gsce results

9s in history maths + science
8 in english lit 7 english lang
6 sociology 55 in psych & drama
4 in art

Should i retake the 5 in psych as its a written subject or should i leave it?

I wanna do law at a russell group uni

Reply 1

flowersinmyhair

Volunteer Team

20

Original post by mara.zz

9s in history maths + science
8 in english lit 7 english lang
6 sociology 55 in psych & drama
4 in art
Should i retake the 5 in psych as its a written subject or should i leave it?
I wanna do law at a russell group uni

It would probably be fine and I wouldn't worry about it

Reply 2

bibachu

Universities Forum Helper

14

Original post by mara.zz

9s in history maths + science
8 in english lit 7 english lang
6 sociology 55 in psych & drama
4 in art
Should i retake the 5 in psych as its a written subject or should i leave it?
I wanna do law at a russell group uni

Your GCSEs are fine. You shouldn't even be thinking of resitting a subject unless it's English or maths, and for Russell Group universities, your grades in these are fine. When studying law, unless you're planning on going to a university that requires the LNAT, your GCSEs aren't heavily weighted. Your A level grades and personal statement are far more important. If you are planning on sitting the LNAT, I believe that the weighting ratio for GCSEs : A levels : LNAT is 20% : 40% : 40%. This would mean that your LNAT is valued more significantly in comparison to your GCSEs. Because you already got a 7 in English language and an 8 in English literature, universities will be able to see that you are more than capable of demonstrating your writing abilities in an essay based subject like law - not to mention, your 9 in history. Your only issue would be your A level subjects. Ideally, you should be studying 1-2 essay based subjects if you want to study law, so if that is not the case, you may struggle when trying to demonstrate interest and skills developed through your A levels on your personal statement. Other than that, you shouldn't have any issues.

Reply 3

mara.zz

OP

11

Original post by bibachu

Your GCSEs are fine. You shouldn't even be thinking of resitting a subject unless it's English or maths, and for Russell Group universities, your grades in these are fine. When studying law, unless you're planning on going to a university that requires the LNAT, your GCSEs aren't heavily weighted. Your A level grades and personal statement are far more important. If you are planning on sitting the LNAT, I believe that the weighting ratio for GCSEs : A levels : LNAT is 20% : 40% : 40%. This would mean that your LNAT is valued more significantly in comparison to your GCSEs. Because you already got a 7 in English language and an 8 in English literature, universities will be able to see that you are more than capable of demonstrating your writing abilities in an essay based subject like law - not to mention, your 9 in history. Your only issue would be your A level subjects. Ideally, you should be studying 1-2 essay based subjects if you want to study law, so if that is not the case, you may struggle when trying to demonstrate interest and skills developed through your A levels on your personal statement. Other than that, you shouldn't have any issues.

Im doing english history politics for alevel , would thinking of Oxbridge be too ambitious?!

Reply 4

bibachu

Universities Forum Helper

14

Original post by mara.zz

Im doing english history politics for alevel , would thinking of Oxbridge be too ambitious?!

I don't think too ambitious exists if I'm honest. It's always good to try things, even if you don't feel like you'll succeed. I'm also doing politics at A level, but if I had gained better GCSEs, Oxbridge would 100% be something I'd aim for. I think that as long as you revise well for the LNAT and gain high predicted grades, you have a decent chance of making it to interview. Cambridge are definitely more lenient when it comes to GCSEs for law, whereas Oxford do tend to place more of an emphasis in general of having great GCSEs. Remember that there are applicants with straight 9s and 5 A*s predicted that can get rejected on the basis of their LNAT being very low (e.g. 15). Similarly, there are applicants with a range of GCSE scores and no 9s who get in with good A level grades and a high LNAT (e.g. A*A*A and 32 on the LNAT). You have more grades 7-9 than you do 4-6, so no, Oxbridge isn't too ambitious. You may want to apply for one safety choice (somewhere your basically guaranteed admission) to make up for filling one spot with Oxbridge, in case it doesn't work out. That way you can still be ambitious and have an almost guaranteed offer. This doesn't have to be a non-Russell Group, it could just be one with lower rankings in law or with a higher offer rate.

I've been using this article to make sure that I'm applying to unis with a range of offer rates:

https://www.savethestudent.org/freshers/which-universities-are-easiest-to-get-into.html

For reference, my most ambitious choice for law would be University of Leeds (47.3% offer rate + contextual student) and my safety option is University of York (78.7% offer rate + contextual student + guaranteed offer of BBB as part of an Access programme). I would suggest for your safety choice or choices, pick unis that have offer rates of around 70% and above. University of Liverpool is another good safety option for law.