General Studies?

1) Almost everyone I've spoken to who did general studies thought it was a waste of time and that it added nothing to their application. So I'd say no, it's not regarded, and will be excluded from any offer.

2) Film studies: less of a subject than what? I suppose it depends what you're applying for. Certainly, it's not really regarded as a "hard" subject, like a science or a language, but it's not as bad as general studies. If you do it with 2 "hard" subjects you're probably OK, as long as you're not applying for medicine or something.

You're doing 3 hard A-levels, so you should be fine.
What languages combination though? French/Linguistics, French/Philosophy, just French, French/something else, something else entirely?

Probably worry about the other part more than the film studies, to be honest. Too late to worry about A-level choices now.

Hmm, you should probably decide on that soon, and start thinking about why you want to do the other language, but if you fancy the film end of things, you'd probably be better off doing straight French. Unless you want to go to Cambridge, where you can't do that.

Whilst Oxbridge (and most top 25 universities) disregard General Studies when it comes to giving offers, it can still be helpful to have on your UCAS form an extra two lines of A-grades (AS and A2 Gen St). If you've got good general knowledge, GenSt is an extra A-grade with minimal effort. What do you think looks better from the following?

Getting "four As" sounds more impressive than getting "three As"!

Do people actually work for General Studies? We had no lessons, just walked in and did them, and the grades were better than most subjects (people got ADDD for example!). I don't see how studying for it can be that useful, it largely tests your general knowledge (except the Maths/Logic which is GCSE Maths basically). So definitely don't compromise your other subjects for it, if you have a small interest in politics, current affairs, news.bbc.co.uk kinda stuff you shouldn't need to do anything.

Very sorry to start a new thread for my first post, I know that regulars on messageboards hate that in newbies. I couldn't find this question answered elsewhere.

Is it true that Oxbridge completely disregard General Studies as a qualification? I was told this, and it seems pretty credible since having taken the AS exam in the subject within the last few weeks (having had virtually no teaching in the subject), i found that it is completely trivial and seemingly unneccessary. Would someone please clear this up, is it regarded at all by oxbridge?

Thanks in advance.

Oh and also, a similar question- is film studies regarded as less of a subject? I was told by my head of year to drop it after AS if I was dropping anything, because it is the least regarded of my subjects. Will having taken that over any other subject have hindered my chances of getting in to oxford? Unlike the rest of my class who took it as a means of slacking off 5 periods a week, I took it out of general interest in film, and mean to go for as high a grade as possible.

Nah Oxbridge doesn't take General Studies. Most respected unis - for science courses anyway - don't take GS anyway - not to mention Oxbridge. As far as I know, yes Oxbridge disregard GS completely.

And Film Studies - as far as I know, Cambridge anyway, prefers traditional subjects. They can't "disregard" it - well they can, by offering you an offer that excludes grades in that subject. Like someone on TSR here, think she's in for VetMed, her offer excludes English. My friend is offered AAA for her Maths offer with STEP and her third A can be in either Physics or Chem, not specified. Another woman I know had an offer of AAC for Maths, with both A's in Maths, which meant the C was for her third subject, French.

Cambridge - I talk about Cam cus I applied there lol! (and rejected) - prefers subjects related to your course - lol don't all unis? - depends on what course you're thinking of in Oxford. This guy - my Mathmo friend's brother - had Theatre Studies as one of his A-Levels and I'm pretty sure Theatre is considered as mickey mouse by some unis - but he had 3 other academic subjects. He's graduated now with a first for Physics from Cambridge, St John's.

Anyway, yeh in general I'd say Film Study is considered as a "mickey mouse" subject by some unis. Keep it on if you want, but yeh if you're gonna drop any subjects, I advise drop Film Studies too.

Anyway - why don't you email Oxford admissions and ask? Read between the lines though cus they're not gonna say it outright.

It's nothing to do with "stupidity" or a "lack of ability". If you get an A in General Studies then you're clued up about the world around you - politics, society, culture, environment, technology etc. Lots of people get AAAA in subjects they can memorise and regurgitate then a D in General Studies because they lack knowledge of the 'real world'.

Whilst Oxbridge (and most top 25 universities) disregard General Studies when it comes to giving offers, it can still be helpful to have on your UCAS form an extra two lines of A-grades (AS and A2 Gen St). If you've got good general knowledge, GenSt is an extra A-grade with minimal effort. What do you think looks better from the following?

Getting "four As" sounds more impressive than getting "three As"! And when you're at university you don't need all your subjects on your CV and can just put "A-Level: AAAA".

You know I'd personally think the person who got AAAAB is less impressive than AAAB - cus the one with 4A's did GS - he wasted time doing general studies when he could've been improving his grade in History - I'd say he was unwise and generally wasting his time.

i have a friend doing 3 subjects and GS and has an offer to read english from christs. they have said that if she misses another subject but gets an A in gs they will take her. this was in the letter with the offer!!!!