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Realistic application opportunities to Universities

Hello dear reader!
I'm currently in year 13 and I'm soon going to apply to university for a politics and economics undergraduate degree. My Grades are not at their best so I want to check if I even have chances. I do Mathematics, Politics and English language and literature. Respectively my grades are AAB and I also I'm doing an EPQ on Politics Vs Corporations which I think fits my future degree well.
Then these are my GSCEs grades:
Mathematics - 7
Combined Science Trilogy - 7-7
English Language - 6
English Literature - 6
History - 6
Business - 5
Food technology - 5
Spanish - 4

So overall not impressive, however I want to try for the following courses:

my dream UCL- History Politics and Economics with the requirement of AAA
(I like it because of the great SSEES department and the links to eastern Europe)
Queen Mary London - Politics and Economics AAA
Exeter - Politics and economics AAA
KCL - History and Political Economy AAA
LSE - Politics and Economics AAA

Here are some I'm more confident with :

Southampton - Philosophy Politics and Economics - ABB
York - Politics and economics - ABB
Surrey - Politics and Economics - ABB

Here are some I don't dare to apply to because my grades aren't close:

Warwick - Economics, Politics and International studies - A*A*A
Durham - Economics and Politics - A*AA
Edinburgh - Economics and Politics - A*AA
Oxford - PPE - AAA (I know it's very competitive )

Thank you for reading this dear reader and I'd love to receive replies whether I can go for higher class universities.
Have a nice day! :smile:

Reply 1

ageshallnot

Original post

by alissara

Hello dear reader!
I'm currently in year 13 and I'm soon going to apply to university for a politics and economics undergraduate degree. My Grades are not at their best so I want to check if I even have chances. I do Mathematics, Politics and English language and literature. Respectively my grades are AAB and I also I'm doing an EPQ on Politics Vs Corporations which I think fits my future degree well.
Then these are my GSCEs grades:
Mathematics - 7
Combined Science Trilogy - 7-7
English Language - 6
English Literature - 6
History - 6
Business - 5
Food technology - 5
Spanish - 4
So overall not impressive, however I want to try for the following courses:
my dream UCL- History Politics and Economics with the requirement of AAA
(I like it because of the great SSEES department and the links to eastern Europe)
Queen Mary London - Politics and Economics AAA
Exeter - Politics and economics AAA
KCL - History and Political Economy AAA
LSE - Politics and Economics AAA
Here are some I'm more confident with :
Southampton - Philosophy Politics and Economics - ABB
York - Politics and economics - ABB
Surrey - Politics and Economics - ABB
Here are some I don't dare to apply to because my grades aren't close:
Warwick - Economics, Politics and International studies - A*A*A
Durham - Economics and Politics - A*AA
Edinburgh - Economics and Politics - A*AA
Oxford - PPE - AAA (I know it's very competitive )
Thank you for reading this dear reader and I'd love to receive replies whether I can go for higher class universities.
Have a nice day! :smile:

Consider applying in phases. That way you will likely get offers/rejections before the January deadline and can make your final choices accordingly.

Reply 2

user488949439

Original post

by alissara

Hello dear reader!
I'm currently in year 13 and I'm soon going to apply to university for a politics and economics undergraduate degree. My Grades are not at their best so I want to check if I even have chances. I do Mathematics, Politics and English language and literature. Respectively my grades are AAB and I also I'm doing an EPQ on Politics Vs Corporations which I think fits my future degree well.
Then these are my GSCEs grades:
Mathematics - 7
Combined Science Trilogy - 7-7
English Language - 6
English Literature - 6
History - 6
Business - 5
Food technology - 5
Spanish - 4
So overall not impressive, however I want to try for the following courses:
my dream UCL- History Politics and Economics with the requirement of AAA
(I like it because of the great SSEES department and the links to eastern Europe)
Queen Mary London - Politics and Economics AAA
Exeter - Politics and economics AAA
KCL - History and Political Economy AAA
LSE - Politics and Economics AAA
Here are some I'm more confident with :
Southampton - Philosophy Politics and Economics - ABB
York - Politics and economics - ABB
Surrey - Politics and Economics - ABB
Here are some I don't dare to apply to because my grades aren't close:
Warwick - Economics, Politics and International studies - A*A*A
Durham - Economics and Politics - A*AA
Edinburgh - Economics and Politics - A*AA
Oxford - PPE - AAA (I know it's very competitive )
Thank you for reading this dear reader and I'd love to receive replies whether I can go for higher class universities.
Have a nice day! :smile:

Your chances of getting into places like UCL or LSE are extremely slim. If I was in your position I would risk UCL as that is your dream but ignore LSE and probably Kings. You would probably have a chance at Queen Mary so worth applying there. It will be worth applying to places like Southampton, York or Surrey.

Reply 3

EEJ-H

Original post

by alissara

Hello dear reader!
I'm currently in year 13 and I'm soon going to apply to university for a politics and economics undergraduate degree. My Grades are not at their best so I want to check if I even have chances. I do Mathematics, Politics and English language and literature. Respectively my grades are AAB and I also I'm doing an EPQ on Politics Vs Corporations which I think fits my future degree well.
Then these are my GSCEs grades:
Mathematics - 7
Combined Science Trilogy - 7-7
English Language - 6
English Literature - 6
History - 6
Business - 5
Food technology - 5
Spanish - 4
So overall not impressive, however I want to try for the following courses:
my dream UCL- History Politics and Economics with the requirement of AAA
(I like it because of the great SSEES department and the links to eastern Europe)
Queen Mary London - Politics and Economics AAA
Exeter - Politics and economics AAA
KCL - History and Political Economy AAA
LSE - Politics and Economics AAA
Here are some I'm more confident with :
Southampton - Philosophy Politics and Economics - ABB
York - Politics and economics - ABB
Surrey - Politics and Economics - ABB
Here are some I don't dare to apply to because my grades aren't close:
Warwick - Economics, Politics and International studies - A*A*A
Durham - Economics and Politics - A*AA
Edinburgh - Economics and Politics - A*AA
Oxford - PPE - AAA (I know it's very competitive )
Thank you for reading this dear reader and I'd love to receive replies whether I can go for higher class universities.
Have a nice day! :smile:

Hope I can help!

It looks like you were in a similar position I was in when I was your age. I'm 22 and just graduated SOAS and have successful postgraduate applications made to UCL and KCL in public policy.

I say that to this, your future is so open and getting a first in your discipline takes you quite far in the whole university world. So you are definitely in a good position.

The most important thing is to assess what career you want and how to get there. At this point you just need to know if the kind of career you are looking for would require a degree. Also if you can find an apprenticeship do that, university life isn't all its presented to be and you are better off doing an apprenticeship if you can.

If not, then see what kind of qualifications you need and look for a degree which suits that course of action. Think if post graduate study (1 year extra) will be something beneficial for your caree4 aspirations. For me I wanted to work in the higher levels of public policy, some very senior roles may benefit from a postgraduate degree so I'm doing that. I am also considering doing education psychology as the money is very good quite early on and I already work in education.

So it's all about mapping out a path which makes the uni debt worth it. Also look for scholarships and bursaries!

So that's my general advice.

As for your applications I'm assuming this for next year? If so great you're ahead! So usually these are 5 options you can take. Considering you are also doing an EPQ I'd say apply to a university like LSE or UCL as a first option. Perhaps even ae your first two options. The next two maybe York or Surrey level, the ones you are confident with and then for number 5 take on a university you are willing to go but you are 💯 sure you will get accepted to.

Your grades are good but I think a very strong personal statement will help you reach for the higher universities.

•

Personal passion for the field

•

Work or volunteer experience

•

Readings and extra curricular essays

•

Writing competitions

•

NEA (COURSEWORK experience)

•

Career aspirations

For a successful application you need to convey why you are perfectly aligned and practicing in your degree *subject. You also could show how you will use this degree for a career or research future so that they know you are serious. Something which is quite compelling would be telling the university how you would contribute to university life and perhaps the department although this is quite hard. You could mention things like how you would like to eventually help other students who come up in the uni as u did, maybe some ambassador stuff and link it to whatever you have done before. Etc

Hope this helps! U got this!!

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