DS doing 9 gcse - enough for good uni?

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DS is at a very academic school where all students do ten gcse as a minimum. With further maths and / or fast track music that could be 12 for some students.
DS (mistakenly as it turns out) did not take further maths or music so has ten currently. The issue is that he detests spanish and is on track to get a C at best. The rest of his subjects he’s working at high grades.
He’s more or less decided to drop Spanish but is concerned that

1. having 9 subjects at a school where 10 is a minimum, and
2. Having no MFL

could affect his opportunity for offers from good unis.

He thinks maybe having no language is less of an issue but having 9 subjects at a school where ten is the minimum could be a problem?

Can anyone who knows anything about uni offers or admissions advise?

He won’t be applying to oxbridge but would be interested in Bristol and similar. Possibly engineering. A levels will be maths physics and history. A fourth subject for AS still to be decided but likely business studies or sociology

Any advice welcome - thanks in advance

The 9 gcses shouldn't be an issue in itself. However even if not applying for Oxbridge not having FM for engineering at the more prestigious unis may be more of one.

@SeasonFinale

The 9 gcses shouldn't be an issue in itself. However even if not applying for Oxbridge not having FM for engineering at the more prestigious unis may be more of one.

Thanks @SeasonFinale Do you mean an issue not having gcse further maths (FM) or A level FM?

Most of the more competitive unis for engineerinb would expect to see FM A level if the school offers it. Does he have the option of doing it? It may be worthwhile him asking the unis he intends to applynto what percentage of their cohort has FM and how they address the difference in levels for those that don't have it. Some unis eg. make those without take additional maths modules at uni.

He might not be allowed to drop Spanish, a MFL is essential now I understand for students choosing GCSEs in 2022.
My DS will only have 10 GCSEs, which is the most he can possibly take in his state school. He is a high prior achiever, so I have no worries re uni.

9 is fine

@ANameChangeAgain

He might not be allowed to drop Spanish, a MFL is essential now I understand for students choosing GCSEs in 2022. My DS will only have 10 GCSEs, which is the most he can possibly take in his state school. He is a high prior achiever, so I have no worries re uni.

Completely wrong advice re MFL so ignore this. The poster is mistaken.

Almost all schools where I live only do 8 gcses. More isn’t necessary.

Thanks @SeasonFinale, but this is what we have been informed by my options choosing year 9's school. If you can link me to something that suggests otherwise I would be grateful, as he really does not want to take an MFL!

The school have its own policy that they want kids to take an MFL but itnis not required so there is no link to link you to.

No uni requires an MFL at gcse not even UCL which was the last remaining one that wanted either an MFL at gcse or the student to undertake an MFL module if they did not.

Schools that say you need a MFL are usually aiming for the baclerette or however you spell it?!

9 is fine. Unis aren't interested in how many GCSEs. They want relevant ones for the course you are doing and relevant a levels and an extension subject or course for some.

Let's face it - gcse in geography food tech and French at gcse grade 9 are of no interest to a uni with someone applying for an engineering degree. They want physics, sciences, maths, computing etc.

As others say, nine will be fine. Many schools encourage language GCSEs to be taken (and resist attempts to drop them) because they count towards the EBacc and they are measured against the proportion of students achieving the 'bundle' of GCSEs that constitute the EBacc.

The highly rated independent girls school in this area offer 9 as standard. No issues at all with 9.

DS1 is in first year at a RG uni doing Geography with 9 really good GCSE's. No MFL.
He did A level maths too. Yes, found it v hard. Those that did maths and physics usually took FM too.

9 is fine and not having an MFL won’t impact him at all (from a uni admissions adjacent person)

9 isn't an issue but lack of a language could be for some subjects and lack of fm will make a levels harder if applicable

The school have its own policy that they want kids to take an MFL but itnis not required so there is no link to link you to.

Perhaps the misunderstanding about the 'requirement' being other than just an individual school's policy may have arisen from this?
www.gov.uk/government/news/reforms-to-encourage-more-students-to-take-up-language-gcses.

Although even the statement there is that the changes in the content and assessment of content of the three 'core' MFL proposed are being made with the intention of encouraging better uptake at GCSE, nothing, as far as I can see, about making MFL compulsory.

He should check individual unis' requirements (and who they actually make offers to, where that info is available) but I agree that if his school offers further maths as an A Level he might be well advised to take it. Some schools don't offer it, but where it's offered a lot of the top engineering unis would prefer candidates to have it, I think. (Sorry, I know this isn't the thing you were actually asking about!)

Thanks everyone. Very helpful

The reason he isn’t taking FM A level is because he’s not fully decided on uni course - maybe engineering maybe not - hence putting history in with maths and physics to keep the breadth iyswim. The unis he checked for engineering admissions said he’d need maths plus one out of physics, FM, computers, etc so he thought maths and physics would be ok

I had read somewhere else that some unis consider your GCSEs in the context of the general standard for your school - hence the question about doing 9 and hopefully scoring A grades rather than ten with one C or even a D. There’s also the risk that now trying to do too much too late on the language gcse could pull his other grades down

But something is giving him pause for actually dropping it - hence the question here to see what we haven’t thought of

@ANameChangeAgain Dd is in year 10, there was no requirement for MFL, she could have dropped French very easily when completing her options.
I think your school have a policy or suggestions that MFL have to be taken. But there is no requirement as a mandatory GCSE.

As others say, unless he plans to study MFL at A level and/or uni, lack of MFL GCSE will not be an issue.

Equally neither will having nine GCSEs. Many schools offer this as a max number now. My two DC who are at uni did 10 as it goes, but plenty of students at their school did nine (if they did double science) and got in to unis of varying standing, no worries.

Very popular and competitive unis like Oxford and Bristol will look at GCSE grades but even then, usually only the best six, for example.

Are you translating a 5 into a C btw? Or is your DS in Wales?

He can take FM at A level without the GCSE (most schools IME do not offer the GCSE) and I would advise it if he is really keen on egineering.

Also PP who says MFL is compulsory is also incorrect - it is not, and as an MFL specialist I will say (not for the first time) that I would not want to see it compulsory. It's no fun teaching students French if they would rather be in DT. I am all for students taking a broad range of subjects but I don't think it is helpful to force it. DS2 got a 6 in Spanish but some of his classmates got 2 or 3, amid a host of much better grades, which is not much help to them or the school.

lack of a language could be for some subjects @gogohm which subjects would that be? Apart from MFL itself I can't think of any, either for A level or uni.

DD did 8 GCSEs, didn’t get A stars in all of them and is currently at Cambridge but I wouldn’t consider it a top uni any more tbh.
Most of the colleges seem to be trying to outcompete each other in wokeness and groupthink. Intellectual curiosity and freedom is stifled. The majority of students are Londoners well versed in groupthink.
It is a big disappointment to both of us.

@clary thanks for all the info

We are NI not Wales - but we still have A B C GCSEs etc rather than numbers

Re the FM we hadn’t even considered it but I can see now it is recommended for engineering

“He can take FM at A level without the GCSE (most schools IME do not offer the GCSE) and I would advise it if he is really keen on engineering”.
Ive just checked his school A level choices and they only accept you for FM at A level if you’ve done it at gcse and got an A grade in both gcse FM and gcse maths. So FM A level isn’t an option for him. He knew very quickly he’d made a mistake not taking FM gcse but too late now!

It might be wise to explore Bristol University’s non-academic reputation (drugs and pastoral care). My DC’s friends have found the tolerance of the prominent drug culture depressing. Apparently Bristol Uni is well known for this but DC’s friends hadn’t picked up on this before they applied.
Other anecdotal insights (academic school, all got As and A starts at A level:
UCL- loads of foreign students and Londoners who live at home. Research great, teaching not so much.
Manchester - positive. Good city and teaching.
Edinburgh- great city, low workload.
Imperial- lots of driven students many of whom don’t leave their rooms.

Oxford definitely look at your GCSE results against the average GCSE score at your school in your GCSE year - but I don't think many other unis do that. Other posters might know for sure.