Numerus clausus

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Hola
Me gustaría saber como expresar en inglés, los conceptos de numerus clausus y la nota de corte, cuando se queire entrar en la universidad.
Numerus clausus, es una nota exigida para poder acceder a una carrera, y nota de corte, es la nota que piden, dependiendo del número de alumnos que desee cursar una carrera universitaria.
Thanks.

[Perikles]

I have always known it as numerus clausus in English as well, but also known as a quota. Quota has a wider application, so I need a specific context to give an English translation.

[JPablo]

Don't you also say "restricted entrance"?

Numerus clausus is currently used in countries and universities where the amount of applicants greatly exceeds the number of available places for students.

I see Wikipedia has a whole article on the matter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerus_clausus

As far as "nota de corte" it could be "passing grade" or something like
"a prerequisite of the course is a minimum grade of _x__ in prior work" or "grade point cutoff"

Probably better, minimum marks for entry into university. (?) (Just suggesting possibilities, an English speaker should confirm on usages...)

[Perikles]

In Britain, there are 'minimum entry requirements' for universities which vary according to the popularity of the course and the reputation of the university. This has always been the case, so numerus clausus has always applied (which is not the case in, say, Germany). That is why the expression is not well known. These 'minimum entrance requirements' are grades of the exams sat on leaving school, called 'A'-level exams.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

Hola
Me gustaría saber como expresar en inglés, los conceptos de numerus clausus y la nota de corte, cuando se queire entrar en la universidad.
Numerus clausus, es una nota exigida para poder acceder a una carrera, y nota de corte, es la nota que piden, dependiendo del número de alumnos que desee cursar una carrera universitaria.
Thanks.

"Offer." Por ejemplo,

Swansea gave me an offer of 22 UCAS points, and Southampton gave me an offer of ABB (which is equivalent to 26 UCAS points). But I already had those grades guaranteed by my module results, so the only decision was which university I preferred.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by pjt33

"Offer." Por ejemplo,

Swansea gave me an offer of 22 UCAS points, and Southampton gave me an offer of ABB (which is equivalent to 26 UCAS points). But I already had those grades guaranteed by my module results, so the only decision was which university I preferred.

Me gustaría poder entender esto que dices.

[Perikles]

I'll have a go. On leaving school at an age to enter university, the student takes 'A'-level (=advanced) in (usually) 3 subjects, sometimes more. The university (usually) judges the results of 3 subjects. A science student would for example take Maths, Physics, Chemistry. A humanities student might take English, History, French. These days, there is much more of a mix.

Anyway - the 'A'-level exam result is graded into an A, B, C,D,and E result, or F=fail. The top grade is an A. These grades are added together, giving:

A grade 10 points
B grade 8 points
C grade 6 points.....

So the highest score for 3 A-levels is 30 points. Each university offers places according to this score. Oxford and Cambridge would usually expect 28 to 30 points, but other universities require fewer points, depending on the popularity of the course.

This is a simplification. Does this help?

[pjt33]

I should add that the system which I used in my example and which Perikles explained is the system as it was 10 years ago. Nowadays there's a new top grade, A* (pronounced "A star"), and the points have been multiplied by 10.

UCAS is the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, the organisation which acts as a middle-man between applicants and universities.

"Module results": sometime in the 1990s they introduced a system of "modular A-levels". What this means is that rather than taking one exam at the end of two years, the subject is broken down into sections and you can take the exam on each section when you're ready for it. This meant that by the time I went for interviews at the universities I already had results from about 2/3 of my exams for all the subjects I studied except Spanish (which wasn't modular).

[irmamar]

Thanks, I understand.

But I guess D and E are F. Here, whenever you get the marks with letters instead of numbers (which I don't like at all), one only passes the exam with C+ or more. There are A, B, C+, which are used for exams passed, and C- and D, which are for exams failed.