Butterflies

[LondonMother]

17 days to go. Anyone else getting nervous about A level results day?

All the evidence suggests he'll get the grades he need for his first choice. But logic doesn't count for much at these times, in my experience, going all the way back to my own results days!

Ah ok. Thanks!

quirrelwww.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/university-clearing/9440459/University-admissions-AAB-admissions-cap-change-will-create-a-new-university-hierarchy.html

It is a new situation but I think the key difference that the change will make will depend on the grades.

If a potential student achieves grades at or above AAB and are applying for most classroom-based courses (English, Politics etc) then they should get into a good uni. If the want a course that uses more specialist resources (such as labs) places will be more limited, but most should find somewhere good (leaving aside the very selective medicine/vet science etc).

If a student has an offer of AAB and slips to ABB they will be moving from being outside of the quote to within the quota so there may be much less of a chance that the uni will let them come than in previous years (but if the school gave good advice, they should have an insurance offer of ABB or below).

If the offer is ABB or below then they are already in the quota, so if you didn't drop too far, there should be the same odds as getting a place as in previous years ( excluding last year when everyone was trying to beat the fees).

In most years at my uni about 30% of places are usually confirmed at this stage from students who deferred for a gap year. But because of the change in fees virtually no one deferred so we only have about 5% firm acceptances at this stage. This has increased the chances of having places in clearing.

The problem is though that a number of Universities who would previously have offered ABB changed their standard offers to AAB very late in the day.In quite a few cases this was not well publicised until after people started submitting UCAS forms ,consequently my ds and quite a few of his friends find themselves despite best laid plans with all their offers at AAB and no insurance.What is so ridiculous is that a number if these courses will drop their offers back to ABB again next year

The raising and lowering of entry grades are an outcome of this stupid policy where some students count and some do not.

Last year we did not get confirmation of how many quota places we had until after applications started arriving! Many good uni's lost almost all of their quota places so had little choice but to go up to AAB. Some will come down next year as the government had decided the cut off point will be ABB for 2013 entry.

out , if your DC are in this position, then rather than go into clearing, they can always take a year out and reapply next year.

To be honest, (although I don't say this on the phones during clearing ) I would never let a child of mine enter clearing. Not getting the results you expected is horrible, and not really the right time to make such an important decision. Taking time to reconsider your position and/or retake A levels and reapplying for the following year is usually a much better option.

I don't know if there is any proper evidence of this, but there is certainly a perception that students coming though clearing are more likely to drop out and less likely to end up with a good degree classification than those coming in on similar grades who did not go through clearing.

I'm sure I've read that students choosing a course through clearing are more likely to drop out too creamtea. A quick google found this which is fairly sobering but doesn't look as if it's based on a rigorous study. Clearing obviously does work OK in some cases though, but a lot of caution is needed, especially with the fee hike.

I too know a number of children who made sensible applications to places with a range of required grades who have ended up with offers all the same. It hasn't just happened this year either - another contributing factor is that some universities are beginning to make offers based on predicted grades rather than their standard offer to try and prevent schools inflating their predictions.

I'm just burying my head in the sand and don't want to look up until at least half term by which time it will all be done and dusted one way or another

I'm joining gelatinous in being far more concerned about the GCSE results than the A2s. I don't imagine for a moment that DS won't meet his offer because he's in the dying days of relatively easy offers as far as I can tell, for his course at least. I've already told him that if he emerges with significantly less than his predicted grades it couldn't matter two hoots, provided he meets his offer: quirrel, tell your parents the same, though I hope you get what you want - it's about you, not them.

I just started a "results are looming" thread in "Teenagers" and someone kindly mentioned that there was this thread

I feel fairly hopeful that my DC will have done ok but am just dreading the whole emotional cycle. The build up of anxiety has already started and the whole thing won't be over in our house until 24th, after GCSE results. I've got the beginnings of a knot in my stomach and that slightly sick feeling. It's completely irrational because I know that nothing is ever "the end of the world" and sometimes our destiny is formed by difficult experiences blah blah blah. My DC are typically completely fine - cool and steady - throughout exams (when, I know, lots go to pieces) but have the wobble in the lead up to results. Yuck. Hate this time.

Well, a week from now we'll mostly be out of our misery - the A level contingent, anyway.

DD1 (Y9) has just one GCSE physics paper to get results for. And she won't get that result on results day apparently, just when she is back at school. But I am concerned because (a)it's her first GCSE (b) it's the first time her school has entered the year 9s for this paper early (c) apparently it was difficult (d) it's the first time we will see whether her dyspraxia affected handwriting (atrocious if she gets flustered) can hold up under real exam conditions

last year dd (then year10) had to wait until term started to get results for quite a number of modules (spread across most of her subjects) mondas. It was her first set of results too & it was annoying to have to wait - even more annoying when they wouldn't give them out at the start of term either, but she then had to wait for each subject to arrive in the timetable to get those results which pushed some across another weekend.

I can sort of see it's nice to keep results day for the older dc, but I feel your pain. The extra couple of weeks won't make any difference in the long run though. Be prepared to maybe have to wait until the first physics lesson before getting her result though.

In case anyone is interested or needs it here is the official list of what counts as AAB for university entrance this year.

On dear I really thought I would be very chilled about this, busy week , two other ds etc but last night I found myself tossing and turning with that butterfly feeling as if I was the childMust keep busy I think , pretty stupid as well as we have all discussed back up plan and see no point in getting into state over clearing.

I think it's just that you see them through all the hurdles ; nursery , first day at school, senior school , Gcse and now suddenly it's the finish line ; gulp. Off to mop kitchen floor and give myself a good slap!

Beautifully put, outtolunchagain! Yes, heading for the finish line indeed. Three days to go. It suddenly occurred to me yesterday that UCAS and the universities have the results now and are processing them.

Oh just found you all. I thought the biggest hurdle was getting the offer but DD is convinced she hasn't met hers. I feel quite sick at the thought but she has reluctantly decided to retake year 13 and get her grades right up to get into a good uni next year, if she misses this offer.

OmG Londonmother I hadn't thought about that ,someone somewhere knows.

DS has done a good job of appearing ambivalent up until now but the nearer the date the more obvious it is how much he really wants his first choice and also how ready he is for the whole University experience .He is one of the oldest in his year ,September birthday, and is so ready to move on from A level and school and much as he drives me insane at times I want it for him too ,I know he can really fly he just needs his chance .Lets hope he has done enough.

Yep, uni's had the results on Saturday and school get them Wednesday. Got a feeling our teachers will be just as anxious as the students. I haven't a clue what is going wrong. A* GCSE students getting U's and E's at A level. Some departments are doing better than others but how?

On average with DD's subject out of say 13 sitting A2 the results are 1xA 1xB 3xC and the rest D's and E's. Bearing in mind some are resitters it quite worrying and I can see why DD thinks she hasn't met her offer.

I started a thread a few days ago about graduate medicine, which also looks like it might be too expensive to do. Thought it might be worth starting any science degree at any local uni. Again due to this lovely government changing the funding, no-one really knows if help will be available :(

I work at ds's school in the bursary ,the thought that downstairs someone knows his results is a bit creepy especially as I will be at work on Wednesday. When he got his GCSE results i was talking to the Dep Head ,who also has a child in ds year and only realised afterwards that he probably already knew the results

Oh well, not long to go now. We want to be put out of our misery tbh.

It might be really awkward on Thursday with some dc celebrating and others feeling really down. Some of ds's friends are very concerned about their results, so if they don't go well it will put a damper on celebrations and makes it quite hard to plan what to do. How are your dc planning to celebrate/commiserate (do they have 2 alternate plans?) or will they just play it by ear on the day?

Ds has the day off work, but nothing planned as yet beyond that.

out can't you take Wednesday off? I don't think I could bear to be second guessing what people's looks might mean.

Someone has suggested all of them meeting for a few drinks Thursday night. DD will only go if it's good news, if not then it will be a quiet night in.

I've taken the day off on Thursday.

Another worried Mum marking my place - my DS needs AAB and having seen the new rules I am really concerned he may just lose out. Insurance place also AAB and he's not remotely interested in going there anyway so really stressed.
DS is not showing any signs of worry - I think I am doing it all for him. I just want him to be happy and get into the course of his dreams! From what I have read, if he gets ABB he could take a year out and then reapply next year when this AAB situation will change - is that right??
I haven't mentioned to him that a slip in the grades may mean he doesn't get in as he thinks they will accept him anyway on the strength of his portfolio of work and interview. I am not convinced -