To be angry and upset on son’s behalf - university admission related

[Jaspermcsween]

My son applied to university on the last day allowed -
Deadline was 15th January at 6 pm .
He has an email showing his application was received by UCAS at 00.55 hours. On that date.

Today he got an email saying his application was unsuccessful.
Reason?
I t was received after the deadline.

Except it wasn’t and he has the email to prove it !

He will phone ucas and the university on Monday.

In the meantime does anyone have any advice or similar experiences?

Thanks for reading. I hope someone can help

How did he get on today Jasper?

I don't think 18 hours is leaving it until the last minute with an online (ie immediate) application as the OPs' son's application didn't have to go to anyone else like for someone still in school. If the deadline is x it's x, not 18.5 hours earlier. I don't really understand all the comments saying he needs to get organised etc. Either you can apply until a certain time or you can't.

A postal application would obviously be different.

A deadline is a deadline. If you meet it, you shouldn't be penalised This. Unless it's a course which they fill up as they go.

Unless it's a course which they fill up as they go
Universities are not allowed to do this. They must give equal consideration to all applications made before the deadline (in October, January or June depending on the course).

As a separate issue, unis do start making offers as soon as applications open. You are disadvantaged by applying last minute. I’d imagine most last minute applicants are weaker anyway - not all, but a large number.

I appreciate he’s a private applicant, but good schools won’t let it get to this really late stage. Many set internal deadlines well before Christmas - to the benefit of students.

That said, obviously the deadline must be adhered to and if he met it, he will be considered for places not already offered. Your complaint will result in him being considered as he should be. No doubt some school or college applicants did need the school to sign it all off and may have missed the deadline as they didn’t leave their school or college enough time to do it ....and then they will have moaned, despite probably being chased for weeks.

You are disadvantaged by applying last minute
As I said earlier, you really shouldn't be. All on time applications must be given equal consideration.

But if offers start from when applications open, and unis have some kind of limit on how many offers they can make, by the time of the last minute application, surely lots of the possible offers have already been made??

He will be fine, he has the email to prove it and from what I know university gets a fee for each person applying. I know people that went through clearance on ucas and they applied after these dates. When I was applying for uni UCAS in itself was stressful enough!

This is what it says in the UCAS website.

Student funding arrangements mean that as offers are made and places fill up, some courses may only have vacancies for students from certain locations. It’s therefore really important that you apply for your chosen courses by the appropriate deadline as not all courses will have places for all students.

But if offers start from when applications open, and unis have some kind of limit on how many offers they can make, by the time of the last minute application, surely lots of the possible offers have already been made??
Some courses will make offers as applications come in but they know how many offers can be made in total so they will hold back making ALL offers until after the closing date so last minute applications are given equal consideration to those received at the beginning of September.

But claire is that not referring to p,aces which have quotas for specific funding sources ie. In Scotland where Scottish and EU students are considered separately to those from England/Wales/NI. That has nothing to do with timing of application.

Some courses will make offers as applications come in but they know how many offers can be made in total so they will hold back making ALL offers until after the closing date so last minute applications are given equal consideration to those received at the beginning of September.

As a Year 13 form tutor this is certainly not true in many cases, heck even this academic year, back last November and before three of my students had pressed submit their end, their courses had ‘disappeared’ on their form, as the places on the course were ‘full’ and they had to pick new institutions all over again. In addition, a few students have had the grade requirements increase on them before they have even applied because the course is filling up hugely. This has been happening for years. It is a first come first served basis in many areas and therefore, leaving it to the final deadline is always a silly risk.

Boys, but that isn’t equal consideration. They can hold back some places and then get an unexpected influx of applicants and only have limited rather than all their places still to offer.
Unless no offers are made before the closing date it isn’t EQUAL consideration is it?
I know Durham delays offering until after closing date. It annoys early applicants but it means they can consider all equally. They are popular and can afford to wait to offer. I suspect other places feel early offers win more acceptances and feel they need to do this....but it isn’t totally equal consideration is it then, unless they are truly unlimited in the number of places they are deee and able to offer.

Blissx If that is happening you need to report it to UCAS as it contravenes the rules.

The early bird does have more chance of catching the worm. And some schools and colleges are better than others at pushing through speedy applications and getting a bit of an advantage over other equally qualified candidates.

boyskeepswinging
Thank you for asking.

I’m delighted to report UCAS accepted they were in the wrong.

And he has received an acceptance from the university that rejected him at the weekend !

Thanks again to everyone who contributed. I really did not expect so big a response.

Fantastic!

But UCAS knows unis make offers as soon as applications open....as does everyone! It’s not news!

Wombat Well, it is equal consideration if everyone who is offered has the same quals/predicted quals in the end.

Yay, Jasper, great to hear a happy ending!

Good news for DS. He couldn’t be denied for not meeting deadline, when he did meet it. He might not have got an offer if a course had already made all its offers or only saved some places and all the later applicants were better than him. Glad it’s worked for him.

Worth remembering that some jobs say ‘we reserve the right to interview and appoint before the closing date’ when advertising vacancies. Being speedy is often a benefit.

Boys, but do they? Unis vary their offers to different candidates. Their websites and prospectus grades are merely suggestions and can rise or fall in response to demand. If a last surge has higher predicted grades, a candidate with grades which might have got an offer in Nov might not get one in Feb if very few places remain to be allocated.

Wombat Yes, you're right, of course not all uni's operate with transparent or ethical admissions policies. Just read any of the recent threads about unconditional offers for extreme examples!

But I don’t think it’s not transparent or unethical. We all know offers start the minute applications open and that offers can differ - I don’t think there’s anything wrong with either of those things. The late students know their friends have been getting offers for months.

Great news OP, best of luck to him at uni.

Ah, I do like a happy ending I told you so 😍