Any point in applying to Oxford with GCSE grade 6…

[Testerical]

in Maths? She got 7/6 in combined science. The rest were all 7s + 2 9s in non-STEM subjects.

DD is interested in experimental psychology.

She won’t have the required A Levels for similar at Cambridge.

She is predicted A star/ A star/ B in Psychology A Level/ Criminology (WJEC - L3 equivalent)/ Philosophy and Ethics A Level respectively.

She has tried out the screening tests Oxford use for logic, verbal and mathematical reasoning, and is scoring ~= 90%.

Loads of highly relevant paid work and voluntary work experience - circa 8 hrs a week over 2 years.

She always thought she was “not academic” throughout her schooling. But, her predicted grades and her unexpected success with the screening tests (plus sheer stubbornness about not having been “put forward” for Oxbridge by her school) has made her do a bit of a rethink.

She has another very niche, very expensive course in mind which I’m sure she would love and do well at so this is a “what if” sort of proposition rather than her singleminded goal.

Also, on that subject - do institutions you’ve applied to through UCAS see which other places you’ve applied to? I’d naively presumed it was like schools, where applications were blind … but maybe not: if not, I think they’d be baffled by the other application choice as although in the same ballpark it isn’t immediately adjacent.

She won’t be covered under any school or neighbourhood- based widening participation criteria, which is fair enough, as both parents have degrees and own their own houses with mortgages. She does have a moderate SpLd and gets 25% extra time but I’m not sure that’s relevant here aside from getting her additional time for the screening tests.

(edited because the formatting did weird things to predicted grades)

Many sixth forms ask for a 7 in maths to do a level psychology and not sure what they would think of the level 3 equivalent. However, it’s only one option from 5 so as long as her other choices are a bit more achievable then why not?

Won’t she need straight A predictions at A level for Oxford?

Mine did, she should go for it! She should also confirm that she has a SpLD.

She is doing A Level psych (not L3 equivalent - that’s criminology, for which there is no Ofqual approved A Level). My Q was specifically relating to Oxford and experimental psych, as it says they look for a grade 7 maths GCSE, which she does not have …

Interesting! Thanks for replying. What course did your child apply for?

Experimental Psychology at Oxford is quite mathematical- if you look at the.entrance requirements it says A star A A and recommends a 7 or above at maths GCSE. But as PP says it’s only one choice out of 5.

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/psychology-experimental

I’m sorry but I don’t think she would get an interview as they ask for both a 7 in maths, and a prediction of A* A A at a-level. I believe they stick fairly rigidly to this when shortlisting for interviews.

The B is a problem, and the lack of another science/Maths won’t help, nor will the GCSE Maths. If she wasn’t a straight rejection I’d be very surprised tbh.

FYI though they don’t know what else the students have applied for, although if they write their personal statement about why they want to study criminology that would give it away.

Okay thank you all. I did wonder.

It might be worth a speculative application but I’ll warn her it’s unlikely ;/. Shame her one B prediction can’t be bumped up but it’s possibly accurate. Oh well, God loves a trier 😂

Maths is really important in Experimental Psychology. DS dropped Maths A level and was really challenged about this at his interview. He got a place to do Experimental Psychology and Philosophy but they insisted he did some extra maths to A level standard to ensure he could cope with the course. Not sure he'd have been accepted onto single honours EP. So it is possible, but it could be hard. As long as she can prove she is really good at the maths required for statistics and data analysis then she is in with a chance.

I know someone who was hopeless at maths and got in to Oxford, but it was to do a completely maths-free arts subject. Experimental psychology has quite a lot of maths I believe so I'm afraid I wouldn't rate her chances.

Re whether unis know where else you’ve applied - no, they don’t. But if they’re doing early entry for oxford, Cambridge or the clinical courses then the other institutions may guess at that. If theyre applying for some disparate courses it may be tricky to tailor the answers to the PS questions (in the format to be used from 2026 onward) to suit them all.

Tbh Im not sure if your DDs grades - gcse and the predicted B for P&E (if I’ve understood what you wrote correctly) will be congruent with Oxford requirements. If it’s not clear from the info on the uni website, best advice is generally for the student to contact the admissions people - should be email addresses somewhere on the site.

Yeah, she is competent at maths but not A Level maths A-grade standard: A maths- centred degree, it won’t be for her. I’m really surprised experimental psych is so maths-heavy. Stats, yes, I get that, but —controversially, stats is SO much easier than pure maths—

Damn, can’t make it do strike through. You get my drift.

A smaller point, but one which adds to the bigger picture, is that your DD has combined science rather than triple, with two good but not excellent grades. The acceptance rate is about 1 in 8. As previous PP have suggested, the chances of being invited for interview are not high.

Yeh sorry @Testerical I agree with PPs.

I came on to say that a mate of DS's went to Cambridge with a 6 in his GCSEs BUT it was to study maths (which he got A stars for x 2 at A level) and his 6 was in English language. Cambs also I gather less fussed about GCSE grades than Oxford, esp if not related to degree.

A 6 in maths GCSE and no post-16 maths is not ideal for a psych degree anyway; and if Oxford wants a 7 in maths GCSE and A-star AA at A level then it doesn’t look hopeful. Added to that, the L3 WJEC course which is not an A level is another negative for Oxford, which usually wants 3 x A levels. The L3 course should be fine for most other unis tho.

Nothing to stop her applying and as long as she doesn't have five other places she desperately wants to list, then nothing lost I guess. But I would discuss the reality with her. All the best to her – sounds as tho she has really found her mojo on sixth form.

What is the relevant work experience that she's done? If she gets to interview stage, that might count for a lot - e.g. experience with lab work, research assistant, something that uses stats or maths, health/medical/bio jobs, all would be good for experimental psychology.

Always great to check on here for realistic perspectives :) I’ll have the convo with her as it doesn’t look realistic. Nevertheless she is VERY stubborn so might give it a whirl and likely it’ll come to nothing. I mean, it’d be wonderful for her if she got an interview but I suspect it wouldn’t be her dream course anyway.

I shortlist applicants at an Oxbridge college, and we don’t ask applicants for interview if their predicted grades are below A*AA, unfortunately — our Admissions Tutor makes it a blanket rule.

Colleges (and subjects) do differ in admissions policy, so I can’t speak for all the others. But Oxford as a whole tends to “desummon” (not invite to interview) quite a big proportion of applicants, so there is a fair chance she would waste that UCAS slot applying with a predicted grade of B in one subject.

Could she plan to take a gap year and focus instead on getting the A-level results that would meet Oxford’s threshold? It’s quite normal to apply after A-levels with grades in hand.

Gosh - that’s pretty stark, but I’m grateful to you for sharing your experience.

Gap year to improve one grade wouldn’t appeal to her - she doesn’t care that much about Oxbridge entry, very much of the “be nice if it happened but never mind” school of thought. Her other plan is much more career focused and medium-term earnings- driven, which is not how I saw things at her age but hey ho!

hello Op, I have a younger dd than yours who is also very interested in psychology/criminology and I wondered what kind of work experience your dd has found interesting and also what is her second choice university degree, if you don’t mind sharing?

Ive also been worrying about the heavy stats content of a psychology degree as dd like maths and is good at it, but she hasn’t chosen A levels yet and I suspect she’d rather not do maths. She is at a comprehensive and has a maths gcse teacher who is pretty awful, so it’s hard to see yourself doing A level when you’ve had a difficult gcse experience.

@Testerical My DD applied to Oxford this year for Exp. Psychology. She actually had the A level grades in hand, Biology, Psychology, Maths and Chemistry (2 A stars and 2 A grades) but she didn't get an interview and they told us it was due to the TSA 1 exam and that she didn't quite reach the threshold cut off for going to next stage in the admissions process.

It's one of the most popular and competitive courses so does attract more capable applicants than they can possibly manage.

There are other places with excellent Psychology departments around the country, which I expect your DD is aware of. And even Cardiff ranks in the top 10 this year for Psychology and would be a good safety choice.

I wouldn't bother with a 6 for such a maths-heavy course

I also don't think the work experience would count in her favour at Oxford - my understanding is they don't give you brownie points for WE because they know not everyone can easily do placements etc and therefore feel its discriminatory. When my dc interviewed they actually stopped the interview clock to ask about theirextracurricular stuff that was relevant to the subject because the interviewers was interested, but they told dc specifically that that conversation wouldn't count towards the interview score. Posssibly it put dc in good odour but it wasn't a deal breaker. Interviews tend to be specifically around the subject, putting hypotheticals to the candidate to see how they think on their feet.

However that work experience WILL count a lot at other unis. Good luck to your dd, I'm sure she'll do brilliantly.

On your other question - no other institutions can't see where you've applied

Other institutions can't see where you have applied until you make your firm and insurance choices. Then they can.