DD turned down for re-doing A Level

[FarawayTreeFolk]

DD has recently got her A Level results. She didn't do well enough to get to the Uni she wanted, so asked her College is she could redo the second year of the course and resit next year.

The College said they are happy for her to do a resit, but felt that with her C grade, she didn't really need to come into College to do the second year of the course again. They said she is "Over qualified" for redoing the A-Level. They said she can come in and join revision sessions at the end of the year to help get ready for the retake in 2020.

DD is upset as she wonders if they have an ulterior motive for turning her down for redoing the year.

Is this normal practice for students to be refused for redoing an A Level if they are believed to have performed relatively well in the first sitting? Any advice would be welcomed to try and make sense of it.

She should apply to five places not just one. Why would she just wait around till clearing? And watch out for the Jan deadline.

She can do clearing now and not have to wait at all.

"titchy* She will apply by January in order to apply for 2020 entry. She will choose York as first choice, even though doesn't yet have the Maths A-Level they ask for, in the hope that she will pass it this year doing a Fast track Maths A-Level with the NEC (distance learning). She will go through clearing if not offered a place by York. She will also put four other Unis on her list, including some with lower grade entries where she is much more likely to get an offer.

Drdarko She wants to wait until 2020 entry as doesn't feel ready to start Uni this September.

I don't understand your logic of saying she will go through clearing if not offered a place at York.

Won't she firm York, assuming they offer based on the Maths result, and plan have a lower ranked, probably unconditional offer, if she doesn't get the Maths grade?

I don't see when she would ever need to go through clearing!

(Incidentally if York as a city is what attracts her she'd get an unconditional offer if she applied to York St John.)

twitchy You are right that she will put York at the top of her list of 5 universities and will have ones with lower grade entry lower down the list. Actually you're correct in saying that Clearing is irrelevant. Thank you for the advice as it certainly clarifies things for me.

I think she is attracted to York as it is a Russell Group Uni. She is more focused on the status/ranking of the Uni than probably she should be.

For something practical like CS it's experience that counts, so former poly with a year in industry gives better employment prospects (assuming the end game is working in the industry) than an academic course at RG.

Best of luck either way!

twitchy The year in industry sounds like a great idea. Off to Google Unis offering this! Many thanks.

Here in Pakistsn a C grade is considered normal and most people opt for a resit