Getting into university

Only 25 per cent of the student population go on to higher education. Competition to get into one of Britain's universities is fierce and not everyone who gets A levels can go. Students usually need three A levels to go to university and grades at A level go from A, the highest grade, down to E.

Students apply to universities months before they take their A levels. The students are given a personal interview and the universities decide which students they want. The place which a student is offered depends on his or her A-level results. The more popular a university, the higher the grades it will ask for. If students do not get the grades that a university asks for, they have to try to get a place at another university or college before the new term starts in early October.

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 38