End of Year 13: Results, Summer and plans for September and onwards

[Rollergirl11]

Noticed the current thread is almost full so thought I better start a new one for discussing results day and our DC’s plans for uni/gap years or anything else!

Slightly down on PGs but still great passes and off to first (and only) choice. Utterly delighted and relieved. I think I've aged 10 years in the past fortnight.

Sorry to hear about those who have missed their first choice.
My DS into UCL so absolutely delighted. Pretty much all his friends ok, apart from one who got rejected by Durham and insurance for getting a B in maths.

My daughter has bought her MacBook. We're just off to collect it. She's saved hard so she could treat herself if it all went well.
Hope clearing is getting everyone sorted quickly today

Good odds @Rollergirl11 so I have my fingers crossed for your dd but Exeter will be brilliant too!

Ds did better than expected and got 4 x A star. He was shocked, particularly as he found some of the physics papers hard and the Chemistry boundary was really high this year. Some of his friends dropped grades and offers so he's sad for them but it looks like everyone who wants a place will get it via insurance or in clearing or a different course at their original university.

It is definitely a rollercoaster for us as parents and sorry to hear about those who have dropped grades or missed firm choices. There are so many fantastic courses out there so I hope they find one they're happy with. Well done to all of our covid cohort kids on getting this far.

Dh and I have had to go to work - ds will probably go for the free Nando's later.

Well DD got ABB which was enough for her firm - veterinary nursing at Bristol (deferred place) but she has got a bit of a wobble about that and had been wondering whether to apply for international relations instead for 2025 (I know, a bit different) - the gap year is definite, as she has lots of plans, and now thinks nobody in International relations will take her with ABB, rather than the AAB she was predicted. She is particularly disappointed about the B in Geography, as she thought she wrote brilliant essays - and annoyingly the school website doesn't give the marks she got in the individual papers or the overall mark, just the grade, so while we know the grade boundaries, we have no idea how far off an A she actually was. Same with Biology - no marks at all, but a B was what she was pretty much expecting. The MFL she is one mark off an A star, but not sure there is any point trying to look at that - an awful lot of courses have their pinch point at AAB, but A star* *BB doesn't feel like it would do anything, so is there any point looking at it?
So a bit mixed feeling really. It is not bad, and fine if she does want to continue with the veterinary nursing, she now has a confirmed offer for 2025, but she was planning on using this year to rethink, and the options seem less available.

Also anybody know, if people are taking ABB in clearing or similar (and presumably we can find that out from UCAS), if she applied with grades in hand, would they consider her if their official tariff is AAB? She is thinking no and no point applying - eg for International relations at Leeds.

Aberystwyth is great for IR, it's where it was invented I think and still high in the rankings - standard offer for 2025 is BBB which is an absolute bargain imo.
It's not everyone's cup of tea though, as a uni experience!

I don't think this year's clearing can tell you anything about what might happen next year unfortunately. She would have to either give it a go or maybe phone Leeds admissions nearer the time and ask them whether her grades are good enough.

Dd got 4 A stars and off to Bath. Her boyfriend got in too so huge relief all round.

What an astounding set of results @Lightsabre and @ShanghaiDiva. You must be so proud!! 🎉🥳🎊

Oh sorry I missed congrats for @WombatChocolate and @Naem also. Fantastic news!!! 🥳🎊🎉

Finally got DS out of bed and for his results. He exceeded his offer so is really pleased. The school was virtually deserted by the time he got there but he's spoken to most of his close friends and they all got what they needed. Looking at the school social media it's been a great year so there'll be lots of happy 18 year olds out on the town round here tonight.
We dropped in at his work on the way home so he could ask for some extra hours in the next few weeks to boost his funds. Lots to do in the next month, I feel a trip to IKEA coming on!

DD very happy she is in to Loughborough but disappointed with her DT result "only" an A but close to a B. Asked for paper breakdown and the NEA seems to be 30 marks lower than she was given so waiting to hear more info and hoping to hear there was an error. She didn't meet her offer over all but is in!

Well done everyone. Sorry that some have not met PG. Heartbreaking when it's meant rejection from firm choice. I think parents and DC can't help but imagine life after A levels in a particular uni and when that doesn't happen it's hard to reset.
My DS was another who dropped grades. Down from AAB to BBB. fortunately he did get his firm so is off to Sheffield. In fact I think most of his music class dropped grades. I think school are looking into it. One really smart kid missed Oxford. Something went amiss there for that class.
@Naem I think it's definitely worth contacting unis with grades in hand despite what it says on the website. The worst that can happen is they say no.
I have to remind myself that once they start somewhere grades will be forgotten and they are onto their next stage of life.

Huge congratulations to your DC @ShanghaiDiva and @Lightsabre for those amazing results 👏 and best of luck to your DD @Rollergirl11. DD is delighted as she exceeded her offer with AstarAA and was close to an Astar in the other two. She was hoping for at least AAA. Only very minor disappointment was a B in AS maths, which she expected as the first paper was grim. Grade boundaries were so low that she almost made the A, and so is now a bit annoyed that she didn't (not that it matters as she only took the course to keep her maths going).

We are getting the scripts for one of DDs papers as something looks off. Paper 1 & 3 she got A* and Paper 2 a D when she said it went well. Her HoD said to look at the script as last year many had whole pages that weren’t marked. 😱 Overall this left her 4 marks off an A, which was her PG.

It doesn’t affect the uni offer but definitely want to check it out.

Not sure who was after Aber but can confirm people love it and they made good low offers this year

Well Strathclyde are on the ball, we've just had DS's accommodation details through, and a bill for the deposit. Thought I might have a bit more time to gather my thoughts before the money started going out! It all feels very real all of a sudden!
Bit of a downer here though in that one of DS's cousins didn't get the grades for medicine. Still great results of course but unfortunately not quite enough and cousin is very upset so we're keeping celebrations low key for DS.

DS has sorted his Lancaster offer on UCAS. Scarily he had to decline his insurance place before he could add it. Just waiting for Lancaster to confirm in UCAS now before sorting accommodation. He's starting to sound a bit more positive.

Well done to those who got their grades and solidarity with those who are having a more chaotic and stressful day than anticipated! One door opens as another door closes and I'm a firm believer of everything working out in the end. Onwards and upwards!

All of DDs friends (well, over 20 that I know of) either got their firm or insurance which seems so different to DSs year two years ago. Although I suspect also it’s to do with DDs friends choosing slightly less competitive subjects. So a very different vibe for us for sure this time.

With DS we waited outside school for him to get his envelope and then had clearing which took up the rest of the day, and into the weekend and beyond.

With DD she checked UCAS at 8am in the car outside school, showed she got her firm, we had a big hug and whoop and she invited us into school with her to get her grades where all her friends were having hugs and were all genuinely pleased for each other - feel very priveleged to have seen it and I may have taken a few photos 🤗

We have been doing the admin - ordered her laptop, bought some recommended subject books (second hand), putting in for scripts of one paper, changing bank account.

Anyone that has an insurance or clearing choice don’t forget to change details with student finance. And if anyone interested in MacBooks if you get your DC to join student beans they have some great offers atm.

DD will make an Ikea list in the next week or so - the fun bit!

Surprised you saw so many courses at CCC - I only saw a couple of fairly obscure ones that included a Foundation year.

Nearly all unis we looked at last night/this morning had dropped grades a fair bit for clearing. Certainly for DDs subject, Nottingham grades were higher than most eg higher than Birmingham, Lancaster, Southampton, Exeter, Loughborough, York etc.

That’s odd - just looked again and loads still showing as CCC. Are you sure you’re looking at the Clearing list and not the standard admission pages and ‘standard’ offers?

So sorry Writers I do think Sussex is a great place to go though and would definitely take that but it must feel overwhelming for her now. She has done amazingly to get through school, get GCSEs and A levels and no-one will care after her degree and Brighton must be one of the most fun places in the UK to be a student. It might also be worth getting remarks though maybe ask schools advice and check it wouldn't affect Sussex's offer in unlikely event went down more. I hope she realises Sussex is fine in time, could you maybe go and look again if that would help, may not be open but just around it. Or if she can get in touch with others going, maybe via TheStudentRoom that might help.

Hope your DD gets a Cambridge offer Rollergirl

Just back from hospital so its a bit of a whirlwind here and not read everything but told operation shouldn't have been cancelled and they made an error. Apparently they got an oncall doctor as they called at 7pm night pre surgery at 7am who didn't know about adrenals and aired on the side of caution. Now all the surgeons are on holiday. 🤔

DDs boyfriend got lower than expected but still into firm at Bristol. She said a lot were getting lower than expected but most getting into firm still. Maths seems bad for grade boundaries rising a lot.

Congrats to everyone for getting through A levels.

And I asked DD if I was a pushy mother as I think of myself as laid back to the point of being a bit hippy about things (DDs attendance is dire) and she said no not pushy at all, you leave me to it and in your odd moments of pushiness I ignore you. She said I would call you a nosey mother though as you want to know everything and she said you cannot deny that. This is true I am a nosey mother but I know DD often tells me I am the only Mum in her peer group that doesn't nag.

It looks like they have dropped the unpopular subjects massively - and just removed the others totally.

I am probably being a bit sensitive as you singled out the uni my DD is going to and it kind of read like you were throwing shade. I’m being too sensitive I expect. We can’t all have A-star kids and after the journey my DD has been through I’m super proud she is into her firm choice, and the grades for her subject weren’t dropped massively.

is anyone else completely shattered? @Penguinsa what a f-up with hospital and I do hope they get it sorted.
A bit stunned to hear on the news that proportion of As is highest ever. It doesn't feel like it round here!

Sorry - not wanting to make you feel like that at all.

In fact, I went to that Uni many moons ago and had a great time!

It’s a funny old system isn’t it though, when ‘standard’ or ‘typical’ grades shown to applicants at the start of the cycle are so different to what large numbers can get taken with after results come out. Just shows we’d be better with list-qualifications applications. Seems Clearing grows each year and is essentially becoming that post-qualifications system in many ways.

Hope your DC loves Uni. It’s a fabulous city and campus.