University Oxford - number of GCSE and grades

Original post by Miki M

I reckon typical Oxford applicants has 12 or so GCSEs. In terms of grades, is it better to aim 8 or 9 rather than 9 to 7 mixture? e.g is it better to have 12 x grade 8 than 6 x grade 9 + 6 grade 7, even though the average grade is 8? Any other potential negative points to be taken into account? I'm not taking soft subjects like general studies etc. I'm taking a few subjects earlier.

I managed an offer from Oxford (Chemistry) this year despite being a reapplicant with 9988887766 achieved.

I guess the GCSE grade profile required to stand a decent chance of getting in depends a lot on the course you are applying for, though.

(Edited for clarity)

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 3

eeeli

13

Oxford say applicants have a mix of 7s, 8s and 9s. Beyond that it probably depends on how much your course care about it - Medicine place a fair bit of weight on GCSEs and say they're looking for a 'good proportion of 9s/8s' - looking at their admissions stats most people who get interviews or offers have more than 80% of their grades at 8 to 9. Ultimately it is hard to quantify whether a mix of 9s and 7s vs all 8s would be better - I think it would depend on the subjects you got the grades in and the subject you applied for. I don't think you'd need to be taking 12 GCSEs for Oxford though - especially if it meant spreading yourself too thin. Taking 10 subjects and getting 9s and a few 8s would probably be better than taking 12 and getting all 8s, or 9s and 7s. I'm speculating though - I don't think there's enough information out there to split it as finely as you're asking. Really you should be aiming for the highest grades you can achieve in your GCSEs rather than strategizing about a minimum level of achievement.

Reply 4

bigplongus

15

i dont think many unis want 12 GCSE, most schools dont even do 12, most do 10

Reply 5

Muttley79

20

Original post by Miki M

I reckon typical Oxford applicants has 12 or so GCSEs. In terms of grades, is it better to aim 8 or 9 rather than 9 to 7 mixture? e.g is it better to have 12 x grade 8 than 6 x grade 9 + 6 grade 7, even though the average grade is 8? Any other potential negative points to be taken into account? I'm not taking soft subjects like general studies etc. I'm taking a few subjects earlier.

Most schools don't offer 12 and it depends on the degree what profle they are looking for.

Reply 6

OP

Thank you to all responded.

Reply 7

lavender16

3

Original post by TypicalNerd

I managed an offer from Oxford (Chemistry) this year despite being a reapplicant with 9988887766 achieved.

I guess the GCSE grade profile required to stand a decent chance of getting in depends a lot on the course you are applying for, though.

(Edited for clarity)

What did you apply for? I’m doing GCSE’s this yr so there’s still a while but I want to do medicine so I’m worried about grade requirements for that. Esp bcs im getting 6 in English Lang atm

Reply 8

Original post by lavender16

What did you apply for? I’m doing GCSE’s this yr so there’s still a while but I want to do medicine so I’m worried about grade requirements for that. Esp bcs im getting 6 in English Lang atm

I applied for chemistry, but as I have friends who applied for medicine at Oxford (and Cambridge) I am aware of a few things regarding applying to Oxford for medicine.

Medicine is one of the courses at Oxford where most successful applicants have either near straight 8’s and 9’s or straight 8’s and 9’s.

It could be that this is because those with such results disproportionately meet certain aspects of the admissions criteria for medicine at Oxford because they are generally more invested in reading around their subjects or it could be that straight/near straight 8’s and 9’s at GCSE is simply just a part of the admissions criteria. Either way, it’s worth finding other ways of making yourself stand out.

It is also important to be aware that Oxford will care more about your interviews, BMAT results and A level predictions (or results if you apply during a gap year) than your GCSE’s.

I’d see what Oxford itself has to say about its medicine course and entry requirements. Note that the webpage will not give a comprehensive list of everything that is on their admissions criteria: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/medicine

Reply 9

OP

Original post by TypicalNerd

I managed an offer from Oxford (Chemistry) this year despite being a reapplicant with 9988887766 achieved.

I guess the GCSE grade profile required to stand a decent chance of getting in depends a lot on the course you are applying for, though.

(Edited for clarity)

Can I ask what your A level grades are? Reapplying means your grades are actual one, correct? What did you do / are you doing in the gap year

Reply 10

Original post by Miki M

Can I ask what your A level grades are? Reapplying means your grades are actual one, correct? What did you do / are you doing in the gap year

My achieved grades from last year were A*A*A + distinction in the GCE AEA for mathematics. I applied with these grades plus two pending grades (see below).

Note that as I will be studying chemistry, my gap year has been tailored towards making my application align more closely with the admissions criteria for chemistry. If you are planning on studying a different subject, what worked for me may not work for you if you do take a gap year.

In my gap year, I have done a fair bit of mentoring to keep my knowledge of chemistry alive and I’m doing a few extra qualifications (A level further maths and AS biology, since a lot of the pure content in further maths is used in modelling with chemistry and AS biology has a fair bit of biochemistry in it, so it provides a different perspective of how chemistry is used in practice - these were details I added to my PS to justify how I was using my gap year productively).

Since chemistry is a very academic degree, I concluded that there was no real benefit in getting lab placements or relevant work experience. As such, further qualifications to strengthen my application were what I considered to be a better use of my time.

Original post by bigplongus

i dont think many unis want 12 GCSE, most schools dont even do 12, most do 10

Was going to say this, I feel like most schools don't offer you the ability to do 12 GCSEs unless you did a combo like this maybe:

Triple science (Physics, Chemistry and biology)
GCSE English language
GCSE English literature
GCSE MFL (Part of Ebacc)
GCSE RS (Part of Ebacc)
GCSE history or Geography (Part of Ebacc)
GCSE Maths
+2 other GCSE options
this is effectively what I was made to do except I did combined science instead of triple.

But even that doesn't add up to 12 GCSEs, only 11.

Edited the error

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 12

OP

Original post by TypicalNerd

My achieved grades from last year were A*A*A + distinction in the GCE AEA for mathematics. I applied with these grades plus two pending grades (see below).

Note that as I will be studying chemistry, my gap year has been tailored towards making my application align more closely with the admissions criteria for chemistry. If you are planning on studying a different subject, what worked for me may not work for you if you do take a gap year.

In my gap year, I have done a fair bit of mentoring to keep my knowledge of chemistry alive and I’m doing a few extra qualifications (A level further maths and AS biology, since a lot of the pure content in further maths is used in modelling with chemistry and AS biology has a fair bit of biochemistry in it, so it provides a different perspective of how chemistry is used in practice - these were details I added to my PS to justify how I was using my gap year productively).

Since chemistry is a very academic degree, I concluded that there was no real benefit in getting lab placements or relevant work experience. As such, further qualifications to strengthen my application were what I considered to be a better use of my time.

You must be strong at maths.
Interesting to know you very done or doing further maths and AS biology on top of chem and physics assume. Is that what your 6th firm school suggested and has the school given predicted grades?

Can I also ask how you handled other unis which might have offer you a place? Did you decline all last year and newly apply for a new set of unis? Are you able to include the same unis that you declined?

Reply 13

OP

Original post by Talkative Toad

Was going to say this, I feel like most schools don't offer you the ability to do 12 GCSEs unless you did a combo like this maybe:

Triple science (Physics, Chemistry and biology)
GCSE English language
GCSE English literature
GCSE MFL (Part of Ebacc)
GCSE RS (Part of Ebacc)
GCSE history or Geography (Part of Ebacc)
GCSE Maths
+2 other GCSE options
this is effectively what I was made to do except I did combined science instead of triple.

But even that doesn't add up to 12 GCSEs, only 11.

Edited the error

Thank you. Combined science - aren't you in science major? If you received an offer, can I ask your A level grades?

Reply 14