The Student Room Group

How competitive is english?

Hi people, for some reason i got all worried today that i would struggle to get into any uni for an english degree. I'm only in year 12, and i do have a passion for english so i am contemplating whether to take it.
I can't help but look at everybody's AAA offers, and i never thought it was as high as this for english! Although i hope i can get something like that, im scared!

I also wondered what some of the better universities for studying english are. Sorry for any annoyance!

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Depends where you apply, but yes it is very competitive. I got AAAA in my A levels, for example, and got rejected by 4 places. Its rare to find a decent uni with offers lower that AAB.

Good unis for English: Oxford, Cambridge, UEA, York, Warwick, Exeter (mwhahahahaha!), UCL, KCL, Reading, St Andews, Southampton, Lancaster. I'm sure there are more, but I forget.
If you're applying to Bristol there's apparently 28 applications for every place on the English course :eek:
Not that I wanna freak you out,Bristol's just really popular.It depends where you wanna go... :smile:
Yep, thats one I forgot!
Reply 4
gemma.....
Hi people, for some reason i got all worried today that i would struggle to get into any uni for an english degree. I'm only in year 12, and i do have a passion for english so i am contemplating whether to take it.
I can't help but look at everybody's AAA offers, and i never thought it was as high as this for english! Although i hope i can get something like that, im scared!

I also wondered what some of the better universities for studying english are. Sorry for any annoyance!


Most unis won't make AAA offers, only Oxbridge or Exeter sometimes. Places like Warwick, York, Bristol or Durham usually want AAB, but there are loads of great unis that ask for much less. I had a BBB offer from UEA for instance, and Southampton asked for ABC, and Kent for BBD!

Also I know people with three Cs or less that got into uni to study English - admittedly they didn't end up at the best unis though.

Yes english is very competitive - but that doesn't mean you won't get offers.
Bath Spa give out BB offers for English by the way :smile:
Reply 6
Oh thanks people, just i never considered english as so competitive before.. :smile: i guess it's with a lot of universities nowadays becoming competitive and especially as more people are prepared to work harder - the grades get pushed up.
Reply 7
is edinburgh any good for english, by the way?
Reply 8
Kent definately give fairly low offers and are quite well known for English. Edinburgh I believe is supposed to be good, and they give BBB - in prospectus
Reply 9
Yes it is competative, but at the end of the day, someone's got to get the places! My friend wasn't quite up to an A at AS level (she got a B) and all she did was apply for a joint degree (english and french) and she had a much better chance of getting in and only has to get a B in English for most places. So if you combine english with something u like, but is less popular u'll have a better chance of getting into the best unis with lower grades. Having said that, if there's no reason why u couldn't get the higher grades then just go for it. I did and got an offer from Bristol. Make sure you've got a really enthusiastic personal statement, talk about why you love english and if u like the theatre etc, to show ur commitment to the subject. Don't be put off applying! just go for what u really want. :party:
Reply 10
Evil Muffin
Its rare to find a decent uni with offers lower that AAB.


Not true. Sheffield and Soton both gave me ABB/ABC offers, UEA, Edinburgh and Lancaster all want BBB. Reading wants between ABB - BBB i think. And that's just off the top of my head.

But generally, yes, English is competative. I was really worried that I wouldn't get any offers but I have 4 already so try not to worry too much. Just make sure you apply to at least a couple of places that want lower grades
And Queen Mary gave me BBB last year and in 2003 they were top of theGuardian table. When it comes down to it, the course should be the most important.
Reply 12
Royal Holloway want ABB and they're great for english!
Durham and Bristol list their average offers as AAA, I believe - someone earlier said AAB. Not a lot of difference I know but it can make enough difference for you to miss an offer :/

Edinburgh are very good (their research is rated 5, I think?) and the course is nicely balanced. Personally I think the Bristol course is rather too static, and the Durham and Cambridge courses offer better choice.

Look really carefully at what is and isn't required when you're looking for a course :smile:
Reply 14
fasterpurple


Look really carefully at what is and isn't required when you're looking for a course :smile:

I'd say that's probably the best piece of advice you should consider when choosing a uni. Courses can vary so much, and if you don't like the course then don't apply there! I made sure I applied for courses that seemed quite modern and that had a lot of choice - like at Sheffield you can do 80 credits in other subjects in your first year, and at Cardiff you can choose all your English modules. Some courses are more traditional than others, and contain a lot of old literature. That's what put me off some places (like Nottingham and York) that most people apply to for English. Also, the Nottingham course seemed quite drama based. Don't be one of these people who applies somewhere just because it has a good reputation - really do your research.

If you want any specific advice on unis or courses just ask me, I must have memorised every single English course out there!
The reason I didn't apply to York was the lack of choice ^_^ I want to be able to take some modules from French and Ancient History (at Durham I can take Ancient Literary Criticism from the Ancient History course which is quite drool-worthy) so I don't want a course that's mostly requried.

I also hate studying novels - my strengths and preferences are in poetry and drama, as well as critical analysis - so I don't want to have to study it too much!
Reply 16
fasterpurple


I also hate studying novels - my strengths and preferences are in poetry and drama, as well as critical analysis - so I don't want to have to study it too much!

Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of poetry. Obviously I won't be able to get away from it entirely, but if you apply to places with lots of choice, you can basically design your degree to suit you
Reply 17
Durham has a good course, but i don't know why they ask for 3As..seems strange to me! I mean i can understand Oxbridge askin for that, but not really Durham. Bristol's standard offer is AAB. I thought York was one of the most interesting looking degrees, especially the writing and performance english degree. Durham's course looks interesting, but I couldn't stand living in Durham. I suppose uve just got to look at the bigger picture.
Reply 18
sophieD
Durham's a good course, but i don't know why they ask for 3As..seems strange to me! I mean i can understand Oxbridge askin for that, but not really Durham.

It's all due to the popularity of the course, not how good the uni is. Exeter ask for AAA too. It's not even that brilliant for English, but loads of people apply there so they can afford to ask for AAA
Reply 19
i see. but then again bristol gets over 2000 applicants for 65 places and they still ask for AAB. It's up to them I suppose.