Daughter started at a Russell group uni in 2024 and now contacted by UCAS offering her a place at her chosen uni in 2025, which didn’t offer her a place in 2024 but would have been her first choice.

[labsarelife]

Ok, I’ve never heard of this happening before; ever. Daughter gained a place at a Russell group uni in 2024. Had offers for all but one of her choices - the rejection came from her preferred uni but she ended up happily going to her second choice.
We receive a letter this morning - ‘signed for delivery’ from UCAS, offering her a place in 2025 (!) at her first choice uni, from which she was rejected last year.
Apparently, UCAS have ‘undertaken some work’ in conjunction with said uni and are now able to offer her a place - either joining in year 2 or beginning year 1, depending on course content already studied.
Complete dilemma. She is happy (ish) at the current uni - socially etc. Sometimes moans about some of the lectures being useless but to be honest, you get that everywhere and nothing is perfect.
Has on occasion said she’s not sure the uni was all she’d hoped it would be and at one point wanted to leave but has stuck with it; only to now be given the chance to study at her first choice.
Both are top ten unis - or thereabouts, depending on the league tables each year but both consistently good.
My first choice would have been the uni she received a rejection from but we were happy with her second choice and there’s not a huge difference between their stats etc - her first choice was the stronger performing uni of the two.
Location wise, both are in lovely cities.
Has anyone else ever been in this position or heard of anything happening like this before? Perhaps it’s a more common occurrence than I think it is.
Any insight, much appreciated.
Thank you.

I've never heard of that. Also bear in mind, if she drops back to year 1 at the new Uni that will be her 'safety net' extra year of funding/loan used up. So if she were to fail a year for any reason, Finance England are unlikely to stump up for a fifth year of study.

Apparently, there are a ‘very small number of others,’ according to the letter. Such a shame, if she should have received an offer last year. Dreadful if there is some sort of space filling exercise going on.
Obviously we’ve had a reduction in overseas students recently who would be paying a lot more for their places…..
I might phone the number myself but not sure if they’d speak to me for confidentiality reasons.

Very true. Is she bolshy enough to argue (if she decides to accept, and I wouldn’t personally) for a fee-free year, and no rent for halls accommodation. Then she wouldn’t need to use her ‘spare’ year of funding.

My DD changed universities in year two and had to repeat year 1. That has not been good for her as it is the same content. At times she's been bored and of course it costs. She does prefer her second university but will do her masters at a third because of the area she wants to work in.

Very true. I suppose I’m thinking of it from a purely social side, in saying I’d start completely afresh.
So many implications financially too though. It’s beginning to look as though it’s just not worth it, unless some sort of financial agreement could be argued.

Also the current upper sixth are doing their firm and insurance choices at the moment. Many will have already done this. Perhaps uni number 1 is not happy with the numbers that firmed/insured them.

really really strange regardless

That’s a really good point actually. So many implications to all of this. Probably best to stay put, all things considered.

She has phoned UCAS directly and spoken to someone. I think I’ll have to phone tomorrow too. My daughter didn’t ask the right questions today. I’ll be more straight to the point - exactly why are you now offering a place?

I would wait and see what is in the follow up letter. If you can establish it is a mistake, then your DD should be arguing for tuition and accommodation paid for the additional year if she wants to move but basically it’s a bit of a mess whichever way. Whatever happens now, your DD is going to think ‘what if’?

Why this has happened is moot. It only matters what your daughter wants to do. Is it really worth another £20k+ ish of fees and living costs and another year of life to get onto a similar course at a similar institution? Maybe it is, I don't know. It's your daughter's call though.

I honestly can’t see the point of moving at this stage if she is going study the same course.
However, if she wants to change then it is up to her
The risk is that she may not even enjoy her first choice university

We are talking about two similar places. Both lovely cities - very pleasant environments. My daughter really did want to go to the uni she didn’t get the offer from. Being honest, it was first choice for us both. Her first choice and my first choice for her.
However, once she did not get an offer, out of the 4 offers she did get, the current uni was her favourite by far.
So yes, I say ‘we’ were disappointed as in my husband and I knew she wanted that offer but we all just accepted she didn’t get it and we were happy with getting the offer from her current uni.
It had to be her choice though. We would have gone with whichever one she felt most comfortable with - whether that was ‘my’ preference or not.
I have been a teacher myself, so I try my best not to put unnecessary pressure on my own children, as I’ve seen the consequences of it. I went to uni myself and I always said ‘go with your gut’ but her ‘gut’ was the uni she’s now received this offer from.
I’m going to advise once more - ‘go with your gut.’ Her gut instinct may be to stay put now and if so, I’ll be happy and somewhat relieved.
However, if her ‘gut’ tells her to change, then I will stand by my word and support her. It will be tricky for us - financially etc. Many implications.

Hmm. Only if she could go straight into year 2 and wasn't financially worse off.
How much better is the Uni swap, RG to top London say to LSE for Economics, Bath to Oxford?

It’s a BSc 4 year course with work placement. So she’s 1/4 of the way through. So she’d now be doing 5 yrs and she would have to do a Masters and a Doctorate, in order to enter her chosen profession (at the level she hopes to).
It’s a lot, isn’t it? Of course, young people change their minds about their career paths and often end up doing very different things to what they originally planned but it’s a lot of years of study with potentially, an extra one now.

Her first choice performs better overall. Student satisfaction is a fair bit higher too. We haven’t of course, looked at all of these uni stats for a good while now, as we thought that was all well behind us.
More significant difference in subject performance. First choice performs better by some margin. However, in real world terms there is likely little difference in terms of employment prospects
Both are good unis, with good reputations.
In all honesty, reading that back, there seems little point in her changing…..
The only niggle I do have, is the phone call I took from her a few months ago, where she said ‘I don’t even know whether I really like it here.’
Having been to uni myself, I can honestly say I was happy there but there has always been this nagging doubt because she never seems quite as happy as I’d expect her to be.
Again, that could happen anywhere though; at any uni but she was so looking forward to going away and couldn’t wait, so I’ve always been a bit sad that she has never seemed to fully settle.
If she risks it and changes and dislikes her ‘new’ uni, then she will badly regret it but what if she loves it and it was strangely meant to be?!?
Now that would be something and I know she sounded excited when I spoke to her. That’s the issue here. I heard that spark in her. I know I did.

Has she called the direct UCAS number online rather than a number in an email? I am sorry it sounds like a scam. I woukd be worried about them asking for a deposit for accommodation at some stage and wanting it by bank transfer immediately to secure it

This is really irresponsible of the uni. It could end up costing your daughter a LOT of money at an already expensive time. And to do it over the exam period too?

I'd be suspicious of their motives to be honest. And their integrity.

I think that this needs serious consideration before accepting. I'd want to know if the course is in trouble.

It sounds very odd. I'd have the same concern as @Spirallingdownwards

Has she contacted the admissions team at the uni which supposedly did make the offer?

Hi OP, I am in university senior mgt.

Last year, UCAS had an error with their data which meant a small number of students who should have received "contextual offers" (offers with slightly lower requirements as part of widening participation) did not -- and conversely, some students with more privileged backgrounds wrongly received these.

This was due to UCAS, not the universities themselves.

It only affected a handful of students before it was identified, and UCAS committed to make restitution where possible. Because it only affected a tiny number of students, it generally wasn't discussed outside senior leadership - at my place, I think it affected around 6 offerholders out of thousands.

Of course, I don't know if this is the issue behind your daughter's situation, but it would fit. In which it wouldn't be a scam or the university's fault.

That is a different question as to whether she should move institutions of course!

This is a concern. If it does turn out to be a scam please let UCAS know - it could signify a data breach.

If it is genuine and she doesn’t accept it, would she consider letting a journalist have sight of the letter? Realise I’m over invested but if true this is utterly outrageous behaviour and I’m quite angry about it.

Is it a course which could be at risk of closure? I worked at a uni before going self-employed, though in marketing not recruitment and have not seen this happen before - but courses have always been pulled if not enough take up and I imagine in current times that's more of a risk at every uni and for a lot more courses not just the super niche ones.

I think go with your gut is good advice, but would try and find out as much as possible about the offering course first because it would be horrendous for your dd to make the switch and then have the course pulled before she's finished it.

This

None of this makes sense and is very concerning.
I would encourage your daughter to ring both ucas and the university in question to ensure it is legitimate.

Personally I wouldn't move unless she is desperately unhappy

The course was one of the most popular at both universities and competition was fierce for a place at both. I don’t understand it. I’ll have to ideal to them myself or along with my daughter. She’s had a phone call already. There will be a follow-up email and another phone call on Monday.

She’s had a phone call with the contact at UCAS. This is being followed up by an email, with further clarification and explanation.
We then have another phone call on Monday.
The UCAS contact has also advised that she make contact with the ‘new’ university subject department in the meantime to ask about the comparison of course content and the likelihood of it being a first or second year entry.
I will have to call the number given and speak to UCAS myself tomorrow. No, I don’t think it is a scam and if it were, what would they be scamming?
We can easily establish whether it is indeed true or not, by a phone call or email to the relative subject dept at the ‘new’ university.
They will be aware of a drive to increase numbers in their department, if that is their aim or if it’s an admissions issue and there was an error there, then the admissions dept would be aware and would likely be able to confirm authenticity of the letter and its contents.
I will check tomorrow.
The letter also had all of my daughter’s UCAS details on it - ID etc etc - and all were correct.

Yes, I do understand your reasoning there. So wanting to fill a few spaces in 2025. Likely wanting her to drop in to the first year.
Although this is a uni where applications far outweigh places and this course in particular, is incredibly popular and competition is rife for places.
I just don’t understand it at all. Odd.
I wish we’d never received the letter to be honest.