Are GCSEs worth anything?

I would say no, once gettin my Alevels my GCSE's became obsolete, now getting my Degree my Alvls are the same, now my BEng will be nothing with my MSc apart from more letters on my name.

Nick Callaghan BEng(Hons) MSc (CEng soon i hope)

KaHn
 
Clarkey said:
fwiw, im currently looking for a placement for my 3rd year, and some of the big companies DO take your GCSE grades into account, IBM for example do this, theres no way I could get a job there as my C grade GCSE English is not good enough.
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Companies wont generally divulge information about their specific recuitment criteria, generally saying a degree in any dicipline (2:2 or above generally), worth applying for any position as companies are looking for all sorts of skills, MS and IBM do look for high standards certainly.
 
Yep, literacy and numeracy are often required at a certain standard GCSE, for both jobs and university applications. And as for university applications, I'd say they are important because they're the only physical grades you have available to put on your UCAS form, whereas your AS grades are predicted, and more speculatory.
 
AcidHell2 said:
a lot of jobs still ask for c grades or above for maths maths and english at GCSE.
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I'll echo that, a friend of mine who got D at GCSE level English (must have put the aphostrophe in the wrong place) found himself being "discriminated" against in the job market - so he's retaking the examination this year to bump that grade up.

I often saw GCSE as just a way to get to A-Level, then A-Level to get to University, although saying that my GCSE grades wern't excellent compared to what some people at my school got (they were almost like yours, except I had 2Cs). Most Universities discriminated against me on the basis that I didn't do A Level Maths / Economics... and I wanted to do Economics at a good University.

Then while studying Economics I found the only significant A-Level to actually affect an individuals earnings is Mathematics. Doh!
 
Crispy Pigeon said:
Applying to Oxford for Medicine with, e.g., EEEDDCEUF or similar at GCSE would probably raise some eyebrows, but it won't matter so much at other institutions.

Yours probably won't count for or against you really, unless you're applying to either the premier-league or bottom universities.
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Yes it would as grade B in English Language, Maths and Science are minimum requirements for all med schools. Plus most unis will require grade C minimum in English Language.

Having said that, I cannot think of a single course at any uni that the OP's grades would preclude him from doing. They are excellent GCSE results tbqfh
 
If you want to do teacher training you will need A-C in English Maths and Science. Other than that I haven't encounted any need for the since getting into sixth form.
 
Crispy Pigeon said:
Like Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London. The old institutions with tonnes of competition, that require minimum AAA at A2 level and usually still interview or equire extra forms when applying.
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Oxford and Cambridge do generally look at GCSE results. One of my flatmates got straight A's at A-level (even got 100% in an english exam!) and is incredibly intelligent and hard working but he got turned down by Cambridge because of his mediocre GCSE results. Imperial on the other hand I know aren't always that picky (not form comp sci at least) because I would have got in with AAac but I chose Bristol instead.
 
KaHn said:
I would say no, once gettin my Alevels my GCSE's became obsolete, now getting my Degree my Alvls are the same, now my BEng will be nothing with my MSc apart from more letters on my name.

Nick Callaghan BEng(Hons) MSc (CEng soon i hope)

KaHn
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KaHn, are you considering doing a PhD too?
 
Nix said:
KaHn, are you considering doing a PhD too?
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I was, not sure tho. Might just get a job and do my PhD later on something work related as at the mo it will be in trend with my dissertations and be on CFD which I dont really want to do 4 years on as by the time I finish all of my work will be out of date with the introduction of L.E.S. for turbulent modelling etc.

KaHn
 
Yes they matter but not dire if you don't have them.

If you do a NVQ and either have less than a C grade in maths, english or both then you need to do Key Skills (gives you an equivalent qualification). This is also the case if you took your GCSE's over 3 years ago regardless of grades.

An equivalent qualification could be National test which takes about an hour for each maths and english. If you take this at level 2 then it counts as a GCSE A-C grade or an old 'O' Level.

As you see if you want government training they do matter but there are ways round it.
 
KaHn said:
I was, not sure tho. Might just get a job and do my PhD later on something work related as at the mo it will be in trend with my dissertations and be on CFD which I dont really want to do 4 years on as by the time I finish all of my work will be out of date with the introduction of L.E.S. for turbulent modelling etc.

KaHn
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Fair enough.
I'd like to have more than a degree (masters etc) but I really don't know how motivated i'll be. I'm only in my first year atm but I cba half the time, but it's because the course is really basic to bring everyone to the same level. Next year I think i'll be more motivated as it'll actually count towards my degree.

1st year: 0%
2nd year: 30%
3rd year: 70%

I guess when I come to the end of my degree i'll know if I want to do a MA or MSc. It's very tempting to find work though and have some money again :p
 
Nix said:
Geography.
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Hmmm geog is a really hard subject to get a job out of it, look at doing your masters in a different subject to Geog, like master planning or town planning (or a rock based thing :)) I'm not an expert on it but the 4 people I know who did geography 3 at manchester (got 2:1's) and 1 from Newcastle (1st) all went on to do something other than Geog at Masters.

KaHn
 
KaHn said:
Hmmm geog is a really hard subject to get a job out of it, look at doing your masters in a different subject to Geog, like master planning or town planning (or a rock based thing :)) I'm not an expert on it but the 4 people I know who did geography 3 at manchester (got 2:1's) and 1 from Newcastle (1st) all went on to do something other than Geog at Masters.

KaHn
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Well, the way geography is set out you can only ever become more refined. An interest atm for me seems to be Geo-Politics. I get to choose my own modules next year so i'll be able to see what i'm most interested in. Geography really is a very large subject. A good thing is though, that many doors will still be open come masters. The only obvious doors that are closed to me would ofcourse be the more specialist subjects, which geography isn't related to e.g. Engineering :)
We'll have to see how it goes though.
 
Nix said:
Fair enough.
I'd like to have more than a degree (masters etc) but I really don't know how motivated i'll be. I'm only in my first year atm but I cba half the time, but it's because the course is really basic to bring everyone to the same level. Next year I think i'll be more motivated as it'll actually count towards my degree.

1st year: 0%
2nd year: 30%
3rd year: 70%

I guess when I come to the end of my degree i'll know if I want to do a MA or MSc. It's very tempting to find work though and have some money again :p
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When I was in my first year I couldn't wait to leave Uni and be out of the place, really had no motivation for it either.
Now that I'm graduating soon I'm applying to do a Msc in Staffordshire, amazing how much your plans and everything else about you can change in those few years. :)
 
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