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Average GCSE results, excellent A Level results? Kings College!

For me, I did very well at GCSE. Yet, compared to other results, mine are pretty ****. Throughout the entirety of my high school life I had serious problems at home and at school. I wasn't particularly liked at school and people used to bully me and belittle me. My confidence and self-esteem was low, I had no belief in myself what so ever. At home my dad was violent and at my mums she had become an alcoholic due to her father (my grandad) dying of cancer in 2010. I remember the times when I had to look after her as she used to get very emotional and sometimes violent after she'd had a drink. I've had social workers in and out of my life constantly and was diagnosed with depression in year 9. I lived at my mums one week and then at my dads the other week, so every week I would be changing where I lived, I would lose books and I was very unorganised. However, in my last year things got better with both my parents, and I managed to live at my mums full time and revise in the last few weeks towards my exams. I achieved:
A* - Art
A - RE
B - History (A* & A in exam but F in coursework)
C - Maths
C - Science
C - PE
C - Geography
C - English Lit.
C - English Language
D- French
A Levels are now a fresh start for me, I'm with nicer people who actually like me as a person, my relationship with my parents is better than ever. My mum is in a better place than she was... I'm organised and ready to work at A Level. I'm aiming for all A*s as I really want to get into Kings College!
My top 5 Uni's are:
1) Kings
2) The Royal Holloway
3) Duhram
4) Cardiff
5) Manchester
Let's say I achieve A*s in all the subjects that I'm taking (History, Law, Politcs and English Lit.), is it likely that I will not get a place at Kings because of my GCSE results? I've heard a lot of Uni's look at GCSE results in detail. My CV is amazing so that is not an issue.

I really want to get into one of the 5 universities that I stated above. It would be a dream come true if I managed to do it, I really want to get away from home and start my own life, studying things that I love.

It would mean the world to me if anyone could give me any information on this topic, I just need to see what my options are.
Thank you, Amy x
(edited 8 years ago)
If you get 3A*'s you can go to pretty much any uni that isn't oxbridge and maybe LSE (they can be picky with GCSE's but you can still make it and have a good chance) assuming you do a good personal statement. By the way are you completely set on King's College? I don't know what course you plan to do but I am pretty sure that there are unis that are arguably "better", and you could get into them with 3A*'s. King's College is by no means bad whatsoever though, in fact it is a very good uni (specifically for law I think), I am just curious :smile:
Original post by Kizzlefrizzle
For me, I did very well at GCSE. Yet, compared to other results, mine are pretty ****. Throughout the entirety of my high school life I had serious problems at home and at school. I wasn't particularly liked at school and people used to bully me and belittle me. My confidence and self-esteem was low, I had no belief in myself what so ever. At home my dad was violent and at my mums she had become an alcoholic due to her father (my grandad) dying of cancer in 2010. I remember the times when I had to look after her as she used to get very emotional and sometimes violent after she'd had a drink. I've had social workers in and out of my life constantly and was diagnosed with depression in year 9. I lived at my mums one week and then at my dads the other week, so every week I would be changing where I lived, I would lose books and I was very unorganised. However, in my last year things got better with both my parents, and I managed to live at my mums full time and revise in the last few weeks towards my exams. I achieved:
A* - Art
A - RE
B - History (A* & A in exam but F in coursework)
C - Maths
C - Science
C - PE
C - Geography
C - English Lit.
C - English Language
D- French
A Levels are now a fresh start for me, I'm with nicer people who actually like me as a person, my relationship with my parents is better than ever. My mum is in a better place than she was... I'm organised and ready to work at A Level. I'm aiming for all A*s as I really want to get into Kings College!
My top 5 Uni's are:
1) Kings
2) The Royal Holloway
3) Duhram
4) Cardiff
5) Manchester
Let's say I achieve A*s in all the subjects that I'm taking (History, Law, Politcs and English Lit.), is it likely that I will not get a place at Kings because of my GCSE results? I've heard a lot of Uni's look at GCSE results in detail. My CV is amazing so that is not an issue.

I really want to get into one of the 5 universities that I stated above. It would be a dream come true if I managed to do it, I really want to get away from home and start my own life, studying things that I love.

It would mean the world to me if anyone could give me any information on this topic, I just need to see what my options are.
Thank you, Amy x


Hey, I hope you have a better time in A-levels. I can sympathise with you because the same happened to me and, while I set out to get all A*s, this was somewhat hampered for the very reasons you've mentioned (crappy home/school life). Fortunately I've got the grades I need, even if they're not all A*s. :smile:

You haven't mentioned which course you want to do! :lol:

Also, I think the above poster has got slightly wrong advice (sorry!). As it stands (and it may change because of A-level reforms), Oxford uses GCSEs in conjunction with entrance test scores/written samples to decide who to interview and they look at it contextually. So any extenuating circumstances and how you've done in relation to the rest of your school is taken into account. It's given equal weighting so a stellar entrance test performance can make up for below average GCSEs.

Cambridge on the other hand, while caring about GCSEs, care far more about your UMS average across the three best subjects (for arts/humanities) and three most relevant subjects (sciences) when deciding who to interview.

You'll be fine. :smile:

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