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Elite school students end up in better universities than expected, based on their grades

Jo Blanden, Oliver Cassagneau-Francis, Lindsey Macmillan and Gill Wyness


Students of private and grammar schools are over-represented in elite universities. While some of that is explained by better grades, therse is also a degree of mismatch between how well students do in exams and the quality of the courses they end up in. Jo Blanden, Oliver Cassagneau-Francis, Lindsey Macmillan, Gill Wyness look at why elite school graduates tend to get into more competitive university courses based on their grades, while students from more disadvantages backgrounds can end up at less selective institutions than their grades would suggest.


2 October 2025


LSE British Politics and Policy


https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/elite-school-students-end-up-in-better-universities-than-expected-based-on-their-grades/

This Blog is published under the centre's Education programme.

This publication comes under the following theme: Higher education