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GCSE grades?

How much do GCSEs matter when applying to study languages at top universities? I know some universities (Durham springs to mind) have minimum requirements for competitve subjects like English and law, but are they more relaxed when it comes to languages since less people apply for them? I'm considering applying to 6 from Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Exeter, Manchester, Royal Holloway and possibly Cambridge. I'm predicted AAAB at AS (B in French :redface:

) but really hoping for AAAA. At GCSE, my A* was in French, my As in English lang/lit, double science, history and short course RS and my Bs in maths, food tech and media. If people who've applied this year could tell me their GCSE and AS grades, where they applied and whether they were accepted/rejected, it would really help me. Thanks.

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Reply 1

Richy Rich$$

wow your friend got a really high offer from machester. They normally only ask BBB/BBC for modern languages

Reply 2

Richy Rich$$

I never understand why people do that, because i would ahve thought ure really limiting ure chances of getting a place, as all they have is GCSE to go on.

Reply 3

dappleddawndrawndauphin

Durham have minimum requirement for English students?? Wow. What are they?

Reply 4

priya

courses like english and law are so popular that durham have had to set minimum requirements so they get the best candidates they can applying and accepting them. i'd assume they'd want A's at english GCSE's?

Reply 5

Sian01

Richy Rich$$

I never understand why people do that, because i would ahve thought ure really limiting ure chances of getting a place, as all they have is GCSE to go on.

My school has a policy of not cashing in AS Levels, so even though I got AAAA at A/S I couldn't put them down :frown:

But, I think my teacher wrote them in my reference....

Reply 6

kellywood_5

*Bethany*

Durham have minimum requirement for English students?? Wow. What are they?

I'm not sure how true this is, but the general consensus on here seems to be that Durham are the pickiest when it comes to GCSEs and you'd need a few A*s and a fair few As to be offered a place. It's just because all their candidates have good A2 predictions and AS grades, as well as the personal statement and reference, so they need another way of narrowing it down.

Reply 7

kellywood_5

M@255

And best of luck :smile:

Thanks for your help :smile:

Reply 8

dappleddawndrawndauphin

well I'd already pretty much decided i no longer want to apply to Durham anyway. My GCSEs *are* A*s in English Lit&Lang and do have a good smattering (is that even a word??!?!) of As and A*s, but I've gradually gone off Durham and if they do, as people seem to think, put more emphasis on GCSE grades it seems pretty pointless to apply there for a popular course when most of the students have the GCSEs of Oxbridge applicants - as they *are* lol - anyway!

how much difference does it actually make if your tutor mentions in your ref. that you were ill and missed most of school during period before GCSEs?

kellywood - I'd ignore ur teacher's prediction - it sounds to me like you're easily an A grade student for French - u certainly sound like you've got a much better natural grasp of it than me and I'm predicted an A lol! & they might do some research and take into account how high your GCSEs were in your school - maybe it's worth getting your tutor to mention this in your references?? So how come you're not sure about Cambridge? you should apply :smile:

Reply 9

kellywood_5

Thanks, Bethany and M@225; I think you've convinced me to give it a shot :smile:

Bethany, thank you for your confidence in my French ability lol; funny how my teacher since the beginning of the year has given me a current grade of a C and a target grade of a B, yet someone I've just chatted to about it on the net thinks I can get an A! I'd definitely get your referee to mention that you were ill; you still got better grades than I did and I wasn't ill! It can only help. Are you applying for English/history/joint/Oxford/Cambridge?

M@225; what did you apply for? Did you get an offer?

Reply 10

kellywood_5

M@255

I applied for Law at St Catz Cambridge. I got rejected but I'm still glad I did it, I was completely in awe of the place & the people, it was such an experience. I got to meet two top academics in their field and met some great people. I have no regrets and believe now that I would have struggled with the academic side of going to Cambridge - thats what they said in my interview feedback letter and I agree with them.

You should go for it, it's a great experience, whether you get in or not. :smile:

Sorry you didn't get in :frown:

It's great that you're not upset or bitter about it though- so many people put so much emphasis on Oxbridge and being rejected really seems to destroy them! I'm the same as you in that way- if I apply, it will just be becase I like the course and the uni and I think it'll be a good experience. I won't be upset if I don't get in- I'm not expecting to and I'm not sure I could handle it either, so I have nothing to lose really :smile:

Reply 11

kellywood_5

M@255

Exactly!! You have the right attitude. Some people (well a couple) in my year are bitter about their Oxbridge rejections, yet they got Durham offers etc, and I didn't - I only got 2 offers, but I'm happy with that as I realise I applied for an immensely competitive course.

I would advise you to go into your Cambridge interview (you will get one, everyone does) with a really positive attitude thinking "i can do this, i'm gna get an offer" etc. I didn't do that, I went in expecting them to hate me and expecting to feel small and irrelevant in their presence. The people I know who got in are the ones who had the I WANT IT approach. My form tutor said to me "you've got to be as hungry for it as a third world child is for food" - ok a very tasteless comment, but it's true.

Good luck & choose the right college :smile:

Thanks

Choosing a college is the hardest part!

Reply 12

RachelBabyfrog

*Bethany*

I was rejected from Durham for English Lit this year... I'm over it now, but I was seriously miffed at the time! I asked for feedback and they said it was GCSEs (my GCSEs are 4 A*s and 6 As). My friend was told that for History they were only considering people with more than 5 A*s and 5 As at GCSE... that's why we think they're picky about GCSEs, lol.

As for languages... I have a friend who is predicted Bs in French and Spanish and a B/C in History, and she got 6 offers at Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle... can't remember where else, and her GCSEs were mostly Bs :smile:

Reply 13

Richy Rich$$

i think for languages GCSEs dont have to be too great, as its not a popular course. Its only oxbridge that need high GCSEs. When i went open days at Exeter and Durham most of the people had pretty average grades, nothing exceptional.

Reply 14

dappleddawndrawndauphin

kellywood_5

Thanks, Bethany and M@225; I think you've convinced me to give it a shot :smile:

wow i totally forgot about this thread oops!! Good good - you should :smile:

as you say, nothing to lose

Your teacher is silly :p:

You can def. get an A with your natural ability and motivation. I'm quite worried though, I'm finding the resumes difficult :frown:

o well

I think I probably will. yeah, but we were spoonfed our GCSE technique :rolleyes:

otherwise i'd never have done well in the state i was in.

To Cambridge, for just English; originally was set on Oxford for Eng/Hist but they have a mod of Anglo Saxon, bleurgh!!

Reply 15

kellywood_5

*Bethany*

wow i totally forgot about this thread oops!! Good good - you should :smile:

as you say, nothing to lose

Your teacher is silly :p:

You can def. get an A with your natural ability and motivation. I'm quite worried though, I'm finding the resumes difficult :frown:

o well

I think I probably will. yeah, but we were spoonfed our GCSE technique :rolleyes:

otherwise i'd never have done well in the state i was in.

To Cambridge, for just English; originally was set on Oxford for Eng/Hist but they have a mod of Anglo Saxon, bleurgh!!

At the risk of offending the Oxford students, Cambridge looks nicer anyway :p:

Reply 16

dobbs

Rebecca/Becca

Hey guys, I'm currently studying Modern Lnaguages at Durham (French and ab initio Italian) and I did GCSEs in French and German, both of which I got an A8* in.
I took A levels in French, German, History and Music and originally applied for French and German (I changed to Italian later) my entry requirements for my universities were as follows:

Durham: ABB, with atleast B in French and German
St. Andrew's: as above
Bath: AAB :eek:

Edinburgh: BBB
Hull: 280 UCAS points
Cambridge: rejected.

Doing modern languages and can hardly even grasp the English language :rolleyes:

And yes, I am stalking you through the forums. It's what you get for my abusive PM :p:

Reply 17

dobbs

Wasn't too hard....I was on the home page and was scrolling down to head back to the Durham forum, spotted that the last post in the "University Courses" thing was in this thread by you, and that the last post in the "Universities" forum was mine in the Durham one.....telling me that you hadn't replied to mine yet, but were in fact in HERE! Insulted, I came into here....then checked your profile which said that you were replying to the french literature one, which is how I replied in there before you did!

:biggrin:

...again, I'm bored :frown:

Reply 18

dobbs

I'm not going to say anything about "Modern Linguists" in a forum for modern linguists as I may be lynched.

But geography is more than just colouring in. However, one of my assignments during the last term was indeed to colour in a map. With coloured pencils. :smile:

Reply 19

dobbs

I'm scared....are we allowed to talk about Geography in this forum? I guess you're a modern linguist so you can be responsible for it :smile:

And yeah we dig things. Mostly mud/soil. Infact, that's pretty much the limit of what we dig. Not much fun - too physical for me. It can be fun looking through the little telescopey thingies which are for levelling exercises...we went to the beach and they were amazing! I could quite clearly see this guys face who was sitting in a little boat in the sea, just from the beach! Better than those crappy telescopey thingies you put money in!!

Anyway, erm, yeah we dig things :smile: