Any university admissions officers here? How much does MFL make a difference?

[thebellsofsaintclements]

My DD is just deciding her GCSE options. She doesn't really get on with languages, but says she is feeling pressurised by the school, who say that Universities take a dim view of applicants who haven't done a MFL GCSE.

Is this true? Or just something schools say to boost the uptake of languages GCSEs? Would it make a difference to Unis that she also speaks a minority language (not one that is offered at GCSE level at her school) at home, albeit not very fluently?

Thanks in advance!

PS For what it's worth, she's planning on studying an artsy subject at Uni - not sure if that also makes a difference? It is the case that Unis aren't bothered about languages if you want to study science, but that they would expect it if they are applying for a humanities course?

As PP have said, it doesn't make a huge difference to university applications, but it's understandable and in many ways commendable that the school are trying to boost the numbers of students taking MFL at GCSE. In general we're really, really bad at languages in this country compared to most of the world where speaking more than one is just a given and anything to try and improve that (or at least, to not let it get any worse) has to be a good thing. When you read threads about people wanting to drop things at GCSE and the school pressuring them to continue, somehow it's always languages, and never science, which we just assume they will take, despite some kids finding it hard and some kids finding it easy...