How do universities view high GCSE grades with one outlier

[ChateauMargaux]

My child is ambitious and grade focused, not sure what she wants to do but thinking science or engineering. Likely to achieve high iGCSE grades (IB school abroad) but not as many as some UK schools.

She loves art but has been advised that it is difficult to get a high grade so is considering taking it as a subject but not taking the exam.

I am neutral, veering towards.. grades are not everything, do what you love, it won't matter.

She would like to have the perspective of admissions tutors, UK guidance counsellors and you lovely people...

Would she be better having 7 or 8 very good iGCSE results or would one lower grade be determinetal to her future application?

I hope my question makes sense..

Most only look at your best 6 or 8.

Unis tend to not care much about GCSEs to be fair. Only the very competitive ones I

Former Russell Group STEM admissions tutor here. In my School we could not care less about GCSE grades. Applicants could use a satisfactory English grade to satisfy the university English language standard, and a satisfactory Maths grade to satisfy the university Maths standard.

We require Grade A at A level maths so the latter was redundant.

Would there be any issue with taking the exam but not putting that grade down on uni application form? Obviously information on the form needs to be true and accurate but does it need to include everything?

I wouldn’t think they’d care if an art GCSE was a lower grade, it’s much more down to talent than academic ability. It might be nice to have one unpressured, ‘fun’ subject at GCSEs are a slog, but art is pretty time consuming.

You do have to declare all grades.

All exams have to be put on the UCAS form, you can’t miss one out.

Slight tangent-

Does it make a difference if they only do 7? It would be much easier to get a good grade in 7 than in the 10 schools around here do. (And if unis accept 7, why do schools do 10? Although I can see 7 isn't a brilliantly broad curriculum)

This was me, same subject too, got all As and a G in Art. That was 20 years ago and no one has ever cared as far as I can tell (except my Dad who was extremely unimpressed). Things might be different now but I doubt it. If I'm honest it has niggled me a bit over the years to have my nice list of As ruined by one G, but if your daughter is sure she doesn't care, go for it.

Honestly they don't care. My younger DD had 6 A stars and 3 A grades with a B in German and C in Drama. She was interviewed by Cambridge for Natural Sciences so obviously they aren't bothered about 2 non-relevant qualifications. Art GCSE is a notorious time vacuum so unless your DC loves Art and is happy to spend every spare moment doing it, I advise against it.

Yes everything does need to be included. Omitting results is still fraud.

OP worry not - no one will be remotely interested in a low grade Art GCSE.

Hi OP. In the school one of mine was at, they advised that to get a high grade in Art GCSE, they need to be prepared to commit about 11 hours, (on average) to art per week. It's a lot of work and the "fun" aspect can soon wear off!

if she's only doing 7 or 8 GCSEs anyway, I would advise her to focus in getting the best grades in those that she can.

I know lots of people are posting about 9As and a C getting into Oxbridge but would Oxbridge have accepted only 7 good grades and a C. Isnt there a minimum number they look at?

Any anyway is OP even looking at Oxbridge. It surely wont matter for most unis.

DD1 studying a science at uni - her GCSE grades were not considered, except for English (she did A Level maths).

DD2 wants to study vet science but is excluded from applying to most courses because her GCSE grades are slightly too low. But I donKt think they are interested in her Art grade. I also believe vet science is a total exception.

She is getting her A level results tomorrow- hopefully AAA and is going to reapply for vet science for next year.

Anyway, essentially OP i don't think GCSE's usually matter, except for English and maths. They are simply a ticket to get you into further study, such as A levels. If your DD likes art, she should do it. It's worthwhile and makes a change from all the highly academic stuff.

Interesting. I didn’t know that omitting results would be viewed at fraud. I’m still not sure why - for example m, if you resit I don’t think you have to say it’s a resit but I guess you would look one exam down in any case.

Good luck with getting results. It was 20 years ago but a friend didn’t get the a level results they needed to get into veterinary course. They decided to resit and spoke to vet course admission people directly. He got lots of experience and personal references and in the end one uni offered him an unconditional place and he didn’t need to retake. That was back in the days when only 6 universities offered the course. It is up to 9 now and I believe soon to be 10. Don’t be put off that some of the university courses are newer. They’re already getting a great reputation.

@Arucanafeather, you must declare all your qualifications from secondary onwards, and sign a declaration to that effect. Thus resits will show as multiple attempts of the same exam. UCAS guidance is clear about declaring all qualifications. Many admissions units, even in top universities, are fine with resits.

@dizzydizzydizzy ... what does 'too low' look like?

I don't know at this stage if she is considering Oxbridge... she talks about 'top' universities so I think part of her is.. so the question also applies to Oxford and Cambridge too..

She got mostly 6s, including a 6-7 in science. If she'd got a 7-7 in science she could have applied to one more course. With the gcse grades she had, she could only apply to 3 vet science courses, which was absolutely ridiculous. She is a late bloomer and is predicted 3As at A Level

With the gcse grades she had, she could only apply to 3 vet science courses, which was absolutely ridiculous

It's not that ridiculous given that there are only about 8 vet sci courses in the whole country!

9 sorry.

11 hours a week is excessive. My DD is doing Art GCSE is predicted a 8 or 9 and is doing considerably less than that! If she has a deadline looming she might go to the Art Room during lunch a few times a week, plus lessons and some time at home but not hours daily.

Good to know. It’s been 20 odd years since I did it (& mine was straight forward with no resits etc) and my kids aren’t there yet so I didn’t realise that at all. I assume it will say on the forms when my kids get there if that’s the route they go down.

If you only do 7 that would be a bit strange for those going to the better universities Eg mine did a minimum of something like
maths, english lit, english lang, history, geography, French, 2 or 3 sciences and then one more fun one like music.

Unless trying for Oxbridge one GCSE at a lower grad than the others however is fine. The problem is that art can take up a lot of time which could mean lower marks in the other more traditional GCSEs in academic subjects.