To wish universities wouldn’t give out so many unconditional offers?

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Dd is in Year 13 and applying to university.

She’s reasonably bright but has never been super-academic or interested in school. She has decent but not stellar predicted grades and ok GCSEs. She probably could have done better if she’d worked harder.

She struggled to decide what course to apply for at university (she’s never been particularly devoted to any of her subjects - she’s not someone who would go away and do extra reading) but eventually settled on modern languages.

She sent off her application at the end of October - to unis along the lines of Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield etc.

Within a month she had heard back from all 5, with four making her unconditional-if-firm offers and one (probably the highest scoring in league tables of the 5) offering her a place for AAA or BBB if firmed.

I’m quite concerned that without the pressure of needing to get the grades to get her place, she isn’t going to have any great motivation to try in her A-levels this summer. She already didn’t do much work over the Christmas holiday.

AIBU for wishing universities would get rid of these bribing ‘unconditional-if-firm’ offers? If they need to get bums on seats, could they not just be lenient on Results Day and let in students who miss their offers?

I also don’t really understand why they’d be happy to take her even if she bombed in her A-levels - as long as they were her firm choice - but they might end up refusing to take her if it was her insurance choice and she only missed the offer by one grade. If they’re so keen on her application that they want her whatever her A-levels then why doesn’t that hold true if they’re her insurance?

Watching with interest, as DS put in his UCAS application for modern languages a week ago, so we have had a decision from only 1 of his choices so far.

“She has decent but not stellar predicted grades and ok GCSEs”

But she’s predicted AAA and got mostly A*/A at GCSE... I would say that’s a hell of a lot better than “ok”.

The GCSE grades and predicted A Level grades are the same as DS's too (although DS is currently performing in line with the predictions).

Scottish students already have their grades in the bag by the time they apply to uni as they sit their highers when most are in their second last year at school. They know their grades when applying, so an unconditional offer is made on known grades.

Do agree though that in cases where the student hasn't sat the exam yet and it's all on predicted grades it's a bit odd.

I'm not from the UK but u wanted to come here to do my masters. A levels were irrelevant to me but when applying for.mt masters I was pretty shocked by the offers. I got few acceptance letters within 24h sending the application. It somehow.made it feel that they are happy to just she people pay for tuition no matter of my abilities. It was a bit of a turn off.

Which unis have given her unconditionals? My dd is also applying for MFL with the same predicted grades for similar universities but has only had one unconditional offer - surprised that it's so inconsistent?

Unconditionals from Birmingham, Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle (it was originally a conditional but they changed it to unconditional 2 weeks later)

AAA dropped to BBB for Exeter.

But she’s predicted AAA and got mostly A/A at GCSE... I would say that’s a hell of a lot better than “ok”.*

Her predicted grades are I think far too generous on the part of the school given that she got BCC in the school's internal exams last year - she says the school just mark those harshly and set really low grade boundaries to scare them into working, but I'm not sure how true that is...

For GCSEs she got A, A, 7, 7, A, A, A, B, B, C. For her, I'd say those grades were 'ok' - she could have done better if she worked harder.

Some jobs will still ask for A level results alongside a degree, so it is still definitely worth her while to work hard to try and get good results.

Her predicted grades and GCSEs shouldn’t have warranted unconditional offers. They’re good but not top (this year I know kids who have gotten all A stars at GCSE, predicted 4 As at A Level and still don’t have unconditional offers). Does she have some special extracurricular experience in the subject she’s applied for her?

All grad schemes ask for A level results. I have often seen 1st class degree candidates be rejected if they don’t meet our minimum A Level requirements. However, outside of a grad scheme, it should be ok.

It's a bit of a joke really - several of DS2's mates have applied to Lincoln and they've all got unconditionals, and their projected grades are lower than the OP's DD ... I'm not surprised he's feeling sold short. He likes the courses at the ones he's waiting for better, though. It's a stupid system.

I didn't realise that they were still giving out a lot of conditional offers. My DD got A for her GCSEs and is predicted A of A level but none of her offers are unconditional. It would be nice if one or two were as it would take the pressure off a bit. I'm sure she would still work.

DS reckons it's the new universities trying to entice people, but from the sound of it lots of red bricks are doing it too! ( Just not the ones he's gone for ... )

I have noticed with DS1 and his friends that the university subjects that are competing with degree apprenticeship are the students with the most unconditionals. DS1 math course those going accountancy/ economics have more unconditionals than those following math / science route. I know DS1 is leaving his unconditional acceptance to the last minute as his first choice is the degree apprenticeship which seems to be much more rigorous in the application stage.

OP, DS's GCSE grades were almost the same as your Dd's; swop one of her As and her C for 2Bs and you've got DS's grades.

He's doing 2 MFLs for A Level and one classical language, and is learning a 3rd MFL outside school.He had an immediate offer of 3A's from Durham (I think that's their standard offer), but no decision yet from the other 4.

OP, DS's GCSE grades were almost the same as your Dd's; swop one of her As and her C for 2Bs and you've got DS's grades

Where else is your ds applying, Fozzleyplum?

I have the opposite irritation, I've already got my grades (access course) but only received conditionals, with offers lower than the grades they already know I have achieved. And still waiting on 3 decisions.

It's idiotic.

Does she have some special extracurricular experience in the subject she’s applied for her?

We nagged her to read some French and Spanish Literature books over the summer. She took part in an inter-school French debating competition. And she is still close friends with her Spanish exchange from year 9 - they see each other every summer in either England or Spain, so she wrote about her experiences staying with a Spanish family.

I’m not sure how special any of that is though

Itt also puts them in a dilemma. My daughter got 2 unconditionals and 3 conditionals. The 3 conditionals were from unis that she really wanted to go to. The unconditionals from possible insurance choices. It was difficult to decide whether to take an unconditional or take the risk of a conditional.

OP, he's applying to St Andrew's, Warwick, Exeter and Lancaster. He wants to do 3 MFLs; Durham is the only one which would require him to drop one after the first year, but he was prepared to overlook that because he loved the uni, and his 2 main sports are prioritised there.

Fozzleyplum - it is highly unlikely that any of the unis your DS will offer unconditionals as they are usually oversubscribed due to reputation but sometimes they may offer a slightly lower offer such as an AAB for an AAA course. Good luck.

Which offer has he already received out of interest?

I don’t really see what the issue is if she bombs her A-levels if she will still get into uni tho? Once she has a degree no one will care what her a levels are.

I do think there may be an issue that unconditional offers result in academically incapable people going to uni, though. But I think that’s a different problem.

I think she's doing well and I can see why she's getting unconditionals. I think you're being overly negative about her.

I wish we’d go to an American system and scrap they application before results day. Students should only apply once they know what grades they have. Universities will never do it though as it would delay start dates and therefore fee payments.

My experience of students applying to American Universities, this is as a teacher who is often asked to write recommendations, is not this.
Students get accepted to US universities based on their predicted grades. They cram for tests so they get good grades on their transcripts and good predictions. They get accepted somewhere and then stop working.