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Modern Languages at university... GCSE requirements?

I have my GCSEs in a few weeks and I want to go to uni to study modern languages, definitely spanish and maybe russian but I don't know yet. Does anyone know for universities like Russell Group if they look at your GCSEs a lot?
Like I'mg gonna do alright, a few A*s, lots of As and about 3Bs. The Bs will be in totally unrelated subjects like maths and science with I am awful at but I am definitely gonna get A* in French and Spanish and I'm doing them for A level next year.
Thanks!!
Original post by eg1472
I have my GCSEs in a few weeks and I want to go to uni to study modern languages, definitely spanish and maybe russian but I don't know yet. Does anyone know for universities like Russell Group if they look at your GCSEs a lot?
Like I'mg gonna do alright, a few A*s, lots of As and about 3Bs. The Bs will be in totally unrelated subjects like maths and science with I am awful at but I am definitely gonna get A* in French and Spanish and I'm doing them for A level next year.
Thanks!!


Maybe, they might look depending on your A levels but it's unlikely.

So, lets say you do get an A* in both GCSE French and Spanish, then you get an A in both A level French and Spanish, you'll be in a very good position to do pretty much any language you want. If you're picking up a new language from scratch (in your case, Russian), some universities may ask for an A Level in another language to show that you can study two languages at a time, but if you've already decided to do two languages at A level you're sorted - and most universities will be fine with one anyway.

In terms of your overall GCSE subjects and results, almost every university will not care. I'm going to Sheffield to study German with Dutch and my GCSEs were ABBBBBBCDE. The A was in Maths, the C was Physics, the D was Leisure & Tourism and the E was Food Tech.

Do you have any idea where you'd like to study?
Original post by pizzanomics
Maybe, they might look depending on your A levels but it's unlikely.

So, lets say you do get an A* in both GCSE French and Spanish, then you get an A in both A level French and Spanish, you'll be in a very good position to do pretty much any language you want. If you're picking up a new language from scratch (in your case, Russian), some universities may ask for an A Level in another language to show that you can study two languages at a time, but if you've already decided to do two languages at A level you're sorted - and most universities will be fine with one anyway.

In terms of your overall GCSE subjects and results, almost every university will not care. I'm going to Sheffield to study German with Dutch and my GCSEs were ABBBBBBCDE. The A was in Maths, the C was Physics, the D was Leisure & Tourism and the E was Food Tech.

Do you have any idea where you'd like to study?


Thanks for the advice. I would like to try for either Oxford or cambridge depending on my a levels but if not Durham, Edinburgh, UCL , Sheffield, Birmimgham, Manchester but I will obviously narrow it down. Do you know if there are any things that can help you get in relating to languages i.e work experience etc?
thank you!!!
Original post by eg1472
Thanks for the advice. I would like to try for either Oxford or cambridge depending on my a levels but if not Durham, Edinburgh, UCL , Sheffield, Birmimgham, Manchester but I will obviously narrow it down. Do you know if there are any things that can help you get in relating to languages i.e work experience etc?
thank you!!!


No problem!

If you put in the effort with learning your languages then I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to apply to Oxbridge. Depending on how things pan out for you I'd probably only use one choice on either Oxford or Cambridge, and see how their courses differ. In fact, language courses at different universities will differ quite a lot. For example, I know at Sheffield I will have to do the bare minimum when it comes to looking at literature (something which doesn't interest me at all), and from 2nd year onwards I don't have to do any literature at all AFAIK.

You might also want to look into how your year abroad is sorted out. Since I'm doing two languages, Sheffield make it compulsory to go to both countries. So I can't do 12 months in one (which I personally would have preferred although I don't care that much) and have to do 6 months in each. Other unis might have a similar set up, I don't know - you'll have to look nearer the time. I can recommend Sheffield as a great place though, it's an awesome city and what I've already seen of it from visit friends there at the moment, it's a top quality university too. If you want to ask me any specific questions about Sheffield once I'm there then you're more than welcome (if you remember haha).

Regarding 'work experience' or anything similar, I don't really know what to suggest. It's kind of tricky to find a part time job where you'd actually use your language, especially at your level (no offence - but people looking for people who can speak a language aren't going to be looking for 16 year olds with a GCSE in it, whether it's a C or an A*). What I could recommend though is - depending on how confident you feel - looking online for some easy freelance translation work. Maybe try offering a service on Fiverr. It's a long shot, but it might work out. I managed to score a position doing freelance translation for a music website startup after I saw a post on reddit saying they were looking for translators. I'm nowhere near fluent in German, but I'm certainly competent and decided to give it a go. I'm also part of an activist group to try and get a Finnish course submitted to Duolingo. It's clearly not paid and I don't really do anything per se.. but I've sent out emails to try and get people involved and I mentioned it in my personal statement as a way of showing that I'm interested in language learning, since I do learn Finnish in my spare time.

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