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 :)

Hi does anyone have any experience of whether Bristol will allow students to defer entrance? DS has Engineering at Bristol with AAA*A but had a challenging few weeks during A-levels and is now hoping to take a gap year and go in 2026. I hope with those grades it should be straightforward but I don't know how receptive universities are to this approach. Any views?

My own DD had a massive dose of imposter syndrome and it was only when she could see herself going shopping, pottering to the library etc that she realised everything was real. Keele isn't on the tourist list like Edinburgh or York, so it's quite hard to picture yourself somewhere new, especially if you are ND and can easily become overwhelmed or can only see a different path. Good luck to him

Thank you for replying, it’s so weird. It was DC’s best subject but worst grade. Also very strange as when we asked for the scores for the individual papers, DC got exactly the same score in paper 1 and paper 2. Also, the project must have been heavily moderated as DC did not get the score they were told that they got. I hope that your DC is ok and out celebrating!

Can I pls ask how people are getting papers back so quickly? We have been told by the school that we have to fill out a form and pay £5 for each requested paper and then email the form to the school.

@Holidaytimeyaywe haven't had the papers back, just the raw scores from college.

DC got theirs just after lunch (not Ann Lister). I understand they are sent out over a few days. They are v happy to be a Yorkie!

I'm so sorry.

My son went to Birmingham for Engineering and was struggling, we found the pastoral care there to be non existent, so who knows, he may be better off at Keele. My friend had a similar experience there with her daughter doing Psychology and both our children ended up dropping out of Birmingham - but completed degrees at other unis.

Life is not always a straight line and can be full of false starts but I hope your son can dust himself off in the next few days and start planning for uni life at Keele. BCD is not awful grades and even better if the C gets up to a B.

You can definitely still apply. But the student finance won't come in until later than other people's so you would need to help her financially for a while until the student funding came in. The uni will wait for their tuition fees if they know your daughter has applied.

HNRTFT but am guessing there are some disappointments today.
Can I just say that my son was knocked sideways by his A level results a few years ago. I advised him to accept the offer he got from the Uni ,wait for clearing for the course he was hoping to get on ,but similar ie not economics but environmental business.
He went for the course and now a few years later he is absolutely smashing life with a fantastic job working for a Canadian company and loving everything about his job .
He has absolutely thrived ,earning very good money for his age and is a confident guy .
I still feel sick about this day a few years ago witnessing his massive disappointment but every cloud has a silver lining.

Which subject? Are you sure it's U of L not Leeds beckett?

He can phone Admissions and say he is wondering about taking a gap year and is that even an option?

They will be able to advise him ... and he won't lose his place just by asking the question even if the answer is sorry, no that's not possible.

My grandson had hoped for Warwick but dropped a grade so confirmed Bath.

I don't know if this is helpful, but for all the disappointed/ worried/ anxious parents today. I completely and unexpectedly flunked my A-levels having got straight As up to this point. I was rejected by my firm and insurance and my then career plans were pretty much over at this point. It was fairly disastrous. But, I went on to do a degree I'd never have considered and absolutely loved every moment of it. I got a first, won a couple of academic prizes, and then did a masters and PhD. Today, I'm university professor and have been advising students going through clearing. My (disappointing) A-level results completely changed the course of my life, but I undoubtedly ended up doing the thing I was meant to do. So, it's not always the disaster it appears to be on results day.

Yes- Same here- DD also very pleased as first choice and wasn’t exoecting to get it!

Yes, it came through this afternoon. It was her firm choice though, in case that makes a difference.

Yes unfortunately we may be getting less coursework we'll see what Ofqual says but there's some talk about due to AI that they may get rid of more coursework which I hope doesn't happen. But the government seem to be going in a different direction with the Curriculum and Assessment review so let's hope so.

GCSE coursework done out of school was often a measure of parental support, even cheating, so as invalid as a memory test. I wanted to reject a girl's coursework because she openly told me that her private tutor had done a lot of it and she couldn't discuss it at all but the Senior Management insisted that I accepted it and graded it as if it were her own work. Never been so pleased to see a pupil get a poor grade in August.

Speculating on how difficult another kid will amost certainly find the place your son missed out on does come across as bitter yes.

Well not for everyone, obviously it depends but I had no tutors, no parent involvement in any of my coursework of cheating, my coursework also taught me many skills (I only had A-level coursework) and prepared me for further research skills which I think are invaluable if a student does it well. I think there needs to more solutions than just getting rid of it, because it does give more opportunities than just a final few exams and also the opportunity for a different skill set to be built up

Yes that's the downside of coursework. That some will get someone else to do it

@JudgeJ but parental support doesn't mean the pupil can't do it.
I had support for maths and technology coursework from my parents. The teachers knew this and they knew my parents enough to know what their jobs were. The maths teacher when marking asked me to explain the working out. So I did, my Dad hadn't done the coursework, he'd taught me. The teacher was happy with my explanation as it showed I knew it so he graded me appropriately, and then told me it was A-level standard work.

In technology I chose to make an appliquéd blanket. School only had 1 sewing machine, so we'd never been taught that at school, my Mum taught me everything. I did most of it at home but the teacher made sure I did at least some of it in school on their dreadful machine to prove I was capable of doing it.

Unfortunately my brother's teacher didn't believe he'd done his coursework. He thought it was all my dad's work and he marked him down on it without any evidence.

My friend and I were comparing notes on this issue... when we took our A levels neither of us were bothered, we knew we'd do OK and I for one had a first choice, second choice and a poliy that was offering me a place with just 2xEs. But our mums were sh1tting bricks. I think most of you are describing your DCs attitudes exactly like my friend and mine were years ago. She has just gone through the mum experience now and said it was stressful, lol!

I sincerely hope everyone got what they wanted and if they didn't its really no great shakes, they can find an apprenticeship/resit/ find another course. Most grads dont find jobs that match their area of study.

TesChique you are right. I was out of line. I rarely post on Mumsnet and that was not acceptable.

DS and I absolutely loved Leicester, definitely a hidden gem, we were really surprised! I don’t know why it isn’t mentioned much as a choice on MN?

And they had lots of courses with places at CCC when I looked earlier today.

Aw... don't beat yourself up about it, it's been a long tough day and I feel the unfairness of certain situations can get to us all sometimes but I certainly didn't read it like you meant this other boy any ill will.