Anyone else got DC applying for uni this year - beyond annoyed

[Lionlover11]

DD is 18 and applying for uni this year and the grades are literally insane. Good Russel groups
are asking for grades previously only oxbridge would ask for and former poly universities that previously would have been easier to get into have now shot up to 3 B’s. All because of covid deferrals. I’m absolutely livid on DD’s behalf that predicted of ABB (very good results imo) will not be enough to get her into a Russel group for the course she wants to do. It feels like this year group have suffered so much already because of the pandemic and now because of covid deferrals it’s bitten them on the backside again. I’m half considering telling DD to forget applying for this year, get the best a levels she can and just apply next year when hopefully the grades have eased off. Anyone else in the same boat?

I got a First in a difficult subject from a highly ranked university twenty five years ago. I remember it being asked about at length by interviewers at graduate interviews and I'm sure job offers came mostly on the back of it

My father had the casting vote on which graduates to employ at the City firm that he worked at for almost his entire career (he retired about twenty five years ago) and would have only quizzed you on your First in a difficult subject from a highly ranked university to establish that you were a sufficiently rounded person for him to want to join the firm. He had a strong suspicion of those with Firsts, and rejected many of them. I think he'd be less critical of those with Firsts these days.

You’re barking up completely the wrong tree if you think grades will have “eased off” next year. They’ve been this high at RG unis for the last the last 10 years at least. You’re in danger of giving your DD some very duff advice because of your out of date misconceptions about grades. You can be as annoyed as you like, but places on sought after courses at leading universities are highly competitive and your DD needs to set her sights according.

I'm sure it the first was a source of celebration in your family, particularly if your DD worked very hard for it. But that is different from your question as to whether it is something to shout about, which is more a question regarding whether it is an unusual achievement. That's what I was commenting on.

Sorry, my elder son went to a Russell Group uni 14 years ago and I would not have suggested he applied there without a prediction of AAA, he actually got AAAA as did most of his cohort. All were actually 100% or 98+ So A*’s now. Your daughter could leave it a couple of years and get some life experience, uni’s often like that but I’d still be surprised if ABB was impressive to them.

@goodbyestranger that sounds similar to the kind of prejudice that all Oxbridge graduates are very clever so must be lacking socially. I think we all know that's not true.

Loughborough wasn’t a Poly - it’s been a Uni since 1966 - so same time as York, Newcastle, Lancaster, Warwick, Sussex etc.

RG universities required at least AAA in 2018, usually min A*AA. That’s the expectation. If this has come as a surprise, then you both may need to reconsider her options if she is not predicted those grades.

It depends on the course. Some have always had high grade-requirements. I have a DC in 2nd-year uni now. They already had one A when applying and still had to get AAA to get the first choice (which they thankfully did).

FWIW, I agree with many others, this isn't new- even before A grades entry requirements were similar. Part of the reasons A were introduced was because universities were having difficulty choosing between so many similarly qualified applicants.

I know it's disappointing that your daughter maybe can't apply to a course she would really like with her current grades, but it's worth looking at what's out there and perhaps also picking some stretch/aspirational choices.

I don't think deferring a year would necessarily help- entry requirements are very unlikely to drop next year. But if she does better than expected on results day, she can reject a uni place she has, and then apply elsewhere, and also has the option of adjustment.

Agree with previous posters, as a general rule only apply to Russel Group if predicted all A's and this has been the case for some time.
But please dont be 'annoyed' for DD. Support her in looking at other uni's and courses. It's not a failure if she doesn't go to RG, and she can still have a good education and great experience elsewhere.
I'd avoid putting on any pressure to attain grades that are outsude her scope in order to apply for RG , it will be a lot of pressure and could affect her self esteem and confidence.
Her predicted grades are still grades to be proud of. A levels are tough.

As some large recruiters in law, finance etc. are now trying very hard to look at people from more diverse backgrounds in terms of school attended, among other things, then if your daughter has been to a state school, especially one that isn't rated that highly of itself, she might be better off trying to ace it at a non RG university, with good extracurriculars and actually stepping inside the careers service more than once in 3 years, and take her chances thereafter. If Oxbridge/RG/AAA is a stretch anyway. I'm not saying she should try to do this or whether this is any kind of strategy, I am just saying there are a lot of factors at play and there is much for you and she to research. Another thing to consider is whether she will be eligible for any of the £1-3K bursaries that some universities have for students from specific backgrounds, too. You would need to check the individual unis' pages.

Piccolo no that's not it. He took on a lot of Oxford graduates. He had no issue with Oxford at all on that score. There was simply a rebuttable presumption that those with Firsts might be lacking in some areas, and that presumption was based on experience over a number of years.

only apply to Russel Group if predicted all A's and this has been the case for some time.

Depends on the subject. There are places to do physics for example significantly lower than AAA most years at some RG universities through clearing and ABB or even BBB might get you in without going through clearing. This might not be the case in this cohort as much but there are differences.

It hugely depends on the course. MFL, for instance, often accepts lower grades because fewer kids have a language A level.

@ShaunaTheSheep 👏 👏 👏

That just won’t happen at 80% of UK institutions.

There are plenty of ways for prestigious employers, and less prestigious but very good employers, to find students and vice versa at all universities and loads of schemes to do internships and work shadowing etc. If the student actually engages with that side of things.

Another consideration is to go to a university where the cost of living isn't too high and you will actually be able to afford to do extracurricular such as a running a society or sports and not have to work in a minimum wage job for so many hours that you can barely study let alone do anything else and get that well-rounded CV that you need. Although work experience is also a good thing on the CV of course. Therefore avoid London unless you have access to funds from parents etc.

If your end goal is a high-paying job at a prestigious company, Viking Studies at UCL might just be the way to go.

^This 😛

Agree with previous posters, as a general rule only apply to Russel Group if predicted all A's and this has been the case for some time

my friends ds is predicted ABB. He has offers from Liverpool Manchester and Newcastle. They are asking for their standard grades Aaa and AAB but they’ve still made the offers.

Try for an apprenticeship ?

Universities are a business where money comes before anything else. UK students pay £9,250 per annum, international students pay two or three times that amount. Most RG universities are flooded with international students as they make far more money per head thus taking places away from UK students. It’s dreadful and shouldn’t be permitted, UK university places should be for our children not rich kids from abroad.

I went to University of Sheffield back in 1986 with BBC. Times have changed!

Universities are public research institutions, not businesses.

International students pay more than UK students, but they supplement UK students rather than displace them. We’ve had twelve years of University starvation of funds, where do you think the money is going to come from to keep these universities afloat?

The top universities of the world, Harvard, Oxford etc, all have similar amounts of international students, you can’t apply British first to University research, if everyone did , we’d have no medical or technological advances.

Look at the Oxford Covid vaccine, who were the team involved in that?

Sarah Gilbert, degree and PhD from Hull and University of East Anglia, both non- RG Uni’s

Pascal Soriot, FRENCH

Federica Cappuccini, degree from Italy and PhD from Germany.

www.itv.com/news/2020-12-30/oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-who-are-the-people-behind-the-jab

They may well be public research institutions, but first and foremost they are a business driven by financial targets.
There are currently over 600,000 international students studying in UK universities, London Imperial College has 49% of their students as international and the UK is ranked globally only 2nd to the USA in terms of volume of international students. Look at the size of the UK!!! This is NOT good news for our children.

It’s hard, but in your terms it’s bcc, if it helps to translate, and I think your job is to work with the school and her to see if she can achieve more, if she cannot what other options does she have.

It’s not relevant right, he needs to achieve more than he is predicted or he has mo offer. Can he? If the answer is yes. He has an offer, if it’s a no then he doesn’t.

I'm sorry, but you're fundamentally wrong. Imperial College is not run like Tesla or WHSmiths.

Imperial dreams of being the MIT of the UK, MIT currently has around 40% international grad students

THESE ARE GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS.

To be blunt, ANY student be they British, Indian, Japanese, 93 % chance of rejection from Imperial.

Let that sink in, NINETY THREE PERCENT CHANCE OF FAILURE of getting in, when you want the best of the best, you don't care where they come from.

Walk into the development areas of Facebook offices, or cutting edge trading at Goldman Sachs or Dyson research, they don't care where you come from, they want the best brains with PhDs. To be blunt, they don't care about our children. Its not their job neither, its our job and the elected gov to care about our children and raise education standards.