<p>I'm from the U.S. but I'm going to study in a sixth form next year and take A-levels and im planning on going to a university in England. But I didnt take GCSEs since I live in the U.S. Will that affect my chances of getting into a uni there or will they replace GCSEs with my SAT scores or my gpa which i got in school in America?</p>
<p>Hey dont worry about the GCSE's too much. The UCAS form will have an option for you and they would take that into consideration. They really see the GCSE's for academic consistancy and you final two years in the A-Level are the biggest contributors to your final outcome. I myself did the IB's after completing the local system here and did not do the IGCSE's. I got all my 6 ucas offers and everything seemed to work out. Just focus on your A-levels and best of luck!</p>
<p>Thanks Santino. Where did you take your IB's?</p>
<p>Also, do you think that they will completely ignore my grades from the U.S. and only count A-levels?</p>
<p>I did my IB Diploma from New Delhi. Unless they are outstandingly bad I doubt you would have a problem there. I had pretty bad grades for pre-IB myself for several reasons unknown to them. I guess the IB made up for it!</p>
<p>I kinda hope they dont count my grades because I did horrible in my math classes.</p>
<p>how do you take a-levels in the us</p>
<p>^ By attending a really expensive British private school maybe? But why would you want to take A-levels if you're from the US? Why not just take do the normal American high school curriculum with 3 or more AP subjects?</p>
<p>I'm looking at the same issues now.</p>
<p>Depending on the school, they look at ACT/SAT, SAT subject, AP, IB</p>
<p>So, for example, one UK school said they wanted three SAT subject tests of over 600, another looked for SATs of 600 or ACT of 27. Others want three or more AP exams with 4s or 5s. There are many threads on Oxbridge's requirements, so I won't get into those.</p>
<p>They are really reaching out to US students and consequently there is no need to conform your high school career to UK standards. If you dig through the websites for the unis you will find the info.</p>
<p>Well I personally get very annoyed when I hear this, but for the benefits of 2008 applicants - Do the IB. If you want to go to the UK - IB is the best way to move forward. There has been a great uproar in the UK ever since the new tariff system was proposed. Grades are converted to a uniform tariff scale where an IB Diploma score would fetch you unimaginably higher tariff points than A levels or AP or anything else. This has also caused the A-levels to plan a dramatic change and make them a more difficult well rounded curriculum. If there's one thing defenite about the future of UK higher education, its this: IB will be the dominant curriculum and will get official preference. Like it or not, its there and we have to live with it. Personally i feel like i've worked for nothing when unis in the uk ask for 38 and 39 while my a-level counterparts are able to get away with ABB in an easier curriculum.</p>
<p>A levels are better, in all senses of the word ... and I'm doing (nearly finished) IB.</p>
<p>im definitely taking a-levels.</p>
<p>im just not sure what to do about the gcses since i didnt take them. the unis are going to want an equivalent.</p>
<p>Here's the thing. You don't need the GSCEs to get into a British uni, and I don't think they care that much about them anyway to be quite honest.</p>
<p>I did the IB and I didn't even give the universities I applied to anything besides my predicted IB grades and I got all six offers. </p>
<p>So yeah, stop worrying over nothing. The equivalent to GCSE would be the grades you got in freshman and sophmore year of high school in the US. Even though your GPA from these two years might not be the best, the universities don't care about them that much as long as you've done well on the A-levels.</p>
<p>^^I really hope you're right, but on the UK websites it says that they require at least a C in GCSEs English and Math. Did they really just look at your IB grades? What universities did you apply to and did you apply as an international student?</p>
<p>I applied as an international and yes, they only looked at my predicted grades. It doesn't matter which university I applied to as it's usually the different courses that have specific requirements. I applied to Manchester, Aston, Liverpool, Lancaster, Nottingham Trent and Bradford for (international) business and management programs. </p>
<p>I think that they require at least a C in those GCSE exams if you have actually taken the exams. If you haven't taken them, then they will look at Maths and English grades from high school.</p>
<p>thin high school i got have a A or B in English but the problem is that I have a D in math...</p>
<p>im from the US and i didn't even take any GSCE and I just handed them my AP, SAT I and SAT II scores but Warwick, UCL and LSE wanted my transcript so i just gave it to them its fine you can still go to UK college!</p>
<p>KING IS HERE- are those the only universities that asked for the transcript</p>
<p>yeah which unis didnt ask for your transcript?</p>
<p>The variation on the replies here is amazing. </p>
<p>I'm wondering if anyone has directly contacted an admissions person and asked: "I'm taking normal US courses, the SAT, and a couple APs, will you take me without additional testing?"</p>
<p>I'd be curious to know the answer. Clearly, neither A-levels nor IB is required, so they must be taking US kids who just follow a regular US procedure.</p>