University Entry Requirements

[Nomoreplease23]

DD16 is awaiting her GCSE results and is due to attend sixth form college. So far she has chosen creative A'Levels but is now considering more academic subjects so as not to restrict her degree choices. Recently at school the sixth form admissions teacher was displaying software which showed the entry requirements for RG and other universities and I was surprised to see the pathway where creative subjects were accepted for 'academic' degrees.

DD is bright, but wants to invest her time into subjects she enjoys and I do believe that she will obtain better results where she has a passion as she can 'lose interest'. However she recognises that she doesn't want to limit her choices.

I would like to know what the software is - are there any sixth form tutors who are aware of this - I imagine it is by subscription but having DD16 look through this I hope would give her some confidence as to her pathway.

(I would contact her old school but it is closed for summer).

Was it Unifrog ? No need to pay though as can just use the course search function on UCAS website and it will show you all the Unis that offer that, and any related, courses. Can then look and see the entry requirements.

There's no combination of A levels which doesn't restrict degree choices one way or another.

What sorts of 'academic' degree subject is she considering? If she's not keen enough to want to do A levels relevant to it, then would studying it for three years suit her, and would she want to follow the career paths that degree might enable? If her interests and aptitudes are more 'creative' then maybe that's where she should be heading anyway.

Thank you @mumsneedwine - it wasn't Unifrog and I am looking at the UCAS entry requirements, I appreciate your suggestion :)

Does she know what she wants to to post-A level? It is pretty easy to check-out the requirements of any given University for any given course if you just look them up direct. There are sites which will give average and collated info also, but any 20 or 21 results need to be treated with extreme caution. Use these in combination with the Uni sites.
If she wants to do eg Drama/Music/Art/Dance, look at a variety of institutions and check what they say. Or maybe she doesn't know so look at, say, Liberal Arts or Business.
Usually, although not always, a 3rd subject can be in anything, esp as she is clearly not going to going down a narrow STEM route. Lower tariff institutions will be very broad in the subjects they will consider. Even outwith STEM some institutions can be specific about A Levels in general, eg LSE consider Business Studies to be 'non-preferred' so although it doesn't rule you out, it would madness to include this as 1 of 3 for such a competitive Uni. Some places are specific about the 'pots' which A Levels fall in for specific courses, eg BSc Management at Bath want a numerical subject, an essay-based subject and a 'relevant' 3rd.

It's a shame that the current government's anti creativity rhetoric has led to young people doubting and eschewing the subjects they love. Rest assured , it is best all round that your DD does what she enjoys most, and is best at. The most important thing is a clutch of good results.

As a teacher, I have seen loads of young people, especially girls, funnelled into sciences and maths and then really struggling.

Creativity and academics are not mutually exclusive.

Unless there are subject specific entry requirements all any uni - Russell Group or otherwise- wants is students who meet their entry standard.

The only factor I'd encourage her to consider is workload. Look at whether subjects have coursework, what that entails, how many exams there are. Keeping a mix is good.

My child is planning on doing all creative subjects at A Level too. It seems very uncommon and therefore I was a bit unsure if this was the best path.

However, 6th form and teachers are supportive. Looking like a Music degee, so her logic is to do the subjects she is best at and enjoys the most. Will be doing an EPQ too.

It's hard to know if universities treat subjects differently on entry or if the grades mater most..

No matter what combination of A levels a young person takes there will be a degree out there where that combination does not allow them to apply.

It is, however unlikely that a young person taking English, music and history for example will want to apply for maths/sciency type degrees. Similarly it is unlikely that a young person taking maths, biology and chemistry will want to apply for English or art degrees.

If there are any areas your dd is interested in then get her to look up the requirements for that subject and see if there are any pre-requisites for example. But on the whole it is better to get the best grades possible in subjects she enjoys and is good at.

This is quite a good website https://www.informedchoices.ac.uk/start

I would say surely it’s more important to consider the specifics needed for the courses that interest her as people have mentioned above. So if she wants to take English at degree level obviously she’ll need English A Level but the rest likely won’t matter. Medicine obviously needs (I think) all 3 or at least two science subjects, sports related degrees would likely need PE and possible biology…..what are her thoughts for the next step?

My family were very much “you must do traditional subjects” with me and believed that art, music, drama, phycology, media studies etc would count for nothing. I wanted to do Sociology and my parents wouldn’t let me. I managed to persuade them to let me do Food Technology which they thought “wouldn’t count to UCAS” but that class was the only one I enjoyed and I got an A. My 3 “traditional” subjects I got Cs and Ds. And what my parents said about creative non traditional non academic subjects not counting to UCAS was absolute BS and I sadly realised too late. Sixth form was an academic drag for me.

Let her do her creative A Levels, especially if she’s not sure where she’s heading for. The only subject I can think of that doesn’t “count” is General Studies (and that might not even be true/ around anymore). I did Primary Education at university and it didn’t matter what A Levels you did you just needed the right grades (and that’s for a pretty major career!)

Its never too late either. I guess I look back and remember that at the time of A Levels, I thought this was my one true chance at a good life, likewise going to uni was the only option and if I screwed up A Levels I could forget about any kind of quality of life. At the end of the day the A Levels are a step to the next level and no one set of steps will get to every destination immediately. Heck if I think of some of the routes myself and indeed many friends have gone to get to where we want to be (and are still chopping and changing now), nothing is the end.

If she doesn’t know her path, she should do the subjects that she has interest in and she has passion for. Even the creative ones are hard, there’s no easier option. They’ll still show that she can commit to work and will still show her intelligence. And they’ll open pathways for her regardless of which ones they are.

What I would suggest is to have a look at a few university online prospectuses and the degrees they have on offer and work it backwards. If she sees a degree she likes the look of have a look at what the entry requirements are. So many do just come down to 3 x A level grades in any subjects whatsoever.

As PP have said, many courses require one or two A-levels (or even three for some STEM and/or joint honours). But unis generally don't care what the other A-levels are, since all of them require focus and hard work.

@Piggywaspushed has it - she needs to take subjects for A level that she will enjoy. How miserable to take A levels in subjects you don't like so as to do an "academic" degree (whatever that is - really most degrees are academic ime).

And as lots of PPs say, whatever A levels you take will restrict your degree options. I often see ppl on MN saying their child does not want to restrict options but it's impossible not to.

DD took Eng lit, French and geography - three traditional subjects. But obviously, she immediately excluded herself from any science or maths degree, from a degree in history or engineering, from a degree in medicine or vet science. All good as she was not interested in any of those.

OP have a look a unifrog, and also have a look at a few actual uni courses your DD may be interested in. What do they require? what grades and subjects might she need? If she really doesn't have a goal post A levels, then she should do the ones she likes.

Have you looked at these:

[[https://www.theuniguide.co.uk/
SACU
SACU also has a Career Quiz
National Careers Service

DS was given these links by his secondary school at a careers talk.

My child is planning on doing all creative subjects at A Level too. It seems very uncommon and therefore I was a bit unsure if this was the best path.

I may be completely wrong, but I thought some of the reason for that was because of concerns about the workload in doing multiple high coursework subjects. Not because there's anything wrong with any of them.

My DD is doing three humanities for A level. DS did Econ, Maths and Biology and bitterly regrets the latter two as from what I’ve observed they are way harder to get the top grades in.

IMO this is bc you are up against the medics in Bio who all need A and the maths genii in Maths who will take all the A places. Humanities of course has outliers but they are just that rather than the norm which means the top grades are more achievable.

As pp have said the majority of degrees and institutions don’t give a fig what the A level results are in, just the grades. So she should go for the ones she likes and has interest in as she’s likely to do best in those.

Oh annoying star building thing

should say IMO this is bc you are up against the medics in Bio who all need Astar and the maths genii in Maths who will take all the Astar places

Thank you for the feed back and links - I am conscious that the workload for the creative subjects can be greater (DD has acknowledged the work she put into her mocks for Art to achieve an 8 far outweighed the work she put in for 8's in her other subjects) - I'm out of touch with my own experience of traditional A' levels and degree. I am also conscious that DD suffers from severe anxiety, a spread workload / assessments is probably more emotionally manageable than final examinations.

You don't need an A star in anything for medicine. Just for info if anyone reading is interested. AAA and even AAB is enough.

That's not really the case with maths - and even more with further maths - because these subjects tend to be taken predominantly by people who are good at maths, they have a higher percentage of top grades awarded than some other subjects.

It's also why non-mainstream languages (both modern and classical) "seem" to be easy when you look at the grade breakdown; only people who are excellent at them would pick them in the first place!

It's a bit counter-intuitive till you think about it!

@Nomoreplease23 More info would help as there are a few relevant points.
You mention creative and Art, so are you talking about 3 very creative A-levels like Art, Media and Photography?
You also say 'bright', so is DC aspiring to 7+ and A+ at GCSE/A-levels?

Some Unis require certain subjects, regardless of grades or the course (hence my question about 'creative'). See here for Sheffield.
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/apply/levels

The top x% of unis, in a lot of subjects, will want certain grades AND certain subject(s).
E.g. York Computer Science AAA including Maths.
If you drop down a level then no subjects required.
E.g. Cardiff Comp Science ABB, BUT need GCSE Maths 6 (if not taking Maths A-level).

So, strangely, in a way, the brighter you are, and aspiring to the top unis, the more restricted you are (if you have a more niche/unusual choice at A-level).
E.g. if you don't take Maths A-level you can't get on to courses that require it!
But you can get on to similar courses at a slightly lower level.

If DC changes subjects then most people would probably agree that Maths is a good 'facilitator', brings in maths, IT, finance, engineering, etc.
If you do maths, however, then you get into the debate about whether DC should do FM though!

Some other examples.
York History, AAA including an A in either History or Classical Civilisation.

York Environmental Science, ABB including two of the following science subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Geology, Environmental Studies, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology or Life and Health Sciences.

York Human Geography & Environment, AAB including Geography.

York Interactive Media, ABB (no specific subjects).

I don't understand why you keep writing about comp sci and maths??

@Piggywaspushed And this is exactly the reason why I haven't posted in a long time!

I have knowledge in that area. Just like other people post (and should) using their knowledge.

You'll also see there are other examples in there!

The point of the post is to try to get across the (any) subject criteria, for high entry level courses, particularly STEM.