Do GCSEs matter?

[ennui]

What do people think about GCSEs? Will they matter at any point in your scientific career after A-levels?

[ajb]

You are unlikely to be asked much about your GCSE's after A-levels.

 

Once you have a degree it is unlikely that your A-levels will matter, though some companies do use your UCAS score as part of the application process.

 

Then after you have an MSc and/or a PhD then your degree is unlikely to matter very much.

[Psycho]

You are unlikely to be asked much about your GCSE's after A-levels.

 

Once you have a degree it is unlikely that your A-levels will matter, though some companies do use your UCAS score as part of the application process.

 

Then after you have an MSc and/or a PhD then your degree is unlikely to matter very much.

After a masters or PHD I would agree that your degree wouldn't matter so much, but for the case with A-levels many people have ones that aren't directly linked or are completely unrelated to the degree they have done.

[Klaynos]

3 years is what most companies reckon any qualification is worth, after that you've either forgotten it, are significantly through a more advanced one, or you have experience. So, do GCSEs matter, in the short term yes, in the long term no. I've not told anyone mine since starting college really, even the summer job I did after my A2s but before starting my degree they only cared about my AS results and a couple of their own aptitude tests.

[ajb]

... but for the case with A-levels many people have ones that aren't directly linked or are completely unrelated to the degree they have done.

 

Indeed. I think is is unfair and irrelevant to ask about your A-levels after a degree, but I know for a fact that some companies do. It is another way to differentiate graduates with a first.

[ennui]

Indeed. I think is is unfair and irrelevant to ask about your A-levels after a degree, but I know for a fact that some companies do. It is another way to differentiate graduates with a first.

 

They do!? Oh dear. I have a C in Biology, haha. That won't look good. (I only found motivation once I started my degree.)

[ajb]

But with a PhD it won't matter at all.

[John Cuthber]

The only thing that I can think would matter would be a CGSE in a second language. If there's a choice between 2 people to send to a conference and only one of them speaks the local language...

[visceral]

Indeed. I think is is unfair and irrelevant to ask about your A-levels after a degree, but I know for a fact that some companies do. It is another way to differentiate graduates with a first.

 

That's unfair. It kind of prevents people from making good on past mistakes - say they were like ennui described, and weren't really motivated until they were older?

[Klaynos]

The only thing that I can think would matter would be a CGSE in a second language. If there's a choice between 2 people to send to a conference and only one of them speaks the local language...

 

I know noone with just a GCSE in a language that can speak any more than a couple of dodgy phrases in the language... I know my German is not good at all, in any way...

[John Cuthber]

Well, I didn't do any GCSEs but I did O level French and that measn that on a good day I can order a beer in France. I'm also adept at informing people that I have lost my pen in the garden of my aunt. ;-)

If that's better than the other guy can do, then I would be the one sent on the trip.

[Ophiolite]

I think is is unfair and irrelevant to ask about your A-levels after a degree, but I know for a fact that some companies do.

I certainly look at what an applicant has studied, though not at the results they achieved. It provides a basis for asking questions such as

"What made you lose the interest in history?"

"Why did you decide to take up geology at that point?"

"Did you ever regret abandoning the economics?"

 

The answers can provide considerable insight into what motivates the applicant, how commited they are to goals, how logical they are in planning in the long term. On this basis their GSCEs are important, their specific results, very much less.

[the tree]

Making an effort in your GCSEs now means less catch up time spent during your A-Levels, which is as good a reason as any. Of course you feel that whatever your studying at the moment is a bit pointless - not least because you're being made to do it - but the attitude that you should be taking is to learn for the sake of gaining skills and knowledge not the piece of paper.

[ennui]

Making an effort in your GCSEs now means less catch up time spent during your A-Levels, which is as good a reason as any. Of course you feel that whatever your studying at the moment is a bit pointless - not least because you're being made to do it - but the attitude that you should be taking is to learn for the sake of gaining skills and knowledge not the piece of paper.

 

I'm more of a piece of paper kind of guy.