Ex-polys asking for AAB for biomed.... ???

In some ways it can be 'unfair' because one bad A-level exam can screw up your university choices entirely. Nevertheless, it must be recognised that little can be done about this.

It'll be good for stopping med students wasting a place by selecting it as their backup.

However, it does seem like an excessive step up in grades. I suppose it'll ensure the best students take the course, but AAB from a non top 50 uni is madness

C'est la vie; that's what competition is about.

Then again, it really depends, e.g. applying to Oxford Maths when you've attained AAAD - with a D in History, i.e. irrelevant; and your application can be made up by acing the MAT (relevant).

So, not necessarily, but even so, that's life.

It'll be good for stopping med students wasting a place by selecting it as their backup.

However, it does seem like an excessive step up in grades. I suppose it'll ensure the best students take the course, but AAB from a non top 50 uni is madness

people on low income will begin to fear going to uni due to the debt that they know they will accumulate during their studies. They will feel it is out of their reach.

Getting AAB in alevels doesnt mean your clever or that you will get a good degree. My course leader got BBBD at alevel but she still went on to get a 1st class degree, distinction at masters and a PhD. According to the new requirement she would not be "clever enough" to do the course when in fact she did that very course and did bloody well in it.

I dont believe you have to be A grade clever to do well at uni.

T'as tort, mon amie, c'est la guerre.

The AAAD idea only applies in the application process. If you've only done 3 A-levels and mess one up, that's the end of it.

And yes, you would say that as you obviously passed your A-levels with flying colours and got in. For someone who missed out on their place by a couple of UMS, it's unfair. But as I said, there's nothing the university can do about it.

The purpose of A levels is to discern how much information you are able to absorb and also to gauge if you are worth having the time and effort put into, aswell as functioning as general qualifications. You should go to University only if you are clever, the cream of intelligence, because University is an educational institution for Academics and not people of 'average' intelligence who did not put the work in to get the grades.
A levels are not necessarily a valid indicator of intelligence, but they certainly are indicators of how well you can absorb information and how hard you work, and it should be no different.

Your teacher is an isolated example, that does not mean it applies to the majority of individuals, teaching a student requires time and effort, therefore they will only take the best they can get.

I don't understand the point of this thread? A university can set its entry requirements to be whatever it wants- clearly if these ex-polys are setting AAB requirements then they feel they can fill up all their places with >AAB students, so it makes sense for them to do so.



A few examples of people you know don't mean anything. If you look at the statistics you'll see that higher A-level grades do correlate to better degree performance.

Therefore,

Good A-level grades does = More likely to get a good degree

Which is why Universities use A-level entry requirements. If A-levels had no relation to university performance, these universities would save themselves the trouble and just select on a first-come first-serve basis or at random.

1. there will be little point in med applicants having it as a back up any more.

Well the applicant would just have to live with it.

Miss the entry requirements - tough.

Universities have to tailor their degrees to the calibre of students they can attract. If a University gets no subsidies from the government and the student pays for their tuition, what difference does it make to you whether they are "clever" enough to go to university?

Because they are usurping a place from somebody else? If a university sets is standards to AAB, then it should theoretically only attract AAB students. If it sets it lower, any potential AAB students might be overlooked.

I'd be interested to see if you said the same thing, put in that applicant's shoes.

You might not have gotten your place at Oxford!