Chance of admission

I am currently in year 13 with 3 finalised predicted grades of A*AB in computer science, math and chemistry. I took up an AS further math in February of this year and achieved an A in as level. I am yet to get a predicted grade for further mathematics but in the best case if I get predicted an A*. My grades would be A*A*AB.
In the worst case scenario my predicted grades would be A*AAB.
Would I be able to get into computer science and mathematics courses?
It is very annoying the school is not budging on moving my normal maths grade to an A*.
The unis I was looking for were:
Bristol
Durham
Warwick
Edinburgh
Ucl
I am willing to take any admissions tests if required.

Reply 1

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

Could you list the typical offers for each of your potential choices.

Reply 2

mike23mike

Yes you will get an offer from one or two of your listed unis with those predicted grades. Well done you.

Reply 3

KWad

Edinburgh will reject you - they base their admissions pretty much solely on A-level predicted and actual grades, and yours are insufficient for their course (They have a hard requirement of 3A* unless you have extenuating circumstances)

UCL is likely to reject you - they are highly competitive for mathematical computation. If you have an A in maths, they will certainly reject you, and even if you move it up to an A* it is still very much unlikely that they would give you an offer

Warwick - Unless I am wrong, they don't do a JMC course, so I assume you are thinking of CS standalone. In that case, refer to what I said for UCL (i.e. A* req. for single maths)

Bristol - A*A required in maths or further maths, any order. You have a better shot here, but will still be tough to get in.

Durham - Similar to Bristol

To summarise: Edi, Warwick and UCL will likely reject you. I would suggest applying to either UCL or Warwick as your most aspirational choices. Bristol and Durham are doable but will still be very difficult to get in. You could apply to both. Pick your final two or three choices such that one has an AAA offer, and another with an AAB offer (or something like this) so that you know for certain that you will get an offer from at least one or two of your unis as a safety net.

Keep in mind that just because you meet the grade requirements for a course does not mean that you can make a competitive application for that course. Many of the top unis will be swamped with students getting full A* predicted grades, and so even if you technically meet their minimum, it does not put you at any advantage. Not to mention JMC is on average one of the most competitive courses that exists in British universities.

Good luck whatever you choose.

Reply 4

AtRieZKuda

Original post by KWad

Edinburgh will reject you - they base their admissions pretty much solely on A-level predicted and actual grades, and yours are insufficient for their course (They have a hard requirement of 3A* unless you have extenuating circumstances)
UCL is likely to reject you - they are highly competitive for mathematical computation. If you have an A in maths, they will certainly reject you, and even if you move it up to an A* it is still very much unlikely that they would give you an offer
Warwick - Unless I am wrong, they don't do a JMC course, so I assume you are thinking of CS standalone. In that case, refer to what I said for UCL (i.e. A* req. for single maths)
Bristol - A*A required in maths or further maths, any order. You have a better shot here, but will still be tough to get in.
Durham - Similar to Bristol
To summarise: Edi, Warwick and UCL will likely reject you. I would suggest applying to either UCL or Warwick as your most aspirational choices. Bristol and Durham are doable but will still be very difficult to get in. You could apply to both. Pick your final two or three choices such that one has an AAA offer, and another with an AAB offer (or something like this) so that you know for certain that you will get an offer from at least one or two of your unis as a safety net.
Keep in mind that just because you meet the grade requirements for a course does not mean that you can make a competitive application for that course. Many of the top unis will be swamped with students getting full A* predicted grades, and so even if you technically meet their minimum, it does not put you at any advantage. Not to mention JMC is on average one of the most competitive courses that exists in British universities.
Good luck whatever you choose.

Should I apply Jmc? As it feels like I pretty much have no chance - I would have liked to do computer science and mathematics however my performance does not allow for it. I am completely open to data science and standalone computer science at university too so which would you recommend so I have the highest chances of acceptance for the universities I was thinking. My backup plan was to apply to an less competitive course for the university I want to go to and then I ask my to change my course on results day if all goes well. Else I will just take a gap year.
Besides, would a high score like 7.5 in tmua make up for my predicted grades?

Reply 5

AtRieZKuda

Original post by KWad

Edinburgh will reject you - they base their admissions pretty much solely on A-level predicted and actual grades, and yours are insufficient for their course (They have a hard requirement of 3A* unless you have extenuating circumstances)
UCL is likely to reject you - they are highly competitive for mathematical computation. If you have an A in maths, they will certainly reject you, and even if you move it up to an A* it is still very much unlikely that they would give you an offer
Warwick - Unless I am wrong, they don't do a JMC course, so I assume you are thinking of CS standalone. In that case, refer to what I said for UCL (i.e. A* req. for single maths)
Bristol - A*A required in maths or further maths, any order. You have a better shot here, but will still be tough to get in.
Durham - Similar to Bristol
To summarise: Edi, Warwick and UCL will likely reject you. I would suggest applying to either UCL or Warwick as your most aspirational choices. Bristol and Durham are doable but will still be very difficult to get in. You could apply to both. Pick your final two or three choices such that one has an AAA offer, and another with an AAB offer (or something like this) so that you know for certain that you will get an offer from at least one or two of your unis as a safety net.
Keep in mind that just because you meet the grade requirements for a course does not mean that you can make a competitive application for that course. Many of the top unis will be swamped with students getting full A* predicted grades, and so even if you technically meet their minimum, it does not put you at any advantage. Not to mention JMC is on average one of the most competitive courses that exists in British universities.
Good luck whatever you choose.

Thank you very much, I really appreciate your advice!

Reply 6

AtRieZKuda

Original post by mike23mike

Yes you will get an offer from one or two of your listed unis with those predicted grades. Well done you.

Am I being too aspirational?

Reply 7

AtRieZKuda

A*AA Bristol - Cs & Math
A*AA Durham - Cs & Math
A*AA including an admissions test offer - Warwick - Data science/Morse
A*A*A* - AAB - Cs & Math - Edinburgh
A*AA - Data science

Reply 8

KWad

Original post by AtRieZKuda

If that's what you are interested in, you should definitely apply. Just be aware that it is extremely competitive, so make your choices according to this.

If you are not too concerned about doing JMC specifically, then yes, single compsci might be a better route as it is ever so slightly less competitive (but not by much tbh).

As for a high TMUA score, yes it would certainly strengthen your application. But again TMUA is not the only part of your application and admissions tutors will be weary admitting someone with a B.

I can't offer any specific advice unfortunately as I don't know enough about data science, but considering a single cs degree might be worth your time.