No as long as your academic profile is strong. The amount of people’s GCSEs are varied so they consider that since they also take account of what school you learn your GCSEs.

Reply 5

Charlie101998

18

Original post by izrevision

Im doing 9 so will I have a lower chance than you then?

Honestly I don't know. I wouldn't say I ever had a chance, quite thick at school lol, but whilst Oxbridge looks at these GCSE's, a far higher weight will be placed on your A-levels to demonstrate high specific knowledge, and a personal statement to prove you had individuality and a drive.

Reply 6

Charlie101998

18

On a separate note, I am truly obsessed with Tom Holland. If I could date anyone, I would choose him second.

Reply 7

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by izrevision

Are you considered more competitive if you have more than 9 GCSEs ?

Depends for what course and uni in particular, but generally not really for UK unis. Cambridge for example doesn't really care about your GCSEs at all and focus more on your academic reference, predicted grades, and most importantly performance in pre-interview assessments.

Oxford does consider GCSEs when shortlisting for all subjects, but the emphasis is on proportion of A* grades (8/9) as well as number, and they will view them in the context of your school (e.g. if you take 9 GCSEs and everyone at your school normally does 8, this is fine. If everyone normally does 12 at your school and you do 9, this may be viewed less favourably). However for most courses any pre-interview assessment (e.g. MAT/PAT) will outweigh that, and they still aren't critical except for medicine and maybe some of the very oversubscribed subjects (e.g. E&M).

Ivy league colleges assess applications very differently to UK universities and there isn't really a point of comparison. They will expect you to have taken and done very well in any academic subjects, but much more importantly they will look for long term (usually from GCSE onwards), non-trivial commitment (i.e. leadership positions, developing the EC in some way, leaving some kind of impact really) in extracurricular activities at a high level (e.g. county level sporting, national level competitions otherwise, etc). You could have 20 A*s at GCSE but if you have no ECs and aren't a legacy applicant you probably won't be that competitive for e.g. Harvard/Princeton/Yale and quite possibly the others too.

Reply 8

Mathswhiz

OP

8

Original post by artful_lounger

Depends for what course and uni in particular, but generally not really for UK unis. Cambridge for example doesn't really care about your GCSEs at all and focus more on your academic reference, predicted grades, and most importantly performance in pre-interview assessments.

Oxford does consider GCSEs when shortlisting for all subjects, but the emphasis is on proportion of A* grades (8/9) as well as number, and they will view them in the context of your school (e.g. if you take 9 GCSEs and everyone at your school normally does 8, this is fine. If everyone normally does 12 at your school and you do 9, this may be viewed less favourably). However for most courses any pre-interview assessment (e.g. MAT/PAT) will outweigh that, and they still aren't critical except for medicine and maybe some of the very oversubscribed subjects (e.g. E&M).

Ivy league colleges assess applications very differently to UK universities and there isn't really a point of comparison. They will expect you to have taken and done very well in any academic subjects, but much more importantly they will look for long term (usually from GCSE onwards), non-trivial commitment (i.e. leadership positions, developing the EC in some way, leaving some kind of impact really) in extracurricular activities at a high level (e.g. county level sporting, national level competitions otherwise, etc). You could have 20 A*s at GCSE but if you have no ECs and aren't a legacy applicant you probably won't be that competitive for e.g. Harvard/Princeton/Yale and quite possibly the others too.

Ok, if I did 13 GCSEs at 8/9 with a lot of extra curriculars and someone else also does a lot of extra curriculars but with 9 GCSEs at 8/9 would they have a disadvantage? For over subscribed UK university subjects and ivy leagues.

Reply 9

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by izrevision

Ok, if I did 13 GCSEs at 8/9 with a lot of extra curriculars and someone else also does a lot of extra curriculars but with 9 GCSEs at 8/9 would they have a disadvantage? For over subscribed UK university subjects and ivy leagues.

The Ivy league colleges wouldn't care whether you did 9 or 13 GCSEs if you got top grades in them, in your A-levels, got a very good score on the SAT or ACT (and if necessary, SAT subject tests) and had appropriat ECs.

In the UK it still depends on the particular university. Cambridge maths wouldn't much about your GCSEs and wouldn't care at all about any ECs that weren't specifically mathematical (e.g. mathematical olympiads, SMC, etc). On average Oxford medicine applicants would skew towards the higher number and proportion of A*s at GCSE, but they also will consider your BMAT score. Also universities in the UK consider grades in context, especially Oxbridge. Someone who did 13 GCSEs all at 8/9 at Eton wouldn't be considered "better" than someone who did "only" 9 GCSEs all at 8/9 at a state comprehensive where the average GCSE student gets 3 GCSEs at grade C.

You are trying to construct some hypothetical scenario to get some kind of absolute answer, but there is no absolute answer - there will never be a situation where two students are literally identical on paper except their number of GCSEs, The ECs they do will be different, they will normally be going to different schools, doing different A-level subjects, may be applying to different subjects in the UK, etc, etc. Ultimately this kind of hair splitting is somewhat besides the point and unproductive compared to just getting on with whatever studies you're doing and doing the best you can in those.

Reply 10

Mathswhiz

OP

8

As most Oxford medicine applicants have A*s, amount of GCSEs won't be taken into consideration at all ? I don't think this is the case because surely people wouldn't take more than 9 as this would be pointless.

Reply 11

Charlie101998

18

Original post by izrevision

As most Oxford medicine applicants have A*s, amount of GCSEs won't be taken into consideration at all ? I don't think this is the case because surely people wouldn't take more than 9 as this would be pointless.

At the risk of sounding rude, why ask for peoples opinions if you plan to disregard them?

OP

anyone ?

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by izrevision

As most Oxford medicine applicants have A*s, amount of GCSEs won't be taken into consideration at all ? I don't think this is the case because surely people wouldn't take more than 9 as this would be pointless.

For medicine at Oxford the way they score applicants for invitation to interview is very plainly laid out on their admissions pages: https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/medicine/pre-clinical/statistics

Not all courses at Oxford use this format. Other universities in the UK won't use this format, including other medical schools. US universities won't use this format.

Additionally, no matter what, for Oxford, these measures are mainly to determine who gets invited to interview - and being invited to interview is only the first step. Good GCSEs will probably not ameliorate a poor interview, and the interview itself is more a way for them to assess how you respond to the particular form of teaching at Oxbridge - the tutorial/supervision - than anything else.

As far as Cambridge are concerned, all of the ATs which post every year on TSR have stated multiple times they have never rejected an applicant solely on the basis of GCSE results, and the university has no specific GCSE requirements anymore. GCSEs, where they are considered, are considered holistically within the application - this is stated in numerous places on their admissions pages.

Again, why are you trying to construct some scenario where you can meet some hypothetical (and in reality, imaginary) minimum baseline to be admitted to these universities? That isn't how admissions at any university works, and certainly not at Oxbridge in the UK given the huge amount of public scrutiny they endure. There is no magic formula where you do a certain number of GCSEs and get a certain number of A*s and you are guaranteed admission - anywhere.

Stop trying to pursue that logic, because it's faulty and honestly a waste of your time. You would be best served by pursuing your academics wholeheartedly and broadening your horizons beyond the curriculum through wider reading, and trying to apply the knowledge you learn in your academics to unfamiliar problems and not merely learn "to the exam". That will do far more to make you a competitive applicant to Oxbridge (or elsewhere) than trying to game some system which simply does not exist.

Reply 14

nexttime

22

Oxford medicine is the only example I am aware of where they consider number of GCSEs above 8.

It might slightly limit your A-level options I suppose, but only slightly.

Reply 15

1st superstar

22

Original post by izrevision

As most Oxford medicine applicants have A*s, amount of GCSEs won't be taken into consideration at all ? I don't think this is the case because surely people wouldn't take more than 9 as this would be pointless.

yes but you probably did the new GCSEs (like I did) and they did the old so is unfair to compare as you clearly must have worked higher to get that grade 9 compared to someone who got and A* on the much easier old GCSE spec. Your grade 9 (in my opinion) in worth more than their old A*...

Original post by izrevision

As most Oxford medicine applicants have A*s, amount of GCSEs won't be taken into consideration at all ? I don't think this is the case because surely people wouldn't take more than 9 as this would be pointless.

people don't generally choose how many gcses they sit

9+ GCSEs to get into Oxbridge/Ivy Leagues?

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