[vmwl]

Hi,

Basically I currently do 4 AS subjects plus one in my native language (Chinese) and am planning on dropping one of the 4 and keeping on the Chinese to next year. Do the universities know whether the language studied is native, or are you supposed to write it in somewhere in the application?

Thanks

[hobnob]

(Original post by vmwl)
Hi,

Basically I currently do 4 AS subjects plus one in my native language (Chinese) and am planning on dropping one of the 4 and keeping on the Chinese to next year. Do the universities know whether the language studied is native, or are you supposed to write it in somewhere in the application?

Thanks

You don't have to officially declare it anywhere, as far as I'm aware, but if you have a Chinese-sounding name, universities are likely to assume it's your first language.

[vmwl]

(Original post by hobnob)
You don't have to officially declare it anywhere, as far as I'm aware, but if you have a Chinese-sounding name, universities are likely to assume it's your first language.

Ah ok thanks very much. I'm planning to continue on with the 3 subjects and also Chinese. Would it be safe to assume that universities will most likely just give me an offer based on those 3 subjects rather than 4?

[beccafairy]

(Original post by vmwl)
Ah ok thanks very much. I'm planning to continue on with the 3 subjects and also Chinese. Would it be safe to assume that universities will most likely just give me an offer based on those 3 subjects rather than 4?

unless you're aiming for oxbridge the subjects you do don't matter too much, as long as you get enough UCAS points and you study a relevant subject(s) to your degree (where applicable) you will be fine.

[hobnob]

(Original post by vmwl)
Ah ok thanks very much. I'm planning to continue on with the 3 subjects and also Chinese. Would it be safe to assume that universities will most likely just give me an offer based on those 3 subjects rather than 4?

Well, I wouldn't say it's entirely safe to assume, because technically universities can still give you whatever offer they like. But it's unlikely that they'll specify a mark you need to achieve in your Mandarin A-level, especially if your other A-levels are more relevant to your chosen subjects.

[hobnob]

(Original post by beccafairy)
unless you're aiming for oxbridge the subjects you do don't matter too much, as long as you get enough UCAS points and you study a relevant subject(s) to your degree (where applicable) you will be fine.

Quite a few other universities also give out conditional offers specifying marks (as opposed to UCAS points), though, no? At least that's the impression I've got from looking at people's offers listed in sigs and applicant threads...

[beccafairy]

(Original post by hobnob)
Quite a few other universities also give out conditional offers specifying marks (as opposed to UCAS points), though, no? At least that's the impression I've got from looking at people's offers listed in sigs and applicant threads...

ah sorry yes, should have put points/grades! but either way i don't think it would affect their chances and can't see it not being counted as a subject, i don't think that's even allowed(?).

[vmwl]

(Original post by hobnob)
Well, I wouldn't say it's entirely safe to assume, because technically universities can still give you whatever offer they like. But it's unlikely that they'll specify a mark you need to achieve in your Mandarin A-level, especially if your other A-levels are more relevant to your chosen subjects.

For example I'm planning on continuing Maths, Physics, French to A2, but will also have a 4th one as Chinese, do you know whether it's more likely that I get an offer with 3 grades eg. A*AA or an offer for 4 grades like A*AAB or would they give A*AAA because Chinese is my native language..

[threeportdrift]

(Original post by vmwl)
For example I'm planning on continuing Maths, Physics, French to A2, but will also have a 4th one as Chinese, do you know whether it's more likely that I get an offer with 3 grades eg. A*AA or an offer for 4 grades like A*AAB or would they give A*AAA because Chinese is my native language..

They'll almost certainly ignore the native language A level

[oxymoronic]

(Original post by vmwl)
For example I'm planning on continuing Maths, Physics, French to A2, but will also have a 4th one as Chinese, do you know whether it's more likely that I get an offer with 3 grades eg. A*AA or an offer for 4 grades like A*AAB or would they give A*AAA because Chinese is my native language..

You need to check individual university policies - UCL do not count native language A levels and want applicants to declare their status in their PS/reference - if you want it to be considered as a second language learner then you have to say you're a second language learner. In short, some universities will allow you to count your grade even if it is a native language whereas other universities won't.

[Helloworld_95]

If it's your native language could you ask your school to just let you take the tests? Then you could take another subject instead while getting an A level in Chinese in a year.

[vmwl]

(Original post by Helloworld_95)
If it's your native language could you ask your school to just let you take the tests? Then you could take another subject instead while getting an A level in Chinese in a year.

Thing is I'm Chinese but my level of the language isn't up to the standard for me to just take the exams unfortunately, so I still have lessons but obviously the time I take to learn all the stuff is much less compared to any other subject

[vmwl]

(Original post by oxymoronic)
You need to check individual university policies - UCL do not count native language A levels and want applicants to declare their status in their PS/reference - if you want it to be considered as a second language learner then you have to say you're a second language learner. In short, some universities will allow you to count your grade even if it is a native language whereas other universities won't.

Ah right okay, will be looking through the websites then! Thanks