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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

Original poster

University application didn't arrive! Anything we can do?

53 replies

peaceanddove · 02/01/2022 11:07

DD2 applied to the LSE at the start of November to study Economics. It's her first choice. She's heard nothing from them since, though she has now received offers from all her other choices.

She's just noticed on the LSE website that she should have received an automated email acknowledging her application as soon as they got it. Then a further email saying her application had been downloaded by LSE and was being considered. She should also have been given a log in to their online portal. She's had nothing.

She's contacted LSE but no reply yet. She's heartbroken now, panicking that there was some sort of glitch at LSE and her application never got there. She's in tears.

Does anyone know if schools receive an official receipt confirmation from the universities they send applications to? I can believe they don't, otherwise they're just blindly sending applications off into the ether!

If her school didn't receive any confirmation from LSE and didn't immediately chase it up then I just don't know what on Earth to do (apart from detonating like a small nuclear bomb in the sixth form office).

OP posts:
spotcheck · 03/01/2022 08:50

If her school didn't receive any confirmation from LSE and didn't immediately chase it up then I just don't know what on Earth to do (apart from detonating like a small nuclear bomb in the sixth form office)

Bloody hell!
How on earth would you think that's ok? It is one application form, which UCAS sends to universities.

Has your daughter looked on Track?

Why is she in a panic over the holidays? Admissions departments have, for the most part, been closed since Dec 21ish- there isn't likely to be movement on her account during this time.

Geamhradh · 03/01/2022 08:54

Has she checked spam?
Sounds ridiculous but dd's interview offer from Cambridge was in her Spam folder.

Tournaments66 · 03/01/2022 08:57

Well there's no surprise your daughter is upset when you have obviously pressed the panic button too. You'll do your daughter no favours by not at least trying to remain calm in a situation like this. I know it's stressful but panicing helps noone.

TansySorrel · 03/01/2022 12:55

Sounds like your fury at the school was misplaced.

RampantIvy · 03/01/2022 13:08

I fequent the higher education boards and have found that LSE are one of the last universities to make offers, along with Durham.

SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 03/01/2022 19:04

Is she using a personal email or school one? School emails can sometimes be ridiculously over sensitive and reject ac.uk emails from unis.

Otherwise, if she can see on track she has applied to LSE she doesn’t need to worry. The application is with LSE. Not having the automated emails doesn’t have any bearing on potentially getting an offer, nor does being able to use the online portal. She can contact LSE for an update and otherwise just monitor track. Any ‘important’ non automated communication will also go on there.

She needs to calm down and so do you. LSE make offers late as PP have said so being hysterical at this point isn’t good.

Original poster
peaceanddove · 04/01/2022 13:27

Just a quick update and apologies for stressing before. DD2 received confirmation today that they have received her application! So fingers crossed!

OP posts:
MehMahMoo · 04/01/2022 15:44

Ah good, never nice to be worried that you've messed up on something that really matters to you. Best of luck to her.

Original poster
peaceanddove · 04/01/2022 17:05

Thank you. It's so unlike her to panic (or me) she's usually Miss Composure. But it's her first choice, so emotions ran high.

OP posts:
HewasH2O · 07/01/2022 16:51

Please sit back and prepare for a long wait. As someone said upthread, LSE & Durham are both notoriously slow to make offers. Whilst Oxford & Cambridge will make offers on given dates in January, she may well be waiting until at least March before they make a move.

Shadedog · 12/01/2022 09:21

Ds applied in October and hasn’t heard anything from LSE either. Looking at threads on TSR it looks like the acknowledgement emails go out anything from a few days to a few months after submission. I’m going to suggest that ds chases it up with LSE admissions as I feel 3 months is taking the piss and the deadline is looming.

Original poster
peaceanddove · 12/01/2022 10:13

It's confusing because according to the LSE website they had acknowledged and 'processed' all applications received before Dec. 16th. They received DD's back in November but by end of December she'd heard absolutely nothing from them. Her friend, who applied just before DD, has only just had an acknowledgement from LSE this week! I know they're oh so terribly important and prestigious, yadda yadda, but their customer service isn't great.

OP posts:
Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 12/01/2022 10:21

Treating students as customers, in my jaundiced view, is one of the worst things that's ever happened to the UK higher education sector.

HasaDigaEebowai · 12/01/2022 10:43

I agree. Think if it more as a competition than a service you’re purchasing.

Original poster
peaceanddove · 12/01/2022 11:17

Yes, actually I have to agree. Though I don't understand why they wait so much longer than most other universities. Having said that, DD is also still waiting on Edinburgh and Bath Hmm

OP posts:
MehMahMoo · 12/01/2022 12:57

Ah, Edinburgh do not send any conditional offers before March - that's where my dd is (I mentioned upthread). It's quite reasonable, so they consider all applications rather than behaving like the Voice and having to reject great candidates towards the end of the application window just because they've already filled their places. They are quite open about that.

It was places like Newcastle that had made an offer within 24 hours of dd's application going to UCAS that made me doubtful of their scrutiny. I think she had Manchester Met within 48 hours too. She had 4 offers before Christmas and just her top choice of Edinburgh later. I think it may have been late March... I'm pretty sure it was just after the first lockdown began in March 2020.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 12/01/2022 12:58

It's more than a decade ago now, but my son put in his UCAS application at the beginning of October. He got offers from two of the universities within the week. A third offered him an interview and he got an offer in early January. The fourth got him to do a written task and offered him a place after assessing that - I forgot when, but it was probably in January or February. The fifth university made no contact whatsoever and finally made him an offer in April or May, just before the deadline. By that stage there was no possibility of going to an offerholder event as it was just before the A level exams, so it can't have done them any good with their applicants.

It was maddening as by UCAS rules at the time (possibly not the same rules now) he couldn't accept any other offer until all five of his applications had been decided on. The only way round it was to withdraw from the fifth place, and he didn't want to do that in case they made a very good offer which he could have used as his conditional. (Sod's law, they didn't.)

I am a champion grudgebearer and I still hold a grudge against that university, I'm sorry to say. It was all fine in the end, but I am not a patient person and I wanted it all sorted out! My son is far more laid back and wasn't worried about it at all. It helped that W was not his first choice. He knew he would firm the third offer and went for the first offer as his conditional because it was the lowest.

Distant memory now! But I do remember what a long year that was.

DreamboatCharlie · 12/01/2022 15:14

Was that ***ck? That's the only one dd hasn't heard from

Genealogy · 12/01/2022 15:25

Oh, this takes me back to applying for university back in the 90s. Similar experience to @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g’s son, although I think a different university.

Heard from everyone else by January, I think. One university did more formal exams for the course I’d applied for. Wasn’t invited to even sit the exam, unlike others I knew, so assumed no offer would be forthcoming. But UCAS wouldn’t let me firm up my choices until the outstanding university made their decision.

About a week before the deadline, I received a really smug offer letter from them. Best university, objectively, I applied for but the whole thing pissed me off so much that there was no way I was going to choose them, despite originally being my first choice and “stretch” application.

I’d hoped the process would have improved since!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 12/01/2022 15:36

Yes, those are the bastards.

DreamboatCharlie · 12/01/2022 16:23

I'm not sure what the deadline is for them to reply. I'll have a google

TizerorFizz · 13/01/2022 22:55

All universities are not equal! In anything! Manchester Met are recruiting, Edinburgh are likely to be selective. LSE definitely are. So you get a different timetable because they don’t follow the same processes. Any course that’s recruiting is likely to give a quick answer.

Pythonesque · 23/01/2022 17:19

I think my daughter ended up withdrawing a Durham application last year because it wasn't her first choice and as other have described, waiting for it was holding up finalising her UCAS acceptances.

TizerorFizz · 23/01/2022 18:52

No one has to decide before May though. A late offer doesn’t alter anything. It just has to be before the deadline. I would not give up on LSE or Durham in March/April!

WhatFirstJob · 24/01/2022 11:49

Hh

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