Support thread for anyone applying through UCAS this year

[Lorelai]

Following on from a thread in chat I thought I would start this so that we can hold each others' hands through the UCAS process with all its challenges.

Who's with me?

Wow! that fantastic lazymum99. Was the questionnaire like a scholarship paper then?

Not a scholarship paper. I think all candidates get one. Unconditional because he has his A levels.

Very well done indeed to your DS lazymum and very good luck to yours for tomorrow gelatinous.

and very good luck to your ds too yellowstone. Is he going tomorrow too, or Monday?

I have 3 conditional offers ago far from manchester met!

Good luck to your DS yellowstone

well done to yours lazymum

Thank you for all the good wishes. I think we are done now. There is a UCL open day for his department in February and if its what he wants he will 'firm' it. Then just got to negotiate the accomodation application.

Good luck to all those waiting I will be keeping an eye on this thread. DS2 will be applying next year!

Congratulations to your child, lazymum99. Now all you have to worry about is whether they will enjoy it when they get there.

Probably shouldn't have put the foundation doctor bit in here as it wasn't UCAS but (a) I was excited and (b) those waiting to hear from med school need to be prepared for more anxious waits in years to come

ellisbell I'm pleased for your student. It's all too easy to think the hard part is done once they have a confirmed place at med school but I confess it didn't quite dawn on me that the anxiety goes on, and on! It's a huge mountain that they climb.
As a parent I've already accepted I don't understand most of what DD's talking about anymore and she'll be 24 by the time she's at the same stage (God willing) as your student. The career-path decisions are entirely hers from now on. I just fill in the student finance forms!

Oh no,the nightmare has happened ,ds's last choice who at their open day said they would accept ABB or even sometimes BBB have offered him AAB which means he now has 4 offers for AAB and a fifth who will only offer AAB ,so no insurance .

Really wish we had pushed him harder to find a second lower grade offer uni but there were none he really wanted and to be honest his course is quite competitive and school advice was to go for five he wanted as he might only get one.

His predictions are AAA/B so he should be fine ,the two As are likely to be quite secure but he is currently having real problems with the this and is petrified of getting a C ,in reality as I said to him earlier if he gets a C then its game over for this year anyway as the lower offer would not have included a C unless he had gone for Aberystwyth and he just didn't fancy it ,and given that its at least 7 hours away I could see what he meant.

He is just really stressed about not having that lower insurance but as I said some people only get one offer anyway,or he could have had five rejections ,just can't help feeling that I've let him down by not advising him better

Universities making higher offers than their prospectuses/websites etc state is an all too common occurance from what I hear MrsW. It makes life really difficult for the children trying to make decisions about where to apply. Maybe if he does choose them as a backup they will be more likely to be lenient in the (hopefully unlikely) event of him not making the grades? No guarantees though - how fustrating.

I have been asked to submit a piece of coursework by U of M!

MrsW, sorry to hear about your son. The shift to an AAB offer is a direct consequence of recent changes in the way the govt is allocating funding, which means that AAB+ students are much more attractive to universities than those with ABB or below. Explanation here. The fact that some universities are targeting AAB students where they used to offer ABB or less is really hard on applicants. But it's a reasonable response on the part of the institutions to an incredibly volatile environment, where the government keeps moving the goalposts.

mrswoodentop universities often accept people who haven't met their grades. They don't like to advertise it but almost all have to do it because it's virtually impossible to balance offers and places. When they do that they obviously like to take those who offer "balance" - so they get A* instead of A but C instead of B. So don't let your son panic, just get him to the school early on results day as the places may go to the first to contact admissions tutors. And do take two offers at the same level if that's all he has as each university may take a different approach on the day - it depends on how many of their applicants have actually accepted and how many have met the grades. Also don't forget clearing.

It isn't game over this year if he misses his grades.

The students get their results on the Thursday but the universities - or so I'm told - get the results on the Sunday before. That gives the unis time to sort through the students who don't make the grade and decide who they will accept anyway. Most would rather accept someone they've already chosen, without the full offer being met, than accept someone through clearing.
Hence, some of DD's non-medic friends had to make the dread phone call and were told they were in.
MrsW He should firm the one he likes best and, for insurance, decide which one is most likely to accept him should he not make the offer grades (probably the one which has suddenly raised the bar but staff at school might know from the last two years which ones are most likely).

Then work like hell.......

Thanks for the good luck wishes funnyperson. Horrendous competition, he'll need buckets of luck now!

When do they hear, yellowstone?

The Admissions Tutor at the overnight college said next week, though he seems to have been deliberately vague!

I'm very reassured to hear that you don't understand your DD either unitarian I'm a great fan of blow by blow debriefs of all my DCs' interviews and have to say the mysteries of epigenetics remain just that....

I also strongly agree with what you say about career path decisions. I haven't the slightest clue about Foundation Schools, never heard of them. Anyhow, I think there's great virtue in not worrying and planning too far ahead: the best laid plans of mice etc.

yellowstone Did you watch Junior Doctors? They are F1s and F2s - qualified from medical school but doing two years foundation in a hospital.
I think - hope - pray they are being paid by that time.

It's the jargon I have trouble with. I fully accept that I haven't understood what she's been saying about Maths and Science since about Y7 and I had to look up the meaning of the name of the department she's in for firms ........ but why is it called 'firms'?

Unitarian thanks yes his head of sixth form should hopefully have some good advice ,normally I would have agreed re the one that has upped the offer but it has the smallest dept so may have less room for manoeuvre .Anyway he just needs to
Put the whole thing to the back of his mind at the moment I think and concentrate on the work.

Just had his report which was so good academically it almost made me cry,partly with frustration in many ways because for two subjects they are effectively saying that he already writes like a university student and actually he needs to be more basic to get the marks on the marking scheme ,his RS teacher actually says that "this may not seem very sophisticated but it is what the examination board expects ",another says that he must order his essays in the manner suggested by the examiners .One does wonder what the world is coming too when we are effectively telling 18 year olds to simplify things to get the grades.

The F1and 2s were definitely being paid because they showed them getting their first payslip

Keep hoping there yellowstone. Ds is still there - non of the mathematicians at his college have been allowed to leave yet and they are the only ones left apart from a few engineers, but they have been told results will be out on Friday (except maybe the engineers). He made some basic errors in his first two interviews, so isn't too confident, but seems to have enjoyed it non the less.

I will gelatinous, nothing else for it! DS got a number of things wrong and said he didn't know what things meant when he really didn't but the tutors seem to have been pretty helpful. He also said some fairly idiotic things, as he knew as soon as the words escaped from his mouth. But I'm so far out of my comfort zone now I simply can't judge so there's nothing to do except start on Christmas at last. Friday's so soon! It would be too soon here, I'm quite happy just travelling hopefully . How many interviews has your DS had? All the medics have four.

He had 4 yellowstone, 3 in college and one at another (standard to have one elsewhere for mathmos). Friday does seem soon tbh, but at least not waiting for aeons either.

Ds finally left. But will miss the last train out of London his off-peak ticket is valid on. Oxford info desk erroneously told him it was OK as he'd left Oxford on an off-peak train - gah!