Universities have told us what they value in applicants, says ACS Egham Head Mark Wilson – and this should change the questions parents ask when choosing a sixth form
The question I’m asked most often by parents thinking about university is a simple one: ‘what grades will they need?’. It is a reasonable question. But after reading what 50 university admissions teams told us when we asked them directly what they look for in applicants, I think it may not be the most useful one.
Last autumn, we commissioned FieldworkHub to survey admissions officers from UK universities – Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and many others – asking what they look for in applicants and how qualification systems compare. The results gave me pause. They were clear enough to make me really reconsider the conversation we typically have with families before their children start their sixth-form journey.
The headline number that has attracted most attention is that just 5% of admissions officers identify A levels as the best overall preparation for university. But that figure, taken in isolation, misses what the research actually shows. The more telling finding is in the detail of how admissions officers rate different competencies – and where they expect priorities to shift over the next five years.
When we asked officers to rate the importance of three broad areas – knowledge, skills and attitudes – skills came out on top, rated 4.49 out of 5, and projected to rise further. Attitudes – intellectual curiosity, resilience, motivation – were rated 4.17 and also rising. Knowledge, rated 3.66, was the lowest of the three and expected to fall. A decade ago, this ordering would have looked very different.
This is not universities saying that subject knowledge doesn’t matter. It does. Grades at sixth form remain the gatekeeper to admission, and no admissions officer we spoke to was suggesting otherwise. The point – and they were explicit about this – is that knowledge is increasingly seen as necessary rather than sufficient. In a world where AI can retrieve facts and structure information instantly, what universities care about is what a student can do with what they know.
“Knowledge is increasingly seen as necessary rather than sufficient – what universities care about is what a student can do with what they know”
Here is the part that often surprises parents when I share it. When admissions officers were asked to rate A levels and the IB Diploma specifically on developing in-depth subject knowledge, the two qualifications scored virtually identically – 3.97 and 3.98 respectively. Both are seen as rigorous, academically demanding routes to specialist degree study. The perceived gap in academic substance isn’t there.
The differences, in my view, show up in the broader competencies – precisely the areas universities say are rising in importance. On independent enquiry, the IB scored 4.2 against A levels’ 3.52. On communication skills, 4.0 against 3.29. On global awareness, 4.24 against 3.17. Across all eleven competencies measured, the IB Diploma scored on average 23% higher, and highest on nine of the eleven measures.
Admissions officers were consistent in explaining why. The Extended Essay – a 4,000-word independent research project that all IB students complete – came up repeatedly. One university put it plainly: the programme invites students to work on projects that develop independent thinking and research skills that match what UK higher education actually expects. Another noted that IB students arrive already used to managing a heavier and more varied workload, meaning the transition to degree study is less of a shock.
None of this means that students following A levels aren’t succeeding at university – clearly many are, and the subject depth data confirms why that route commands respect. But it does suggest that the questions families ask when choosing a sixth form might benefit from a different frame.
The question, ‘what grades will they need?’, is really asking about the threshold. What this latest research points toward is a different question: ‘what kind of student does this qualification produce?’. Does it develop the ability to work independently, to synthesise ideas across disciplines, to sustain motivation through a complex and varied workload? These are the qualities universities tell us they are depending on – not just to fill places, but to hold onto the students they admit.
So what should parents ask at open evenings? I’d suggest something along these lines: ‘How does sixth form here prepare students to work independently?’; ‘What opportunities are there for research or project work beyond the examined syllabus?’; ‘How broad is the curriculum and where does it push students to connect ideas across subjects and disciplines?’.
These questions don’t have a neat numerical answer. But they are closer to what the people who read the applications and shape university cohorts say they are actually looking for. Grades open the door. What happens after that depends on the habits of mind a student brings with them.
* Mark Wilson is Head of School, ACS Egham. Find the ‘University Admissions Officers Report 2026’ at acs-schools.com/university-admissions-officers-report
Further reading: Changing places – moving school at Sixth Form
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