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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

94 replies

Jaspermcsween · 08/02/2019 19:54

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

OP posts:

HarryTheSteppenwolf · 12/02/2019 07:18

from what I know university gets a fee for each person applying

No. It doesn't.

HarryTheSteppenwolf · 12/02/2019 07:27

@Blissx - 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

If you have evidence of this you should notify the Office for Students (OfS) and the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA). They are very hot on false advertising by universities at the moment. If courses are listed by UCAS with a particular application deadline and entry conditions and then these are changed or withdrawn without notice, and with different conditions for people applying on different dates before the deadline, the university should be fined. It is not a first come, first-served system and universities should not be allowed to get away with treating if as one.

HarryTheSteppenwolf · 12/02/2019 07:34

But I don’t think it’s not transparent or unethical

Yes it is. It's perfectly reasonable to rank applicants and make early offers to the very high ranking ones while keeping the others on hold until the deadline, when the remaining offers can be made. That way everyone who applies by the deadline gets equal consideration. It is the job of admissions departments to manage this within the UCAS rules.

Shimy · 12/02/2019 08:24

OP congratulations to DS. That’s fantastic news!

Blissx · 12/02/2019 19:10

If you have evidence of this you should notify the Office for Students (OfS) and the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA).
I will do, only have evidence for this year of course, though. Not sure how hot they are on this, however, seeing as it’s pretty common for institutions to do this.

titchy · 12/02/2019 19:23

I will do, only have evidence for this year of course, though. Not sure how hot they are on this, however, seeing as it’s pretty common for institutions to do this.

It's incredibly rare. In fact I'm not sure I actually believe you - or your students anyway - I assume you only have their word for it? Wouldn't be the first time a 17 yo has bent the truth slightly.

titchy · 12/02/2019 19:24

Or did they apply for a course / institution with an earlier deadline?

Boyskeepswinging · 12/02/2019 19:28

It's incredibly rare titchy, I was coming on to say the exact same thing. I've never heard of a uni doing this because as Harry said, this contravenes so much legislation.

Boyskeepswinging · 12/02/2019 19:35

Actually, thinking about it, is it even possible for a uni to close a course before their published closing date? Any UCAS experts out there?

titchy · 12/02/2019 20:07

Actually you're right - all courses go on UCAS course select. UCAS would have to agree to remove them, and it would only do so if the courses were being closed, so anyone who'd applied and been offered already would have their offer rescinded.

So no, the UCAS procedure would not allow things to happen as Bliss says.

Blissx · 12/02/2019 20:19

It's incredibly rare. In fact I'm not sure I actually believe you - or your students anyway - I assume you only have their word for it? Wouldn't be the first time a 17 yo has bent the truth slightly.

Nope. As their form tutor, I have access to their accounts-I write their references! Fair enough, don’t believe me but know I am not lying. When it happens, students put in their course options reasonably early on, usually before they add their personal statement. When it has happened, they find out when they press submit that they get a message from UCAS that they cannot apply to that course anymore. They then have to pick a new one. IT HAPPENS!!!!!!

titchy · 12/02/2019 20:24

In that case it will be because the course has been withdrawn completely, even to those who have already applied. UCAS would not allow anything else trust me.

Unfortunately it isn't that rare that courses are withdrawn completely even after the admissions round has opened. It's particularly unfair on those who have already applied and might have made decisions already, perhaps rejecting other offers.

Boyskeepswinging · 12/02/2019 20:26

So no, the UCAS procedure would not allow things to happen as Bliss says
Yeh, thanks titchy that's exactly what I thought, too. So it sounds like Bliss's students are telling porky pies ...

Boyskeepswinging · 12/02/2019 20:28

Sorry, ignore my last comment. Yes, the courses could be withdrawn completely. But what rotten luck to have so many! Is this a sign of the times?!

WombatChocolate · 12/02/2019 22:19

Okay, so I get that courses can't be full. But I still don't understand that there can be true equal availability to all students on the same terms if they start making offers before the closing date for applications, which they clearly do as loads had all their offers in well before Christmas.

If an institution has say 150 places on a course and decides it will offer 200 to cover for those don't make the grades or later drop out and has then given 170 of these offers before Christmas,nsurely they can only give 30 after Christmas.....but if loads and loads of applicants appear at that point,they simply cannot give them all offers unles there are no constraints on numbers.

Surely it is advantageous to apply earlier?

HarryTheSteppenwolf · 13/02/2019 12:13

@WombatChocolate - I still don't understand that there can be true equal availability to all students on the same terms if they start making offers before the closing date for applications, which they clearly do as loads had all their offers in well before Christmas.

It's not really all that difficult, as long as you have some experience of how students respond to offers (i.e. how many accept them) and how they go on to perform in their A-levels or equivalent. What you do is make offers to the good applicants straight away, reject the clearly hopeless ones and send holding e-mails to the others while you wait for more applications to come in. The closer you get to the deadline the more confident you can be about who you want to make offers to.

For some courses the admissions staff will know that the applications that come in during the last week or two tend to be less strong than those that come in earlier, so they will make a bigger proportion of their offers earlier on.

Another thing that's worth remembering is that most universities are desperate to take as many students as they can, as long as this doesn't involve going beyond safe numbers of students in teaching rooms (especially laboratories) and without pissing off their teaching staff (and other students) by taking lots of students who aren't going to be able to cope at all. In fact, many vice-chancellors would take everyone who applies and drag in others from the street if heads of departments didn't stop them. And still most courses rely on clearing to fill places. So it is unlikely that they will reject a good student who applies closer to the deadline even if they have made lots of offers to less good students earlier on. Obviously, this doesn't apply to courses with capped numbers, but there are very few of those.

RiverTam · 13/02/2019 12:18

excellent news, OP!

titchy · 13/02/2019 12:59

If an institution has say 150 places on a course and decides it will offer 200 to cover for those don't make the grades or later drop out and has then given 170 of these offers before Christmas,n

It's dead easy!

150 places, for the last 10 years that means we have to make 600 offers. We have 800 applicants each year normally. We know that of those 800 applicants only 500 will have the right or better predicted grades, so we can comfortably offer everyone with the right predicted a place, knowing that by deadline day we'll still have a further 100 offers to make.

Obvs we monitor supply and demand year on year very closely, but overall one year's conversion rates are in the same ball park as the previous years.

Original poster

Jaspermcsween · 14/02/2019 22:24

Thanks all
Really interesting debate as well !

OP posts:

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