Where you study can be just as much, if not more, important than what you study. In the UK, universities in the Russell Group are often perceived as the best option by many students. How difficult is it to get offered a place in a member university and how can you improve your chances?
How Hard is it to Get an Offer From the Russell Group?
The group includes many of the top universities in the UK and all members rank highly in the research sector. This makes them extremely popular, both with UK and overseas students. Successful applicants are likely to compete with a lot more students for a place and will generally need to show strong academic achievement.
Each university sets its own entrance criteria and some will be harder to get into than others. The University of Oxford, for example, has a general range of between A*A*A and AAA; the standard conditional offer at the University of Cambridge for 2012 will be A*AA. Bear in mind that other unis in the group may well set lower conditions, depending on your chosen course. It's also important to note that getting a place may depend on more than your A-levels.
Russell Group Entrance Requirements Aren't Just About A-Level Results
You are more likely to get accepted into one of these universities if you start planning ahead as early as possible. Offers are not always simply given to students with the highest A-level results and most unis here will also use other criteria as a key part of the selection process. It is possible for a student with multiple A*s at A-level to not meet these conditions and to be rejected. Your planning really needs to start with your GCSEs.
How Can GSCEs Affect Your Chances of Getting an Offer?
Universities in the Russell Group often set entrance conditions for GSCEs. They may, for example, require that you have a certain number of passes and many will ask for a GCSE in English and in Maths even if you will not be going on to study these subjects. Some will ask for other qualifications related to your course (i.e. a foreign language or science).
You may need to have achieved a certain grade level or range for these exams, depending on the university and/or course. In some cases, you may also need to have taken all your exams in one sitting to qualify; in others you may find that resits will not be accepted at all, even if you then went on to get the right grade.
Hard and Soft A-levels and the Russell Group
Your A-level results are important, but your choice of subjects matters here too. In February 2011, the Russell Group published some guidance on acceptable choices. These are often referred to as "facilitating" or hard subjects. Generally, this puts a premium on traditional A-levels such as English, Maths, History, Sciences, Geography and Languages.
Less acceptable choices are usually known as soft subjects. These, often more vocational, courses, such as Media Studies, Business Studies and Art & Design, could be less valuable to you. Universities in the group may now be more likely to accept candidates with more hard A-levels than soft ones, even if they do not set this out in their formal subject conditions.
Remember that you do have different options with each Russell Group university. They may all share common goals but all operate independently. Some will have stricter admission rules than others, so it is worth looking at your preferred unis and courses individually to check on entrance requirements before applying. To learn more about general admission within the group, check out its Informed Choices handbook.
Sources:
- The Russell Group: Informed Choices.
- The Independent: Russell Group universities shun 'soft subjects', Joe Sinclair, February 4, 2011.
- University of Oxford: Entrance Requirements.
- University of Cambridge: Entrance Requirements.
All sources accessed August 4, 2011.
Carol Finch - Carol Finch is the Topic Editor for Retirement Planning, Budgeting, E-Commerce & Technical/Business Writing on Suite101.
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