Worth applying for universities which want A*AA-AAA with these grades?

Royal Holloway, Westminster and Goldsmiths. I have yet to choose another uni, it's probably a tie between Queen Mary and Brunel... or City. Gee I don't know. Why aren't you applying to Westminster or Goldsmiths? I'm asking cause I'm clearly not so sure myself where to apply... I mean if I were to get an offer from UCL/ Royal Holloway I'd accept in a heartbeat but they both require AAA so I obv need a back up plan.

BTW I called the psychology department at UCL the day I got my results and I was told that they would consider my application even with my B grade! Just a heads up, we may still have a chance. However I've also got two more problems (the way I see it). I'm not a traditional student at all haha. I moved to London from Romania 2 years ago to do my A Levels but I have no GCSEs to show. I tried getting my prior qualifications translated but apparently they're of a lower level than that which can be assessed...

The second 'problem' is the actual subjects that I took. A*AB are in film, maths and english lit respectively. I took psychology at AS and got an A but dropped it like an idiot at A2. Back then I was sure I was going to apply to do film... So now I'm self-teaching A2 psychology and I'll take the exams in June next year. If I get an overall A I still may have the right grades to get into UCL. It probably seems like I'm grasping at straws here but I'll likely be devastated if I don't get an offer.

Aaand thanks, I really hope we both get in too! Best of luck with your personal statement.

I got an AAA offer from UCL it's definitely worth you applying good luck.

They said they'd consider A*AB???!!! Are you being serious?? I though they wouldnt based on what people have said on here. Im so happy that i know i may have a chance! :')

Oh i see. Are you Romanian? You're english is amazing for someone who has only been here for 2 years! Dw i don't think your gcses would matter very much if you mention it in your reference.

Also, what exam board are you doing for Psychology? If its ocr i can help you if you need it

Also i dont think you should apply for Westminister. I dont think its very good for psychology. And i dont think i want to go Goldsmiths. Im ok with the ones ive chosen but i dont know whether i can apply for Kent because its like 2 hours away by train and i dont think i handle 4+ hours journey every week. Will have to think very carefully about my fifth one.


Thank you! xo

Yeah that's what I was told!The officer I spoke to seemed very open-minded. I hope his attitude is representative of their whole admissions department. In the end,it sort of depends on having the right set of eyes fall on your application.

And thanks a bunch for offering but I'm doing AQA, not OCR. I'll be fine though, a teacher will send me a few assignments to help me out.

I just checked out how far Royal Holloway is again and damn I didn't realise it can be 2-3 hours from London! The website says "Trains run regularly from Egham directly to London Waterloo and take approximately 40 minutes. " and that sounded ideal, but in reality it seems to take much longer. I still love the fact that it's a campus university and it looked like it had the best of both worlds you know, being in a nice peaceful location but also close to the city for those times when I'll miss its hustle and bustle. Also I used to travel almost 2h to my school last year and I would use that time for reading, so I wouldn't really mind it if it came down to it. Anyway it's all very hypothetical at this point.

I mainly chose Westminster as a safe uni - ABB are the requirements - but I still want to know, why do you think it's not good for psychology? Is it the teaching?

Take care xox

I've gone on those trains (admittedly at the weekend, usually on a Sunday) and it has taken that length of time. The busy one would probably be coming into London so you would probably be going the right way. I don't know how far the uni is from the station

By 'that length of time' I assume you mean 40 minutes?

The uni is a 15 min walk from the station if anyone is interested.

if that's right, it's silly policy. So much so that I think it cannot be right. UCL wants the best students it can get, and anyway recruits on a department-by-department basis, so I feel sure the information is often contextualised.

Are A*AB and AAA equivalents? The truth is that the one is sometimes better than the other and it's sometimes the other way about too.

Consider Angela and Bob applying for Psychology, as here, and with A levels in Biology, Maths, and Music. And suppose this a zero-sum game: they're two candidates being considered for the last place on the course. Angela has A*AB with the A* in Biology and the B in Music. Bob has AAA across the board.

On your account of what is UCL policy, Bob would be accepted for Psychology because better at Music and Angela rejected because worse at Music although better at Biology...

If that's how they manage it at one of the best universities in the world, things have arrived at a pretty pass.

if there are enough AAA applicants (which there definitely are) why on earth would they consider someone with A*AB?

I have explained at length why they might, in the post that you quoted and as well in post 13 on this thread.

Can you confirm that UCL did not take candidates with A*AB, for example in the most recent applications round?

I can confirm that empirically, from the experience of my school where many people applied to UCL, they were not happy with A*AB as a substitute.

I might be wrong, as anyone can be in this world.

We have on this thread testimony from someone who spoke an admssions tutor in Law who said "no", as you do, and someone who spoke to the same in psychology, who said "yes".

The first subject entry in the prospectus for entry next year is for Anthropology and is here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate-study/degrees/ubsantsing05 It suggests an acceptable range running to AAB, and it would be properly bizarre and a mean trick if they were putting that out there despite having decided of policy that that they wouldn't even consider the suckers who believed it and had a try.

My strong impression is that this is subject-by-subject, both for grades and policy.

Haha yeah actually if UCL applicants have A*A*A* (which some of them do) and if there are enough AAA applicants (which there definitely are) why on earth would they consider someone with A*AB? There are people better than you, but mate, you did amazingly well at A2 so just because UCL won't take you don't feel any less proud.

Makes a lot of sense because I don't know anyone who applied for psychology. They were doing things like Law and Computer Science.

it just didnt make sense

While this is good general advice, I think from context that the poster was asking only whether she should butter up UCL in the Email she was there talking about sending. I don't think she should do it there either, mind. Whether in an Email or on a PS or at interview "it has always been my dream to go to the University of Whatsit" is enjoyably obvious bull****, because of course you never meet a 6 year old nor even a 12 year old who has a dream provider of tertiary education and indeed that would be an unnerving child and one to be given a wide berth.

When I was 12 I wanted to become a scientist and go into scientific research and even thought I could go onto find the cure to cancer! I'm now at Uni doing a degree in Chemistry.

While this is good general advice, I think from context that the poster was asking only whether she should butter up UCL in the Email she was there talking about sending. I don't think she should do it there either, mind. Whether in an Email or on a PS or at interview "it has always been my dream to go to the University of Whatsit" is enjoyably obvious bull****, because of course you never meet a 6 year old nor even a 12 year old who has a dream provider of tertiary education and indeed that would be an unnerving child and one to be given a wide berth.