Do A level results indicate degree results?

[labradoodles]

I have a DD on a gap year at the moment, who will probably take her offer from LSE if she doesn’t get Oxford. (Outcome from interview soon!)

She got AAA at a level, at our local bog standard comprehensive.

She’s scared that as the vast majority will have higher grades than AAA, that she is doomed for failure once there. I’ve tried to tell her not to be silly, but she’s a tad paranoid.

In her eyes she’d be better off going somewhere middling like her Birmingham offer, where she’d be nearer the top of her cohort.

Why would she fail there? What is her rationale for thinking that?

If she got AAA in a large class she’ll shine next to the students who were in a tutorial group of 6 at school. If they offer her a place she can always leave if she hates it after a year.

Her thinking is that if others were able to get higher a level results, then they are therefore more intelligent. Ergo more likely to get better marks at university.

I would actually suggest the opposite. She doesn't take high grades for granted so she will study hard. There will be students who have been in small private school classes who are used to intensive teaching support. Degrees are largely about self-advocate motivated, self- directed study

Or maybe they didn’t do anything apart from academic work while they were at school. If she gets in she’ll be fine, if she doesn’t well she’ll be fine somewhere else. If she doesn’t get an offer from the college she applied to but does from another that’s fine too, she’ll probably like the other college once she gets there. I hope she has good news tomorrow.

.. posted too soon!

Degrees are largely about self-motivated, self- directed study, it is about perspiration and hard work. She will be better placed than some other students.

She will be absolutely fine as long as she's prepared to be autonomous, independent learner.
Those that are used to being spoon fed really struggle

Not true. My DD has to work hard to get the results, she had averagely good grades at A level which she had to work hard for, and is working at 1st level at Uni, her marks are generally above the majority of her cohort, because she doesn't really socialise (they lived in halls in 1st year she wasn't on campus, she's the odd one out as her best friend on the course left after 1st year everyone else is paired up so nobody ever invites her aside from which they all drink she doesn't), attends all the lectures (never has a hang over) and hands her work in on time & revises thoroughly for tests etc (has bog all else to do)

Ah I fluffed my alevels somewhat, got BBC, came out of uni with a first in maths.

I guess academic kids are more likely to remain academic but learning at uni is very different

You can't get that much higher than AAA.

You’re not generally graded on a curve in British universities so it shouldn’t matter if other people on her course are more or less or the same amount of intelligent as her. The ideal is to be the dumbest person in the room because then you’re in the best position to learn.

No correlation at all. (I've got bucketloads of data on this.) If she isn't convinced look at the percentage of Oxford graduates getting 2:2s and 3rds - they'll all have arrived with at least 3 x As.

Big correlation between A level grades and post-graduation salary though.

I would actually suggest the opposite. She doesn't take high grades for granted so she will study hard. There will be students who have been in small private school classes who are used to intensive teaching support. Degrees are largely about self-advocate motivated, self- directed study

This. I got shite gcse’s and shiter a’levels (cde, including a re-sit). I just couldn’t get the spoon fed regurgitation of school work.

Somehow managed to get into a good uni on a crappy course. Probably on extra-curriculars (i was an athlete).

First year and stuff really clicked. I had to think through everything which made retaining it easy. Got good first year results, switched courses to one of the best in the country. Ended up being headhunted for a funded phd.

Conversely, the ones who dropped out in first year were the ones with amazing a-level results who couldn’t cope with not being told exactly what to learn and when. One of my coursemates made it through the degree but at the end his professors wouldn’t recommend for a phd, or even a research masters, only a taught masters as thats the only way they could learn.

She’ll be fine.

I work at an ancient that has committed to widening participation & contextual offers. A colleague was concerned a student admitted through the WP route had the lowest grades of any student ever admitted on her course. That student got a first. WP works because the grades really do mean more if they come from a tough school, rather than an exam factory.

Degrees are largely about self-motivated, self- directed study, it is about perspiration and hard work.

Exactly this. It's a whole different learning curve from school. No hand holding, you are expected to manage your own studies. You could have the highest qualifications at A levels but end up with a crap degree classification if you don't put the work in. Conversely you might have scraped your university place, work hard and get a first.

somewhere middling like her Birmingham offer

Are you purposefully trying to be offensive ?

Years ago I used to do a lot of graduate recruitment & saw loads of CVs. It always used to surprise me how many with excellent A level results would have achieved a fairly average degree, but those with not such stellar A levels would have achieved firsts.

University is about a growth mindset that is not limited to pure academics. For her degree results if she is prepared to stretch herself, take in feedback and apply it then she should get a 2:1 and perhaps more. She might have to put in more effort than others as there are always more able students but that is fine, a degree is not a competition.
Some students find the transition from the neatly packaged A level syllabus to a much more open learning process harder than others whether from comprehensives or other schools. However that is just a phase to get through.
IMO she should go for the university with the course and other opportunities most attuned to her whilst accepting that to get most out of the experience may mean that she will not always be in her comfort zone.

In general terms, crappy unis dole out the high grades to loads of mediocre students who wouldn't get the same high grade at another uni. There isn't really grade parity between unis, no matter what they tell you about external moderation. The best ones keep standards higher.

In your daughter's case she has to balance the chances of a higher grade (and birmingham is not a crappy uni so it might not make much difference) against the prestige of lse/oxford

Nope. Ds got BBC in his A levels and only just scraped into his Uni course (he needed an A and 2Bs). He left Uni with a first.

at the idea of Birmingham being ‘middling!’

I think it's an interesting question. DD has good A levels and is at a very good uni, (not quite Oxbridge but next tier down). She is working really, really hard and got just below a 2.1 for her first year. This year she is flat out and just pushing her marks into the 2.1 band.

DS by contrast is a lazy article, got a C and D at A level, did an access course at a bog standard Russell group uni, worked moderately and got a safe 2.1.

I can't imagine most employers will differentiate that much between the two unis and if DD ends up with a 2.2 she will have many options closed to her. I am almost tempted to suggest she moves to a slightly lesser uni if she doesn't manage a 2.1 this year.

When I took my a-levels A’s were the highest grade you could achieve, there were no A*’s and I got 4 A’s. I was Head Girl at school and was in the top 10 for my grades.

University was a totally different story, I was definitely just middle of the road there and quite often struggled. I managed to get a 2.1 but did find this to be exremely difficult. I worked very hard to get that classification.

Thanks for all the replies, I’ll pass them on to her.

Please do accept my apologies about the Birmingham remark, I didn’t mean to offend.