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University/A Levels

Hi I’m really worried about my grades. I want to get into this one specific uni, I’m not happy with the other choices; something about it just makes me weird. I’m worried that I won’t get the grades. I’ve been doing so so bad on my monthly assessments… imagine the real exams

And what’s bothering me is that some people who got accepted to the high unis lied about their prediction grades when in reality they’re predicted an E… and I got rejected despite my prediction grades being high

How can I improve?
I only got one business paper left to potentially help increase grade my grade and my last subject has 2 papers left where most of the marks come from those
Firstly, you should be focusing on applying to a subject, not a uni. If you focus exclusively on one uni then you are just setting yourself up for disappointment, whether you get in or not - I assure you, the uni will be more incompetent and less supportive than you could possibly imagine, no matter which one it is.

Secondly, the person lying about their predicted grades seems a bit unlikely because unis rely on the academic referee to confirm predicted grades. If they put higher predicted grades and the referee did not put those, it seems unlikely they would be accepted. So they may well simply have been given higher predicted grades in the end.

Additionally, even if somehow they did do that, getting an offer is just the first step, then they need to actually achieve it. More than that, after achieving the offer they need to actually do consistently well in the degree to come out with a 2:1 or above to have a worthwhile qualification in the end - even if we suppose they do lie and cheat their way through predicted grades and A-levels (very unlikely) the odds of them managing it for 3+ years is basically zero.

Thirdly and finally, if you were rejected in spite of high predicted grades, that indicates there is some issue elsewhere with the application. Your personal statement was weaker, you weren't taking a required A-level subject, you were taking a non-desirable combination of A-level subjects, if the course assesses GCSEs then you may have failed to meet one or more GCSE requirements or if you have poorer GCSEs this may have been an issue (possible for LSE or Oxford, unlikely elsewhere), if the course had an admissions assessment you may have done worse on that than others, etc, etc.

So you need to identify what went wrong with your application and then focus on either a) taking up an offer elsewhere b) applying through extra/clearing or c) taking a gap year and reapplying, all using the knowledge of what went wrong to see where you can improve. Obviously you should also aim to do as well as you can in your current exams for all cases too.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by artful_lounger
Firstly, you should be focusing on applying to a subject, not a uni. If you focus exclusively on one uni then you are just setting yourself up for disappointment, whether you get in or not - I assure you, the uni will be more incompetent and less supportive than you could possibly imagine, no matter which one it is.

Secondly, the person lying about their predicted grades seems a bit unlikely because unis rely on the academic referee to confirm predicted grades. If they put higher predicted grades and the referee did not put those, it seems unlikely they would be accepted. So they may well simply have been given higher predicted grades in the end.

Additionally, even if somehow they did do that, getting an offer is just the first step, then they need to actually achieve it. More than that, after achieving the offer they need to actually do consistently well in the degree to come out with a 2:1 or above to have a worthwhile qualification in the end - even if we suppose they do lie and cheat their way through predicted grades and A-levels (very unlikely) the odds of them managing it for 3+ years is basically zero.

Thirdly and finally, if you were rejected in spite of high predicted grades, that indicates there is some issue elsewhere with the application. Your personal statement was weaker, you weren't taking a required A-level subject, you were taking a non-desirable combination of A-level subjects, if the course assesses GCSEs then you may have failed to meet one or more GCSE requirements or if you have poorer GCSEs this may have been an issue (possible for LSE or Oxford, unlikely elsewhere), if the course had an admissions assessment you may have done worse on that than others, etc, etc.

So you need to identify what went wrong with your application and then focus on either a) taking up an offer elsewhere b) applying through extra/clearing or c) taking a gap year and reapplying, all using the knowledge of what went wrong to see where you can improve. Obviously you should also aim to do as well as you can in your current exams for all cases too.


This was a hard slap in the face, high key thanks I really needed to be put back in reality about universities, I’ve just been hearing that people are practically paying £9k a year just to read off PowerPoint slides😭

I’ll focus on my studies for now and unis later!! I just don’t even know why it was bothering me

Thanks for the response btw
Original post by LBFstudent
I’ve just been hearing that people are practically paying £9k a year just to read off PowerPoint slides😭


I mean that's most uni lectures, because how else do you teach a room of 200 students? The more useful activities for learning are the seminars/tutorials etc. Of course in these, the learning is very much in the hands of the students - which many aren't willing or able to change their mindset to after being spoonfed every thing in school.

Ultimately the entire point of a university education is not that it's "school 2" but rather that you are given the opportunity to learn a great deal more about your subject(s), but it is still ultimately entirely on you to actually go out and read the books/papers/articles/etc on your subject, then turn up to seminars/tutorials/etc having done so and ready to discuss them from an academic, critical perspective.

So you should 100% manage your expectations about uni if you think it's going to be substantially more than "learning from slides" if you as a student don't make it more than that. It's not about turning up to lectures and being taught exactly whats on the exam - in fact you could well have entire lectures on interesting, but non-examinable content. It's up to you to teach yourself to the exam, and the lecturers to give you the diving board to jump off of, or draw your attention to interesting examples/case studies/etc.

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