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.

navigator has it spot on. Contextual data makes a huge difference! Triple As from a bog standard comp trumps A*s from an independent school any day of the week.

My dd got AAB, she fluffed up one so didn't get straight A's (her words not mine) and she's recently been graded a 2:1 on her recent submission in her first year. She's at a RG and she's aware to maintain or improve on this, she needs to be really disciplined because her aims are very competitive, getting a training contract because she's reading law and wants to be a lawyer.

I don’t understand why OP has started this thread as both she/he and dd already know that Oxford’s standard offer is AAA and most students who achieve such high grades will not be doomed for failure.Furthermore, they also know full well that Birmingham University is highly rated and is not middling.

TinklyLittleLaugh the example of your DD illustrates that hard work and self motivation alone is insufficient for a 2:1 or first whatever some PPs say.
With quantitative subjects sometimes the step up in concepts and processes is too much especially with packed content of top tier courses being taught at speed.
For other subjects I think students can get good marks at A levels and some less demanding universities ( Birmingham won’t be one of these ) by a shotgun approach of acquired knowledge in written work picking up key term marks.

Higher degree marks require learning how to analyse and construct an answer properly and logically, thinking beyond regurgitating information and using syntax properly for clarity of communication. The latter can’t be taken for granted even for Oxbridge level students. Also learning how to be smart and selective for covering extra material.

*labradoodles” your DD’s insecurities may also be due to going through the classic gap year phase which IME engenders different priorities from a previous focus on academic achievements and sometimes also worries about re starting full time study.

I got BCD at A levels and a First at University :)

I dropped out of my A levels and got average Gcse. I got a 2:1 in my first degree without trying very hard and i have an MSc

Those are good grades. She will be fine. GO to the universities hardest to get into and you tend to earn more later.

(You can always work out middling I suppose by looking at typical offers for that place.)

I had difficult family circumstances during A levels and ended up with a C and a D at A Level. I had further difficult circumstances at university, as well as a daily 30 mile commute, and was 0.5% short of a 1st, despite them all. It bears no correlation.

Xenia is totally correct. The Institute of Fiscal Studies did a report on correlation between earnings and subject and university attended. It came out this year and is on the govt web site. It’s really worth reading because it’s not anecdotal as is inevitable with posters on here.

In a nutshell, course and university matter. She may be suffering from “imposter syndrome” where she is feeling insecure and is assuming others are better suited to LSE and Oxford than she is. Try and say that if the universities want her, they don’t think like that. She can do well anywhere and her A level grades don’t mean less good university results. Far from it. Also a 2:1 from Oxford or LSE is not closing any doors if she has other great attributes. Which I am sure she has!

The high drop out rates are at universities with low tariff requirements. The best qualified are not often dropping out. There are tables and research on this.

There is good evidence that state educated children with high grades do better than their privately educated peers at university.

OP is your DD the first person in her family to attend university? If so, just that fact alone will be having an impact on her choice of institution. First generation students place huge importance on what's known as student-institutional fit. She may feel anxious that there won't be students like her at the top universities and may worry about fitting in.

Has she visited the universities? Engaged with them and other students on the student room?

That’s because there is an awful lot more state educated DC at university, Cherry. It’s what you might expect. Independent schools don’t have a monopoly of university students!

bubbles actuallycherry is correct. State school students are more likely to gain a first or 2:1 than public school students with similar prior attainment.

Bubbles it’s not about numbers it’s proportionately. There are disproportionate numbers of the privately educated at universities - particularly RG - but looking at percentage of those admissions with similar grades, state school educated students are higher achieving.

Obviously a 2:2 even at LSE or Oxford will get triaged out for many generic applications. However not every student can get a 2:1 or above. I personally think that students should aim high for which university they attend as long as their mental health does not suffer and there are n’t other personal factors at play.

I assume the OP meant "middling" as in one of her middle offers. ie she's gone for aspirational (Oxford), achievable (LSE) and certainties (Birmingham and others) as usually suggested. As she's got the A-levels already, then she doesn't need to go for the insurance offers in case she has a woops in the exams.

I know what she means. My dd1 is a perfectionist and applying at the moment. In some ways I think she might be better going for one of her lower offers, being able to know that she should get the offer no problem, and potentially being at the top of the cohort rather than bottom (where she will overwork)

The statistics do show that on average state school applicants tend to go up from A-levels, and private tend to go down. However that's only on average, not true of any individual person.

What she can know that if she's been accepted at Oxford then they are confident that she will manage there.

In general they won’t accept students they don’t think can handle the course.

But - I’m a bit worried that your daughter is feeling performance anxiety already. I’d be a bit worried about her resilience. Is her gap year not helping with her confidence? Can she get out in the world and challenge herself in the next few months and build up some self confidence?

Bubbles I think what Cherry was referring to was a study that showed state school pupils did better at university when compared to independent school pupils starting with the same grades.

Oops sorry hadn’t refreshed for a while and repeating what everyone else said😬

For me where to go if she gets an offer from Oxford is a complete no brainer and if no offer is made then LSE would be just fine .

That study was incorrectly reported. The opposite is true:

www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/state-schools-versus-private-schools-hefce-sets-record-straight

Not quite....once you take prior attainment and contextual factors such as socioeconomic background, school attended etc state school students do perform better - they make larger improvements at HE. It's complicated but essentially state school students gain more at university

If they offer her a place she can always leave if she hates it after a year
Not a very realistic approach, surely.

quinions you're right - terrible and expensive advice as she'd be liable for a years tuition fees with nothing to show for it.

Although often the first year credits can be transferred to a different institutions instead which is possibly what the other poster meant.