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Does predicted degree include credits that you will discard as well?

Hey, I am applying for Oxford this September for masters. The degree I’m applying for takes a holistic approach on students and has 3 criteria one of which is the academic criteria for a predicted high-2.1/first-class or an upward trajectory to a high-2.1/first-class.

As I previously never put so much efforts in getting a first up until this term, I’m not proud of my precious grades, which I will mention in just a bit. As I’m an undergraduate student in scotland, the degree here typically consists of 4 years with marks of 3rd and 4th affecting the final degree classification. However, even from those, Scottish institutes provide the opportunity to discard 3 modules with the worst marks for the final degree calculation.

I just finished my 3rd year, so the grades as per my transcripts are briefly outlined below:

2nd year:
55%
52%
68%
57%
61%
54%

3rd year:
Term A-
48%
65%
60%
Term B-
70%
77%
70%

As it can be seen, my previous grades of 2nd year and term A of 3rd year are not so good as I had not decided to try for oxford or even do a masters degree for that matter back then. Thus, I never worked as hard as I have started to now. In term B of 3rd year, I put my all in and managed to get straight first-class in all my modules, which I believe I can maintain from now and even enhance it further as I’ve understood how the UK education system works (international student).

I’ve got two questions:

1- Does this looks like an upward trajectory to a first-class/high 2.1? As the transcripts are published without distinguishing marks from term A and term B, will the upward trajectory appear distorted? Especially due to the one 48% I’ve received in term A.

2- How will the predicted grade be calculated in my situation? Will it be calculated including my 2nd year module marks and 3rd year marks altogether? If not, and only my 3rd year marks will be used to calculate it, will the modules I have decided to discard from my credits (Term A) would also have to be included when calculating the predicted degree?

Note: I’m being referenced by the principle of my university who is internationally well recognised and is a helpful person. Moreover, the degree I’m applying to is Public Policy. I was also a direct entry to 2nd year.

Thanks for your time
Original post by Anonymous
Hey, I am applying for Oxford this September for masters. The degree I’m applying for takes a holistic approach on students and has 3 criteria one of which is the academic criteria for a predicted high-2.1/first-class or an upward trajectory to a high-2.1/first-class.

As I previously never put so much efforts in getting a first up until this term, I’m not proud of my precious grades, which I will mention in just a bit. As I’m an undergraduate student in scotland, the degree here typically consists of 4 years with marks of 3rd and 4th affecting the final degree classification. However, even from those, Scottish institutes provide the opportunity to discard 3 modules with the worst marks for the final degree calculation.

I just finished my 3rd year, so the grades as per my transcripts are briefly outlined below:

2nd year:
55%
52%
68%
57%
61%
54%

3rd year:
Term A-
48%
65%
60%
Term B-
70%
77%
70%

As it can be seen, my previous grades of 2nd year and term A of 3rd year are not so good as I had not decided to try for oxford or even do a masters degree for that matter back then. Thus, I never worked as hard as I have started to now. In term B of 3rd year, I put my all in and managed to get straight first-class in all my modules, which I believe I can maintain from now and even enhance it further as I’ve understood how the UK education system works (international student).

I’ve got two questions:

1- Does this looks like an upward trajectory to a first-class/high 2.1? As the transcripts are published without distinguishing marks from term A and term B, will the upward trajectory appear distorted? Especially due to the one 48% I’ve received in term A.

2- How will the predicted grade be calculated in my situation? Will it be calculated including my 2nd year module marks and 3rd year marks altogether? If not, and only my 3rd year marks will be used to calculate it, will the modules I have decided to discard from my credits (Term A) would also have to be included when calculating the predicted degree?

Note: I’m being referenced by the principle of my university who is internationally well recognised and is a helpful person. Moreover, the degree I’m applying to is Public Policy. I was also a direct entry to 2nd year.

Thanks for your time


I would contact oxford and ask how they'd treat an application but it does overall show an upward trajectory in my opinion
Moved to Postgraduate Applications forum. :smile:

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