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..

She will have done French and Maths already.. I don't know what counts when you have to declare grades at one sitting. .. Next May she will be sitting Advanced Maths, English Lit, English Lang, Geography, 2 Science, German.. . so min 7, max 9..
Plus art yah / nay?

I don't think the time spent on Art will adversely impact her other grades.

If she doesn’t want to do ART after GCSE and it’s a worry, can’t she do another GCSE and study art as a hobby instead?

My daughter did art GCSE (got an 8) and is doing it at A level and plans on a creative career.
Unless your child is interested in pursuing it then it doesn't matter what grade she gets, though I disagree with some pp, it is not so much talent based but a matter of ticking the right boxes. Even if she was to pursue art, it's your portfolio they are interested in, not the grade. If she enjoys it she may find it a nice distraction from more academic work, and it needn't take up more time. She should sit the exam though - her grade is not based on that alone anyway, and why take a subject then not get the final grade? Not sitting the exam would disqualify her from getting any grade I would think?
But A levels/IB are far more important for university admissions.

That's completely OTT. DD has had 2 hours of art at school each week and did about 2 hours extra at home weekly, plus 3 or 4 concerted days over the Easter holidays to finish her portfolio. She's seen her raw mark and hoping it will translate to a 9 :) A high mark anyway.

I think a lot of getting a high mark in Art is not so much being a great artist but in how you create your portfolio and describe your process of creating work.

@ChateauMargaux
The posters who say no university looks at GCSEs are wrong. Some do snd others do for very competitive courses. So start with Oxford snd Cambridge and look at what they say. They do consider GCSEs. Bristol definitely might consider the GCSE portfolio and I’m sure others do too but they make their admission criteria clear so you do know what they want.

Art is nit just about the finished work. 11 hours a week is ridiculous. If she’s not fully engaged with it, don’t do it. But as one of 9, it might not matter that much. If she’s likely to get a D or 4, then I might not bother.

Oxbridge will looks at her gcses in the context of the school. So if she gets 8 good results and one poor one in a poor/average school she will get a plus score. If however she gets them in a high flying school then the poorer mark may drag that "score" down ie they consider in the context of the setting where they are taken.

@SeasonFinale
It really is not just Oxbridge. Prospective students should know that other universities also consider gcse profiles. The attached is for History at Bristol. GCSEs are given a pretty high weighting.

GCSEs are given a high weighting, but it doesn't say how they are scored. In order not to advantage those who attend schools that enter them for more subjects, it's likely that they only look at a set number of subjects, possibly doing something similar to the attainment 8 calculations used to measure schools.

(For attainment 8, for each pupil they take the grade in maths and English (the better one) and double them, then add their best 3 "EBacc" subjects, then the best three of those that are left, whether or not they are EBacc subjects. If they've done more than eight subjects, one weak grade is unlikely to be an issue.)

well it's 30% weighting. My point was that it wasn’t 0% and 100% A levels as some posters suggest. The important point is to check snd ask the university if it’s unclear.

Yes Bristol is based on the 8 best gcse scores, so if you only do 8 then all 8, but if you do 10 the best 8 of 10 (confirmed at open day) and my son is there. Further though at Bristol you can add in that 40% of schools are on the list for which Bristol will make lower contextual offers which is a fantastically high amount compared to many unis.

The thing is to ensure you check entry criteria and admissions policies wherever possible and some are much more transparent than others eg. Bristol being a prime example

Well Bristol is very transparent by naming the schools. Most universities don’t do that. (Or did you mean they were transparent?) Bristol is always worth a punt for anyone in a school in their list. The bigger issue might be whether school advisers know about it.