Achieved A levels / applying for University 2025

[LydiaBee]

I wonder if anyone with more experience can help? DD has just received her A level results , she achieved AAA in Maths, Economics and Geography. Her GCSES were a mix of 8/7 and two 6's. She wants to apply for University entry in 2025 , the courses she likes are very competitive .She has the grade requirements but only just.She has a job (a years contract connected to one of her subjects) starting in September.

Neither DH or I went to university or grew up.in the UK.. Will.her achieved grades be a benefit?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The best thing about applying "grades in hand" or "PQA" (post-qualification application) is that most universities will decide very quickly and give a yes/no within a few weeks or even days, especially if she applies sooner rather than later when the bulk of applications are sent. (There are some exceptions to that.)

What help have her school/college given her so far with her UCAS form? She should apply via her school/college so they can complete the reference. Because she has her grades in hand it's a more simple process to find a suitable course and to get an offer. Once she has received all her offers from the unis she has applied to then she can decide which to accept and that is where she will start in 2025.

There are some exceptions but it worked well for our DS.

Has she looked if the course was in clearing this year?

Great results @LydiaBee well done her!

Can you share what courses and where? Someone may have specific intel. If it’s economics at LSE she probs needs FM, but otherwise three As is great and Yy she should at least get an unconditional offer when she does.

Thank you all for replying..She is interested in LSE but not straight economics @clary. The school are being very helpful, she is writing her personal statement now. She hasn't.looked at clearing because she wants to try for her top choices.

The good thing is with grades in hand, she can know at once if she has got in or not if that makes sense! She can apply to some now and then add others btw - schools don't always make that clear.

I believe you can find out online what proportion of the intake (eg to LSE) had FM and what grades they got which might give you a bit of a steer.

Sorry I didn't want clear. I meant to look at clearing to see if the course she's interested in is there.

Vet Med was in clearing at Nottingham with BBB this year.

Just thought that if the bourse is in clearing then it might ease her mind

She has an excellent set of grades but LSE is incredibly competitive, entry requirements typically include A star grades and successful applicants are usually predicted them, so unless she has found a course there where she meets the entry requirements, I would look to apply elsewhere.

She has found a course with AAA requirements @petproject. I know many will still have A* predicted but I am hoping because she has the required grades it might be enough. Maybe that's unrealistic.

Bear in mind that for popular courses at top unis, most of the successful applicants will have higher grades than the advertised grade requirements. UCAS has a tool now that shows what the typical grades the students have for any particular course, so worth having a play with that. If you look up Geography and Economics at the LSE for instance, you can see that while the minimum grade requirement is AAA, most students have at 2 A stars and an A, and that only 2 in 5 applicants get an offer. Given that, it is unlikely that three As in hand will beat all the applicants with their three A-star predictions.

On the other hand, the personal statement is also important (particularly at LSE) and her relevant work should also stand her in good stead.

Also note having grades in hand will NOT necessarily mean that you will hear back more quickly!

My DD applied to LSE with three A star grades in hand and A star EPQ (don't think they care about EOQ) and was rejected, even though the course is not as popular as some (not economics/math/law) and the 'typical offer' is AAB. Fact is LSE is 70% international and they have very high grades, and I imagine the majority of home applicants have A stars predicted. They put great emphasis on the PS.
Anyway it's but one of five so no harm in applying to a couple very competitive courses.
My DD found in the case of LSE she didn't hear any earlier, but got an offer from Glasgow within 24 hours and Durham (usually a late responder) offered in November. Bath took its time though and despite applying in early November didn't offer til March.
The main plus is offers are unconditional which removes a huge amount of stress.

I think that we need to think again @mondaytosunday , her choices seem far to competitive for her grades. I hope your daughter is enjoying her course, that is a fantastic set of grades. Congratulations to her.

Check with school whether she needs to do a personal statement. I believe that part of the application is changing.
DS had grades in hand and had very quick ofers from course where he met the grades but also had an offer from a course where he was two grades off . If she meets the grades for LSE then she stands a good chance of receiving an unconditional offer.
Also be prepared for her to maybe do a u turn ,after 12mnths a lot can change. Maybe suggest she applies to her two top choicesand leaves 3 blank.She then has 3 choices spare if she changes her mind she can then use those choices later on. And she can go into clearing from July.
It is so much easier with grades in hand.

Thanks @LydiaBee. She starts at Durham next month. She applied to Cambridge (absolutely her top choice) but was unsuccessful.
There can be a very fine line between who gets an offer and who doesn't, and I don't think the universities themselves can explain exactly why one candidate is accepted and another not when grades are high - subject combination? GCSE grades? PS? The admissions person's mood on the day?
Somebody has to get an offer though, but weigh up the competitiveness of the course (economics related degrees generally are), whether they 'highly recommend' FM as one of the A levels - not every school offers it so I don't think it can be a requirement, but if you see that 95% of admitted students have it, well...), and the university itself.
Some universities also make contextual offers, though Oxbridge does not but do have outreach programs.
There are league tables of course, but really your DD has to make a list, do further research and try and visit during open days to get a feel of the place. My DD rejected Bristol and Exeter after looking around. She liked Glasgow, but felt it didn't offer that much more to overcome the distance, weather and that it was four years instead of three. She liked Durham itself, even though she didn't find the subject taster session better than others, but she could see herself there, and fortunately got her first choice of college which was a big factor.
So while Having grades allowed her to target better, she still didn't get offers from the two most competitive - being PQA with top grades didn't overcome whatever else they found lacking in her application. But as I said, it removed much of the stress, and she's known with certainty where she is going to go since April.

I am not saying don't apply to LSE if it is your daughter's aspirational choice but my son was rejected this year with 3 A*s and an A in 4 A Levels including FM. It really did feel like it was even harder to get into than Oxbridge and extremely nail biting as they left my son waiting for an outcome right up until just before the UCAS deadline. He is not sure that he would apply again.

It may be worth applying as one of the 5 options but as their intake is not large and is comprised of a lot of international students I think she will be lucky to get a place. The best thing to do is pick a selection of universities that include eg two aspirational and three she should confidently get into with her grades. Hope it goes well.

Hi OP. As others have said, LSE is more if a postgrad institution. At undergrad, 70% of intake is from overseas.
My DD applied for Geography (supposedly not one if their more competitive subjects). She applied with four A stars predicted (subjects were Geography, Economics, Politics, Maths) and an A star EPQ (already achieved in Year 12). She applied to -

Oxford (rejected)
UCL - offer in Nov
Bath - offer within about 3 days
Durham - offer in about Jan / Feb
LSE - radio silence..,, radio silence until the deadline day in May... ???... still radio silence,,, she had to call them..,, "sorry you are rejected."

Bearing in mind, she applied in late Sept, how could it have taken them 8 MONTHS to respond? And even then, she had to call them - past the deadline day!

In the end, she was so worn out with the whole thing, she took a gap year, through sheer exhaustion. Second time around she applied with 4 A stars in hand, plus the EPQ A star (also had 11 9s at GCSE). She applied to -

Bristol - unconditional offer within days
Oxford - unconditional offer (accepted that)
UCL - unconditional offer in Dec
Durham - had not heard by the time she accepted Oxford in the Jan
LSE again - just for fun! Had not heard by the time she accepted Oxford in Jan - so who knows? Wouldn't have surprised me at all if they'd rejected her again in May.

Anyway, LSE did her a favour actually, because if she'd been accepted in Year 13, she probably would have gone, even though we live in London and she didn't really want a London uni, experience-wise. She had a blast at Oxford, loved the whole thing, and got a first. More recently, LSE did offer two Masters programmes to her - but she turned them down.

@sunraze Very interesting story about your extremely high-achieving daughter than LSE failed to catch! And provides further back-up to my hypothesis that LSE hasn't got nearly as efficient an undergraduate admissions system as it likes to think.

Don't put her off LSE. But do make sure one of the other four is realistic.

Yes agree that LSE is worth a punt as long as she is realistic about her chances. To add to PPs’ stories:
A friends DC applied grades in hand to study economics (straight econ tbf) at LSE, Imperial, UCL Leeds and one other RG. He has two A stars and two As, inc F, and was rejected from all apart from the last RG. Mum was shocked but I felt he was honestly badly advised in his applications.

So I suggest checking how many successful applicants to the course she is looking at had FM; and be prepared to look at some lower-ranked unis as well.

@LydiaBee My DD applied with A levels already achieved. She had AAA in Maths, Geography and Politics and applied to:
LSE BA Geography
UCL BA Geography
KCL BA Geography
Manchester International Disaster Management and Humanitarian Response
York Global Development
She received unconditional offers from all of them. LSE was the one she wanted and she receive an offer on 14th Feb. She graduated last year. Having achieved grades in hand will certainly help but the personal statement is key for LSE.

yes agree re importance of PS for LSE. Friend’s lad’s was not great tbf. Meant to say his Alevels included FM not F!

My DC applied for a deferred place when in Y13. I asked admissions people if she would be a stronger candidate if she applied grades in hand and they said no, that all applications are reviewed the same way and that the only difference if made an offer is that it would be unconditional. These were RG unis for BSC Geo (with either a placement year or study abroad requiring AAA and A star AA at Exeter)

Hi, @LydiaBee

Former Russell Group admissions tutor here (STEM subject). Many universities will give someone making a PQA a quick response, but more and more of the most competitive programmes are making ‘tiered responses’. Your DD’s excellent but not absolute top results make subject her to a lower tier response in some cases. It doesn’t mean all hope is lost but it isn’t pleasant.

Eg there are several programmes at LSE with an entry requirement of AAA not including FM. However the reality is that FM is probably helpful; furthermore no university is averse to the dosh that comes with Overseas students.

So on the Home student front, such a programme may first admit applicants with achieved or predicted grades of A star A star A including FM. If that doesn’t give a sufficient yield, they may drop either the second star or the FM on the second cull. Then drop both in the third. PQA applicants with achieved AAA might get in at this stage, or they might be put off to the fourth round when those with PGs of AAA start getting offers.

Of course there is more to it than this - the PS, etc as PP have said.

Predicted grades are not very accurate, so although I don’t like this tiering and fear that ultimately it perpetuates the problem, in the short term I understand it. However I see no reason it should apply to PQA applicants, yet it does. Best wishes to DD

Thank you all so much for the detailed replies it's very helpful to hear from people who know what they are talking about. DD will have to rethink a bit, all the courses she wants to apply for are AAA so she could be left with no offers. She was disappointed with her GCSE results so was hoping for better A levels ,that is she is applying post results. She said get any A* (she was hoping for one or even two),

We will have another look at courses and be more realistic about her options. I really appreciate all the helpfulness advice.