Uni advice

Hi! I need some honest advice and guidance.
My GCSEs are: 998888766 - went to a average school

And my alevels are: Politics, geography, economics and maths (probably an as)
I believe I am on track for: A*, A*, A - not including as maths

Is the uni I want to apply for out of my range:
Edinburgh, Manchester, Durham, bath, kcl/ucl

I want to do degrees such as - econ + pol, econ + geog, global develop, politics, philosophy and law, etc however still unsure with what degree I want to do.
I am in year 12 but my school makes us thinking very early on, I also would appreciate any general a-level advice (revise, super curricular, courses)

Reply 1

UniofLawstudent2

Official Rep

Original post

by Edelweiss12

Hi! I need some honest advice and guidance.
My GCSEs are: 998888766 - went to a average school
And my alevels are: Politics, geography, economics and maths (probably an as)
I believe I am on track for: A*, A*, A - not including as maths
Is the uni I want to apply for out of my range:
Edinburgh, Manchester, Durham, bath, kcl/ucl
I want to do degrees such as - econ + pol, econ + geog, global develop, politics, philosophy and law, etc however still unsure with what degree I want to do.
I am in year 12 but my school makes us thinking very early on, I also would appreciate any general a-level advice (revise, super curricular, courses)

Hi,
your predicted grades look good, but the uni's are all highly competitive, regardless I wouldn't worry if you can achieve those grades.

A-level advice:
Super-curricular activities: read subject books, attend online lectures, or take free online courses (MOOCs) in economics, politics, or international development. This will strengthen personal statements and interview prep as you will have something to discuss, and even better, show whether you acted on anything via personal-projects, etc. These will also help you picture what each course could entail, and will make deciding easier when it's time.

Revision strategy: start early, use active recall, practice past papers, and focus on understanding concepts rather than memorising.

Time management: balance coursework, revision, and super-curricular projects, universities value both academic achievement and initiative.

Tip: Apply to a mix of “reach” (Durham, UCL, Edinburgh), “match” (Bath, Manchester), and “safe” options to maximise chances while aiming high.

Hope this helped,
Ulaw,
Alfred.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 2

Edelweiss12

Original post

by UniofLawstudent2

Hi,
your predicted grades look good, but the uni's are all highly competitive, regardless I wouldn't worry if you can achieve those grades.
A-level advice:
Super-curricular activities: read subject books, attend online lectures, or take free online courses (MOOCs) in economics, politics, or international development. This will strengthen personal statements and interview prep as you will have something to discuss, and even better, show whether you acted on anything via personal-projects, etc. These will also help you picture what each course could entail, and will make deciding easier when it's time.
Revision strategy: start early, use active recall, practice past papers, and focus on understanding concepts rather than memorising.
Time management: balance coursework, revision, and super-curricular projects, universities value both academic achievement and initiative.
Tip: Apply to a mix of “reach” (Durham, UCL, Edinburgh), “match” (Bath, Manchester), and “safe” options to maximise chances while aiming high.
Hope this helped,
Ulaw,
Alfred.

Thank you so much! This has been super helpful

Reply 3

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

Original post

by Edelweiss12

Hi! I need some honest advice and guidance.
My GCSEs are: 998888766 - went to a average school
And my alevels are: Politics, geography, economics and maths (probably an as)
I believe I am on track for: A*, A*, A - not including as maths
Is the uni I want to apply for out of my range:
Edinburgh, Manchester, Durham, bath, kcl/ucl
I want to do degrees such as - econ + pol, econ + geog, global develop, politics, philosophy and law, etc however still unsure with what degree I want to do.
I am in year 12 but my school makes us thinking very early on, I also would appreciate any general a-level advice (revise, super curricular, courses)

Choose a course not a uni first off 🙂 Facilities for depts will vary between subjects as will a lot of the student opinion etc so definitely spend some time thinking about what subject you’d like to do, make sure to look at modules at each uni because the subject content can vary quite a lot between unis. I cant speak for the subjects youre considering but when i was looking at bioscience degrees a lot of them would have the same name (eg: zoology) but one could be much more animal care oriented and another could be more environment based even though they are called the same thing!
Try a few moocs on sites like openlearn, read some articles or even a book on each, attend some talks or webinars, read through the info on the uni website etc to get an idea of what subjects interest you. Going to open days can also help you narrow it down if you go to the talks for a couple of subjects but its not feasible to do this for many subjects, only two or maybe three if you really packed your schedule and missed quite a lot from each.
Currently your grades would basically be guesses but generally with predicted grades these are the highest your teachers think you could feasibly get, so they are usually one grade higher than what you typically work at. Grades tend to fluctuate between now and when youll apply for uni so wait until your end of year mocks in year 12 when youll have your predicteds and a good idea of what youre working at to think about ambitious, solid and safe choices. Generally ambitious choices will be at or above your predicted grades. If they are more than one grade above your predicteds then this is risky so should be only for one or maybe 2 choices if youre being really ambitious. You should have 2 or so choices one to two grades below your predicteds, so at grades youre usually working at in class roughly. Safe choices are below your typical grades to have a safe option to put as your insurance if your grades droop a bit in year 13 and you choose to firm a solid choice.
Hope that helps 🙂