How competitive is History at UCL

How competitive is History at UCL. I have mitigating circumstances re my GCSEs and have at least AAA/A*AA predicted at A Level.
How much do they look at GCSEs if you satisfy the requirements?
Is it a competitive course and is it more or less competitive with a year abroad?
Thanks

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

According to UCAS Search (here, close to the bottom of the page) between 2019 and 2023, 3 in 4 students who applied to History at UCL were offered a place. So, not massively competitive from a numbers perspective. However, the most common grades for accepted students were A*A*A - so it's competitive in that sense.

For History with a Year Abroad (here), the most common grades were still A*A*A but the offer rate is lower at 3 in 5.

Their web site (here) says that require "English Language at grade B or 6 and Mathematics at grade C or 4." There are no university-wise GCSE requirements beyond this, and nor is there any indication that they pay much attention to GCSEs over above these specific requirements for English Language and Mathematics.

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

hi! i was a history undergraduate at UCL; I did the IB and applied with a predicted 42 which would be about the A-level equivalent to your predicted grades.

looking at the official academic manual, chapter 2.2.2, it says: "All UCL programmes require GCSE or equivalent passes in English Language and Mathematics at grade 5 / C or higher."

I don't know if you can alert them of your mitigating circumstances but you should be fine if you meet the maths and english requirements. what matters most is your predicted scores at a level because ucl doesn't usually issue offers to students with grades lower than B. i really don't think gcses matter honestly, i have had uni peers who didn't do very well at gcse but did well at a level

i don't think applying for history at ucl is particularly competitive, however the entry requirements are higher than some unis in london such as kings. you have very good predicted grades, and i think as long as you have a strong personal statement that demonstrates you've done reading beyond school then it should be okay. best of luck!