The Student Room Group

Oxbridge Course Advice

I'm in Year 11 and I've chosen to study Biology, English Literature and Fine Art (all subjects I passionately enjoy and excel at), but dream of going to Cambridge or Oxford. My combination of A Levels is odd and I need to know what courses they'd suit! I'm mostly interested in English or Biology, but I recognise that I probably need another scientific subject.

Reply 1

Have you looked at the courses they do at Oxford or Cambridge for example, different English or Biology courses they sometimes tell you what A levels you need, also if you have either English or biology a level and want study either one them subjects that should help. But sometime you just need three A level with a c or higher grade.
Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 2

Original post by charlotte2023!
Have you looked at the courses they do at Oxford or Cambridge for example, different English or Biology courses they sometimes tell you what A levels you need, also if you have either English or biology a level and want study either one them subjects that should help. But sometime you just need three A level with a c or higher grade.
Hope this helps :smile:

Oxford looks for A grades or IB equivalent.

Reply 3

Original post by toastpuppy
I'm in Year 11 and I've chosen to study Biology, English Literature and Fine Art (all subjects I passionately enjoy and excel at), but dream of going to Cambridge or Oxford. My combination of A Levels is odd and I need to know what courses they'd suit! I'm mostly interested in English or Biology, but I recognise that I probably need another scientific subject.

The problem you might have is that if you want to go down the English degree route, you could be disadvantaged by only having 1 essay subject, and if you decide to go down the Biology route, not having another science like chem or maths, or even a social science like psychology, could again disadvantage you.

Reply 4

Neither Oxford nor Cambridge require a second essay writing subject for English lit - the only requirement is English. That is made clear on the websites.

However you can’t apply for Biology at Oxford without a second science or maths A Level. For Cambridge you would be applying for Natural Sciences and would need 2 sciences + maths. Again, info all on the course websites.

So applying for the science route would not be possible, but English would be a possibility.

I’d expect you would find that other unis have similar entry requirements.

Reply 5

Original post by xyz1234567
Neither Oxford nor Cambridge require a second essay writing subject for English lit - the only requirement is English. That is made clear on the websites.
However you can’t apply for Biology at Oxford without a second science or maths A Level. For Cambridge you would be applying for Natural Sciences and would need 2 sciences + maths. Again, info all on the course websites.
So applying for the science route would not be possible, but English would be a possibility.
I’d expect you would find that other unis have similar entry requirements.

Sure, you can get in with just English, but wouldn’t doing more essay subjects be more beneficial to your skills development, if that is the route you are going to take?
(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 6

It may be, but it is not a requirement. OP didn’t ask “what A Levels should I chose for English?” but “What courses can I get into with the choices I have already made?” So saying “maybe you should choose different A Levels” doesn’t seem a particularly helpful answer to that question.

Also Fine Art requires an extended piece of writing.

Reply 7

Original post by xyz1234567
It may be, but it is not a requirement. OP didn’t ask “what A Levels should I chose for English?” but “What courses can I get into with the choices I have already made?” So saying “maybe you should choose different A Levels” doesn’t seem a particularly helpful answer to that question.
Also Fine Art requires an extended piece of writing.

Given that they haven’t even started their A-levels yet, also providing my thoughts about subject choice seems reasonable, but of course they are free to dismiss anything that I or anyone else says on the internet.

Reply 8

Original post by toastpuppy
I'm in Year 11 and I've chosen to study Biology, English Literature and Fine Art (all subjects I passionately enjoy and excel at), but dream of going to Cambridge or Oxford. My combination of A Levels is odd and I need to know what courses they'd suit! I'm mostly interested in English or Biology, but I recognise that I probably need another scientific subject.

Definitely need another science subject or Maths for Oxford Biology and Cambridge also wants2 Sciences plus Maths for Biology.Tbh if you are not wanting to go down the art route drop it Oxford English does not specify other subjects .Oxford Biology also like at least 8 8/9 at GCSE so bear that in mind.
(edited 1 year ago)

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