General Studies A Level - part of the offer from RG universities

[BubblesBuddy]

A relative of mine is holding an offer from Sheffield (AAB) and Leicester (BBB) and both will accept General Studies as one of the A levels. I was very surprised but should I be? This is effectively asking for two A levels when other RG universities will not count General Studies for any course. Therefore should all schools offer General Studies to their pupils to make entrance to some universities significantly easier?

No, it will not be more widely offered as it is on the way out. A level general studies will cease to exist after June 2018 as it is not being converted to the linear format. I don't think that any of the places DS looked at offered it at all.

No university counted it where my DD looked either but clearly some are less choosy. Presumably to get bums on seats.

Some are desperate to fill seats at the moment and are throwing even unconditional offers out there left right and centre. In general if the offer is low and easy it is likely to be an institution which is not quite so helpful on your CV as some others.

It does vary over time.

Way back when I went to university it was a linear exam, and counted for some universities and courses but not others. Every pupil in my school was entered, but it wasn't a taught course, other than via the forerunner of PSHE and a coup,e of mocks.

It meant that if you were science minded you still had to write the odd essay, if you were doing humanities you still had to think about scientific method and everyone had to think about current events.

We were slightly shocked when told by the departmental administrator at one university that they would accept anything, GS, Critical Thinking, anything. We have a lot of family living in that city so the RG university was a genuine contender as an insurance choice...... at least till then.

i think it devalues the standing of the university but some parents see an easy way in as a plus. Not sure employers will though. I know Sheffield has a very low percentage from independent schools so one assumes the competition for places on some courses is not healthy.

Wow, I had an offer including General Studies when I went to uni over 10 years ago. I thought it would have died a death by now.

Completely weird qualification - I didn't have a single lesson or any revision and still got an A in General Studies. And I don't mean that in a braggy way - I had to work very hard for my other A Levels but General Studies was literally that easy.

The latest Times Higher Education University Rankings places Sheffield Uni at 13 th in the country and the QS World University rankings put them at a very respectable joint 82 in the world.
Rankings aren't the be all and end all but Sheffield is a decent Uni. Obviously it's better for some subjects than others.

Maybe Sheffield have looked at the outcomes of student with general studies on this degree course and found it doesn't matter too much 🤷🏻‍♀️. I guess it's a way to make it easier for students to get a place without losing the required UCAS points so will then mean it's less likely to effect future rankings. It's definite better to do that than have entry requirements slashed in clearing.

Unconditional offers are associated in students doing worse than their predicted grades so offering GS instead of unconditional offers seems quite canny. You would still be able to 'choose' whether you want to accept students who miss their grades.

If Ia student liked Sheffield course and Sheffield in general then I wouldn't recommend them turning their nose up at the course just because of this. The course won't have changed it will just be more accessible to some students. Maybe their drop out rate or their degree outcomes might increase but maybe they won't 🤷🏻‍♀️. Dismissing the course out of hand seems a bit short sighted.

I'm curious what subject it is for.

Two of my DC go to Sheffield (hence why I knew about the rankings). One has just completed his degree and is staying on to do a fully funded PhD and the other is half way through an engineering degree. It's not all perfect but they are happy they went there. From a parents viewpoint It's a wonderfully cheap city

Just read my post and realised there are a million typos etc. Sorry. Small phone and poor English

It does reflect on the need to get bums on seats though and how to be creative about it. It is highly possible employers will sort universities into 1st and 2nd division due to this type of thing. Many other premier universities will not count GS or Critical Thinking.

My DH did Engineering there and it is brilliant for that. This degree is politics. They have a list of preferred A levels and want two of those. They then do not seem to care about the third subject. I very much doubt this is the policy for sciences and ultra competitive courses but I have not checked. However, check the web site and you will see what I mean about the offer for Poitics and entry requirements.

This does not really affect ranking because I assume that is not done solely on A levels required by the university, but it is clearly a recruiting technique and everyone knows General Studies is a gimme so by includingit, the university is dumbing down. It may make little difference to results, but some would argue the degrees may end up being dumbed down too.

DD1 got an offer from Sheffield with general studies included for Biological Sciences about 7 years ago so it isn't new. As she'd taken the full general studies A level in year 12 and got an A her offer was for BB (even though she was still taking three other A levels)

Cambridge put out offers including General Studies 14 years ago. I don't know if they ever still do. It could be that the offer was made as something of a compliment?