Are GCSEs worth anything?

Nikias · 6 Mar 2006 at 20:44

Psyk said:
Depends how you define top. Top 10 you'll probably still have a good chance at with good A-levels. Top 3 or 4 maybe not so much.

^^ what he said. It's also not to say that with those grades, Oxbridge will write you off immediately. Yours will probably be good enough, combined with good AS-Level grades, a good reference and a good personal statement, to get you to the interview stage. If you shine then, they might well have you. It also depends on the course. I applied for Law, so it was pretty stiff competition.

I'd also add that I wasn't that impressed with Cambridge. I thought the city and buildings were absolutely stunning, but I didn't care much for the atmosphere at the university itself. That might have only been my impression from a few hours there, or the college I went to, but I think there are plenty of excellent universities out there and you're certainly not excluded from those.

[TW]Fox · 6 Mar 2006 at 20:49

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.

Infact, IBM select people for assessment purely based on their A level performance - thats why somebody who has, say, AAA at A level and has failed every module so far would get to the next stage, yet somebody who got say all C's but was on-track for a First would be rejected.

Bizarre but true.

N9ne · 6 Mar 2006 at 23:10

Killerkebab said:
Guess I can give up hope on applying to a top university then, however well I do in my A-levels.

Not necessarily. With a strong personal statement, good interviews and excellent UMS scores, you could get into any university.

Killerkebab · 6 Mar 2006 at 23:21

N9ne said:
Not necessarily. With a strong personal statement, good interviews and excellent UMS scores, you could get into any university.

Not according to everyone here...

Nikias · 6 Mar 2006 at 23:23

Killerkebab said:
Not according to everyone here...

It's certainly doable, but you'll be against people that have got better GCSE results. You'll just have to outperform them sufficiently at the other aspects of getting into university.

Mulder · 6 Mar 2006 at 23:34

I didn't do too well at GCSE (1A*, 4As and 7Bs) but got my act together for AS (been predicted AAB) and have been offered places at York and Durham, amongst others. How much they're worth will always depend on a variety of factors as already mentioned. I certainly don't think "poor" results at GCSE will bar you from "top" unis, you just have to prove you're better than candidates that performed better at GCSE.

PeterNem · 6 Mar 2006 at 23:51

Unless you're a potential OxBridge student, I'd say as long as you get a C or higher in the core subjects (Maths, English, Science or whatever) then you'll be fine.

daz · 7 Mar 2006 at 01:57

Crispy Pigeon said:
It's certainly doable, but you'll be against people that have got better GCSE results. You'll just have to outperform them sufficiently at the other aspects of getting into university.

If you can get to the interview stage, then you have every chance.

Arcade Fire · 7 Mar 2006 at 09:03

w11tho said:
And thwaaaack - you've just been hit with my ignorance fish!

Universities get points for all sorts, many of which totally irrelevant - especially when trying to decide which place offers the best course in Mathematics. Having seen the syllabi and several exam papers from each of the institutions I mentioned, I can quite categorically say that each of them had tougher exams, and contained more topics, in comparison to Bath.

Hmm. The Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial courses certainly cover more material than the Bath course. I don't know if that makes the course better, though. You'd have to take into account quality of teaching (variable at best in Cambridge), range of subjects studied (Cambridge doesn't do as much computing as some other places), availability of facilities etc. The reason that Cambridge has a harder course than Bath is because, in the main, the calibre of students that it has coming in is higher. I don't know if the course is better per se.

Arcade Fire · 7 Mar 2006 at 09:07

N9ne said:
I got accepted to study at Trinity too . Rejected by LSE .

Hey, cool. Are you

(i) Here at the moment,
(ii) Coming up next year,
(iii) Somewhere else because you've finished uni, or
(iv) Somewhere else because you rejected the offer?

Just curious to see if there's someone else in Trinity on here!

benjo plz. · 7 Mar 2006 at 11:21

Killerkebab said:
Not according to everyone here...

The main thing you need is a good Ucas reference by Kern or whoever does yours, the people who get good references seem to get offers from most if not all of their universities, while people with poor references don't.

VeNT · 7 Mar 2006 at 11:49

as long as you get 5Cs and above then your ok for nearly anything you wanna do.

N9ne · 7 Mar 2006 at 17:32

Arcade Fire said:
Hey, cool. Are you

(i) Here at the moment,
(ii) Coming up next year,
(iii) Somewhere else because you've finished uni, or
(iv) Somewhere else because you rejected the offer?

Just curious to see if there's someone else in Trinity on here!

Starting in September this year. Can't wait.

Arcade Fire · 7 Mar 2006 at 17:40

N9ne said:
Starting in September this year. Can't wait.

I'll probably be gone by then

Killerkebab · 7 Mar 2006 at 17:46

Phnom_Penh said:
The main thing you need is a good Ucas reference by Kern or whoever does yours, the people who get good references seem to get offers from most if not all of their universities, while people with poor references don't.

A school never really gives a bad reference though, does it? So everyone else is armed with a good reference, 3 As (4 in my case as I already have my French one, but a lot of people have 4 anyway), and 11A*s or whatever in GCSE level.

Johnny Girth · 7 Mar 2006 at 17:46

Yes, they are worth something.

I'm at uni applying for summer internships and am getting a lot more interviews than other people who don't have straight A*s at GCSE. It's not just that obviously but if you're skimming an application form and someone has 4 or 5 As at A-level and then 10 A*s it instantly shouts out quality, whereas a hint of a B could be reason enough to throw you in the bin.

tenchi-fan · 7 Mar 2006 at 17:49

Killerkebab said:
I've just started my AS levels (well, sixth months ago) and I'm wondering what my GCSEs were for, apart from getting me into this sixth form.

I got 2A*s, 3As, 5Bs, and one F (Religious Education :/)

Will my GCSEs have any practical use apart from getting me into my current sixth form?

I'd have to say "depends". If I owned a business, I'd sooner employ some one with an A* in GCSE maths and two years relevant work experience than some one who got a D in maths at a higher eductional level and without work experience.

benjo plz. · 7 Mar 2006 at 17:56

Killerkebab said:
A school never really gives a bad reference though, does it? So everyone else is armed with a good reference, 3 As (4 in my case as I already have my French one, but a lot of people have 4 anyway), and 11A*s or whatever in GCSE level.

They're not meant to give a bad reference, but it won't have as much good stuff in it and will lack in depth, which a good admissions tutor will pick up on. The grades you already have are pretty much excellent.

tenchi-fan said:
I'd have to say "depends". If I owned a business, I'd sooner employ some one with an A* in GCSE maths and two years relevant work experience than some one who got a D in maths at a higher eductional level and without work experience.

Yeh, thats a good point, work experience is very important, and can be very helpful.