Do i have a chance of oxbridge with poor GCSES?

It's not jealously, believe you me.
But its unreal, in how many threads that we get on this website asking the same thing and the reply is always the same.

No. The reply is not always the same. Sometimes, particularly for medicine, the reply is "you have no real chance".

Reply 61

username941859

18

No offense. but I doubt you'll get predicted 40+ in the IB with those GCSEs,

I got 4 A*s 6 As and a B and have upped my game significantly since GCSE and only scrape 39/40.

Reply 62

nexttime

22

Original post by benwoodyear

That's nonsense, I got 7A*s and got in, despite having a '54% average'. It is much more likely he didn't do so well in either aptitude tests or interview.

Its not nonsense. You don't just apply to 'Oxford' do you? You apply for a subject too, so there can be differences.

Original post by Chief Wiggum

Do all subjects do that?

Medicine is really keen on GCSE %A*, I'm not sure other subjects care as much.

I think all subjects have the same process. Medicine standards are higher though (average interviewee an incredible 94%A* last year :eek:

), so effectively its more competitive and it seems that they 'care' more.

Original post by ThatGirlx

How are your GCSE's poor then?
I honestly thought you were being sarcastic coming out with so many A*s and saying they're poor :confused:

Oxford medicine specifically has incredibly high expectations.

For other courses, whilst they would be below average for those accepted, they would still be fine. As far as we know anyway - only medicine releases stats and the overall figure of 7.7A* average is from an external source and 2008 data

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 63

Gallifreyan95

13

Original post by timex

My GCSES were abysmal. 3As and the rest Bs.

Abysmal? In what way are they abysmal!
The national average is only 5 A* to C grades.

It depends more on your further choices and predicted grades.

I got 3 A*'s 3 and a half A's and 3 B's with 2 C's but because I had a pathetic AS Year, I didnt apply to Oxbridge.

Reply 64

username971590

13

What's the cut-off percentage of a*'s at Oxford? :smile:

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Reply 65

nexttime

22

Original post by ChloeBazingaa

What's the cut-off percentage of a*'s at Oxford? :smile:

There isn't one. There are too many factors to consider, not least subject (most of this thread has been referring to medicine).

We could spend 50 pages debating probabilities and recommended 'cut-offs' for given subjects and schools, but it wouldn't lead anywhere. The data is simply not there, and even if it were, it would still be subject to opinion.

Reply 66

amg_22

3

Original post by Debdener

How are they abysmal?
Jesus.

I'm pretty sure Oxbridge admission tutors would agree those grades are abysmal by their standards

Reply 67

username971590

13

Original post by nexttime

There isn't one. There are too many factors to consider, not least subject (most of this thread has been referring to medicine).

We could spend 50 pages debating probabilities and recommended 'cut-offs' for given subjects and schools, but it wouldn't lead anywhere. The data is simply not there, and even if it were, it would still be subject to opinion.

Okay thank you :smile:

Reply 68

002

10

Original post by timex

Hey guys, was just wondering if there was any point in attempting to apply for either oxford or cambridge. Am currently studying IB in year 12.My GCSES were abysmal. 3As and the rest Bs.If i managed to be predicted 40+ in the IB, do you think i would have any chance? Would just like to hear some other peoples opinion.Thanks a lot :biggrin:

x

You do not stand a chance at Oxford with such poor GCSEs, try Oxford Brooke's instead.

Reply 69

King Hotpie

15

Original post by 002

You do not stand a chance at Oxford with such poor GCSEs, try Oxford Brooke's instead.

have you really not got anything better to do with your life then go around lying to people by telling them they have no chance at Oxbridge?

Reply 70

cleveradam

9

My maths teacher got in to Oxford with 6A*/5A's. This was 3 years ago.

Reply 71

Midnight1811

3

Does anyone know what gcse I nd to achieve in maths, them & biology if I was to study geometry at Manchester uni/bradford uni . Because I looked at thru entry requirements and there confusions hell.

Reply 72

ninetydegrees

Original post by Chief Wiggum

In the context of an Oxbridge application: zero A*s, and only 3 As is pretty poor, in my opinion.

in the Cambridge website, it said that there are no minimum amount of A* grades required (with the exception of medicine and veterinary medicine), does this mean that they would still consider your application for other courses?

they also said that they would look at our grades in the context of the school we went to, is that true?

Reply 73

Chief Wiggum

20

Original post by ninetydegrees

in the Cambridge website, it said that there are no minimum amount of A* grades required (with the exception of medicine and veterinary medicine), does this mean that they would still consider your application for other courses?

they also said that they would look at our grades in the context of the school we went to, is that true?

There is no minimum amount of A* (even for med/vetmed), so any subject would consider your application as long as you meet the minimum GCSE requirements (check the website for what they are, I dunno).

Yeah, they do consider the quality of your school, but I'm not sure how much difference it makes.

EDIT: Sorry, I saw another recent post you made. Med/VetMed don't have A* requirements, but perhaps they are the only subject with "minimum GCSE requirements". I assumed all subjects had some bare minimum standard, but I think I might be wrong there. :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 74

ninetydegrees

Original post by Chief Wiggum

There is no minimum amount of A* (even for med/vetmed), so any subject would consider your application as long as you meet the minimum GCSE requirements (check the website for what they are, I dunno).

Yeah, they do consider the quality of your school, but I'm not sure how much difference it makes.

EDIT: Sorry, I saw another recent post you made. Med/VetMed don't have A* requirements, but perhaps they are the only subject with "minimum GCSE requirements". I assumed all subjects had some bare minimum standard, but I think I might be wrong there. :smile:

that's a relief to hear! but applicants with 0 A*s would still be at a disadvantage with straight As/A*s applicants anyway so what's the point of saying there are no minimum requirements? It doesn't make sense when the ones who get in are the ones with perfect grades all the time? :s-smilie:

Reply 75

Chief Wiggum

20

Original post by ninetydegrees

that's a relief to hear! but applicants with 0 A*s would still be at a disadvantage with straight As/A*s applicants anyway so what's the point of saying there are no minimum requirements? It doesn't make sense when the ones who get in are the ones with perfect grades all the time? :s-smilie:

Well I don't really know what you mean.

If there was a minimum requirement, people with below it couldn't get in at all.

Whereas with no min reqs, it gives people with lower GCSEs a chance to improve based on UMS etc. Obviously in general, higher grades = better chances.

Reply 76

Sab_

7

Do they genuinely care about gcse's that much? What if someone got average b's and c's with 3/4 a's at gcse but got straight a's*'s at a level ? Really want to go Oxford for law.

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Reply 77

Sab_

7

I think your grades were great, Oxford is too much

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Reply 78

Oslo

I researched into Oxford and Cambridge a lot over the past two years. One thing I kept on seeing was that supposedly Cambridge really care about AS UMS, whilst Oxford really seem to care about GCSE's (that's not saying AS's aren't as relevant!).

I seriously suggest you apply to Cambridge; I applied to Oxford with A*A*AAABBBBB and AAAA at AS, they didn't ask me for my AS UMS, I got rejected aswell (although so-so interviews didn't exactly help). My friend on the other hand was asked by Camb to supply his AS UMS, they even said "as your average UMS percentage in AS is over 96%, you are guarenteed to be put in the pool if we (his college of choice) cannot give you an offer (he got an offer anyway)".

*edit* What's also good with cambridge is that they make you fill out an "SAQ", which essentially lets them know a lot more about you before they conduct such an important interview with you. I wish I could've done the same at Oxford, a fair amount of the questions they threw at me were things that were much later in my course/from a different syllabus! Not exactly a test of aptitude, almost just 'lets hope your exam board teaches you this'

In short, for people with so-so GCSEs, Cambridge is your best shot, just make sure you work like mad from NOW.