Holidays around results day.

[yourlittlesecret]

DS wants to do some travelling with friends this summer. They want to go after results day, can't go earlier as they need to be 18 and one of them has an August birthday.
He is aware of the need to be at home on the day results come out, but what is a safe time to allow after that?
If for example he missed his firm but achieved his insurance offer is there much to do UCAS wise?

[Notsoskinnyminny]

I was on holiday with DD when results came out last year. She'd decided in June she didn't want her first choice but her insurance place was conditional on her passing an extra GCSE so she left her choices as they were in case she did get the grades no chance. We logged onto UCAS on results day and she had a rejection from her first choice but her insurance still showed 'conditional' so we knew she'd got the A2 grades. There aren't many places that offer the course she's doing and if she hadn't got the grades she would've gone back to 6th form for another year so clearing was never going to be an issue.

She didn't need to do anything on the UCAS site and if she hadn't needed the GCSE could've enrolled from Japan on results day the process is that easy.

[yourlittlesecret]

No question of him being away actually on results day, it's the period after. If he missed both I think he would take a gap year rather than enter clearing.
I wondered whether you had to contact the insurance place, arrange accommodation etc? He is hopeless on the phone and not savvy enough to do this on his own from wherever he is in Europe.
If he was a girl I could pretend to be him on the phone

[BeckAndCall]

If he needs to go through clearing, he really needs to be next to a phone and may have to do interviews,depending on the subject.

If he misses his firm and gets his insurance, he will have to organise accommodation but every place is different and it's more likely to be done on line or by phone than needing to go in person and may be at a different date altogether. - eg the Monday after results day. Or they may already have been allocating since round about now - everywhere is different.

[creamteas]

If an applicant misses their firm or insurance offer, the university may hold the decision on their places until a few days into Clearing. So they may not be in a position to know what is happening for a few days even if they know they do not want to enter Clearing. I have known some universities not make decisions about some candidates until the following week. The latest I have know is a week, this is rare, but a few days is quite common. (Where we have been the insurance uni, sometimes we end up ringing the firm place to get them to make up their minds!)

If they are going to their insurance place, they will need to apply for accommodation, sort out student loans etc etc. This could take a few clicks, but could mean needing to travel to the university area and view properties.

So I would say to be on the safe side you need to leave at least 2 weeks after results day but 3 would be better.

[yourlittlesecret]

Thanks all , actually that's what I thought but he doesn't understand why things might not go to plan.

[SlowlorisIncognito]

He will need to sort accomadation at his insurance place. Even if he gets into his firm, there may be things he needs to do after results day (e.g. put down a deposit on his accomadation) which might be tricky to do from abroad. It's a fairly minor issue, but some universities sell things like fresher's wristbands and fresher's ball tickets in the time between results day and freshers week.

Another issue is online enrollment. Many universities do this now, and it involves things like uploading a photo for his student id card and setting up a student email- not always easy to do from abroad. You could possibly do this for him, but it's not ideal, and he is meant to do it himself.

It's not an ideal time to go travelling but it's probably do-able if they only go for a week or two, rather than the whole time between results day and fresher's week. Could travelling be posponed until next summer?

[2rebecca]

Will they have time to arrange an adhoc holiday when they have their results? I'm in Scotland and so far results have been the first week in August but I know English results are later and last year my step daughter missed her grades and had to wait a couple of weeks until the English results were out before her college would make any decisions.
I'd encourage them to have a flexible holiday plan but not book anything until the results are out. Why do they all have to be 18 before they go on holiday? My son will only be 17 when he starts uni but plans to go away with friends this summer (there are more unconditional offers for Scottish students if they go to scottish unis)

[rightsaidfrederick]

Just to follow on from what creamteas said, if he was to be kept waiting for a week (and that is very poor form on the part of the uni) then he'd have naff all chance of going through Clearing anyway.

Clearing works like the January sales - the good stuff goes first, and the stuff that gets left behind is chartreuse size 18 jumpers of the university world - those in funny locations (e.g. UHI), crap institutions (e.g. Bolton) and very niche courses (audiology always seems to come up for some reason). A lot of the good courses will be filled on results day, and it's likely that anywhere you'd aspire for him to go will be filled by the day after, if not before.

From the point of view of paperwork, I sorted out halls and student finance from internet cafes in Australia (I was on a gap year), so it can be done, though it's not desirable as he'll want to concentrate on having fun with his friends.

[creamteas]

Clearing works like the January sales - the good stuff goes first

Actually this is not strictly true anymore. Clearing used to be just about matching students without offers to universities with places. The big change is that there is no set number of places for ABB+ students, so many universities are trying to expand. So Clearing now it is also about first applications, adjustment and changing your firm. Students are increasingly looking to get a place at the uni that they wanted but initially rejected them.

For example, if you wanted English at Warwick and they rejected you,and you gave Durham as your firm. If Warwick are in Clearing, many students will ask for a reconsideration and increasingly they might get an offer. This leaves Durham with a vacancy which they probably didn't see coming 3/4 days into Clearing.

There used to be an agreement between universities that you didn't poach students firmed at other places, this seems to be disappearing.....

[yourlittlesecret]

creamteas That's very interesting stuff. When I said before that he'd rather have a gap than enter clearing I didn't know all that. His offers are very demanding but achievable for him. However I am all too well aware that things can go wrong. Health or other problems could cause a slip up.

I would like him to either go before results or wait until September. Unfortunately one of the party is going back to school in Sept so that's out.
I am trying to find out why they think they all need to be 18 to travel alone. (They plan to visit a few places in Europe by train).

[Theas18]

Can't see why they all need to be 18 to go? An 18yr old might have to be "responsible" re bills etc for a younger kid and no drinking etc some places ( maybe that's the issue?)

I was told I was smothering my 17yr old when I took him to an overnight stay open day in the UK.... but travel lodges etc wont have unaccompanied under 18s- and 18+ had to sign the paperwork etc, though an 18yr old could have taken at 17yr old. Not sure why the same wont work abroad...

[BlueStringPudding]

They should be able to travel under 18 - my DD and her friend went on 2 trips abroad last summer, both were 17 - to France and Hungary. Apparently I should have given her a letter of authorisation of some kind, but I didn't, and they weren't asked for one.