2025 A Level Results Day and Sept Uni Starters - All Welcome

[SlightlyJaded]

I couldn't see board specifically dedicated to results day for our DC who have sat A levels this spring. And I know some of us STILL have questions about Uni starters.

DS has Liverpool as his first choice and Notts Trent as his insurance - both to study History. Anyone who recognises me from previous boards might remember the hell we went through with DD a couple of years ago, so DS has applied quite a lot of caution to his choices - perhaps too much, perhaps not enough. Neither of us have any idea what to expect with his results. He has genuinely fluctuated between a D and an A in some of his mocks....

I still haven't done anything about accommodation which is one of the reasons I am starting this thread.

But mostly, it's for nail biting, relief, tears, support, advice and all the other things needed to get us through the next few weeks.

Welcome :)

Some students do this every year so the unis and UCAS are very familiar with it.

You've got it in writing (email) so that's good. Did the insurance uni give a Clearing number so the new uni knows you are eligible for clearing and can access the UCAS form?

If so, the new uni should confirm the place within a couple of days.

@apricotdreamsSheffield is a red brick uni and a brilliant city to live in. I know so many people who went to uni there and never left.

Sheffield is great and it’s her choice.
There could be more competitive places available at her grades - but those courses go v fast and she’d need to get onto it now.
It’s not easy to apply for somewhere and accept it if you’ve never visited, but people do. Often they’ve been planning to do this ahead of results and have got their head round it.
Alternatively people do this if they decided they didn’t like their Firm or Insurance or rethought their preferences or course choice.
So Sheffield is great and if she chose it and liked it, she can go there with confidence.

Sheffield is a very good uni.

As long as it is Sheffield not Sheffield Hallam then I'm sure there will be lots of other students going there with similar results.

I have a clearing question if I may?
Dd is a complicated one. Back before the deadline she put Sheffield Hallam as her firm and NTU as her insurance.
She then had a freak about moving away from home (she has adhd and I think just panicked) and rang ucas to withdraw from Hallam and make NTU her firm.
All sorted - or so I thought. About 6 weeks ago she had a complete change of mind and decided she definitely wanted to move away.
Her course came up in priority clearing at Hallam so she rang them and was offered a place based on grades today. The offer was very low and we knew she’d be ok for it, two of her subjects were BTECs so we had a good idea what she’d get.
Today she has declined her NTU place and spoken to Hallam. They confirmed her place over the phone and told her to log on to her UCAS after 1pm and make herself available to them, which she did.
Her UCAS now has Hallam on it but says awaiting confirmation.
Any idea how long this might take?
she’s stressing about accommodation!

Sorry I’ve just realised I’ve just asked the exact question as you! It’s so stressful waiting isn’t it!

What was her offer?

A* AA is a standard offer for some engineering courses at Sheffield so I'm not sure where would be 'better'.

It should be resolved within a day or two.

You can imagine Admissions staff are extremely busy at this time of year but they do understand the urgency and will be working flat out to get confirmations out.

DD was predicted BBB but has CCD, the D was one mark off a C so we've requested a remark. I don't know how long that will take. Does anyone know?

She wanted to do an integrated masters (it's a health care course so no option to drop down to a 3 year bachelors) but has instead been offered the masters with a foundation, meaning it would be 5 years in total. That's a huge number of years to commit to when you're only 18.
Now waiting for her insurance to offer or not... we called them twice and were told pretty unintelligible things that contradicted each other so no idea where to go from here other than sit and wait.

It's exhausting, and really soul destroying.

Does anyone think an email to the course leader pleading your case is a good idea?

We had to pay our for DD1 before she had any loan/grant money come in.

I don't know if it varies between uni - but expect to do same for DS.

Lucikly we and DGP had been saving for them - so could manage it.

Sheffield's amazing. It centres its students and they love it. A significant proportion stay on after graduation. It also has a reputation as one of the country's safest large cities.

She'll absolutely love it. Maybe one day I'll go there 🤗

Congrats - can I ask grades or if not what they typically might accept, thanks!

Predicted all A*s (and has all A stars at GCSE).
His course at Bath includes the year in industry which I thought was a great idea.
We haven't visited (he refused despite my pleading, and trying to convince a headstrong teenager that we would have a great weekend away got me nowhere).
People have made really good points about the social side of university life too and how everyone could be much more spread out in London.
We're both feeling much happier about sticking with Bath. Thank you.

It is stressful! Thank you to all that have replied. I feel worse than this morning to be honest which is a bit silly. I understand that the universities are busy of course but would feel better if it was all done.
We rejected insurance on UCAS which automatically put us into clearing. At 1pm clicked the accept offer button on the email clearing uni sent which took us to UCAS and then entered our clearing choice. Didn't have to enter a clearing number, there was no option to do. Presumably the number was allocated in the background when UCAS put us into clearing.

You can ask to see the exam papers, and query that they received the other coursework marks - although tbf the school should be on top of that anyway.

It does happen. Ds is a grade down in one subject, but a couple of his friends are down 2, and none have got their predicted grades (which were based on the mocks so not just plucked out of thin air). But then he's 3-4 grades up in another subject because he actually did some work from the mock.

I'd quietly have a word with the college, although your dd will probably have to sign something if she wants to look at her papers. It may be a quick turn around to get hold of the papers though, so don't leave it longer than tomorrow.

If it's Sheffield Uni it is a good choice - DS going there and DH taught there in the past - very lovely city and many ex students try and stay in area as they love it so much.

You can look at subject league tables if you want - but I think for most enginnering course sheffield ranks high up.

https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings

I wonder if people are thinking Oxbridge with those grades rather than University of Sheffield being a poor choice.

How long it takes will depend on whether it was a priority remark or not and which exam board it was so there's no easy answer to that. Your daughter's school or college will probably be the best place to ask or you could try googling it but will need to know exam board and whether it's a priority remark or not.

Her insurance uni may not be able to offer her a place unti her firm uni has definitely rejected her. At the moment she's in a limbo state so if she doesn't want to accept the 5 year course, it may be better to reject it now so she can be properly considered by her insurance uni. Does she meet their offer conditions or not? If not, then there is a risk they could reject her.

Sad that there is so much snobbery about universities and dampening her news / happiness !

Yes that's what I thought. To have got into Sheffield is a big achievement so it's a shame people making someone second-guess that at this late stage rather than just saying Congratulations.

100% No.

They are looking at grades at this stage, pure and simple.

If he was predicted more and didn’t get in to London I wouldn’t risk it as he got that pesky A which they know for sure. We live in London and didn’t even look at the unis here. Would it help if you had an emergency visit in the next week or 2.

The key here is 'which she is really happy with' and 'she really liked it when she visited' . This is far more important than anything else, and on that basis, she will go far.

That's very unfair to the students. Why would they create a paper with topics outside of syllabus. Thete should be complaints.

You're having a really stressful day with lots of things to worry about.

Tomorrow will be a better day as you will wake up knowing the uni your child is going to and you can both start getting used to the idea. And planning a shopping trip etc for stuff to take and other nice things.