University of Edinburgh Applicants&#x27; chat thread

nessiehibs

Not really sure about predicted grades, think thats more of an england thing for getting into uni.

No, if you're applying to university and studying for courses during the year that you're applying, you'll have predicted grades. However, it's an irrelevance, since Edinburgh will give almost all Scottish applicants (dependent on their academic record, and the course applied for, of course) either nothing at all or an unconditional on the highers.

Congratulations on your offer. :-)

Reply 184

Komiyan

TheUnbeliever

No, if you're applying to university and studying for courses during the year that you're applying, you'll have predicted grades. However, it's an irrelevance, since Edinburgh will give almost all Scottish applicants (dependent on their academic record, and the course applied for, of course) either nothing at all or an unconditional on the highers.

Not nessesarily - a guy in my school got a conditional for Chem Eng after taking his highers in 5th year, though it was simply a C in Higher Physics. It seems to be very case-by-case.

Reply 185

Komiyan

Not nessesarily - a guy in my school got a conditional for Chem Eng after taking his highers in 5th year, though it was simply a C in Higher Physics. It seems to be very case-by-case.

Hence the 'dependent on academic record' bit - I meant, assuming they'd shown that they were capable. (In England, 5As at AS still won't get you an unconditional, but 5As at Higher in Scotland will get you an unconditional for most courses).

Reply 186

hey guys, i have a question, would be nice if someone could answer it for me!
i am an international student with grades from sweden. on the economics homepage they told me that AS-level or A-level maths was strongly preferred. I am going to do the Swedish equivalence to the AS-level, but I couldn't fill that in on my UCAS application, there was no field for that, are they going to assume that I am going to take AS-level maths or will they contact me about it something?

Reply 187

andcho

hey guys, i have a question, would be nice if someone could answer it for me!
i am an international student with grades from sweden. on the economics homepage they told me that AS-level or A-level maths was strongly preferred. I am going to do the Swedish equivalence to the AS-level, but I couldn't fill that in on my UCAS application, there was no field for that, are they going to assume that I am going to take AS-level maths or will they contact me about it something?

I seriously doubt they'll assume it, so I would email them as soon as possible. (Wasn't there a freelance 'other qualifications' section on Apply, if I recall?)

Reply 188

andcho

hey guys, i have a question, would be nice if someone could answer it for me!
i am an international student with grades from sweden. on the economics homepage they told me that AS-level or A-level maths was strongly preferred. I am going to do the Swedish equivalence to the AS-level, but I couldn't fill that in on my UCAS application, there was no field for that, are they going to assume that I am going to take AS-level maths or will they contact me about it something?

This sounds like a terrible mistake: i.e. not filling in all your academic qualifications.
Hence you should email all your unis.
i.e. don't assume they will just ask!

Reply 189

Peace Bunny

If I get an offer from Edinburgh I will be insanely happy

Reply 190

Paulwhy

This sounds like a terrible mistake: i.e. not filling in all your academic qualifications.
Hence you should email all your unis.
i.e. don't assume they will just ask!

aha ok, i did that yesterday actually to the student recruitment and admissions office, i explained my situation, but will they add that to my application and are they fast at replying? I am kind of in a state of panic :P
I have like mvg (which is like an A) in every subject except french and I feel that I have a good chance at the economics programme if they could just aknowledge that I will have AS-level maths...

Reply 191

andcho

aha ok, i did that yesterday actually to the student recruitment and admissions office, i explained my situation, but will they add that to my application and are they fast at replying? I am kind of in a state of panic :P
I have like mvg (which is like an A) in every subject except french and I feel that I have a good chance at the economics programme if they could just aknowledge that I will have AS-level maths...

Firstly have you given the same information to your 4 other university choices.

Secondly are you aware of Edinburgh's holistic selection criteria? If so hopefully you will understand that Edinburgh is hard to get into. So whilst you have a chance with Edinburgh, if you had the equivalent of Maths A-level rather than AS-level Maths, you would be in a much stronger position.

Reply 192

Paulwhy

Firstly have you given the same information to your 4 other university choices.

Secondly are you aware of Edinburgh's holistic selection criteria? If so hopefully you will understand that Edinburgh is hard to get into. So whilst you have a chance with Edinburgh, if you had the equivalent of Maths A-level rather than AS-level Maths, you would be in a much stronger position.

oh ok, do you think I have a good chance at edinburgh with an AS-level? Do they admit a lot of people with only AS or is it like cruicial that i do maths at A-level, because I think I can take that course in my last term...

Reply 193

curtis

2

andcho

oh ok, do you think I have a good chance at edinburgh with an AS-level? Do they admit a lot of people with only AS or is it like cruicial that i do maths at A-level, because I think I can take that course in my last term...

If your applying for anything maths related then I'd say you're going to need the full A-level. If say someone from England was applying for say straight maths then they'd expect a full A-level for sure. Having said that, as you're an international student they may look favourably on you if you take your swedish equivalent and also the AS level.

Email the admissions office for EVERY UK uni you've applied to, to avoid disappointment.

Good luck :smile:

Reply 194

curtis

If your applying for anything maths related then I'd say you're going to need the full A-level. If say someone from England was applying for say straight maths then they'd expect a full A-level for sure. Having said that, as you're an international student they may look favourably on you if you take your swedish equivalent and also the AS level.

Email the admissions office for EVERY UK uni you've applied to, to avoid disappointment.

Good luck :smile:

thaks, really nice of you! I am applying for economics...the home page said "AS-level or A-level maths is strongly preferred", I am really confused, is it ok with AS- do you think?
and do you think they will accept the fact that i made a mistake on my application?
or should I call ucas and ask them to "edit" my application because of my mistake?

Reply 195

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=658957

You should probably read all my sig threads, to understand the background.
Is it less than 14 days since you applied?
Where else did you apply to?

andcho

oh ok, do you think I have a good chance at edinburgh with an AS-level?

As I said above your chances would be a lot better with more maths. Hard to talk in absolute terms as neither do I do know how strong the rest of your application is nor do I know in detail what Edinburgh's selection criteria are.

Here is what I said about maths in the econ uni guide:

How do A-levels and IB compare for Maths?
I have read (all!) the 80 page expert group panel report:
http://www.ucas.com/website/documents/tariff/tariff_reports/ib.doc

They attempted to compare IB and A-level qualifications. Complicated situation they looked at Chemistry, Geography and Maths. With Maths they concluded that IB Higher level was about 10-20% larger than A-level. But to match A-level FM, need to do Standard Level Further Maths as well. But it is very very rare for students to take HL FM (only 47 students worldwide in May 2003). Finally SL Maths is 2/3 size A-level.

So my conclusion is that HL Maths students are in a better position that A-level Maths students, but in a significantly worse position than double Maths A-level students (Maths and FM).
So here are my orderings (best at top)
1)A-level Maths and Further Maths = HL Maths and SL FM
2)HL Maths
3)A-level Maths
4)SL Maths
5)AS-level Maths

So HL Maths candidates are not in as strong a position as double maths A-level candidates in getting offers from the top 10 econ unis.

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=658957
Econ at unis is basically applied maths. So it is not great for your chances that you are behind both A-level and IB students.

andcho

Do they admit a lot of people with only AS or is it like crucial that i do maths at A-level, because I think I can take that course in my last term...

In the UK doing an AS would take a year. And then doing A2 maths to upgrade it to a full A-level would take another year. So I don't understand how you can take do the equivalent of A2 in 1 term.

But doing more maths would help. So it is something you should look at. But if you do do an extra maths qualification it can only increase your UK uni chances if you tell UK unis about your extra qualification. Hence you would would need to email your 5 unis and UCAS a 2nd time.

andcho

thaks, really nice of you! I am applying for economics...the home page said "AS-level or A-level maths is strongly preferred", I am really confused, is it ok with AS- do you think?

Issue is that UK unis are competitive to get into. Unlike in many countries applicants have no right to go to uni if they match certain academic criteria
So the problem is that an ok application may not be enough. i.e. UK unis are hard to get into at the top level (and Edinburgh is at the top level). i.e. they want great applications not ok applications.

Another quote from the good econ uni guide:

ii) For Edinburgh in 07/08 there were 703 applications, 258 offers and 64 admissions. So the applicant per offer ratio is 3 which is only a quarter of the applicant per place ratio of 11:1
http://www.sra.ed.ac.uk/admissions/Statistics/2007-08_entry/Programme2007.htm

andcho

and do you think they will accept the fact that i made a mistake on my application?
or should I call ucas and ask them to "edit" my application because of my mistake?

You should contact both UCAS and your 5 unis.

Reply 196

Paulwhy

You should probably read all my sig threads, to understand the background.
Is it less than 14 days since you applied?
Where else did you apply to?

In the UK doing an AS would take a year. And then doing A2 maths to upgrade it to a full A-level would take another year. So I don't understand how you can take do the equivalent of A2 in 1 term.

I actually applied really early because i had oxford as one of my choices, but I didn't realize that mahts A-level was an equivalent to swedish mathematics E until yesterday. Oxford, strangely enough, accepted my application (where I had put down that I only had maths GCSE level, which is false) and interviewed me...

i also had ucl, st:andrews, and lse besides edinburgh. ucl and standrews already turned me down, could have been because of my maths-ucas-mistake, maybe not.

In sweden the leap from mathematics D to mathematics E is half a year fortunately.

should i call the unis? i already emailed oxford, edinburgh and lse two days ago. i decided that i am going to call ucas tomorrow morning and find out what's going on. i am just worried that the unis won't respond to my mail in time! i am on panic-mode right now. cause i have A's in every subject except french, so i think i have a shot at edinburgh with a nice maths grade...am i right or wrong?

btw, really appreciate your help!

Reply 197

andcho

I actually applied really early because i had oxford as one of my choices, but I didn't realize that mahts A-level was an equivalent to swedish mathematics E until yesterday. Oxford, strangely enough, accepted my application (where I had put down that I only had maths GCSE level, which is false) and interviewed me...

But surely what you should have done is listed all your swedish qualifications.
Instead it sounds like you have tried to convert Swedish qualifications into English ones and failed?

andcho

i also had ucl, st:andrews, and lse besides edinburgh. ucl and standrews already turned me down, could have been because of my maths-ucas-mistake, maybe not.

In sweden the leap from mathematics D to mathematics E is half a year fortunately.

Contact the unis that rejected you:: maybe they will re-consider.
You have applied to 5 top places. so getting offers from any of them hard.
(and Edinburgh is extra hard to get offers from.
i.e. they make low offers and hence attract a lot of strong applications.)
Are you applying for uni in Sweden as well?

andcho

should i call the unis? i already emailed oxford, edinburgh and lse two days ago. i decided that i am going to call ucas tomorrow morning and find out what's going on. i am just worried that the unis won't respond to my mail in time! i am on panic-mode right now.

email them. i.e. you can do that today.
Then if they don't reply in a few days chase it up.

andcho

cause i have A's in every subject except french, so i think i have a shot at edinburgh with a nice maths grade...am i right or wrong?

btw, really appreciate your help!

As a said before, I think you have a chance, just not a great chance.

Reply 198

Paulwhy

But surely what you should have done is listed all your swedish qualifications.
Instead it sounds like you have tried to convert Swedish qualifications into English ones and failed?

Contact the unis that rejected you:: maybe they will re-consider.
You have applied to 5 top places. so getting offers from any of them hard.
(and Edinburgh is extra hard to get offers from.
i.e. they make low offers and hence attract a lot of strong applications.)
Are you applying for uni in Sweden as well?

email them. i.e. you can do that today.
Then if they don't reply in a few days chase it up.

As a said before, I think you have a chance, just not a great chance.

no i didnt try to convert them i was just trying to translate them for my own sake so i could calculate my chances of getting an offer.
of course i should have put them in, i made a terrible mistake.

i am not going to apply for any swedish unis, if i fail, i will reapply next year and try to avoid mistakes, but i am hoping that at least one school will accept me, oxford seemed to like me a lot on the interview and i think i did very well actually, but i know it's extremely hard to get an offer there..

is it just hard for the social science section, cause i saw the offers that had been made to the other applicants and they had conditional offers at BBB, surely my application (with at least an maths As-level or an A-level) is stronger that a BBB or am i totally incorrect?

Reply 199