[spurskid]

Hi,
Someone (my dad) keeps on telling me that I need an A* in english language at GCSE to get into a good uni, even for a science degree. I dont know where he heard this and from what i have heard i dont think it is true. I am on course for an A atm and around 6/7 A* and 3/4 As in total. So is he right? Do you need an A* in english language or is an A ok? And btw, i hate english and want to do something in science so will be dropping it.
thanks

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by spurskid)
Hi,
Someone (my dad) keeps on telling me that I need an A* in english language at GCSE to get into a good uni, even for a science degree. I dont know where he heard this and from what i have heard i dont think it is true. I am on course for an A atm and around 6/7 A* and 3/4 As in total. So is he right? Do you need an A* in english language or is an A ok? And btw, i hate english and want to do something in science so will be dropping it.
thanks

The minimum requirement for any university is a C in English at GCSE. No university that I know of requires A* and many of them will only look at your GCSEs to confirm that you have the minimum before moving on to look at your predicated grades at A2. That being said, the world is tough and the better you do, the easier things will be when it comes to beating the competition there will inevitably be for university places and jobs, when selectors are faced with discriminating between a lot of candidates who have different things to offer. Do the very best you can. If you get an A and not an A*, that will be just fine as long as you did your best. The world will not come to an end; you will still be able to apply to university. Whether living with your dad will be any fun, though, only you can tell.

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by meatsix)
Many universities don't even look at GCSEs but it would look alot better if you did get one extra A*

but as long as you do get AT LEAST a B in english and maths then you should be fine for uni

Not sure why you're telling me this. I'm a sixth form tutor, not an applicant. Obviously the better your grades are, then the better candidate you are likely to be. It can't hinder you to be a candidate with lots of A*s. However, unless it states otherwise on the website or admissions tutors have made this their policy, the official minimum is a grade C. I recently attended a careers' advisers' conference at a Russell Group university in which the admissions tutor for English explicitly said in answer to a question from the floor that they only looked at GCSEs to check the minimum requirement had been met, before looking straight ahead to the predicted grades. They recognise that people mature at different rates and it was said pretty much that the standard the applicant is at now rather than 2 years ago is what matters. Of course, as a teacher I am not going to do anything other than urge everybody to do the very best they can, but OP's father is painting an unnecessarily bleak picture of the situation, presumably as an incentive to his son. Given that A* in English requires on average 93% in the exams, it would pretty much rule out most of the population from going to university if it were the grade required.

[meatsix]

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
Not sure why you're telling me this. I'm a sixth form tutor, not an applicant. Obviously the better your grades are, then the better candidate you are likely to be. It can't hinder you to be a candidate with lots of A*s. However, unless it states otherwise on the website or admissions tutors have made this their policy, the official minimum is a grade C. I recently attended a careers' advisers' conference at a Russell Group university in which the admissions tutor for English explicitly said in answer to a question from the floor that they only looked at GCSEs to check the minimum requirement had been met, before looking straight ahead to the predicted grades. They recognise that people mature at different rates and it was said pretty much that the standard the applicant is at now rather than 2 years ago is what matters. Of course, as a teacher I am not going to do anything other than urge everybody to do the very best they can, but OP's father is painting an unnecessarily bleak picture of the situation, presumably as an incentive to his son. Given that A* in English requires on average 93% in the exams, it would pretty much rule out most of the population from going to university if it were the grade required.

sorry

[North Irelandman]

I got an A in my GCSE English and really haven't felt disadvantaged at all, I wouldn't worry!


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[carnationlilyrose]

(Original post by meatsix)
sorry

Nothing to be sorry for.

[Funtry]

(Original post by spurskid)
Hi,
Someone (my dad) keeps on telling me that I need an A* in english language at GCSE to get into a good uni, even for a science degree. I dont know where he heard this and from what i have heard i dont think it is true. I am on course for an A atm and around 6/7 A* and 3/4 As in total. So is he right? Do you need an A* in english language or is an A ok? And btw, i hate english and want to do something in science so will be dropping it.
thanks

I got an A in my English language and literature exams. I'm currently looking at universities and most require a C at GCSE english. American and Canadian universities, both of which I'm looking at want high English grades, so I'm a bit worried about them, but a C would be fine. I hated English with a vengence, didn't do anything in lessons etc and I did fine, so you should too

I got 4A*'s, 4A's and 2B's (the B's were in Latin and DT System&control )

[AishaTara]

for courses like medicine some places specific for a minimum of an A, no where I know of or have heard of says A*, tbh only the top 5% gets an A* and part of it is abit of luck as to how you do on the day too so you wont be disadvantaged with an A. I'm sure of that!