Psychology BSc at UCL (2019 Entry)

Hi! I am in Year 13, studying Biology, Maths and English Literature, and soon will be applying to universities. I want to apply for Psychology, and am currently predicted AAA in my subjects. The universities I am looking into: UCL, King's, Nottingham, Southampton, Warwick, Bristol, QMUL and UEA.

My first choice is UCL, however I have a dilemma. UCL's entry requirement for pure Psychology BSc is A*AA. Because I don't have those predicted grades, I emailed the admissions office asking if they consider applicants with three As, and I got a response from the guy saying this:

'We do definitely consider students who are predicted AAA at A Level for BSc Psychology, they would just have a less competitive application than someone with higher predicted grades. In order to be considered, you should also need at least one, preferably two subjects from Psychology, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. If you have two of these subjects, you application would be more competitive than someone with the same predicted grades but only had one subject.'

So my query is this, do I take a risk and apply to UCL with AAA predictions, with a very strong (I can only hope) personal statement that is tailored closely to what UCL look for in a successful Psychology graduate, with two of their recommended subjects and hope for the best? Or do I beg for an A* prediction in one of my subjects, even though I know actually attaining that A* in the final exams will be fairly unlikely (and so I would miss the offer even if I got it in the first place)? I am confused because on one hand I feel like I should focus on getting an offer in the first place and then work to meet the offer (so I should beg for an A* prediction), but at the same time getting an A* at A Level is extremely difficult.

Does anyone have any experience with this and could give me some advice? Of course I have yet to talk to my teachers about this too, to see what they say, but I wanted to ask here as well. Does anyone have an offer or know of anyone who applied to UCL with three As and were accepted? Is there also a chance to apply with A*AA predictions but get a conditional for lower grades from UCL?

Thank you!

Hi! I am in Year 13, studying Biology, Maths and English Literature, and soon will be applying to universities. I want to apply for Psychology, and am currently predicted AAA in my subjects. The universities I am looking into: UCL, King's, Nottingham, Southampton, Warwick, Bristol, QMUL and UEA.

My first choice is UCL, however I have a dilemma. UCL's entry requirement for pure Psychology BSc is A*AA. Because I don't have those predicted grades, I emailed the admissions office asking if they consider applicants with three As, and I got a response from the guy saying this:

'We do definitely consider students who are predicted AAA at A Level for BSc Psychology, they would just have a less competitive application than someone with higher predicted grades. In order to be considered, you should also need at least one, preferably two subjects from Psychology, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. If you have two of these subjects, you application would be more competitive than someone with the same predicted grades but only had one subject.'

So my query is this, do I take a risk and apply to UCL with AAA predictions, with a very strong (I can only hope) personal statement that is tailored closely to what UCL look for in a successful Psychology graduate, with two of their recommended subjects and hope for the best? Or do I beg for an A* prediction in one of my subjects, even though I know actually attaining that A* in the final exams will be fairly unlikely (and so I would miss the offer even if I got it in the first place)? I am confused because on one hand I feel like I should focus on getting an offer in the first place and then work to meet the offer (so I should beg for an A* prediction), but at the same time getting an A* at A Level is extremely difficult.

Does anyone have any experience with this and could give me some advice? Of course I have yet to talk to my teachers about this too, to see what they say, but I wanted to ask here as well. Does anyone have an offer or know of anyone who applied to UCL with three As and were accepted? Is there also a chance to apply with A*AA predictions but get a conditional for lower grades from UCL?

Thank you!

I have the exact same issue. What I've been considering is to apply for psychology with language science (they have it with education too) because the entry requirements are AAA.

I have the exact same issue. What I've been considering is to apply for psychology with language science (they have it with education too) because the entry requirements are AAA.

take the risk if your GCSEs are good (and if your predicted grades are realistic, in your heart of hearts) because you'll still prob get an offer from all of your other choices. unis in general give offers to anyone and everyone these days.

For GCSEs I got 7A* (Triple science, Maths, History, Spanish, English Literature which I got a 9 in), 1A (RS), 1B (English Lang), 1C (Art). I think these are good enough to be considered strong GCSEs by unis, right? Especially for Psychology.

yeah def take the risk. you'll have 4 other choices. you will get the offers but just make sure you actually meet them at the end of your A levels because if you get made an A*AA offer from UCL, your insurance prob shouldn't be an AAA choice.

So you think I should take the risk and apply with AAA instead of trying to move predictions up to A*AA? Thanks for your help btw!

Yes, I have also been looking into that. I am thinking of maybe applying to both pure Psychology and Psychology with Language Sciences as I have been speaking to a friend in her final year of Psych with Language Sciences (she firmed UCL pure Psych, and insuranced UCL Psych with Language Sciences, and missed the A* in her final exams), and she says she loves the course and there is a lot of Psych in her course too, esp in the third year where you ultimately choose most of the things you study, so you can choose heavily Psych-based modules.

That’s intresting. What I’m worried about is if I got my school to also move my predicted up to A*AA, would UCL still offer me AAA for psych with language or expect higher and offer me A*AA because of these predictions? I also want to apply for Cambridge but yeah definitely need A*AA for that.

Hi I applied to UCL as well with predicted grades AAAB. I think it is worth trying if you are interested in the degree.

That is fine i think even better if you are eligible for contextual offer

I’m just wondering, I have an equivalent predicted grade higher than A*AA but rejected fairly quickly. Is it because I’m an international student and we’re ranked differently ?