A Levels
Entry requirements for applicants with A Levels.
You will need to achieve three A Levels at specified grades, in one set of exams or assessments, to meet the entry requirements for most of our degrees.
You should have achieved (or be predicted to achieve) our entry requirements, including required subjects, for the degree you have applied for.
For some degrees, we may be able to consider all applicants who meet the entry requirements. For highly selective degrees we may only be able to consider candidates who exceed the requirements, as these degrees attract many highly qualified applicants.
You can use our degree finder to find entry requirements.
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Detailed requirements
Required subjects
For many degrees, we will expect you to have studied specific subjects, and achieved specific grades, at A Level. We may also require other subjects to have been achieved at specific grades to at least GCSE.
Before you commit to a particular course of study at your school or college, please contact us to ensure your qualifications will meet the requirements of your chosen degree.
Approved subjects
We accept most, but not all, A Level subjects for entry to the University. You can check which subjects we accept in our approved subjects information.
Resits
If you are re-sitting or taking A Levels to improve your grades you may still be considered, but any offer we make may be based on grades above those usually required.
For medicine and veterinary medicine, only your first attempt at each subject will be considered unless there are extenuating circumstances, and you have sought approval to apply from the relevant admissions team.
Taking A Levels early
We are looking for evidence of depth and breadth of study, and the ability to cope with a full undergraduate workload in pre-application qualifications. Therefore, we normally expect A Level applicants to be taking three A Levels in one set of exams, following two years of study.
We recognise that some learners may have the option to take one or more A Level early, and we may consider early A Levels to meet entry requirements.
If you are applying for a degree in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Science and Engineering, or specifically for medical sciences or any of our biomedical sciences degrees within the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, we can consider three A Levels taken across two years where one A Level is taken in one of those two years and two are taken in the other. This only applies where they are being taken for the first time, excluding resits, and within the two year A Level cycle. We may score A Levels taken in one set of exams more highly than A levels taken across multiple sets of exams. The overall grade requirements for the three A Levels will usually be the same as for three A Levels taken in a single set of exams, but in high competition areas, the grade requirement may be higher.
However, if you are applying for veterinary medicine or medicine degrees in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine we will still expect you to take three A Levels in a single set of exams.
If a school is unable to offer their students the opportunity to take three A Levels at once, this information should be included in the student’s reference.
Unit grade information
We will not normally consider your A Level unit grade information during our selection or offer making process.
We may, however, choose to do so when assessing borderline applications in certain high demand subject areas, or where you have narrowly missed the conditions of an offer.
Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) and Advanced Extension Awards (AEA)
While we support these awards as a means of challenging students and encouraging an interdisciplinary approach to learning, we recognise that not all students have equal opportunity to access them.
We do not require the EPQ or AEA for entry and they do not normally provide additional credit in the selection process.
Selection for entry to competitive degrees
Some of our subject areas are particularly competitive and attract many highly qualified applicants. In these circumstances, if we are unable to make offers to all those who have achieved the entry requirement, we may consider achievement above the upper-grade level and also the number of A*s or grade 8/9s you have achieved at GCSE.
You can find out more about entry requirements and offer levels on our ‘Understanding our entry requirements page.
Understanding our entry requirements
Combinations of A Levels and IB subjects
We consider combinations of two A Levels and one IB Higher Level (HL) subject for entry on a case-by-case basis. You should outline the reasons for taking both A Levels and IB HL subjects in your personal statement, or ask your referee to explain this in the reference on your UCAS application.
If you are applying with a combination of A Levels and IB to meet our entry requirements, where grade A* is required at A Level, we require grade 7 at IB HL. Where grade A is required at A Level, we require grade 6 at IB HL. Depending on competition for places, where grade B is required at A Level, we will require either grade 5 or grade 6 at IB HL.
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