How important are A levels

I'm hoping to apply for history to St. Andrews, Durham, and UCL (4 and 5 to be chosen soon), and I have predictions of A*A*A in History, Politics, and Music. I have seen one of my references, and it is extremely complimentary, and my teacher stated that my PS is the best he has seen for history in a while. My GCSEs, however, are awful; 98776533. I also attend a high-performing public school, and this will likely weaken my GCSEs even more. Is it worth applying, and is it realistic that I get an offer from any of these places?

I'm hoping to apply for history to St. Andrews, Durham, and UCL (4 and 5 to be chosen soon), and I have predictions of A*A*A in History, Politics, and Music. I have seen one of my references, and it is extremely complimentary, and my teacher stated that my PS is the best he has seen for history in a while. My GCSEs, however, are awful; 98776533. I also attend a high-performing public school, and this will likely weaken my GCSEs even more. Is it worth applying, and is it realistic that I get an offer from any of these places?

It’s certainly not impossible you’ll get offers from these universities you have plans to apply to.

Provided English Language and Maths are not the grade 3’s, I imagine you should be reasonably ok GCSE-wise for Durham, UCL and St Andrew’s.

I’m fairly certain your predicted grades exceed the entry requirements, which certainly counts in your favour.

One thing is definitely for certain though- if you don’t apply to any of the above unis, then you have a 0% chance of getting an offer from any of them.