Rejected From Durham Physics - why?

Hi all, I got my response from my application to Durham university today to study Physics MPhys and I was rejected. I was told it was because: my 'achieved grades' were not strong enough.
My predicted A level grades are A*A*A*A* in Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths.
My GCSEs were Maths:9, Combined science:99, English lit:9, Business:9, Geography:8, German:8, RE:7, English lang:6.
Could this be because my GCSEs weren't strong enough? Or because I only did combined science? I was told by several people that my personal statement was strong, including a former university admissions officer. Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated. Thanks very much!

Reply 1

sadfailure

13

I think it somewhat depends on whether you were a contextual student as well - I think they are trying to increase the amount of state school/contextual offers. Your grades are amazing, so you should be really happy with them. I got similar gcses and nowhere near your predicted grades, but I am contextual and went on the summer school. It is unfortunate, but they must get so many applications for Physics given that they are constantly in the top 10. Best thing is to not let it define you or your self worth.

I also applied to Cambridge (got rejected), but I was on a mentoring scheme and no one in my group got in. They were all straight 9 students and straight a* predicted A-levels. Basically what I am trying to say is that there is a LOT of competition at the moment, so they will only pick the BEST of the best and even then there is a lot of luck involved.

Please don't worry about it, Durham don't know what they are missing out on!

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

oh dear, I am planning to take those subjects and I will probably have similar gcses, this is showing how strong the competition is!

Reply 3

Garbmaster

1

Original post by 23 JonForbes

Hi all, I got my response from my application to Durham university today to study Physics MPhys and I was rejected. I was told it was because: my 'achieved grades' were not strong enough.
My predicted A level grades are A*A*A*A* in Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths.
My GCSEs were Maths:9, Combined science:99, English lit:9, Business:9, Geography:8, German:8, RE:7, English lang:6.
Could this be because my GCSEs weren't strong enough? Or because I only did combined science? I was told by several people that my personal statement was strong, including a former university admissions officer. Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated. Thanks very much!

I've just been rejected from Physics MPhys today (3x A*) with slightly lower GCSEs for the same reason- I have a friend who applied with A*A*A predicted with slightly higher gcses than mewho got into the BSc about a month or so ago. I think The MPhys might have been particularly competitive this year.

Reply 4

chiechie

1

Original post by 23 JonForbes

Hi all, I got my response from my application to Durham university today to study Physics MPhys and I was rejected. I was told it was because: my 'achieved grades' were not strong enough.
My predicted A level grades are A*A*A*A* in Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths.
My GCSEs were Maths:9, Combined science:99, English lit:9, Business:9, Geography:8, German:8, RE:7, English lang:6.
Could this be because my GCSEs weren't strong enough? Or because I only did combined science? I was told by several people that my personal statement was strong, including a former university admissions officer. Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated. Thanks very much!

I got rejected for MPhys Physics too but with 3A* and A in further maths, physics, maths and computer science respectively. At GCSE 999998887 (9 in maths, physics, CS, history, chemistry, 8 in literature, language and german, 7 in art). My reason was also given as achieved grades :frown:

Reply 5

JonForbes 23

OP

2

Thanks for all the responses guys,
I just checked my UCAS and noticed a note on my durham application - it says the course is for international applicants only? I have checked the course code and it is the correct one, nothing on durham's website about this. Does anyone else see this?

Rejected From Durham Physics - why?

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