University FAQ

Rising numbers of teenagers are abandoning A-levels in favour of alternative qualifications, like the IB or Pre-U exams, amid a backlash over major changes to the exams system. Big reforms being introduced in the coming years include a move to end-of-course exams, the downgrading of coursework, the abolition of AS-levels in their present form and the introduction of new syllabuses.

Not at all, as the IB Diploma is a very demanding and broad qualification which is seen as quite distinct by admissions tutors. The existence of the A* has largely removed the anomaly of equating a 7 at Higher Level with an A at A-level as the highest grades of each qualification.

There are no ‘soft subjects’ in the IB; all subjects have rigorous academic content. However, admissions tutors of top universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge, prefer candidates to have just one subject at HL out of the following: Theatre, Visual Arts and Design Technology.

The offers made by universities are usually in terms of overall Diploma points and often include specific grades at Higher Level; for example, an offer for Medicine could be 38 points and 666 at Higher Level to include Biology and Chemistry. Sometimes there is a requirement for English for overseas students (HL or SL), for Maths or a subject most closely related to the degree applied for.

Generally, universities take a favourable view of gap years as long as they are not spent doing nothing. A structured gap year can enhance an applicant’s Personal Statement, and being more mature and independent is also seen as an advantage. This may not apply where the planned degree course involves the study of Mathematics as it is thought that students will forget what they have learned during a year away from its study; though students can get around these fears by doing a Maths course during their gap year.

It depends on the university and the course. If a course is vastly oversubscribed or has a very small intake (as is often the case with Oxbridge colleges), admissions tutors are inclined to give preference to candidates for the next academic year. This is particularly true of Oxford. Where students take gap years, they can, of course, apply after they have achieved their IB Diplomas – an option which makes them more popular with admissions tutors, as they know their actual IB total. When in doubt, it is best to email the university department in question and ask where they stand on DE.

There are several advantages: A student with his/her grades in hand can target university courses more successfully and university offers are unconditional. Furthermore PQA applicants are often preferred by admissions tutors as they can be sure that the candidate has already achieved the necessary points. It gives students who are undecided about their degree or course another year to make up their minds. If their I/GCSE results were disappointing, these will largely be ignored by admissions tutors if the IB results reflect a significant improvement.

Not many, with the exception of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine/Science and Dentistry applicants, who are nearly always interviewed. Applicants for Fine Art, Drama, Music and Architecture will mostly have interviews with portfolios or auditions. Year on year this changes and it depends on the universities and the character of the course. UCL has a number of subjects where they interview while other universities invite students they wish to make an offer to for an Open Day and an ‘interview’ which is more like an informal chat.

Medicine is an extremely competitive subject so it is important to research all medical schools very carefully. They roughly fall into the following groups:

• Old versus new
• Large versus small
• PBL (problem-based learning) versus integrated (systems based) versus traditional
• City versus campus
• BMAT or UCAT required

Medical applicants can only put four medical courses on their UCAS forms, plus one other, related course, such as Biomedical Sciences. This makes it important to ‘spread one’s bets’ in terms of location and application ratios. In a recent year, for example, Bristol had 17 applicants per place, while Belfast had four. The latter is unlikely to receive many applications from independent schools in the South East of England offering the IB, improving our students’ chances. Further, one can increase one’s chances by not choosing only medical schools which require the BMAT test (Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, Imperial, Leeds and Brighton & Sussex) in case of no more than an average expected score, or are located in London (because they attract lots of good applicants from around the world).

Although the application ratios at Cambridge and Oxford appear favourable, these institutions are looking primarily for students who are excellent scientists and have the potential for doing medical research. The pre-clinical course is also highly theoretical with very little patient contact so it attracts a particular kind of student. If one does not fit this type, an offer from Oxbridge is unlikely and an application there is a waste of a choice.

The financial help available from UK universities is based on financial need, rather than academic excellence, ie they offer bursaries. Some scholarships are awarded for excellence in sport or music, and some professional bodies provide scholarships for shortage subjects (for example, Engineering or Sciences). Small awards are made by some Oxbridge colleges for top students after the first-year exams.

The government has for a number of years pursued the goal of ‘widening participation’ in higher education. This means that universities have to be seen to be open to applicants from all social backgrounds and actively seek to encourage less privileged students to apply by offering talks, workshops and preparation courses. However, when it comes to considering applications universities’ overriding interest is to attract the best students, from whatever background. There is no evidence that independent school applicants are disadvantaged.

It is essential for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine/Science and Dentistry and advisable for other vocational degree courses, such as Law, Business/Economics, Engineering and Architecture. For other courses work experience can underline the applicant’s commitment to the subject but it is not expected. Far more important is securing a strong IB Diploma score and reading widely around your chosen degree subject.

University league tables might be reliable in the statistical sense in as much as the data is collected and calculated accurately but they are not necessarily valid.

As a recent research paper puts it: ‘The measures used by the compilers are largely determined by the data available rather than by clear and coherent concepts of, for example, “excellence” or “a world class university”. Consequently, some of the measures used are poor proxies for the qualities identified. This brings into question the validity of the overall tables.’

From our perspective, league tables are a good starting point for research into one’s university and subject choices but they have to be taken with a large pinch of salt.

Yes and no. Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and Warwick (but not for PPE or Economics and Politics) plus a number of other top universities require it but there are many other excellent ones which do not, for example Bath (SL7), Birmingham (SL6), Bristol (SL7), Durham (SL7), Edinburgh (SL6) and Nottingham. For up-to-date information on all entry requirements go to www.ucas.ac.uk and Course Search. When you look up the entry requirements for the Economics courses, the IB is listed on a tab on the left of the screen.

Very important for those applicants who have taken them, as they provide admissions tutors with a universal measure of academic excellence. Predicted grades may be equally or more important but any discrepancy in achievement would have to be explained in our academic reference. Also, many schools are poor predictors of final results; this leads some admissions tutors to be sceptical about predictions and to rely more heavily on the ‘hard currency’ of I/GCSE results. Where a student has improved significantly between I/GCSE and the IB, we recommend a post-qualification application (PQA, see below).

There is no easy way into Oxford or Cambridge, whichever the college. All colleges are looking for academic excellence and enthusiasm for the proposed degree subject. Both universities operate policies to ensure a fair chance for all applicants. Oxford redistributes applicants from oversubscribed colleges to others during the interview period, while Cambridge uses a ‘pool’ where excellent students who could not be taken because of numbers are offered to other colleges. While there are league tables for Oxbridge colleges (Norrington and Tompkins tables), these are based on the exam results of the students already at the college and do not reflect differences in quality.