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Oxbridge GCSEs

I went to a non-selective state school and got 9887777665 how cooked am I if I want to apply for history at oxbridge. (For reference I only got a 7 in history but an 8 in literature).

I keep seeing people say you need mostly 9/8s and it's stressing me out 😭😭
Original post
by Yasgorulav
I went to a non-selective state school and got 9887777665 how cooked am I if I want to apply for history at oxbridge. (For reference I only got a 7 in history but an 8 in literature).
I keep seeing people say you need mostly 9/8s and it's stressing me out 😭😭

I believe Oxford does care about GCSE grades (majority having to be 9s) whilst Cambridge not as much.

Reply 2

Its only one part of your application, so you still have a shot, but they might put you at a slight disadvantage. They are not so bad that they would completely inhibit your application though, but having a very strong application in other areas (i.e. ps, reference, any admission tests, pred. grades, etc.) will be necessary.

One point that is worth making is that since you go to a non-selective state school, they will me more lenient about your GCSEs since they look at GCSEs contextually, so that will be to your advantage.

TLDR: Not the end of the world, just work hard and make sure other areas of your application are up to the Oxbridge standard.

Reply 3

Original post
by Yasgorulav
I went to a non-selective state school and got 9887777665 how cooked am I if I want to apply for history at oxbridge. (For reference I only got a 7 in history but an 8 in literature).
I keep seeing people say you need mostly 9/8s and it's stressing me out 😭😭

going to a non-selective school doesn't really put you at disadvantage for anything, if someone went to like a grammar school yes they might have had better teachers and better teaching and homework and resources but that doesn't limit you form doing well, i bet i smashed lots of grammar school and private school kids and I went to a non-selective state school I got 7 9's , 1 8, 2 7's and 2 people in my year got straight 9's plus also most the universities 95% of the time don't care about your gcse as along as you passed your maths and English strongly, gcse's are just stepping stones for a alevels so stop stressing you got this!

Reply 4

Original post
by KWad
Its only one part of your application, so you still have a shot, but they might put you at a slight disadvantage. They are not so bad that they would completely inhibit your application though, but having a very strong application in other areas (i.e. ps, reference, any admission tests, pred. grades, etc.) will be necessary.
One point that is worth making is that since you go to a non-selective state school, they will me more lenient about your GCSEs since they look at GCSEs contextually, so that will be to your advantage.
TLDR: Not the end of the world, just work hard and make sure other areas of your application are up to the Oxbridge standard.

Sorry I have just started year 12 and I wanted to ask if my chances for Cambridge or other Russell groups would be destroyed due to me getting all 6s in GCSE. I heard that based on your AS scores they might give you a reduced offer if you are a forced migrant and have attended a school with a below average progress 8 score. I do fit that criteria as I only came in 2018 and didn’t know how to speak English fluently for about the start of my secondary school. Now I plan to take my A levels more seriously and wanted to know whether after I met the requirement For medicine in AS that there is a chance I could get a reduced offer

Reply 5

Original post
by Ftuhgfd
Sorry I have just started year 12 and I wanted to ask if my chances for Cambridge or other Russell groups would be destroyed due to me getting all 6s in GCSE. I heard that based on your AS scores they might give you a reduced offer if you are a forced migrant and have attended a school with a below average progress 8 score. I do fit that criteria as I only came in 2018 and didn’t know how to speak English fluently for about the start of my secondary school. Now I plan to take my A levels more seriously and wanted to know whether after I met the requirement For medicine in AS that there is a chance I could get a reduced offer

bro they don't care about your GCSE,
i also came into England in 2018, and only started speaking fluently in English at start of secondary school and i go to a government school, but i did get 5 9's in GCSE but that doesn't matter, and i want to study medicine. plus what is a (forced migrant)

Reply 6

plus how do you check your school's average progress score?

Reply 7

Original post
by aditya nair12344
plus how do you check your school's average progress score?

It’s on government website go on comparedschoolgov and then compare it to average

Reply 8

Original post
by aditya nair12344
bro they don't care about your GCSE,
i also came into England in 2018, and only started speaking fluently in English at start of secondary school and i go to a government school, but i did get 5 9's in GCSE but that doesn't matter, and i want to study medicine. plus what is a (forced migrant)

They do care about gcse as the average applicant has 7-9 GCSE’s forced migrant means that your parents moved due to circumstances such as war my parents moved to Egypt then here bc of that
(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 9

Original post
by aditya nair12344
bro they don't care about your GCSE,
i also came into England in 2018, and only started speaking fluently in English at start of secondary school and i go to a government school, but i did get 5 9's in GCSE but that doesn't matter, and i want to study medicine. plus what is a (forced migrant)

Also Oxford heavily cares about gcse its only Cambridge that really considers you arguably more than Oxford as they look at applications contextually. This means that they will look at the context of your education such as the school you went to the area you lived which may have lead you to be materially deprived and UCAT personal statement and all stats included up until you applied basically

Reply 10

Original post
by Ftuhgfd
They do care about gcse as the average applicant has 7-9 GCSE’s forced migrant means that your parents loved due to circumstances such as war my parents moved to Egypt then here bc of that

ah,ok thats seems tough

Reply 11

Original post
by aditya nair12344
ah,ok thats seems tough

You will probably still have a good chance 🙂 I’m just hoping that when I do good in my a levels and have filled up a lot of extracurricular and did great at UCAT that my GCSES won’t hold me back

Reply 12

Original post
by Yasgorulav
I went to a non-selective state school and got 9887777665 how cooked am I if I want to apply for history at oxbridge. (For reference I only got a 7 in history but an 8 in literature).
I keep seeing people say you need mostly 9/8s and it's stressing me out 😭😭

you're cooked. if you want to apply to top unis, you need all 9's preferably. anything below, it will put you at a significant disadvantage, so be aware, that it will be difficult to secure a place.

Reply 13

Original post
by rextee29381
you're cooked. if you want to apply to top unis, you need all 9's preferably. anything below, it will put you at a significant disadvantage, so be aware, that it will be difficult to secure a place.
No...

1.

Op is applying for a relatively uncompetitive course at Oxford (key word - relatively)

2.

Op is from a public, non-selective school

3.

Most Oxford students do not have all 9s

4.

~1200 students got all 9s at GCSE. Oxbridge admits 6500 cumulatively PA. Do the math

Reply 14

Original post
by rextee29381
you're cooked. if you want to apply to top unis, you need all 9's preferably. anything below, it will put you at a significant disadvantage, so be aware, that it will be difficult to secure a place.
No actually if it’s Oxford he might be at a disadvantage but Cambridge actually look at academic potential and care more about a levels personal statement and extracurricular and also view your application by many specialists. He still has a good shot at Cambridge not that much for Oxford though. But he does meet the requirements for Oxford so I don’t know why you said he has no chance

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