Most students take three full time Advanced Level subjects, and you will be asked to choose three main subjects in your application.
You can add a fourth subject, which you may take as part of your course.
Whether you take three or four subjects will depend on your results at GCSE. You can see our general entry requirements for taking three or four Advanced Level subjects here.
The subjects you choose can be made up purely of A Levels, Vocational courses or a combination of both.
You have a great choice of 40 Advanced Level subjects at Holy Cross, but it's important to choose the right ones.
We want you to enjoy your time here, and to give you the best chances of getting into your preferred career, university course or apprenticeship when you leave us.
When choosing a subject, try asking yourself these questions:
All our Level 3 qualifications are widely accepted by universities, but because there are some differences between our courses, there may be a small number of universities that will not accept specific qualifications for certain programmes.
If you have a particular university or course in mind, we recommend you research the requirements in detail on that university website, to check your subject choices are appropriate.
We encourage students to be proactive about this and expect them to take some ownership of this.
This is because the number of courses and related conditions are so varied, the College cannot be certain of all requirements.
It's always important to have discussions relating to the right advanced level subjects to take, particularly if you are thinking of an application to Oxbridge.
Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, has a section on its website where they are quite explicit about the A Levels and qualifications they do and don't want.
Although every college at Oxford and Cambridge is slightly different, we'd encourage any students thinking about applying to a particular college to check its subject choice guidance, such as: Subject choice guidance | Lucy Cavendish (cam.ac.uk).
For further information on which subjects to choose for Oxford and Cambridge, please click here: Oxford and Cambridge
The Government has in the past referred to some subjects as ‘facilitating’ subjects.
These are:
Russell Group universities, which are the most competitive, no longer use a list of ‘facilitating’ subjects in their subject recommendations, although we recommend this website to help students select the right subjects for them.
If you start at Holy Cross without a GCSE pass at grade 4 in Maths or English Language, we will require you to re-sit the GCSE as it's a legal requirement.
If however, you do not gain a grade 4 in either Maths or English Language, we reserve the right not to enrol you on a Level 3 programme and would discuss the possibility of a Level 2 'Progression Year' with you. You can find our entry requirements for a Level 2 programme here.
This is where you study a selection of GCSE subjects alongside your English Language and/or Maths for one year to prepare you for hopefully moving on to two years of study at Level 3.
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