UCAS applications

[mumblechum1]

When are people's DCs planning on finalising their personal statements, with a view to getting the UCAS applns sent off?

DS's school have done the grade predictions but as far as I know haven't done the reference bit yet.

DS has done the first draft of his PS, has feedback from his tutor and is aiming to polish it up this weekend.

[JustGettingByMum]

Congratz to those with offers!

DS has had acknowledgements from most, so we're playing the waiting game............

[mumeeee]

Well DD3 is slightly behind with her application. Went into hospital with appendicitis last Friday and had her appendix our on Saturday so of course has been off college all week.

[Milliways]

Ooh, poor DD Mumeeee! Does she has half term this week to recover? DS's school are doing a push after half term to get everyone's done by the end Nov if possible, which still gives lots of leeway.

[mumeeee]

Yes she does have half term. I think they were starting thier uni applications last week but her College tutor has said she could register at home which she did manage to do yesterday but didn't get very far as the buzzword he gave us to put in didn't kept producing the wrong college.

[mumeeee]

I meant she has half term next week she has been off all this week and also had a couple of days off the week before. She's very up and down at the moment although she did manage to do a bit of college work today. She gets her assignments put on Moodle on the computer which is good.

[outtolunchagain]

Ds1s application last year didn't go in until mid November last year and he still got five offers , four before Xmas so I wouldn't get too anxious

[pipsqueak]

anyone know when dd likley to hear anything about interviews for medicine ?

[peteneras]

Which medical school(s) are you referring to?

[Yellowtip]

pipsqueak DS had a Birmingham interview in the third week of Oct last year but his Imperial one wasn't until Feb (and not called until a couple of weeks prior). There's quite a range!

[Tressy]

Depends on the med schools. DD had an interview middle of December last year, with a weeks notice, in the first batch. But they interview through to end March.

[pipsqueak]

thanks both - she has now got an invite for interview at Lpool next week but no decision til March ! stressful ... pass the gin!

[Tressy]

Pipsqueak, the interview is the first hurdle, then the offers, then getting the grades. Congrats to your DD. It's a stressful time for us parents. I think I took the stress for mine last year.

[Copthallresident]

In my DDs year Med applicants has the worst time, all their friends were getting offers and were mostly sorted by Christmas (apart from Durham who seem to keep some waiting). However interviews and offers for Med Schools trickle in and some had nothing almost until the start of A2s. I am sorry I can't remember exact dates but just that some found it distracting when they had exams to focus on. It wasn't the sign of disaster they thought, all ended up with offers, at UCL, Kings, St Georges.

[NewFerry]

DS has just received rather an odd email from one of his choices, it's basically saying this is a great place to study, & these are the reasons our students say they love being here.
All well and good, but he hasn't had an offer from them, or an invitation to visit or anything
Anyone else had anything similar?

[fussychica]

When DS was applying he was bombarded with similar emails from some unis whilst others were totally silent. Seems to depend on the marketing department. Hope your DS gets an offer.

[ISingSoprano]

Ds's application is now done, paid for and sent. Here's hoping the offers are forthcoming!

[silver73]

My DS's application went off on 15th October for medical school. He got an offer for his 5th choice 3 days later for biology.

It is a nerve racking process. He took months to do his personal statement and prepare for the UKCAT. Then there was the stress waiting to find out if he would get the AAA prediction he needed (thankfully he did). I then phoned all of the universities he had chosen to make sure that he ticked all the boxes. He only got to see the reference from his school after the application was submitted luckily it was a lovely reference.

He is now not thinking about any of it at least for the time being...

[WhitesandsofLuskentyre]

DD1 has just rung me in tears from school because Head of Sixth Form has told her she's not left herself much leeway (as in, has chosen unis that will make high offers, if they offer at all), so he's told her to go away and think about her choices again. I said to her, if she knows which cities she wants to study in (which she does), why the hell is she not backing up an RG/94 Group application in a city with one for a former poly in that same city instead of going for 5 RG unis?! Otherwise, she risks getting no offers, or getting offers she won't be able to make good on, and then clearing (and no guarantee of accommodation).

The only way a gap year is an option is if she leaves home whilst doing it, to try to broaden her horizons.

I was really, really scared she wouldn't listen to reason, and so it has come to pass...

[ISingSoprano]

Will she be prepared to go through clearing if she doesn't get the grades?

[Yellowtip]

Presumably you phoned without saying a name silver? My DC would have killed me, horribly, if I'd phoned on their behalf, especially if I'd said who I was.

Whitesands there's generally a world of difference between good universities and ex-polys in the same City. So for example an Oxford applicant would be very likely to completely undersell himself going for Oxford Brookes. Or a Durham applicant going for the University of Sunderland. The likely outcome would be abject misery. Of course the place matters, but not to that extent. The students of the two places rarely socialise together to any meaningful extent. Almost every Ho6 has a duty to warn students not to take five high risk options. It can be a very sensible thing to do actually, in the current climate - but that's for a parent to advise, not the Ho6! Presumably she's a strong applicant for the subject in question? FWIW none of my four has ever had an 'insurance' option; they each went for five top end unis on the grounds that they only needed one offer and didn't want to waste a chance by shooting too low at a fifth.

[Copthallresident]

WhitesandsofLuskentyre Are you aware of how the Clearing Process panned out this year. Three factors, fewer applicants because of fees hike, the ability of unis to expand their student quotas if students got AAB (ABB this year) and grade deflation meaning many more students missed their offers than usual made it very much less competitive than it has been in previous years. A lot of good courses at RG / 1994 unis on Clearing, though possibly some were fishing for AAB students. There were also lots more unis accepting students who didn't make their offers and some good unis still ending up losing out on their student numbers. Southampton went public they were 600 down but it is generally accepted that the UCLs benefited whilst other good RG /1994 unis struggled. It may be a sound strategy to not compromise on her choices and then have Clearing / a gap year in reserve. The issue with accommodation if you end up at your insurance or going through Clearing is also easing and in fact even in DDs pre fees hike year most of those who went to their insurance ended up in good accommodation. Has she also thought about less popular Science courses at her chosen unis, offers tend to reflect how popular a course is but popularity isn't always a result of a courses rigour, interest, reputation etc. You are quite right not to let her be complacent, but it might be wise to seek the advice of admissions officers at her chosen unis.

[eatyourveg]

I thought as long as you got ABB next year a uni can admit as many as they like so does that not translate as it being easier to get in than in previous years

[Yellowtip]

Some Hso6 can be over cautious Whitesands. You really should look at her options, dig around for their standard offers, look at her predictions - all that sort of stuff. Be realistic about the prospects but then you should probably encourage her to decide. Dropping out having gone to a place you didn't really want to go to in the first place is a real risk.

[cinnamonnut]

Email from Durham the other day saying they won't be making offers for my course until after the January deadline.

[creamteas]

white if your DD does not get the offers she wants she can go through Extra rather than having to wait till clearing. Also many more students are staying at home now so there is no the pressure on halls that there used to be. At my uni, all clearing students got rooms on campus (and we were up rather than down overall on our numbers last year).

eat yes unis can take as many ABB students as they want, but this does not mean that there will be loads of extra places. Many unis struggle to get everyone in the labs/teaching rooms they they have now and there is no extra money for new buildings to accommodate increased numbers of students.