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Did I ruin my chances of getting into a top uni at GCSE

I want to apply to UCL, Kings, Edinburgh, Bristol and QMUL for History but unfortunately, I underperformed at GCSE and got 888766555, including a 6 in History. I do have quite significant extenuating circumstances, which I hope would soften the blow a little, but people always tell others not to worry so long as their poor grades aren't in a relevant subject, but sadly mine is in History. I've made massive progress this year; I'm predicted A*A*A and am top of my class in 2/3 of my subjects, but even so, I'm really worried about my application being rejected from all 5 unis due to 'heavy competition' and my GCSE grades not standing a chance.

Reply 1

BankaiGintoki

Original post by eilnabrmnat

Your overthinking - did you look at the entry requirements for your courses at those uni’s?
At UCL history https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/degrees/history-ba
‘GCSEs
English Language and Mathematics at grade C or 5.’

Read https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture-online/case-studies/2021/mar/how-important-are-your-gcses-when-applying-ucl#:~:text=All%20courses%20at%20UCL%20require,course%20you%27re%20interested%20in.

‘Your GCSE grades or equivalent qualifications will be taken into consideration with the rest of your application, i.e. your predicted/achieved grades for your A levels (or equivalent qualifications), your personal statement, and your reference. The admissions team may also look at what grades you have in which GCSE subjects: for example, if you’re applying for Physics at UCL and your GCSE French grade isn’t up to scratch, this won’t make as much of a difference as your GCSE Physics or Maths grade being a bit low.

GCSE or equivalent qualification results do also help the admissions team whittle down applications to really competitive courses. If, for example, they need to choose between two applications, where predicted grades, personal statement and references are equally good, then the application with the slightly better GCSEs is more likely to receive an offer.’

What did you mean by ;top uni’?
Why did you choose those universities for history?

(edited 7 months ago)