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Original poster

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.

152 replies

labsarelife · 08/05/2025 16:39

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.

OP posts:
JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 08/05/2025 21:13

@labsarelife just be cautious before assuming it's the university driving this. Not sure if you saw my post but it may be UCAS not them.

Original poster
labsarelife · 08/05/2025 21:16

Talulahalula · 08/05/2025 18:57

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’?

Yes, that’s the sad thing. The ‘always wondering!’ If she was really happy currently and had expressed little to minimum doubt, I’d say stay where you are but she has expressed it maybe not being the right choice fir her, which of course makes this news even more cruel in a way.

OP posts:
Original poster
labsarelife · 08/05/2025 21:19

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 08/05/2025 21:13

@labsarelife just be cautious before assuming it's the university driving this. Not sure if you saw my post but it may be UCAS not them.

No I didn’t see your post. I do think it’s UCAS driving it and not the uni, from the way in which it was worded.
What would be the motivation there? I will try and find your post.

OP posts:
clary · 08/05/2025 21:31

Sounds as tho she made a good and reasonable choice last year @labsarelife with your support, which is all you could do.

As you say, it’s a shame she was seeming to be unhappy at first at the new place – but of course that might have happened at choice 1 as well.

I would (and I am sure you will) try to find out why and how this has happened – after all, it’s not as tho you have been on the waiting list at a preferred secondary school while your DC does year 7 at your second choice.

I would also look in some detail at what the course at choice 1 entails and how it compares with choice 2 – having completed year 1 there she will have a better idea of which aspects she likes and which not, which may make her choice more informed than it could be last year (not that she was making a choice between 1 and 2 but YGWIM.

Best of luck to her.

Original poster
labsarelife · 08/05/2025 21:40

clary · 08/05/2025 21:31

Sounds as tho she made a good and reasonable choice last year @labsarelife with your support, which is all you could do.

As you say, it’s a shame she was seeming to be unhappy at first at the new place – but of course that might have happened at choice 1 as well.

I would (and I am sure you will) try to find out why and how this has happened – after all, it’s not as tho you have been on the waiting list at a preferred secondary school while your DC does year 7 at your second choice.

I would also look in some detail at what the course at choice 1 entails and how it compares with choice 2 – having completed year 1 there she will have a better idea of which aspects she likes and which not, which may make her choice more informed than it could be last year (not that she was making a choice between 1 and 2 but YGWIM.

Best of luck to her.

Edited

Sound advice. You are absolutely right, I think she does really need to delve in to the course content more thoroughly because there’s no going back if she chooses to jump ship.
The more I think about it, the more I think she should stay put but ultimately it’s her decision but not a nice decision to have to make and if it’s about filling spaces, then not a nice practice on UCAS’ part.

OP posts:
caringcarer · 08/05/2025 21:47

labsarelife · 08/05/2025 16:51

Maybe they’ve had a huge dropout rate?!?

Show quote history

Huge drop out rate was my first thought too. My sister did first year of her degree at Manchester university then transferred to what was at the time Polytechnic of Central London. I think it's been made I to a university now. Anyway she felt the Manchester course wasn't quite what she wanted. They changed the options for Year 2 whilst she was in first year. She moved to get her favoured options. She is quite an outgoing person but she did say everyone had made their friendship groups so she had to work quite hard to make friends. Luckily she loved sport and joined several sporting clubs so made friends that way. She was stuck in halls in her second year whilst most other second years shared a house.

Original poster
labsarelife · 08/05/2025 22:31

caringcarer · 08/05/2025 21:47

Huge drop out rate was my first thought too. My sister did first year of her degree at Manchester university then transferred to what was at the time Polytechnic of Central London. I think it's been made I to a university now. Anyway she felt the Manchester course wasn't quite what she wanted. They changed the options for Year 2 whilst she was in first year. She moved to get her favoured options. She is quite an outgoing person but she did say everyone had made their friendship groups so she had to work quite hard to make friends. Luckily she loved sport and joined several sporting clubs so made friends that way. She was stuck in halls in her second year whilst most other second years shared a house.

Show quote history

I wouldn’t like her to start in the second year for those very reasons.

OP posts:
toofast · 08/05/2025 23:05

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 08/05/2025 20:36

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!

@labsarelife This post might give you the explanation you're looking for.

MumOnBus · 08/05/2025 23:32

If it was a contextual offer, it's unlikely that they'll let her do a direct entry to the second year, and if they do, she might struggle academically, as not only she was already a weaker applicant than the others last year, who by now they would have had the additional benefit of better teaching experience in their first year.
If it were my own daughter, I'd encourage her to stay in her current uni, especially if she didn't find it easy there, a university that presumably had lower entry requirements.

Wiltingasparagusfern · 09/05/2025 00:00

Unless it was somewhere amazing like Oxford or Cambridge or UCL or LSE I don’t think I’d even consider moving. If it’s a similar level uni and she’s happy enough why bother?

Donotgogentle · 09/05/2025 05:49

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 08/05/2025 20:36

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 useful explanation of the type of thing which might have happened. I don’t believe universities or UCAS would be allowed to poach students outside of the usual admissions system.

But isn’t it a bit late for this error in making an offer to have been uncovered and actioned, given it’s now May?

Donotgogentle · 09/05/2025 05:59

Also, if it is a UCAS error, I wonder whether correcting it would involve making good financially?

If it’s just the very late offer of a place, then the mistake isn’t really rectified.

Annoyingsquirrels · 09/05/2025 06:18

I swapped Uni's for other reasons and went straight into year 2 at the new Uni. Although it was the right choice from an educational perspective I don't recommend it socially. I did not make any friends on my course at the new University and everyone was already in friendship groups. There seemed to be very few opportunities to socialise with people on my course.

1SillySossij · 09/05/2025 06:33

Is it definitely a UCAS number? The only reason I can think of is if some form of unlawful discrimination has been uncovered in the 2024 process.

ElleDeeCB · 09/05/2025 06:46

When I was at university, almost all of my friends were people I’d met in Halls not on my course. So if she can join Yr2 of the course, but still live in Halls she should feel the same as any other Fresher and not be at a disadvantage socially. If she didn’t take a gap year she will be the same age as those who did. Also it shouldn’t have much of a financial implication except for the accommodation costs already paid for (and you may be able to get another tenant, or if it’s a mistake on the part of the University or UCAS as for some financial compensation to help with this).

Original poster
labsarelife · 09/05/2025 06:48

toofast · 08/05/2025 23:05

@labsarelife This post might give you the explanation you're looking for.

Show quote history

Thank you so much for your input. That’s really helpful to me and I do recognise that it’s very likely this. This makes sense to me, although her ‘first choice’ uni didn’t state that she was eligible for a contextual offer but some of the others did and she did receive contextual offers from a couple of them.
They stated in the letter that only a very small number of students were affected.
It’s looking likely that she will remain where she is but if she does choose to switch, it will potentially this up big financial issues for us, as she’s tied to an accommodation contract for next year and her course is already a 4 year course, so we’d be effectively now supporting her for 5 years etc etc and would she incur 5 years of fees?
All questions for UCAS. What a shame this didn’t come to light sooner. I really think it will now always remain a ‘what if?’ in her mind but I will encourage her to make the decision and just move on past it.
If she chooses to stay where she is, hopefully it will cement her commitment to her current uni.

OP posts:
Original poster
labsarelife · 09/05/2025 06:52

MumOnBus · 08/05/2025 23:32

If it was a contextual offer, it's unlikely that they'll let her do a direct entry to the second year, and if they do, she might struggle academically, as not only she was already a weaker applicant than the others last year, who by now they would have had the additional benefit of better teaching experience in their first year.
If it were my own daughter, I'd encourage her to stay in her current uni, especially if she didn't find it easy there, a university that presumably had lower entry requirements.

The grades required were almost the same but slightly higher for her first choice but your advice is helpful. The last thing I want her to do is struggle academically and in theory, there is even more potential for that to happen if she switches.
Thank you for your thoughts.

OP posts:
CamillaMacauley · 09/05/2025 06:53

I think from a financial pov she’d be bonkers. If she starts in year 1 again then it’s another year of loans and debt. Plus the possibility of not being able to get anyone to take her booked accommodation contract over so you’d be paying 2x rent for a year. Plus delaying starting work a year so a year of lost wages. You’d be looking at it being a cost of 50k plus!

For what benefit? A course which may be ranked a few places higher than where she currently is? But rankings to be honest don’t always mean a better experience. Or in fact a better course. She seems happy where she is, enjoying the course. Every course has the odd little issue. Who’s to say the other place won’t be worse. She could be jumping ship for a worse experience.

BangersAndGnash · 09/05/2025 07:06

OP: can you tell us what the first choice Uni is? My Dc went to a highly competitive Uni for the sort of course you are describing, and I wouldn’t suggest anyone leaves another good Uni to go there.

Also finding a placement for the In Industry year is hard work in itself. She’s going to be having to get to grips with that as well as settling in if she goes into second year.

The year out also plunges them into a new town, new social set up for a year… and then they move back again. By changing Unis your DD is introducing another big change of cities and friends.

BangersAndGnash · 09/05/2025 07:08

I would say stick, throw all her energy into getting a good degree and try for her first choice if she does post grad

Mischance · 09/05/2025 07:13

This is seriously weird. UCAS must know the massive disruption this would cause: financial, social, psychological. I think this is out of order and find it quite shocking. This is a young person's well being they are nesding with.

Mischance · 09/05/2025 07:17

Messing ....

Original poster
labsarelife · 09/05/2025 07:26

CamillaMacauley · 09/05/2025 06:53

I think from a financial pov she’d be bonkers. If she starts in year 1 again then it’s another year of loans and debt. Plus the possibility of not being able to get anyone to take her booked accommodation contract over so you’d be paying 2x rent for a year. Plus delaying starting work a year so a year of lost wages. You’d be looking at it being a cost of 50k plus!

For what benefit? A course which may be ranked a few places higher than where she currently is? But rankings to be honest don’t always mean a better experience. Or in fact a better course. She seems happy where she is, enjoying the course. Every course has the odd little issue. Who’s to say the other place won’t be worse. She could be jumping ship for a worse experience.

Yes, ultimately success has little to do with which uni you went to, for most people - I agree. I wonder whether they would incur costs due to their error?
These are questions we need to ask.
I think she will likely stay put now but had she been offered the place last year, she would without a shadow of a doubt, taken it and that’s the real shame here.

OP posts:
Zonder · 09/05/2025 07:26

She could stay for her undergraduate then apply to the first choice for masters / PhD.

BanditsWife · 09/05/2025 08:06

Hmm, I’m going to go against the grain here and say if she’s not thrilled with her current uni and this has been some sort of ucas mess up, I would kick up a big stink and try to insist that she is given extra financial help or entry straight into second year at her first choice. Seems really unfair that she’s not at her first choice now and I’d be trying to rectify this if there’s an opportunity to do so.