Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

GCSE English. Does a B mean Oxford is out of the question?

37 replies

3littlefrogs · 21/08/2014 19:13

Just that really.
Does a B in English mean Oxford will not be an option?
All the rest are A* and A.

I have posted on a couple of other threads, but didn't want to hijack.

OP posts:
overthemill · 22/08/2014 22:21

Talkinpeace do you mean for any uni or simply Oxbridge? Because my eldest dd got a B at GCSE and a B (2 marks off A) at A level for the subject she is now studying at Nottingham. I was genuinely surprised as her offer from them stipulated an A but she got in any way.

KatherinaMinola · 22/08/2014 22:27

I agree times have changed and there has been grade inflation. My point was really that absolute perfection is not necessary (although good grades are, of course). Admissions tutors can see past the odd blip.

Mumoftwoyoungkids · 22/08/2014 22:50

Talkin That is a good point - I did mean to mention grade inflation but forgot. (Sodding sleep deprivation.)

However, I think it is not as extreme as people seem to imagine. I'm quite a bit more errr youthful than you and took my GCSEs in the mid 90s. My C grade at GCSE puts me in the "top" 53% for 1995. A B grade or better in 2014 is about the top 47%. So very similar to my C in comparison. (And I also got a C in technology and a couple of Bs too.) I applied to 6 (Oxbrdge / Russell Group) universities and got 6 offers.

However, I have a friend who wanted to do Geography and was rejected from Nottingham without interview because of her GCSEs. She took them in 1998 and got 7As and 3As but the course was so popular they rejected all getting less than 8As. Shock

In the end, getting into university is a competition. Whether you get in depends solely on how you do in comparison to everyone else who wants to do your course at that particular time.

Cambridge is a funny case though as they interview most people and like Katherina says seem to be looking for a spark. I am pretty sure I got in because I got all excited over the number 37. (Which for the record is a really really cool number and if you ask me really really nicely - or in fact not at all nicely - I will tell you why! Oh sod it - it's too cool not to share - ok 37 * 7 is 259. If you rotate the digits - 592 and 925 - these numbers are also multiples of 37. This is true for any 3 digit multiple of 37. Now tell me that is not cool?)

DeWee · 22/08/2014 23:47

When I was at Oxford we got a letter from the proctors (university police) warning about exam celebrations in "pubic places". Grin

Molio · 22/08/2014 23:51

Agree. What passed muster in the 80s or 90s wouldn't pass muster now.

Blu · 23/08/2014 00:04

So is Oxford the only place you can study MFL?

Original poster
3littlefrogs · 23/08/2014 00:20

DD and I both know there are lots of other universities.

If she left school and got a job and was happy, I would be happy.

She has expressed a desire to study at Oxford for at least the last 3 years, but has lots of other ideas and alternative plans too. We both want to ensure that we have all the right information so that she has as many choices as possible. It would be a pity if something like a GCSE grade closed a particular door when a remark might possibly change things.

OP posts:
WhereforeArtThou · 23/08/2014 08:27

Shhhh! , Mumoftwoyoungkids Don't tell everyone how cool 37 is or everyone will want one. Wink.

BeckAndCall · 23/08/2014 08:39

mumoftwo and wherefore - have you got your own little mathmo corner going on there? Grin. You're too cool for school, for sure......

Back on topic, I'd be really surprised if it were common to read MFL at Oxford with a B in English but I bet it happens. It certainly happens in the science subjects as friends of DS prove but must be unusual in humanities.

That said, I assume there is an aptitude test for MFL (as for most other subjects?) and that is at least as important to them as GCSE results.

queenofthemountain · 23/08/2014 09:28

One of my students was told by Durham this year that he was not given an offer for physics due to his B for GCSE Eng lit. All his other GCSE grades were A and A.*

Do you mean for 2014 entry? That is very strange because my friend's DS got in there with 4A* and 2As everything else at B/C

Cerisier · 23/08/2014 12:09

Yes it was for 2014 entry.

Shootingatpigeons · 23/08/2014 14:47

My DD didn't try for Oxbridge because they didn't do the combined honours she wanted but she did apply to 4 of the top universities for English to read English in combined honours. She got a B in English Literature at GCSE, in the first year of Gove's random deflation strategy, as did a few others at her school who had been predicted A. At the time it seemed as if her hopes of reading English were dashed, most top universities at that time were looking for strings of As, especially in English but after getting very high As at AS she decided to bet on the universities realising it had been a fiasco. She had 5 offers, and has exceeded her offer grades. Mind Oxford have not admitted her friend because she didn't make her AAA offer, she got 2 A*s with full marks, including in English, and 1 B.

So the answer is probably maybe it will be an option, maybe it won't but it is always worth a try.....

New posts on this thread. Refresh page