GCSE or A Levels - what's more important?

Hi guys,

I'll try and be concise as I can. Due to bereavement in my family that happened in the beginning of my senior during high school, I didn't do well at all - 5 A's, 3 B's and the rest C's (total amount of subjects: 22). So I had to stay the last 3 years with my mom and help her establishing the restaurant.
I'm 21 and I'd like to continue my education in the UK, but all I got behind me is my screwed GCSE's and 3 years of working experience as Deputy General Manager.
I am interested in studying finance/economics. In terms of universities, I'd say LSE, UCL and Imperial are my first 3 top choices.

With my current GCSEs I was wondering, do the universities normally (like the aforementioned ones) take into account student's GCSE results when making decision or it's all about your A levels? I know it's a lil' late, but I have got strong desire to study nevertheless.
I'm thinking whether with my current GCSE's I should do A levels (also cause I'm internatnl stud) course first and then apply for Bachelors or should I start by improving my grades with a one year GCSE course first and only then do the A levels in order to gain an entry to universities such as LSE? All of course if I show excellent results! :rolleyes:

Thank you all for reading this and hopefully someone can advise me on that matter, as I'm not familiar with how the UK universities operate when it comes to making an offer.

Reply 1

Sophyla

12

I'm sorry to hear about your bereavement :frown:

!
I would say that GCSE's are only important if you don't do A-levels, I would definitely find a college that you like and does decent A-levels and get some academic ones behind you, especially if you're going to do economics at uni.
I would research courses on different uni's websites and find out what they would require for their degrees, and apply to college with those a-levels.
Well done for wanting to get back into education - I'm sure you'll do very well :smile:

Reply 2

kuroshokora

2

A Levels are more important. No doubt.

A levels, obviously.

Without strong A levels, the chances of getting into a prestigious university and thus working in a top firm is somewhat slim. Having said that, GCSEs are an indicator of acdemic potential; so even if AS levels went tits up, a university would be aware that the candidate has the ability to do well at undertgraduate level.

Reply 5

justdoit21

OP

Thanks guys for all the responses! I'm trying to find a good place in London where I can do my A levels now. So far I have Albemarle and Abbey London College and they offer one year A levels course - that's just what I need! I'd like start it next January, so I could finish it by summer 13 and hopefully start the university same september. :wink2:

Reply 6

Huntercross14

7

Advanced Diploma in Business administration *hands down*

Reply 7

Curtly_123

i havent read the whole of the post,
put to the question, if your get a-levels only top 5 unis looks at your gsces and this is when two identical candidates are after the same place.

Reply 8

Pride

21

YOU TOOK 22 GCSES??!!

Why did you do that many? that's of no advantage at all...

Reply 9

justdoit21

OP

Original post by Pride

YOU TOOK 22 GCSES??!!

Why did you do that many? that's of no advantage at all...

Cause here we don't have a choice - we just do it. :rolleyes:

Basically we had 19 subjects (those 3 subjects were taken earlier) which we had to pass during our senior year.

Reply 10

AidanLunn

12

Your maths must be pretty poor.

You say you're 21 and you've been working for you mum for 3 years. Now, GCSEs finish at 16 and you say you began working for your mum at 18, so what did you do in the years inbetween?

Reply 11

Ice Constricter

19

A-levels without a shadow of a doubt.

Reply 12

Curtly_123

im thinking that, where have her 22 things come from? is she non british? now coming to england

Reply 13

justdoit21

OP

Original post by AidanLunn

Your maths must be pretty poor.

You say you're 21 and you've been working for you mum for 3 years. Now, GCSEs finish at 16 and you say you began working for your mum at 18, so what did you do in the years inbetween?

I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but in Russia we have 11 grades and the 11th year is when we all have our exams passed. After school we go straight to university. I was 18 (like anybody else) when I finished my school and because my father passed away and the restaurant was still under construction, I obviously had to stay and help my mom. So now we run one of the successful restaurants in the city. I want to continue my education, as it's never to late to study. Some may think why study if you're a future owner of the restaurant business. Frankly it's not really something I particularly enjoy. At the end of the day it's good to have a degree anyway.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 14

justdoit21

OP

Original post by Curtly_123

im thinking that, where have her 22 things come from? is she non british? now coming to england

Correction: it's a He :wink:

And no, I'm not British.

Reply 15

aspirinpharmacist

20

Original post by justdoit21

I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but in Russia we have 11 grades and the 11th year is when we all have our exams passed. After school we go straight to university. I was 18 (like anybody else) when I finished my school and because my father passed away and the restaurant was still under construction, I obviously had to stay and help my mom. So now we run one of the successful restaurants in the city. I want to continue my education, as it's never to late to study. Some may think why study if you're a future owner of the restaurant business. Frankly it's not really something I particularly enjoy. At the end of the day it's good to have a degree anyway.

Good for you! I'm sorry to hear about your father, but I think what you're doing is really impressive. Definitely go for A-levels then apply to uni, best of luck. :smile:

Reply 16

justdoit21

OP

Original post by aspirinpharmacist

Good for you! I'm sorry to hear about your father, but I think what you're doing is really impressive. Definitely go for A-levels then apply to uni, best of luck. :smile:

Thanks! I appreciate all the kind words here folks. I'm wondering what level in math a student should posses when starting A levels? I was generally a good student, but cause of the accident everything went upside down.

Reply 17

Pride

21

Original post by justdoit21

Cause here we don't have a choice - we just do it. :rolleyes:

Basically we had 19 subjects (those 3 subjects were taken earlier) which we had to pass during our senior year.

wow ok...

Reply 18

aspirinpharmacist

20

Original post by justdoit21

Thanks! I appreciate all the kind words here folks. I'm wondering what level in math a student should posses when starting A levels? I was generally a good student, but cause of the accident everything went upside down.

Can't really help you there, since I'm in the Scottish school system right now. But I wondered which subjects you're thinking of taking at A-level? I wouldn't recommend economics at A-level even if you want to do it at university because universities view it as a "soft" subject, unless I'm very much mistaken. I'll check for you though. :smile:

Edit: Checked it. Economics is fine with uni's, I thought it might be like Law or Accounting or something. Then again, I did say I was going to check it, I never said I was certain. :rolleyes:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 19

MrCarmady

i don't think economics is treated as a soft subject anymore, same goes for law. don't bother with GCSEs, do Maths, Further Maths (both should be pretty easy after Russia, their high school maths is much more advanced than the UK's), and two other not so-called 'soft subjects' of your choice (I actually recommend Economics, I think it's quite an interesting course and so far it has helped me for uni, but it's not a requirement). russian won't count, obviously. you could limit yourself to 3, i suppose, in which case i'm not sure whether universities look down upon people doing 2 Maths A Levels... oh, and if you wanna do finance, a humanity would probably be a good idea if you decide not to do economics, so go for history or politics, i guess.

GCSE or A Levels - what's more important?

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