Thread 28 - Corona Cohort Awaiting Offers, Advance Notice, Gap Years and New Jobs

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.
Previous Thread 27 Here

@singingstones, you’re brilliant, thank you. I’ve just woken up to find that you’ve posted the exact thing I needed. I shall watch it now with my first cuppa of the day.
I really hope that Durham and Bath start sending out offers quickly, the wait must be quite unsettling and frustrating for you all.

Yes it's interesting - his point is that universities are very keen to be firm choice. They know that most people choose one of their higher offers for their firm, so they make offers that are higher than needed for the course, in order to look like a good firm choice.

This whole process is so opaque and confusing - I think for many people, picking your favourite and second favourite is a good plan. And then having a plan C and D in case things go wrong.

Hopefully Fruity Jr's Durham offer means that all the slow unis are starting to get on with it and there will be tons more this week and next. (With apologies to the medics and Oblomov's DS who I know will be waiting until March at least)

All DS's offers are basically the same (Sheffield is a touch lower) so his firm/insurance is a minefield.

That said, they are all below his predicted grades so - touch many bits of wood- he should be OK. Which makes choosing the firm very difficult for him as there are pros and con of all of them and the courses all differ.

@Piggywaspushed yes Ds thought his offers were all the same. But then realised the one offering 112 points was a lower offer.

I think that guy's point on the video might also explain why so many DC have offers that are so similar - the unis know which other courses they are competing with and none of them wants to be the obvious insurance choice. DS is in the same boat, three at ABB, one a grade higher and one a grade lower. If he likes the lowest one best after their open day, his insurance will have to be higher than his firm.

I like that video!

Regardless of the offer requirements it’s so important to have both your firm and insurance to be places you really want to go.

In past years it was better to just go through clearing if results day was a disaster.l than choose an insurance you were not 100% keen on. Possibly there will be less places available through clearing this year though.

If you can speak to an admissions tutor on an applicant day they can be quite candid. Eg Ds had an offer from Southampton A AA. They said on the applicant day (when I asked) that usually they take everyone who got AAA and some with lower grades. That course was actually in clearing at ABB that year. Ds decided to put Bath as his firm instead, offer was A AA there too. He got AABC and they took him.

Of course I would advise caution this year because of the shortage of places.

Dd also has three offers at ABB (and one at AAA). It really boils down to offer holder days I think, although I noticed yesterday that Southampton allow you to do a minor subject or a few modules from a different subject. She enjoys History and gets better marks than she does in Psychology - the only reason she's not doing a History degree is it doesn't help her get to where she wants to be (some sort of healthcare). But doing a few history modules would be enjoyable and might also give her a better chance of a first. I need to try to work out if any of the others have this option.

I do think a few caveats apply to that video.. it's not recent, particularly and he's a scientist too. At a Russell Group. I once saw an analysis of the analysis (very meta!) that said to exercise caution with that advice.

I cant see us waiting til offer holder days... accommodation. Sigh.

Yes I do think what he says makes sense and rings true, but it must depend on the circumstances. Some places will no doubt insist that people match the offer and will have people who have done even better queuing up in adjustment. And some will have made a slightly inflated offer and will allow some wiggle room, depending on what all their other firmees are doing. The difficulty is knowing which uni takes which approach, how many places they actually have available after u/c offers and deferments, how many have firmed them and how well those people are likely to do, how many people have insured them and how likely they are to miss their firm... it's all a bit of a crapshoot really.

@crazycrofter - DD was told on her open day at Nottingham that she could take modules from other departments. She loves Spanish so really liked the idea she could take a small module doing that alongside her Biology degree. It will make a nice change I think.

York don't seem to offer that at the moment for Biology - although I've just read how they are completely restructuring their courses in 2023 to move to 2x 16 week semesters so all courses in uni will alligned making it easier for people to take modules from elsewhere. So that could be an option for Yr2.

Great to hear if more offers - hopefully more will be along soon.

Thanks for good wishes. Still feeling pretty rubbish at the moment. DD has served her isolation and is going in her delayed Valentine's meal this evening - her first one! It will likely be cheaper than the actual evening so silver linings...

We are in the firm/insurance dilemma too. Favourite likely to be the mid range offer AAB second favourite is Nottingham at AAA but common sense is saying lowest offer at Kent BBB which allows insurance accommodation booking as well..... Hopefully we will get to the offer holder day there at least to help make some decisions.

Not sure what plan C and D are - she only really liked the four courses she applied for and Exeter was another AAA course...

ALWAYS choose your top choice as Firm unless the grades are infeasibily high. I agree with the video in second choice on the basis of a conversation I had with a Newcastle Admissions Tutor in 2018 (Biomed). He said they gave anybody predicted at least CCC an AAB offer without reading PS, on results day accepted all ABB or better. Reviewed PS for people with lower grades. So you were guaranteed a place if you were within a grade and still considered if further from offer grades.

You can check DiscoverUni for actual UCAS tariff and there is still time to put in an FOI asking what the process is and how many people have been accepted with missed grades.

It is looking increasingly likely that DS will be firming his lowest offer (the Royal Agricultural Uni foundation degree, substantially lower offer than the others) which means that the insurance is effectively redundant, because he's doing BTECs we know he already has certain marks in the bag, he'd only need an E in his one A level. He is still hankering a little after the history degrees but I am becoming concerned that he isn't interested in any career path typically followed by history graduates apart from working in museums / heritage which is a hard field to break into, short term contracts etc. So he'd be doing an expensive degree for not enough career boost. Which is a bit sad because history is such an interesting subject.

Always be prepared to go to your insurance and like it! 75% of kids get lower than their predicted grades in an average year. Find out if the insurance is flexible on the day if it is then it may take your child even if they are a grade below the planned offer.

@ExtremelyDelighted History is a great subject but it is also one that can be carried throughout a life outside of academia.

Wow - I've just looked at the new semester dates for York here.

If they start at university on September 18th (with Freshers' Week the week before?), that is going to impact on the amount of money they can earn in the summer holidays.

That's 2023 though Kingscote, so no fresher's week, unless your DD is thinking of a gap year?

I just checked DS's current favourite and the holidays are so long, 4 weeks at Christmas and Easter - plenty of time for us to get on each others' nerves again!

@Nard75 no he didn’t apply to Warwick. He is waiting on Cardiff and Southampton currently.

[quote OrangeCinnamonCroissant]@ExtremelyDelighted History is a great subject but it is also one that can be carried throughout a life outside of academia.[/quote]
That's exactly my thinking @OrangeCinnamonCroissant, when we were talking this morning (he's on half term) I said he could easily do a masters in History in later life with the conservation degree and A level history, or study it through Openlearn or similar. He did one Openlearn History course over the winter and enjoyed it.

As well as just having a keen hobby interest in it.

Thanks @Volterra must've got you mixed up with someone else.

I did OU History modules on my undergraduate. Subject is really renowned in the field, they have some great content and sources - elements of it the same on Openlearn...The Irish Famine and Slavery units had me in tears !

Ds had an email from PwC, just stating that the Assessment centre dates would be soon. But phew just for that acknowledgement / communication.