DDs dreams in tatters

Four years ago was horrible - it was the year before the fee increases. Everybody wanted to go that year!

The year after people were getting in with lower grades (or if they'd slipped a grade) because they had virtually no places filled with deferred entry students. And now the caps have gone, so even more places can be offered.

Libraries - the cap on numbers has been removed so yes things are indeed different from 4 years ago. I don't know how many offers Warwick makes, but typically a university will offer 4 or 5 times as many places as it has available. A competitive university like Warwick will also cull first, probably based on subjects and predictions - the number of applicants who apply with the wrong subjects, and/or predictions that are below those advertised as required will sadly be significant.

Fair enough, Pneumo - though surely some of the point of the FM modules is to learn or brush up some further maths that might be useful later.

This has reminded me that DS was intending to do some FM this afternoon but all I can hear from his room is motor racing noises.

Gosh. So there is no competition for places such that almost identical students have to be decided between?

You are really suggesting that almost everyone with the predicted grades gets an offer? Wow. Things have changed since a whole pile of family went through it 4 years ago.

Can't she resit the maths modules she did badly in?

There are no resit opportunities between now and the UCAS deadline. The only way someone could resit and get results which affect getting an offer would be to not apply this cycle and take a gap year. That would be a wild over-reaction. Once they have an offer of AAA, then retaking maths modules to use for further maths is pointless (unless it's helpful towards the A in maths).

It's a course that requires AAA. The predicted grades are AAA. Where is the problem?

I am meaning the perception admissions will have of a student with a D grade on their form.

In an AS that isn't being taken forward?

Students applying to courses without hard numbers caps (like medicine has) who have predicted A Level grades which match the entry requirements for the course will and have the published floor for GCSE will pretty well all be given offers. Only in MN land are such courses rejecting people based on lower grades in qualifications which wouldn't form part of the offer. The idea that someone with predicted AAA plus some other AS at a lower grade wouldn't get an AAA offer for an AAA course in an RG university is making drama where there is none.

Can't she resit the maths modules she did badly in?

Yes. It is. (And, IIRC from a previous thread a poster was told that you couldn't just leave it off).

I don't think it is a non issue. I am not talking about a requirement for the grade. I am meaning the perception admissions will have of a student with a D grade on their form. Given that students are very similar, with similar grade predictions and personal statements.

I would be a bit concerned about the d in further maths though

For CS? You need further maths or an acceptable alternative for Imperial and for a couple of Cambridge colleges. Not for anywhere else. So that's a non-issue.

bereal7

Nothing wrong with having high expectations, I have them for myself and for my children, BUT, using language like "dreams in tatters" "accept her limitations" when she is predicted 3 A's is ludicrous, especially given that is exactly what the university the DD wants to go for wants.

I would be a bit concerned about the d in further maths though. Have her teachers said anything about that.

She has the predictions matching the course she wants, but would that lower grade be better blended in with actual A level results given its a maths related course? (I don't know, I am pre AS vintage)

BertrandRussell
I didn't realise she met predictions, I assumed as Op was upset that she must have just missed them
In that case tell her to apply to Warwick!

A good approach to selecting courses for UCAS is to pick to high but still realistic grades, eg A*AA, to lower but still realistic, eg AAB, and one much lower, eg BBC.

Universities do not necessarily reject candidates on teacher predictions. They may ignore them all together and offer A*AA, or they might decide based on her personal statement, teacher reference and GCSE results to give a lower offer.

There are five choices on UCAS, so she should feel free to put down the place she really wants.

I just don't understand. I've looked up the grades required and can see now that others have, too. They are asking for AAA, which is what she's predicted.

Did she want to do the M.Eng? That could still be her first choice, given she has every chance of getting an A*. Even if she didn't get onto that course, she could do the Computer Science degree and take a Masters afterwards, which is what virtually all students who take MAs do anyway.

Did her friends get a* predictions?

"I would suggest she take a gap year if Warwick is what she wants"

Or apply to Warwick- because she is predicted exactly the grades she needs for the course she wants to do

This is a seriously baffling thread!

I wouldn't say any dreams are in tatters until you know what they will offer. They may give an unconditional offer or require lower grades.

I would suggest she take a gap year if Warwick is what she wants. If she applies and attends another uni with lower entry requirements she may regret it. If she works her socks off, gets the grades, and then gets some valid/useful work experience in a gap year she will have many options open to her. Of course Warwick may still not happen, but at least then she can properly evaluate the grades she has actually achieved and look at the best possible option for her. She may not take this very well, at 17/18 a year seems forever, when in reality it is nothing, and the work experience/year to grow up may actually benefit her in the long run

People aren't being weird about having high expectations.

People are being weird about the concept of a child being predicted THE EXACT GRADES REQUIRED FOR HER CHOSEN COURSE and the OP posting stuff like 'dream in tatters', 'accept her limitations' and 'apply to second tier universities'

And why are people being wierd about someone having high expectations - nothing wrong with that and goodluck to her !

Apply this year and if she exceeds her predicted grades, then she can go to a higher uni through a process called 'adjustment'. It's adjustment very easy process - this is what I did when I did better than expected.