English as a foreign language

[PaulB]

Can anyone explain to me what the phrase 'offers of three As' means?

Capture.JPG

[TonyE]

It relates to the requirements for a student to be accepted on the course. In order to be accepted to study for that degree, the older universities will often require that you get at least 3 A grade passes in the GCE Advanced Level

[PaulB]

I thought it related to that but I found the phrasing puzzling. We really are two countries separated by a common language!

[stuck]

An A grade is no longer the top of the pile. If a student scores over 90% they are awarded an A*.

The grades requested by UK universities relate more to the ranking of the particular department / university, not their age. There are many 'modern' universities that require more than 3 A grades, typically requiring one A* and two A grades.

Ken

[John Gray]

I thought it related to that but I found the phrasing puzzling. We really are two countries separated by a common language!

It's just an abbreviated form of the wording, which would be familiar to those chaps and ms-chaps who would be interested in studying English at UK universities. Over here, we don't talk about "straight As"... Or (thank heaven) "Crochet 101".

Not long back we had a discussion here about "I couldn't care less" (UK) and "I could care less" (US).

[PaulB]

My query was more along the lines of why the 'older universities' offer three As as opposed to requiring three As.

[MalcolmWalker]

My query was more along the lines of why the 'older universities' offer three As as opposed to requiring three As.

Offers based upon three As

[HansV]

I thought they offered a-reading, a-writing and arithmetic.

[PaulB]

OK, that makes more sense. as in the older universities offering a place to a student based on his/her having three A-levels?

[stuck]

If you are a UK student and want to apply to a UK university the process is summarised below. Even if you apply to the two oldest / most renowned universities, Oxford & Cambridge, the process is still the same (apart from one minor point noted). As you will see the term 'offer' is used because it is a two way process between student and university. I have no idea how it works if you are an overseas student applying to a UK university.

1) At age 16 you choose a narrow range of subjects, typically 4, to study for your final two years of school, these are your 'A' Levels.

2) The choice of these subjects often restricts your options at university, e.g. if you aspire to be a doctor you must choose sciences at this stage.

3) As you work through the first year of your 'A' levels you review the university courses on offer, post 18.

4) At the start of your final year at school you submit one application to a maximum of 5 universities through a centralised university application system. NB If you aspire to Oxford or Cambridge then you must choose either Oxford OR Cambridge, you can't apply to both and your application has a earlier submission deadline than if you don't include them on your application.

5) By the middle of your final year at school, all the universities will have reviewed all their applicants and decided which students they think are suitable for their courses.

6) The universities then make conditional offers of a place on the course to these students. The conditions are that you must achieve certain grades in your 'A' Levels.

7) You may receive offers of a place from all five of your prospective universities, you may only receive one, or even none! It all depends on the quality of your original application form, which is supported by a detailed reference of your likely academic abilities and general character from your school. Many universities still only make offers after interviewing candidates.

8) By about 2/3rds the way through you final year all the offers have been made. Now you must choose. You must select one of their offers as a 'firm' offer and hold one other as a 'reserve'. All other offers made to you lapse at this point.

9) The firm offer is a binding agreement on you and the university. If you gain the required grades the university is obliged to accept you onto their course.

10) A Level exam grades are published in mid August.

11) If your grades match your firm offer it's celebration time and you are off to the uni of your choice!

13) If your exam results are not good enough for the firm offer you are at the mercy of the university. They are not bound to accept you. If they decline to accept you, your reserve offer kicks in. If your grades meet that offer your reserve uni is obliged to take you.

13) If you completely blow your exams and your grades don't match either your firm or reserve offers you can go through 'clearing', which an organised, mad, scramble to match spare places on courses to suitable candidates.

Tomorrow, Thurs 18th, is results day for this year's candidates.

Ken

[steveh]

If you are a UK student and want to apply to a UK university the process is summarised below. Even if you apply to the two oldest / most renowned universities, Oxford & Cambridge, the process is still the same (apart from one minor point noted). As you will see the term 'offer' is used because it is a two way process between student and university. I have no idea how it works if you are an overseas student applying to a UK university.

1) At age 16 you choose a narrow range of subjects, typically 4, to study for your final two years of school, these are your 'A' Levels.

2) The choice of these subjects often restricts your options at university, e.g. if you aspire to be a doctor you must choose sciences at this stage.

3) As you work through the first year of your 'A' levels you review the university courses on offer, post 18.

4) At the start of your final year at school you submit one application to a maximum of 5 universities through a centralised university application system. NB If you aspire to Oxford or Cambridge then you must choose either Oxford OR Cambridge, you can't apply to both and your application has a earlier submission deadline than if you don't include them on your application.

5) By the middle of your final year at school, all the universities will have reviewed all their applicants and decided which students they think are suitable for their courses.

6) The universities then make conditional offers of a place on the course to these students. The conditions are that you must achieve certain grades in your 'A' Levels.

7) You may receive offers of a place from all five of your prospective universities, you may only receive one, or even none! It all depends on the quality of your original application form, which is supported by a detailed reference of your likely academic abilities and general character from your school. Many universities still only make offers after interviewing candidates.

8) By about 2/3rds the way through you final year all the offers have been made. Now you must choose. You must select one of their offers as a 'firm' offer and hold one other as a 'reserve'. All other offers made to you lapse at this point.

9) The firm offer is a binding agreement on you and the university. If you gain the required grades the university is obliged to accept you onto their course.

10) A Level exam grades are published in mid August.

11) If your grades match your firm offer it's celebration time and you are off to the uni of your choice!

13) If your exam results are not good enough for the firm offer you are at the mercy of the university. They are not bound to accept you. If they decline to accept you, your reserve offer kicks in. If your grades meet that offer your reserve uni is obliged to take you.

13) If you completely blow your exams and your grades don't match either your firm or reserve offers you can go through 'clearing', which an organised, mad, scramble to match spare places on courses to suitable candidates.

Tomorrow, Thurs 18th, is results day for this year's candidates.

Ken

Hi Ken

One small omission, the gap year that seems obligatory these days!!

[stuck]

Fair point

Which means that I need another NB on line 4) which says:
NB If you wish to take a gap year, there is a box on the application form that you can tick to show you are actually applying for deferred entry, otherwise everything is the same. You entry is processed in the same way and at the same time as all the others. If you don't make use of this tick box then you would have to go through the application process during your gap year and that might be a bit tricky if you are travelling the world.

Ken

[ChrisGreaves]

Fair point Ken

Speaking of English ...

My friend Ms B. is out of milk, so can't make a cuppa.

I told her she's having a Lactic Tannic Panic Attack!

[PaulB]

Tomorrow, Thurs 18th, is results day for this year's candidates.

Must be awfully quiet in the UK today with everyone holding their breath in expectation!

Ken, thanks for the best explanation of what the English A-levels are (and are not) that I have ever seen. Having retired from the Community College system in Ontario, I'm familiar with the college application system. It was not the application process itself that puzzled me (although yours does differ from ours in many details). It was the phraseology used in the graphic's caption. All is now explained, but I still think youse guys need to speak gooder English.

[stuck]

Must be awfully quiet in the UK today with everyone holding their breath in expectation!

It's tomorrow now and the relief is unbelievable.

Ken

[stuckling1]

What Stuck said :D