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The official UCL am I good enough / GCSE freak out thread

For my GCSE's, I got:


Design Technology A
History A
English Literature A
Religious Education A
Spanish B
English B
Maths B
ASDAN B
Science (1st Part) B
Science (2nd Part) C
Art C

I am hoping to take English Literature and I am worried that my GCSE grades are not good enough, I was predicted an A* in English but I only completed half the paper, but got near enough full marks and so got a B over all, the two Cs I got were un expected and the A in history should have been an A*. But.. nothing I can do to change them now.

For AS I'm taking English Lit (GCSE A) History (GCSE A) Politics (No GCSE, But A in R.E... similar? :P) and Drama (Hopefully the English Lit will be useful, so again, A)

I got predicted BBBC at Half Term after Christmas, but I'm kind of ignoring the predictions as I am so determined to get As... First Politics paper went well and I will get the result March 7th, so can update you then.

If I get straight A AS's and straight A A Levels, do I have a chance? I am also applying for Head Girl, have D of E Bronze...

Is there anything I can do to help my chances? :/

Thanks in advance!

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My grades are in my sig, and I got a rejection from UCL like a day or two ago - not really that helpful, but its all I could do :P
University College London, University of London
University College London
London
If I have to be honest, you don't really have a chance. I have got into UCL with GCSE grades that are poorer than yours, but I applied for geology which is nowhere near as competitive as English at UCL. I know some people were getting rejected with predictions of A*A*A etc at A2. One girl in my school got rejected with AAAB at AS, in relatively strong subjects. In addition, after History, and English literature your combination of AS levels isn't that strong.

But, if you put the effort in you'll do fine (:
Reply 3
Original post by paulbridger
If I have to be honest, you don't really have a chance. I have got into UCL with GCSE grades that are poorer than yours, but I applied for geology which is nowhere near as competitive as English at UCL. I know some people were getting rejected with predictions of A*A*A etc at A2. One girl in my school got rejected with AAAB at AS, in relatively strong subjects. In addition, after History, and English literature your combination of AS levels isn't that strong.

But, if you put the effort in you'll do fine (:


Well thats not promising :/ If it helps, I go to a grammar school that gets a lot of people in to Oxford and Cambridge every year?
Original post by Maddog Jones
My grades are in my sig, and I got a rejection from UCL like a day or two ago - not really that helpful, but its all I could do :P


I dont mean to sound stupid- but what is the 'sig'
Reply 5
Original post by gracemay
Well thats not promising :/ If it helps, I go to a grammar school that gets a lot of people in to Oxford and Cambridge every year?


Not really.
Reply 6
Sure you have a chance if you get straight As, definitely a chance! Especially if you can convince some of your teachers to predict you A*s. Straight As puts you right at the very very top, you have a very decent/respectable chance with those grades. GCSE shouldn't matter too much. To be honest if I had straight A I would apply to Oxford/Cambridge too, even with lacklustre GCSE grades.
Original post by gracemay
Well thats not promising :/ If it helps, I go to a grammar school that gets a lot of people in to Oxford and Cambridge every year?


Universities really don't care about your school.. they care about the applicant.
Reply 8
Original post by paulbridger
Universities really don't care about your school.. they care about the applicant.


I know the the school itself doesnt make any impact, I just mean we have staff that are freaking ninjas and helping us write good applications and helping us find extra stuff to put on our application etc. I;m not naive enough to think 'Ooh I go to a grammar school, I'll be fine' :P
Reply 9
Original post by gracemay
Well thats not promising :/ If it helps, I go to a grammar school that gets a lot of people in to Oxford and Cambridge every year?


It won't help, it will actually secretly hinder you, but just a tiny bit. Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial have been told to let in more applicants from state, non-grammar schools. Somebody from a really rubbish London state school for example when looked at will have a very slight secret advantage (if they have the grades of course), over a student from a decent grammar school.
Reply 10
One guy at my college got rejected from UCL. He had AAAAA at AS and predicted A*A*A*A and A in one further AS.
I got 9 A*s and an A at GCSE and A*A*Aaa at A level (same as my predicted A level grades) and I was rejected for English. My interview was appallingly bad though, and my reference was very average. It depends on a lot of things, so don't give up hope. If you do well at A level, have a good personal statement, a good reference and you don't totally screw up in the interview you have a good chance :smile:
Reply 12
Original post by bozdag
One guy at my college got rejected from UCL. He had AAAAA at AS and predicted A*A*A*A and A in one further AS.


For what?

Must be his P.S
Original post by Prince_of_Arabia
I dont mean to sound stupid- but what is the 'sig'


My signature - there's my post, then a line, then stuff under that. Click on the 'spoilers' for my UCAS/grades information etc. It might only come up under my first post, not under this one.
English at UCL is pretty competitive so I think you may struggle with those GCSE grades. You'd have to compensate with high UMS at AS and impressive A2 predictions (probably A*AA+) to stand a chance.
Original post by gracemay
I know the the school itself doesnt make any impact, I just mean we have staff that are freaking ninjas and helping us write good applications and helping us find extra stuff to put on our application etc. I;m not naive enough to think 'Ooh I go to a grammar school, I'll be fine' :P


school matters to the extent that often universities look at how good your school is when looking at your GCSEs so going to a really good school and having poor GCSEs won't look good
(edited 12 years ago)
On one hand, your GCSEs are decent enough, but on the other, English is a very competitive course.

As I applied for sciences I don't know, however, the extent to which GCSEs are considered in the English application process. I'd find that out if I were in your position. My guess is that if things go to plan and you apply with at least A*AA predictions, you can put UCL down as a reasonable aspirational course.

EDIT: Why the neg? I thought this was a pretty balanced answer.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 17
Original post by gracemay
For my GCSE's, I got:


Design Technology A
History A
English Literature A
Religious Education A
Spanish B
English B
Maths B
ASDAN B
Science (1st Part) B
Science (2nd Part) C
Art C

I am hoping to take English Literature and I am worried that my GCSE grades are not good enough, I was predicted an A* in English but I only completed half the paper, but got near enough full marks and so got a B over all, the two Cs I got were un expected and the A in history should have been an A*. But.. nothing I can do to change them now.

For AS I'm taking English Lit (GCSE A) History (GCSE A) Politics (No GCSE, But A in R.E... similar? :P) and Drama (Hopefully the English Lit will be useful, so again, A)

I got predicted BBBC at Half Term after Christmas, but I'm kind of ignoring the predictions as I am so determined to get As... First Politics paper went well and I will get the result March 7th, so can update you then.

If I get straight A AS's and straight A A Levels, do I have a chance? I am also applying for Head Girl, have D of E Bronze...

Is there anything I can do to help my chances? :/

Thanks in advance!


Sorry no chance. If you're GCSEs were sub-par but your A level predicted grades were stellar then you would stand a good chance but your GCSES plus predicted grades are just too mediocre to compare with the other applicants who have all A*s and As in everything. I'm not trying to insult you by saying your grades are bad, they're not they're just bad compared to the average UCL applicant.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 18
The fact that you go to a grammar school will probably adversely affect your application with grades like that to be honest, if you went to a sub-standard state school perhaps they'd give you contextual factors. Sorry to break it to you, but for English, I really don't think you'd have a chance. :frown:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 19
Original post by tehforum
For what?

Must be his P.S


Economics and maths I think.

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