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Am I a potential candidate for Oxbridge?

So I’m quite unsure how this works as I’m new to this! My question revolves around the fact that my GCSE’s are not so good- I ended up getting 2 A’s (both in English lang and lit) 2 B’s, and 5 C’s after being predicted all A’s due to personal reasons meaning I couldn’t attend school much and therefore barely revised (despite getting all A*’s in my coursework for every subject) and I was really disappointed about this. I decided to take a level 3 BTEC in Business and Management, and am also taking an A level in English Lang&Lit and an A level in Psychology, so by the end of the 2 years I will have the equivalent of 5 A levels which I thought would be an advantage over others taking 3 and maybe make up for my GCSE’s, though I doubt they’d even accept a BTEC? I understand I would have to do exceedingly well at these, and I’m currently getting all distinctions and A’s/A*’s so far and am predicted very high from my teachers but I really don’t know if this is enough to get me into Oxbridge, as I don’t exactly know how it works.. I have always had a passion for achademia and my teachers would always comment on my ability to think outside of the box/think of things before peers did and was in the top classes for everything- especially English, so this would probably be the subject I would apply for; I have won competitions, got a short story published, and scored the best out of my whole year in my English GCSE.. but I’m worried my GCSE’s overall are just not enough? I wondered if anyone knew if I would be a potential candidate they would look for and if not, what else I would need to do? I have always been more drawn to Cambridge and have heard they are more lenient with GCSE’s- has anyone been in a similar situation to myself? Thank you in advance :smile:
Bump
Contact Oxford or your UCAS officer.
I did better at GCSE (3A* 7A 2B) and was predicted 3A at A Level, and my UCAS offer said point blank not to apply. Take it as you will.
Cambridge + ECF (extenuating circumstances form) = your best bet

Since your GCSEs were affected by things beyond your control, you can let Cambridge know by filling out their ECF when you apply. Plenty of people do, and plenty of them get offers :smile:

Oxford is a worse option for two reasons. 1) it's a worse uni (jk just triggering the Oxons) and 2) they care far more about GCSEs than Cambridge, so even though your performance was due to extenuating circumstances you'd potentially be hampering your chances by applying to Oxford over Cambridge.

My biggest question mark is over the BTEC - I don't know very much about the BTEC system tbh so won't advise much, but I know that they're generally regarded (rightly or wrongly) as less academically rigorous than A-Levels/Pre-U/IB. Also, where are you getting 5 A-Levels from? Does the BTEC count as 3? If so, and thus you're only doing two full-fat A-Levels, this would be a concern for me. My final question mark is over the English Lit/Lang combined A-Level: this is definitely regarded as less academic than the individual subjects separately (and nor is Psychology regarded as particularly challenging). What I'm saying is that you'd be a very unusual candidate if you were to be offered, but that shouldn't stop you from applying: after all, unusual candidates do get offers every year! Your focus should be on acquiring the maximum possible predictions (followed by the maximum possible grades) and doing as much super-curricular reading as possible, especially in the literature element of English, because that's what Oxbridge's courses concentrate on (rather than language) and I foresee admissions tutors fretting that you may not have the breadth/depth of reading required to study at Oxbridge.
Hey! Yes, the BTEC is equivalent to 3 a levels, and I know they’re more so regarded as highly as a levels now and universities, including Russell groups, that requires A*AA for example, will require D*DD (distinction) as sufficient to apply for entry. I was advised not even to take ONE A level alongside my course as this was said to be far too much work (ie most a level students start with 4 subjects and drop one) though I ended up taking two extra ones and am basically teaching myself those outside college with online tutors etc.
I took the joint lit/Lang course as I thought it would show strong understanding of both though now I realise it may not look as good but it’s too late to change! :/ I’m very worried about getting into a good university and don’t want to have ruined my chances!
Original post by LaurenKatie99
So I’m quite unsure how this works as I’m new to this! My question revolves around the fact that my GCSE’s are not so good- I ended up getting 2 A’s (both in English lang and lit) 2 B’s, and 5 C’s after being predicted all A’s due to personal reasons meaning I couldn’t attend school much and therefore barely revised (despite getting all A*’s in my coursework for every subject) and I was really disappointed about this. I decided to take a level 3 BTEC in Business and Management, and am also taking an A level in English Lang&Lit and an A level in Psychology, so by the end of the 2 years I will have the equivalent of 5 A levels which I thought would be an advantage over others taking 3 and maybe make up for my GCSE’s, though I doubt they’d even accept a BTEC? I understand I would have to do exceedingly well at these, and I’m currently getting all distinctions and A’s/A*’s so far and am predicted very high from my teachers but I really don’t know if this is enough to get me into Oxbridge, as I don’t exactly know how it works.. I have always had a passion for achademia and my teachers would always comment on my ability to think outside of the box/think of things before peers did and was in the top classes for everything- especially English, so this would probably be the subject I would apply for; I have won competitions, got a short story published, and scored the best out of my whole year in my English GCSE.. but I’m worried my GCSE’s overall are just not enough? I wondered if anyone knew if I would be a potential candidate they would look for and if not, what else I would need to do? I have always been more drawn to Cambridge and have heard they are more lenient with GCSE’s- has anyone been in a similar situation to myself? Thank you in advance :smile:


https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/entrance-requirements

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