How important are gcse's in applying to oxford

Reply 40

Indeed.

ChemistBoy

Still doesn't mean that you were right to state the oxford or cambridge instantly reject any applicant without any GCSEs though. Exceptions aren't irrelevant because they highlight a flexibility in admissions that you wish to ignore.

Take a look at the undergraduate information for Oxbridge application - they normally state that a minimum of C at GCSE in English or something similar is required. As with everything, there will be exceptions (but postgrad. applicants or internationals clearly don't count as exceptions) so maybe the way I phrased it was a bit misleading, but the point still stands that if you apply with 0 GCSEs with no 'exucse' (e.g. you had an illness, you were living in a different country, etc.), you will be rejected. If someone shows up and says 'ah what about mature students who have proven life experience' then a) can I see some evidence Oxford or Cambridge admit on the basis of life experience? because they both make it quite clear in everything I've read that academic competence is the sole criterion for entry and b) they still need some form of excuse for not having any GCSEs or they won't get an offer.

Reply 42

the_alba

12

How about choosing not to take them - is that a good enough 'excuse' for your version of Oxbridge?

Reply 43

t.w.

5

I'd rather believe admissions tutors than the_alba - they've told me (and this is backed up by the link I have earlier) that if someone failed all their GCSEs they won't get in (illness etc. notwithstanding). Did the_alba fail all her GCSEs without any extenuating circumstances? Actually, I think I remember the_alba saying she had an offer at 16 - was this before she even took her GCSEs? If this is the case, surely the objection is irrelevant to my point, as clearly 'no GCSEs' was synonymous with 'failing all GCSEs'. Anyone claims I should have specified this earlier are ridiculously pedantic. I'm aware of the existence of international students, who evidently have 0 GCSEs. The point is, they didn't fail at theirs.

Reply 44

t.w.

5

If you haven't taken them then you fall in the same category as international students. I fail to see how this illuminates the 'gaping holes' in my argument.

Reply 45

HCD

16

t.w.

I'd rather believe admissions tutors than the_alba - they've told me (and this is backed up by the link I have earlier) that if someone failed all their GCSEs they won't get in (illness etc. notwithstanding).

We're not talking about someone who failed all their GCSEs. If somebody tried and failed, without reason, at all of their GCSEs, what school/college would let them do their A levels? I don't think this is really the point at hand.

A better point you could have gone for is the fact that times change. the_alba was offered a place at Oxford somewhere in the region of 5[?] years ago. I managed to find some outdated Imperial statistics from around that sort of time (not intentionally, I wanted up-to-date ones!), and the offers were DE and CU and similar from Imperial! Things were different back then, that's for sure.

The OP is talking about getting in with a few A*s, some As and some Bs. That is by no means a failure. This is a pretty irrelevant discussion. GCSEs will rarely be the deciding factor, although they are still important to a degree. (I mean "to a degree" as a phrase, not "to a degree course", just to clarify. :p:

)

Reply 46

t.w.

5

HCD

We're not talking about someone who failed all their GCSEs. If somebody tried and failed, without reason, at all of their GCSEs, what school/college would let them do their A levels? I don't think this is really the point at hand.

Yes, but I brought it up basically to demonstrate that there exists some correlation between GCSEs and getting into Oxbridge (something Hobnob questioned), because if you fail them all, you definitely won't get in. This was really an ephemeral point, made without really considering it as very important, but a few people decided to pick up on it and disagree with it.

A better point you could have gone for is the fact that times change. the_alba was offered a place at Oxford somewhere in the region of 5[?] years ago. I managed to find some outdated Imperial statistics from around that sort of time (not intentionally, I wanted up-to-date ones!), and the offers were DE and CU and similar from Imperial! Things were different back then, that's for sure.

I suppose, but as you say, all this is really irrelevant. Basically after Hobnob questioned my assertion that there is a correlation between GCSEs and getting into Oxbridge (something every admissions tutor will confirm) I simply pointed out something undeniable as a defence. Crazily, many people disagreed with my claim that someone who passed 0 GCSEs would be rejected from Oxbridge, even though it was quite clear in the context that people who didn't take GCSEs were not being referred to.

The OP is talking about getting in with a few A*s, some As and some Bs. That is by no means a failure. This is a pretty irrelevant discussion.

I agree entirely, it's just several people jumped on my claim just for the sake of disagreeing with me and I had to defend it. Maybe they're still bitter about the 'Oxbridge 1sts' thread? Take for example the_alba's comment earlier in the thread, where she responded to my post with something along the lines of 'I got an offer without any GCSEs'. She clearly knew I wasn't claiming that international students or some students from Eton or any other applicant who doesn't take GCSEs are instantly rejected, and yet she still decided to post her personal experience as a counter-example to my claim. I really don't know why she did this unless she genuinely thought I was making the claim 'anyone who doesn't take GCSEs is instantly rejected', which, from the context, I quite clearly wasn't making. Therefore surely she was aware that her post in no way contradicted or even disagreed with mine. Which begs the question of why she posted it in the first place...

GCSEs will rarely be the deciding factor, although they are still important to a degree. (I mean "to a degree" as a phrase, not "to a degree course", just to clarify. :p:

)

Couldn't agree more - this is basically what I said earlier in the thread. Whilst there's a correlation between GCSEs and getting into Oxbridge (as the vast majority of people who get in have at least a few A*) you can still get in with relatively poor GCSEs and other aspects of the process are more important anyway.

Reply 47

HCD

16

t.w.

\ I really don't know why she did this unless she genuinely thought I was making the claim 'anyone who doesn't take GCSEs is instantly rejected', which, from the context, I quite clearly wasn't making. Therefore surely she was aware that her post in no way contradicted or even disagreed with mine. Which begs the question of why she posted it in the first place...

Therein lies the rub. You didn't articulate your point very clearly, and by implication it seemed as if you were ascribing an importance to GCSEs that doesn't exist. You did make it sound as if people who didn't want to bother taking GCSEs, for whatever reason, but still got sounds AS grades, would be thrown out. You need to be a bit clearer in articulating your points, else you'll suffer from people arguing against points you never intended to make in the first place!

Reply 48

ukstudent2011

This argument is utterly absurd. It would be like someone saying that you'd die if you jumped from a 30 storey window before landing in the road and having another five people jump in saying "not if he had a parachute you idiot". Of course there are exceptions, but it is pretty clear from the context and nature of the question that these exceptions are hardly relevant to answering it.

Amen to that

one economics and management tutor told me that they don't look at GCSE grades, AT MOST it only counts for 5% of the application
i've got crap GCSE(equivalent) grades but i still got an offer

Reply 51

soph!e

When I was up at oxford for the open day in june one of the law tutors said that when deciding who to call for interview he considered:
1) predicted A-levels
2) GCSE's
3) Academic reference
4) Lnat :eek:

He said that he didn't give anything like the same weighting to AS levels (due to the different policies of schools as to whether or not they were 'cashed in') or to the personal statement.

The weighting given to GCSE's definitely varies- someone at my school with 12 A* got rejected for example. :s-smilie:

I think GCSE's help (I definitely felt I did particularly badly in one interview and feel having 10A* GCSE's probably saved me :rolleyes:

)

Reply 52

struz

just curious...we've recently had a 'higher education evening' at our school in which one of the teachers (who helps pupils with oxbridge applications) said to stand any realistic chance when applying to either uni, that you need at least 6A*s at GCSE, and they may even expect more seeing as our school is independent and quite high in the league tables.
i achieved 5A*s and 4As, do you think this will scupper my chances at all? sorry if this sounds stupid but it's just disheartened me a bit.

Reply 53

madima

struz

just curious...we've recently had a 'higher education evening' at our school in which one of the teachers (who helps pupils with oxbridge applications) said to stand any realistic chance when applying to either uni, that you need at least 6A*s at GCSE, and they may even expect more seeing as our school is independent and quite high in the league tables.
i achieved 5A*s and 4As, do you think this will scupper my chances at all? sorry if this sounds stupid but it's just disheartened me a bit.

i only had 4A*s, 6.5 As and a B and i got in, but i went to a ****ty ass state school. anyway the big oxbridge bosses claim no differentiation between state and private school applicants, so you should be ok.

Reply 54

Mel16

7

madima

anyway the big oxbridge bosses claim no differentiation between state and private school applicants, so you should be ok.

they send out a form for the referee now, asking about EMA and number of students with AAA at A-level etc. So they at least make the effort to find out what your school is like. Maybe they DO ignore it after all - would seem a little pointless to me, though.

Reply 55

Jibzy

15

struz

just curious...we've recently had a 'higher education evening' at our school in which one of the teachers (who helps pupils with oxbridge applications) said to stand any realistic chance when applying to either uni, that you need at least 6A*s at GCSE, and they may even expect more seeing as our school is independent and quite high in the league tables.
i achieved 5A*s and 4As, do you think this will scupper my chances at all? sorry if this sounds stupid but it's just disheartened me a bit.

that is so naive. that's the same thing that my teachers told me. but they are VERY VERY ignorant. to be honest there is NO GCSE rule. i dont know why they dont encourage students to apply. it's like all teachers see is the number of a*'s u have, which is very foolish frankly. i knw a guy with 5 a's at AS level and when it comes to 'thinking outside the box' i could beat this guy hands down (this is me who had AABB last year and not AAAAA).
anyway, this year alone i know 5 people who got into to oxford with 3a*'s 2a's and the rest B's. this was for PPE. what really made them stand out was their interview performance. they showed that they could think laterally/creatively, and i guess this won them over. the written work is also very important. so dont worry about your grades atol. just be ready to impress at the interview. read widely and this should help. that's what my friends who got in said anyway. so dont be defeated by some ignorant teachers! :mad:

Reply 56

struz

thank you Jibzy! the teacher's actually a really nice, encouraging guy and he said that it's still possible, i've just obviously got to get straight As at A level.

Reply 57

aimeeuth

Just thought I'd add my two cents... :smile:

I have an offer from Oxford to study History and French, and for my GCSE's I go 1 A*, 3 A's and 7 B's. I went to a truly abysmal state school, and I feel they did take this into account.

My AS's were much better, I moved to a sixth form college to take them. I also had good predictions, did well on the History Admissions Test, and the work I sent in was good, so I had lots of other factors working in my favour. However, there is still hope if you haven't got 13 a*s! Just wanted to say, there's no harm in applying. Oxford was a complete wild card for me, and I ended up with an offer.

Obviously, fantastic GCSE's help, but they are not the most important factor, imho.

Reply 58

struz

aimeeuth

Just thought I'd add my two cents... :smile:

I have an offer from Oxford to study History and French, and for my GCSE's I go 1 A*, 3 A's and 7 B's. I went to a truly abysmal state school, and I feel they did take this into account.

My AS's were much better, I moved to a sixth form college to take them. I also had good predictions, did well on the History Admissions Test, and the work I sent in was good, so I had lots of other factors working in my favour. However, there is still hope if you haven't got 13 a*s! Just wanted to say, there's no harm in applying. Oxford was a complete wild card for me, and I ended up with an offer.

Obviously, fantastic GCSE's help, but they are not the most important factor, imho.

your college is just down the road from mine :p:

thanks for the advice and well done on your offer!

Reply 59

cc79824

I got an offer for History and politics with GCSEs of 2A* 6A 2B 1C and 2 GNVQs, one of the Bs was history and my AS results were ABBB with Bs in both History and Politics, so it really doesnt matter.

How important are gcse's in applying to oxford

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