The Student Room Group

Strange admission requirements

I'm not sure about universities in other countries, but where I live in Europe, you don't need any A levels or GCSE or whatever, you just need to have passed high school, even if that was with a bare pass 50%. Even for a Masters in Medicine you just need a Bachelor of Science. After Masters, you specialize as a doctor.

I see English students strive for their 'A-levels' just to get into a university and it surprises me. I graduated as a Bachelor and I never needed any 'A-levels', good grades, admission tests or anything of that kind.

Could someone provide some background information please?
Original post by 571122
I'm not sure about universities in other countries, but where I live in Europe, you don't need any A levels or GCSE or whatever, you just need to have passed high school, even if that was with a bare pass 50%. Even for a Masters in Medicine you just need a Bachelor of Science. After Masters, you specialize as a doctor.

I see English students strive for their 'A-levels' just to get into a university and it surprises me. I graduated as a Bachelor and I never needed any 'A-levels', good grades, admission tests or anything of that kind.

Could someone provide some background information please?

See http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2016_eag-2016-en#page168

Over 70% of UK students complete their undergraduate degree within the expected length of the course (the light blue on the chart) - this is a LOT higher that the rates in most other countries (the closest is Denmark with 50%). In less selective university systems the failure rates and drop out rates are much higher and the likelihood of students taking an extra year (or 2/3) to complete their course are also much higher.

There's a disadvantage to the UK system - it does require students to specialise early and to have a good idea what they want to study...and with growing participation rates there is growing pressure to attend university at 18 even if students aren't sure or ready. For students that are ready and are sure of their choices then the UK system saves time.
Reply 2
Original post by PQ
See http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2016_eag-2016-en#page168

Over 70% of UK students complete their undergraduate degree within the expected length of the course (the light blue on the chart) - this is a LOT higher that the rates in most other countries (the closest is Denmark with 50%). In less selective university systems the failure rates and drop out rates are much higher and the likelihood of students taking an extra year (or 2/3) to complete their course are also much higher.

There's a disadvantage to the UK system - it does require students to specialise early and to have a good idea what they want to study...and with growing participation rates there is growing pressure to attend university at 18 even if students aren't sure or ready. For students that are ready and are sure of their choices then the UK system saves time.

Thank you for providing research data.

As for myself, I started university at age 26 and it took me 6 years to get my 3-year Bachelor (first year was a complete failure, second year 60% failure, third year finally managed to pull it off). It's also known that in my country, only 8% of students graduate from university and in freshman year, an average of 70% drops out for it being too difficult.

It does seem like a good system to get students passing. Another problem in this country is that students can have bare passes on their degree and they end up graduating knowing or remembering almost nothing what they studied.

The disadvantage of that UK system, I would think, would be that some bright kids (I've been in that situation) might never graduate because of life's problems (family problems, motivational problems,..). In my case, it took me three years to find the right study method and to get the right motivation to get things done.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by 571122
The disadvantage of that UK system, I would think, would be that some bright kids (I've been in that situation) might never graduate because of life's problems (family problems, motivational problems,..). In my case, it took me three years to find the right study method and to get the right motivation to get things done.


It happens but is fairly uncommon.

Also the funding system here allows students to have an extra year in case they struggle or change their mind about their course. Beyond that you have to start funding things yourself unless you can demonstrate significant mitigating circumstances (eg serious illness).

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by PQ
See http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2016_eag-2016-en#page168

Over 70% of UK students complete their undergraduate degree within the expected length of the course (the light blue on the chart) - this is a LOT higher that the rates in most other countries (the closest is Denmark with 50%). In less selective university systems the failure rates and drop out rates are much higher and the likelihood of students taking an extra year (or 2/3) to complete their course are also much higher.

There's a disadvantage to the UK system - it does require students to specialise early and to have a good idea what they want to study...and with growing participation rates there is growing pressure to attend university at 18 even if students aren't sure or ready. For students that are ready and are sure of their choices then the UK system saves time.


Taught me soemthing new :smile: Never realised. I hought you just went, did a degree and finished. Never understood why so many dropped out or failed, unless you had a major illness or serious family drama.
Original post by 571122
Thank you for providing research data.

As for myself, I started university at age 26 and it took me 6 years to get my 3-year Bachelor (first year was a complete failure, second year 60% failure, third year finally managed to pull it off). It's also known that in my country, only 8% of students graduate from university and in freshman year, an average of 70% drops out for it being too difficult.

It does seem like a good system to get students passing. Another problem in this country is that students can have bare passes on their degree and they end up graduating knowing or remembering almost nothing what they studied.

The disadvantage of that UK system, I would think, would be that some bright kids (I've been in that situation) might never graduate because of life's problems (family problems, motivational problems,..). In my case, it took me three years to find the right study method and to get the right motivation to get things done.


We don't recieve an overall percentage for high school, just grades for the subjects we take exams in at 16 and 18. Very few students actually need to retake a year, most find that even if you don't put 100% into your studies or know how to work well at first you can still get reasonable passes and if you don't do well at your first attempt you usually get a second attempt at exams in the summer so you can still pass the year and advance into your next one. It's only those who face serious problems e.g. illness or injury or do virtually no work at all who need to retake a year.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by jelly1000
We don't recieve an overall percentage for high school, just grades for the subjects we take exams in at 16 and 18. Very few students actually need to retake a year, most find that even if you don't put 100% into your studies or know how to work well at first you can still get reasonable passes and if you don't do well at your first attempt you usually get a second attempt at exams in the summer so you can still pass the year and advance into your next one. It's only those who face serious problems e.g. illness or injury or do virtually no work at all who need to retake a year.

I'm not quite sure what the problem was in my case, since I failed high school from the first year to start with. I even barely passed elementary school with a D grade (the worst of the class) and even in third grade I was horrible at arithmetic, having to re-learn basic addition and subtraction an entire summer with an extra teacher in private..

I don't know why, but only in my late 20's I've actually started to become extremely smart and well-informed. I feel like my intelligence and my knowledge have quintupled. In elementary school I had not the faintest idea of what studying was.. I never studied, no one taught me the ropes.. I lived in a poor family.. no access to books, libraries, etc. On top of that, everyone always mocked me and the rich kids never wanted to talk to me because I was poor.

In high school, I was again the laughing stock because everyone seemed to be smarter than I was because they were all well-informed and again had access to books.. I couldn't even afford a library membership until late. Somehow, I was bullied by the entire school and consistently looked down upon by everyone, including teachers, kids would call me 'retard' etc.

After high school, after I had been through all that hell, I stepped into community college, where people finally had a sense of adulthood and didn't really care much about fashion, popularity or whatever and I was finally able to study and follow class without being laughed at. It was there, in my 20's, that I started getting very good grades, B's up to A's, because I studied the material very well and with all my patience. I seemed to have more confidence in myself.

Coming to university, I wasn't the laughing stock, but I contacted no one. Everyone else was on their little colony of fraternities and sororities and since I didn't go to any of those, I missed out of pretty much everything, just everything. These kids would know what would be said in classes and every class to me would be a complete surprise that I would have a hard time following. I never had heard of the concept of preparing for classes. In any case, I didn't know the ropes until mid-second year, when we started to do more group assignments and I finally figured out everyone was working and studying together and I was the only loner who had to study everything on his own and was missing out on huge amounts of valuable information students shared with each other; they basically cheated their way through university, while I worked my butt off for it.

There's my 'serious problems' story.
Original post by 571122
I'm not quite sure what the problem was in my case, since I failed high school from the first year to start with. I even barely passed elementary school with a D grade (the worst of the class) and even in third grade I was horrible at arithmetic, having to re-learn basic addition and subtraction an entire summer with an extra teacher in private..

I don't know why, but only in my late 20's I've actually started to become extremely smart and well-informed. I feel like my intelligence and my knowledge have quintupled. In elementary school I had not the faintest idea of what studying was.. I never studied, no one taught me the ropes.. I lived in a poor family.. no access to books, libraries, etc. On top of that, everyone always mocked me and the rich kids never wanted to talk to me because I was poor.

In high school, I was again the laughing stock because everyone seemed to be smarter than I was because they were all well-informed and again had access to books.. I couldn't even afford a library membership until late. Somehow, I was bullied by the entire school and consistently looked down upon by everyone, including teachers, kids would call me 'retard' etc.

After high school, after I had been through all that hell, I stepped into community college, where people finally had a sense of adulthood and didn't really care much about fashion, popularity or whatever and I was finally able to study and follow class without being laughed at. It was there, in my 20's, that I started getting very good grades, B's up to A's, because I studied the material very well and with all my patience. I seemed to have more confidence in myself.

Coming to university, I wasn't the laughing stock, but I contacted no one. Everyone else was on their little colony of fraternities and sororities and since I didn't go to any of those, I missed out of pretty much everything, just everything. These kids would know what would be said in classes and every class to me would be a complete surprise that I would have a hard time following. I never had heard of the concept of preparing for classes. In any case, I didn't know the ropes until mid-second year, when we started to do more group assignments and I finally figured out everyone was working and studying together and I was the only loner who had to study everything on his own and was missing out on huge amounts of valuable information students shared with each other; they basically cheated their way through university, while I worked my butt off for it.

There's my 'serious problems' story.


sorry to hear you've been through so much. In our case it was made clear in the first seminar of each module that we should prepare for each seminar, we were given a booklet with a reading list for each class and working together didn't lead to an advantage except for the occasional group presentation because we all had to produce individual unique essays.
Reply 8
Original post by jelly1000
sorry to hear you've been through so much. In our case it was made clear in the first seminar of each module that we should prepare for each seminar, we were given a booklet with a reading list for each class and working together didn't lead to an advantage except for the occasional group presentation because we all had to produce individual unique essays.

You go to a good university then. Mine is one of the best of the country, but because of that, everyone is supposed to be so smart they don't need anyone telling them what to do, as the motto goes: "adults are supposed to figure things out own their own".

I find it a good technique to ask students for unique essays because at my university, people spammed complete solutions and answers to everyone's questions on a secret online forum. The exams were practically a breeze for these people because they knew how many and what the questions would be like.

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