only just make them.