Should DD re-take A levels or take up Uni place?

I didn’t get what I needed (19 years ago!). I need BCC and got BCE. There were factors such as me having glandular fever and having undiagnosed dyslexia through my second year but regardless, I didn’t get the grades and didn’t get my first, second choice or anything through clearing. I was focused on what I wanted to do so I resat the Biology to get a better grade.

My days, was that year tough! Putting a brave face on it but seeing all my mates either going off to uni or having gap years while I was resitting was miserable. I was in a resit group so at least it wasn’t being put down a year so to speak. I did well in that I got the grade I needed in the resit and actually got onto a better course when applying the second time around. Some places were weird about not doing all A-levels in ‘one sitting’ which is something to bear in mind - I knew I couldn’t do any better in the other subjects I’d done so didn’t want to resit them. imagine somewhere like Durham might not accept someone with A-levels sat in different years.

I think your daughter is making the right choice. Warwick is a great uni with a long-established science department. Birmingham is indeed a great night out and not far by train! All I’d suggest is maybe paying for a recount of her paper with feedback to see why she went wrong? I found this helpful with one of my exams.

At least one Big 4 firm is now results blind in their application process. Although they all still have a lot of straight A* students, they are not always best placed to pass accountancy exams anyway. I've taught 3 global prize winners in the last couple of years - one of those was from the Big 4 and her A level results were not good enough to get her a place at uni.

Warwick is an excellent university. I definitely wouldn't advise anyone to spend a year on resits to swap warwick for Durham, they are universities of equal prestige and the improved grades on retakes won't matter to employers.

What she does need to do is resolve now that she is going to work extra hard at uni. When she applies for jobs the narrative needs to be "I didn't get A-levels as high as I wanted and if I'm honest I didn't work as hard as I could have. I really learned my lesson from that and buckled down and in my first year I got a mix of First Class and 2:1 grades in my first year exams and I am on track to get a good 2:1 degree or maybe even a 1st"

Employers are very happy to employ youngsters who have tripped up once and learned their lesson from that. The ones who have never tripped up may be overconfident and have their crash ahead of them.

I stopped putting A levels on my CV as soon as I had a degree and I got AAB. I’ve never been asked what I got.

Warwick is better than Durham anyway!

Warwick has a great reputation and is a Russell Group University. A science degree there will open up lots of options in which her A level results probably won't matter at all. Another year of A level type study would need to be planned carefully and she'd need to know how her chances of what she wants would be improved. If she's happy to try the different path of the Warwick course then it's great that she has that option too.

The only requirements have been above a C in English and maths at GCSE, a C in A levels and a 2:1 or above at uni.

Don't make her waste a year for no good reason.

So long as she passed her A levels at C or above they don't matter if she gets a degree. As a recent graduate I can guarantee nobody has asked me about my A levels since my first year of uni.

if she wanted to, say, apply to one of the Big 4 accountancy firms

They care about Maths A level / GCSE and performance on Maths aptitude test along with degree subject and classification. Ime these are more important than Institution.

Don't know anything about Durham, other than their extremely high entry grades but Warwick was 2nd on DD's list. (She just preferred some of the modules/course structure at Southampton) Warwick Campus is fantastic and a great option. Very good reputation etc.

Warwick is a very good uni and only 35 minutes from Birmingham on the train for an excellent night out!

< misses point of thread>

FWIW I got her grades with another B thrown in, but I did very 'light' subjects (drama and performing arts!) and got a 2:1 in economics and a distinction in my masters. Nobody ever asks about my A level results and mine were in kind of silly subjects too (no offence). She sounds like she's got her head screwed on and will do well at Warwick.

Should she be happy with her insurance (Warwick)?

Sounds like she is happy with her insurance and has decided to go there. It's not up to you, at this stage in her life it is her choice. She is the one who will go there and do the work. Our role as parents is to support them.

A*, B, C are good grades. Warwick is an excellent world-class university. Be proud of her achievements!

*too not to

Those are good grades so I hope she's not to down. What is it she wants to do as a job? You mentioned the big 4 accountancy firms, but if it was a sciences degree at Durham then I presume she doesn't want to be an accountant?

A* B C is a good result

At uni ( a good one too) lots of my friends had Bs and C grades and many got 2:1s

Move on with life, If say she got a first at uni or 2:1 nobody will look twice at a levels. Even with a 2:2 and lower a level grades I know people who have got very good jobs straight out of uni. With the competition these days, personality is really important

We've had this couple nversation this morning. My dd has decided against resits but on advice is going to ask for a remark on one paper. She didn't get her first choice but is waiting to hear back from another that emailed her this morning, if they offer she's going to take the place and get the paper remarked so that if it is increased to an A then it could help in the future.

@aethelthryth

Sorry OP for hi-jacking this thread.....

May I ask how you view Edinburgh or Glasgow Law graduates for recruitment purposes? My son (Scottish) has to decide between the two courses and may wish to work for a big city Law firm in London if he has the opportunity.

Many thanks.

Worth a call.

What is showing on her UCAS application?

17th August 1996- my A level results day.

Can still hear my dad singing that stupid song "E's are good, E's are good, they're Ebeneezer good" still hate that song to this day.

As you can probably guess from above, my A level results were terrible. I was predicted so much higher but due to a mixture of things I didn't try very hard.
Went to the first uni that would take me and left after 5 months. Got into loads of debt and it followed me for years.

I wish I had re sat to get my first choice.

I think your dd's results are very good. Ultimately she will do well in her future.

I’m an accountant with a 2.1 from a very good university (didn’t do a levels as Scottish) but my highest weren’t great (not quite sure how I ended up on my course at my uni).
Anyway when applying for trainee ship I didn’t even get past the CV stage and allowed to sit the online tests for any of the big 4. My uni course friends all did and most got big 4 jobs. I had better work experience, in first XI sports teams etc only thing was my school exams. It was 15 years ago so might have changed.
Now I have a very good job (qualified with a smaller CA firm) in FTSE 100 company and wouldn’t even put my school results on a CV but at that entry level school results are very important. It’s a tough decision but maybe she will just have to be prepared to do loads of job applications when the time comes (that’s what I did while all
My friends filled out 4) and might have to start in a less “glamourous” company.

A lot of employers now look through a level results and focus more on skills - like leadership, teamwork etc. This includes the big four. If she didn’t get the results she wanted then I’d ask why - is it because she didn’t work hard enough? Did work but didn’t answer correctly? Resitting you may not get the results you want. Personally I’d do the degree.

sorry about random bold o...