The Student Room Group
University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
Birmingham

Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences applicants/offer holders, 2020

Hey, the other day I received an unconditional offer to read Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences at Birmingham from September 2020. I thought I would start a new discussion to see if there are any other LANS offer holders/applicants out there! If there are:

What is your name?

What are your predicted (or obtained) A-Level grades?

What A-Levels did you take?

What other universities have you applied to?

What subject(s) are you interested in majoring in?

I'll start!

I'm James.

I completed my A-Levels last summer and I obtained A*A*AB.

German, English Literature, Religious Studies, EPQ.

Exeter, Bristol, KCL, Royal Holloway (all Liberal Arts courses).

I won't major in anything in first year but I definitely want to try out modules in English Literature, Archaeology, History of Art and Biosciences!

Scroll to see replies

Hi

My name is Katie

I am predicted AAA

I am resitting AQA English literature and Edexcel Politics, as well as taking AQA Sociology (never done it before, started in September so am doing it as an a-level in a year). Am not resitting History due to the stress it and my old teachers caused me (and the one of the topics that my old school chose was really difficult and quite dull, in my opinion) so I am keeping my grade from last summer (D)

I have only applied for one liberal arts course (Birmingham) and have also applied to Manchester and Nottingham (English and American studies), Birmingham for English and Exeter for English with study in North America (1st and 3rd year in Exeter, 2nd year in America).

I absolutely love the Birmingham liberal arts course as well as the university itself and will likely put that down as my firm provided I get an offer.

I’ve received offers from Manchester, Nottingham and Exeter so far so am just waiting for Birmingham to get back to me.

If you couldn’t tell already, I’m a massive English nerd so am hoping to major in English literature although I’m also interested in creative writing, politics, sociology, history and drama.
University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
Birmingham
Original post by whatkatiedid_
Hi

My name is Katie

I am predicted AAA

I am resitting AQA English literature and Edexcel Politics, as well as taking AQA Sociology (never done it before, started in September so am doing it as an a-level in a year). Am not resitting History due to the stress it and my old teachers caused me (and the one of the topics that my old school chose was really difficult and quite dull, in my opinion) so I am keeping my grade from last summer (D)

I have only applied for one liberal arts course (Birmingham) and have also applied to Manchester and Nottingham (English and American studies), Birmingham for English and Exeter for English with study in North America (1st and 3rd year in Exeter, 2nd year in America).

I absolutely love the Birmingham liberal arts course as well as the university itself and will likely put that down as my firm provided I get an offer.

I’ve received offers from Manchester, Nottingham and Exeter so far so am just waiting for Birmingham to get back to me.

If you couldn’t tell already, I’m a massive English nerd so am hoping to major in English literature although I’m also interested in creative writing, politics, sociology, history and drama.

That's awesome! I wish you all the best for your resits :smile: If you do receive an offer from Birmingham, will you be attending any of the offer-holder days coming up?
Original post by James_Oliver
That's awesome! I wish you all the best for your resits :smile: If you do receive an offer from Birmingham, will you be attending any of the offer-holder days coming up?

Thank you and definitely I will! Providing I get offers from both courses (fingers crossed I do!) It’ll be a difficult decision between straight English Lit or Liberal Arts (with English as my major) so I think the offer holder days will be useful in helping me decide.
Hi, I'm Cara. I've already done my A Levels and I got AAA in Biology, Chemistry and French. I've applied to Liberal Arts at Birmingham, Warwick and King's, English and Modern Languages and Cultures at Sheffield and South Asian Studies at SOAS. Bit of a mixed bag! I don't think I'd pick a major in first year; I'm interested in modules in English, Languages, Sociology and biomedical sciences and I'd like to see where those take me.

How long did you all wait to hear back from Birmingham about the admissions essay after you sent off your personal statement? Warwick emailed me to notify me that they'd received the application and again a few days later about the second personal statement they ask for, but I haven't heard anything from Birmingham.
Reply 5
Hi, I'm Keren
I'm predicted A* A B and I'm taking Philosophy, Psychology and Business at A level
I'm thinking of doing the 3rd option (the book/text etc) on the bible as I was raised very strictly Christian and have since become an atheist
aah
Original post by Anonymous
Hi, I'm Cara. I've already done my A Levels and I got AAA in Biology, Chemistry and French. I've applied to Liberal Arts at Birmingham, Warwick and King's, English and Modern Languages and Cultures at Sheffield and South Asian Studies at SOAS. Bit of a mixed bag! I don't think I'd pick a major in first year; I'm interested in modules in English, Languages, Sociology and biomedical sciences and I'd like to see where those take me.

How long did you all wait to hear back from Birmingham about the admissions essay after you sent off your personal statement? Warwick emailed me to notify me that they'd received the application and again a few days later about the second personal statement they ask for, but I haven't heard anything from Birmingham.

Hey Cara. Congratulations on your excellent A-Level results! The order of my application process was a bit strange: I contacted the dean of Liberal Arts at Birmingham back in November before applying to tell her about my circumstances (I had started studying at Oxford in early October but I dropped out because I was unhappy with the course/mental health issues). She said that because I already have my A-Level grades, I could submit my admissions essay before my UCAS application (bit weird I know!). So I did that, and I got an unconditional offer about three weeks after I submitted my UCAS application (submitted it early December, heard back earlier this month).
Original post by Keren02
Hi, I'm Keren
I'm predicted A* A B and I'm taking Philosophy, Psychology and Business at A level
I'm thinking of doing the 3rd option (the book/text etc) on the bible as I was raised very strictly Christian and have since become an atheist
aah

Hey Keren. Best of luck for your A-Level exams! And that's really interesting (I was also raised a devout Christian but have since become an atheist haha).
Original post by James_Oliver
Hey, the other day I received an unconditional offer to read Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences at Birmingham from September 2020. I thought I would start a new discussion to see if there are any other LANS offer holders/applicants out there! If there are:

What is your name?

What are your predicted (or obtained) A-Level grades?

What A-Levels did you take?

What other universities have you applied to?

What subject(s) are you interested in majoring in?

I'll start!

I'm James.

I completed my A-Levels last summer and I obtained A*A*AB.

German, English Literature, Religious Studies, EPQ.

Exeter, Bristol, KCL, Royal Holloway (all Liberal Arts courses).

I won't major in anything in first year but I definitely want to try out modules in English Literature, Archaeology, History of Art and Biosciences!

Hey I’m Lauren

Got AAA in English Lit, Maths and Chemistry and B in EPQ and have applied post A-level for September 2020

I’ve applied to Nottingham, Birmingham, Royal Holloway, Durham and Queens Belfast and have received unconditional offers from Nottingham and Royal Holloway but am waiting to hear from the others.

I’m not 100% sure what I’d like to major in but I would like to study modules in English Lit, psychology, Spanish, maybe philosophy, drama and possible maths :smile:
Hey, I'm Taylor!

I got 3 A*s in English Lit, English Lang and Media Studies.

I've applied to Birmingham, Exeter, Nottingham, KCL and Bristol (I've had unconditional offers from all except Birmingham - sent my admissions essay a couple of days ago and now waiting for a decision!)

I don't think I'll pick a major in my first year, but I'm interested in studying Creative Writing, Marketing, American Studies, Film and maybe Psychology. I'd also like to do Spanish if I have any credits left!
I’m Millie! I’m predicted A*A*A doing philosophy, history and drama, I’ve got offers from York, Warwick, Southampton and Exeter, I’m waiting on Durham, which is where I wanna go so kinda annoying to still be waiting as I applied in November :/
Reply 11
Hi I'm Sarah

I'm predicted AAA and I take English literature, Maths, and Philosophy & Religion.

I've applied to KCL, Royal Holloway, Durham, and Exeter and i'm waiting on Durham (I applied to UCL for a different course)

I'm thinking as my top is KCL, so modules I'm considering taking are Digital Culture, Linguistics, English Lit, Philosophy, Film Studies, Media, but i can't decide which 5 in these six and i might even take on a language. Very indecisive lol
Reply 12
Hi!
I'm Taryn and I'm doing biology, chemistry, and maths.
My predicted grades are ABB, which I know aren't great but it's because I didn't do great in mocks because I was really stressed out, however I have received an offer for LANS and I'll be attending an offer holders day on the 18/03. Anyone else going that day??? :smile:

I have applied to Bath for Natural sciences as well as Biological sciences, Edinburgh for biological sciences, and Birmingham for both biological sciences and LANS.
I haven't decided what subjects I would like to major in yet so I'm thinking of going quite general for the first year and then stream.

Where is everyone thinking about going for their year abroad???
Australia anyone ???? :biggrin:
Reply 13
Hello guys! I’m a bit late to the party but I’m currently doing my admissions essay and thought I’d get a bit of advice? Congratulations you guys on your great A levels! Like you James, I was studying at the university of Leeds but dropped out for the exact same reasons and I’m looking to hopefully go to Birmingham in September but I think I’m overthinking my admissions essay! I’ve gone for question three but I was wondering if it had to be strongly academic or is a first person life experience type essay okay? Any advice would be lovely x
Original post by FF22
Hello guys! I’m a bit late to the party but I’m currently doing my admissions essay and thought I’d get a bit of advice? Congratulations you guys on your great A levels! Like you James, I was studying at the university of Leeds but dropped out for the exact same reasons and I’m looking to hopefully go to Birmingham in September but I think I’m overthinking my admissions essay! I’ve gone for question three but I was wondering if it had to be strongly academic or is a first person life experience type essay okay? Any advice would be lovely x

Hey! I can really relate to overthinking the admissions essay, it took me ages to write it and I was never completely happy with it! It's so tough to include everything you want to say as it's not a very large word limit! I personally chose question 2 for the exact reason you're talking about - I really didn't know how to approach question 3!
However I'd personally go for a balance between the two, keep it quite academic and formal but also bring in a personal approach as that's what the question is asking - it's literally saying how has it been significant in your life so it's hard to go about it any other way.
Some advice I've had from the Liberal Arts and Sciences department is that you can use the admissions essay to "highlight the mix of subjects and interdisciplinary learning that you also have an interest in", so I guess try and include some different subjects/perspectives/ideas in your essay, especially the ones that you're interested in studying at Birmingham! Maybe you could start with your own opinions and how the text has influenced your life and then branch out into other critical views/themes/subjects that support or subvert your ideas! That's just what I would do anyway haha!
Hope that helps and good luck with your essay!
Hi everyone! I'm Sophie from Northern Ireland. I've got an offer for deferred entry for 2021.
My predicted grades are A*AA in Geography, RE (philosophy and ethics) and French
I applied for Oxford (rejected) and have offers for Durham, Edinburgh and Bristol as well, all in theology and philosophy but I'm really attracted to Birmingham due to the amazing course
I don't know about majors but am interested in theology and philosophy (obviously) and politics, history and psychology.
Anyone else going to the offer holders' day on Wednesday?
Original post by Kangarue2000
Hi everyone! I'm Sophie from Northern Ireland. I've got an offer for deferred entry for 2021.
My predicted grades are A*AA in Geography, RE (philosophy and ethics) and French
I applied for Oxford (rejected) and have offers for Durham, Edinburgh and Bristol as well, all in theology and philosophy but I'm really attracted to Birmingham due to the amazing course
I don't know about majors but am interested in theology and philosophy (obviously) and politics, history and psychology.
Anyone else going to the offer holders' day on Wednesday?


Hey, I'm going on Wednesday!
Original post by Amethyst12
Hey, I'm going on Wednesday!

Awesome! Might see you there then! Any idea what to expect? I'm kinda nervous about it
Hey, Im Ellie, am a bit late to this group but decided I wanted to try meet people on my course.

I'm not sure what I'm predicted tbh because my grades got heavily inflated but im aiming for A*AAB in psychology, biology, chemistry and maths.

Applied for Cambridge, UCL, Warwick and Queen Mary University London, and of course Birmingham which I accepted as my firm.

Am looking to major in biological sciences but throw in a variety of other science modules for areas I'm interested in.

:smile:
It's great to have gotten so many replies! Just wondering if it would be a good idea to set up a group chat? If so, I could set one up on Facebook? :smile:

Quick Reply