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Asked by AishaQ on 4 Jun 2021.
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Gemma Singer answered on 4 Jun 2021:
That’s actually a trickier question than it sounds!
I think at GCSE level I needed to have at least five C grades (equivalent to a GCSE grade 4 or 5) to stay at my high school and not have to repeat a year.
To get into the university I wanted I needed to get 40 points for my International Baccalaureate Diploma (which is equivalent to getting A*AA at A level)… however I actually only got 39 points!
I was 1% away from the next grade up in my Maths exam. So I emailed the university and explained how close I was, and I also explained that I had achieved an A* in GCSE Maths and in the end they let me in. So although I didn’t ‘need’ an A* in Maths GCSE initially, it really helped me later on to get into university.
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Melis Duyar answered on 5 Jun 2021:
I went to high school in Turkey where my entry in the university was determined after just one exam at the end of my final year. This meant that as long as I passed classes in high school my grades didn’t affect which university I ended up in, but it also meant that there was a lot of pressure to pass that one test at the end of the year! Overall I benefited from doing well in maths and sciences because they are really important in engineering.
At university I had to get a 3.5 average out of 4.0 to be eligible to apply to the doctorate programmes in universities in the United States. I didn’t quite get there my first year but made up for it by working harder in the later years and also trying to get some work experience doing research in my department, which helped me get into the programme I wanted (Environmental Engineering PhD). During the doctorate the most important thing was research and not grades so in order to graduate, I had to develop a technology that significantly contributes to the field. I made a material that captures the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and releases it as a carbon neutral fuel and that led to me passing my doctoral exam!
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Carys Kelly answered on 7 Jun 2021:
I’m from Scotland, so grades here are slightly different than English ones. To get into the uni I wanted to study Mechanical Engineering, I needed AAAAB in Highers (Scottish equivalent of A Levels, we do 5 rather than 3) with an A in Maths and Physics. However, you can study Engineering at lots of different colleges and universities that will accept you with all kinds of grades. So if you want to study Engineering do lots of research into different places and find the best fit for you and your grades!
To work at Sky I needed any STEM degree, so I could have done anything from Maths to Biology to Product Design. This is great as the people who are hired have experience in lots of different fields.
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Helen Randell answered on 7 Jun 2021:
Thats tricky – it depends on which University you’d like to go to. I got 7A* and 2As at GCSE and 5 As at A-Level and then did a Masters because it made it easier to become a Chartered Engineer but that was my preference. There are lots of routes to becoming a Chartered Engineer so you don’t have to just focus on grades – you can work up from a Technical Membership with some Institutions for example.
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Mark Eyles answered on 8 Jun 2021:
Hi Aisha, I made my way into Engineering through an Apprenticeship. To get on to the Apprenticeship I had to have a number of ‘O’ levels (old-fashioned GCSE’s I think?) and this resukted in an OND (should have been an HND but I was not motivated at that age) but… for me to progress I needed higher level qualifications. Later on I went back to college to get an HNC and then studied for an MPhil. The thing is, I should have studied when I was young. It’s harder to find the time when you are working. I’ve worked hard to get where I am now but I would have been here sooner if I had invested more time during school and college. What I will say though – it’s never to late to start learning!
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Emma Crook answered on 8 Jun 2021:
i needed at least 5 GCSEs (grades A*-C) to get into my sixth form choice, then to get into my university choice it was actually quite low compared to other universities offering similar courses, and i needed 3 A Levels at grades BBC or above. i actually got ABB, so was able to skip first year at university and go straight into second year. it’s a good thing to look beyond the course entry grades for a university, as my choice had great links with industry and a really good graduate employment rate, which at the end of the day is more important than what grade you get!
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Sophie Dawson answered on 10 Jun 2021:
I needed AAB in my A Levels to get into my university, with one of my subjects either being maths or physics. A few of my friends who were on my course didn’t actually make the grades to get into uni after being given an offer, but the uni let them in anyway. Also, there was a Foundation Year that you can take if you don’t have an A level in either Maths or Physics, so don’t let that stop you if you want to be an engineer but don’t have the required A Levels.
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Richard Totty answered on 11 Jun 2021: last edited 11 Jun 2021 3:31 pm
The university where I wanted to study Civil Engineering required me to achieve a minimum of three Grade B at A-Level (from subjects studied between the ages of 16 and 18).
I studied Mathematics, Physics, Geography and Geology at A-Level.
I didn’t actually succeed in being accepted to my first choice university, Sheffield, as I did not meet the minimum grades. I thought I would do better in Mathematics and Physics than I actually did, I only got D’s in both subjects, so two grades lower in both than what I needed.
I then asked my second choice university, University of Surrey, if they would accept me, through ‘clearing’, effectively when the university has already accepted their first choice candidates and they are looking to fill any capacity they had left. The University of Surrey accepted me onto their Civil Engineering MEng programme, as I achieved A grades in Geography and Geology, which they deemed to demonstrate that I had academic ability, even if I had a bad couple of key subject grades. Once I was at the university, I did find the Mathematics content to be very difficult, but I persevered and was successful in graduating with a MEng with Merit, which is the second highest grade possible for the course I studied.
Although I went to university and studied Civil Engineering, you don’t necessarily need to have studied at university to get to the position I am in. My previous line manager entered the business as an assistant to a site investigation driller and then went on to become a Technical Manager. It just depends what style of learning you are most well suited to, and maybe a vocational form of learning (on the job) might suit you better, via an Apprenticeship, whatsoever. -
Ruth McKinlay answered on 17 Jun 2021:
I needed 3 A-levels, one of which had to be Maths and one of which had to be Physics. At the time all I needed to get into the University of Leeds was three B grades, now it is much higher! If you ever worry about grades needed and don’t think you can get them – there are other options for entering the world of engineering!
To get to university you can apply for what’s called a foundation year – this is an extra year of learning to get you to the same spot as everyone else on the course. The grades needed for this are much lower than going straight onto the course.
Or you can get an appreticeship and througout your career do distance learning and slowly gain a degree, a lot of my friends did it that way.
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