[ve1vet]

I was just looking for some advice - I want to study English Literature at a good university and I have heard UCL is high ranked and I really would like to study in London. Unfortunately my grades are quite weak - for GCSE I got 2 A*s in history and additional science, 4 As in english lit/ lang, core science and French and 3 Bs in Art, music and maths. For my January AS' I got 2 As in English lit and language, a B in psychology and a C in biology. I have resat my biology and I'm hoping to bring up my psychology grade with my summer exam. I'm getting my summer results soon but was just wondering if I have a chance of getting into UCL if I maintain my grades and perhaps try and bring Eng lit up to A*? I do quite a lot of extra curricular, including writing for an online magazine and read all the time Can you suggest any other Uni's I should apply to? Sorry for the long post, any advice helps! Thanks

[poony]

UCL for English requires AAA for A2 results. Food for thought ! Use the summer holiday to do the research.

[sundogs]

Normally you need rather high academic results to study English at UCL. Extra curricular activities are fine (especially if they're interesting) but what they really care about is the personal statement and, afterwards, how you come across at interview. If you have a particular strong aspect of your application then this may supersede another, weaker side but the fact that they interview shows how important your interpersonal skills are as this is essential for tutorials. have you had a look at the course structure? It's quite a traditional course with a lot of older texts and quite a historical scope so a personal statement that just concentrates on modern literature may not be too successful (although this may work well at other universities). If you're keen to study in central London then try Kings and possibly Queen Mary. Royal Holloway is further out but has a great reputation (we lost one of our amazing Shakespeare lecturers to them last year )

Good luck


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