Anyone know how this cock up would play with an admissions tutor on Thursday if it comes to it please?

[LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance]

Hi

This is long - sorry - to avoid drip feeding.

DS is doing all his pre-results day prep - reading The Student Room pages about results day and what to do etc.

Can I please ask for comments from anyone with experience - uni admissions people, I'm hoping for you!

DS did some AS resits. One of them was a chemistry prac. The staff took a list of all those who wanted to do resits.The class were told that the teachers would sort out the paperwork and then ask the pupils for payment.

They did the experiment and the write up and towards the end of the write up sessions, DS approached a teacher and asked when they would need payment.

The teacher then told him that the arrangements had been altered and that the pupils were supposed to have gone to the exams office and done the paperwork/payment themselves some time ago.

In the next week, DS and several others who were similarly in the dark about the new arrangements, approached the head of department who told them that an email had gone out detailing the new arrangements and it was too late now as the deadline for payment had passed.

The head of department went out to find the teacher who was supposed to have sent out the email. Raised voices were heard!

The next chance he got, DS approached the teacher who was supposed to have sent out the email and showed him his inbox/deleted items etc and true enough, there was no email. The teacher said - well I'm very sorry but there's nothing we can do about that for this year.

It seems that this has happened to quite a few pupils in DS's group.

If you had a phone call from my DS explaining this and it was just this part of his grade that made him miss his place (not on a chemistry course) would you take it into consideration, if the facts were backed up by the head of the chemistry department/head of year at the school?

Poor DS how crappy of the school!!!

I would get them to write a letter of explanation asap if you can get hold of them before Thurs. You may be able to ask for special consideration but the school should bloody well be pulling their finger out and doing it for him.

Have youy spoken to the school yourself to make sure he's not got it round his neck. (the fact he is not alone is interesting)

If he is has worked hard on his other bits of coursework & done well in the paper hopefully one part missing/failed won't drag the whole lot down, but it should have been sorted before now.

Thanks for your reply Blomers.
I would expect the school to give written confirmation after the phone call but I'd be interested in whether a uni would be able to give a decision on Thursday.

I wasn't fully aware of the fact it applies to a fair few in his class until this evening. He is on Facebook now, trying to find out exactly how many of them are in this position.

It's not the only cock up their science department will have made this year either. My friend has already written a letter to ask why her daughter was only taught one section of the Biology syllabus by the private revision course she paid for. And lucky she did, as it came up in the exam.

Must try to simmer down.

Oh dear......sounds like cock ups all round , but I guess it shows its not just your DS so not his fault.

Fingers crossed for Thurs -bloody nerve wracking innit?!

Utterly. You hang onto that gin. It won't mix well with my third glass of wine

I was never this nervous about my own results and thankfully DS is level headed about his.

We were discussing clearing and he said, Mum if I don't get my insurance choice it means I'm just not ready for uni and I'll resit.

Where the hell did he come from, being so sensible?

As an admissions tutor I would be sympathetic, but whether or not I was able to take this on board would depend on other things.

For example, if the offer was ABB or above and the student dropped to BBB, I might not have a place to offer (as he would then be counted in the student number controls).

So it would be worth having a conversation with them but it might not be possible. You would need to ensure that the school would confirm this account though. We have all sorts of things said to us by applicants (up to and including forged exam certificates!) and it always looks dodgy when the evidence doesn't arrive......

Thanks for that Creamteas

Yes I imagine it's extremely difficult to decide what's a tall story and what isn't.

I'm concerned that the school will try to sweep it under the carpet as DS did say they were very defensive.

He's getting someone to forward him the email with the address bar so it's clear that he was not included in that.

Hopefully, he'll get the grades and it won't matter

Fingers crossed for him.

Thanks

I agree with creamteas- although I am not directly involved with admissions so I am probably less informed.

Definately get the school to confirm this has happened in writing if an offer is made bearing this in mind.

I would recommend your son checks track as soon as possible on results day. If it says his place is unsuccessful, then it is unlikely he will be able to change anyone's minds. If no decision has been made, a phone call may be more worthwhile. Of course, even if it says "unsuccessful" if he is close to the grades, he has nothing to lose by phoning.

It may depend a bit on how well others do. If less students than expected made the grades, they may have room to be a bit more lenient.

Be aware if he decides to take a year out to do resits, some top universities will not consider this very favourably, and many universities like at least 2-3 A2s being taken at the same time. Hopefully this will not be an issue, as he will achieve the grades he needs.

Hmm that's interesting about resits.

To be fair, his insurance offer is 2Bs and the Welsh Bacc so if he doesn't manage that after all the work he's done, I think it would be worth a real rethink. He knows he's passed the Welsh Bacc already.

Ah, fair enough. At that sort of level, universities would probably happily accept resits- it's only usually the very top ones who don't like them- mainly because they need a way to differentiate between all the very clever students with predicted AAB+ grades.

If, on the day you get the results, his firm say they are still undecided, it is definately worth a phone call to explain. He should also have his UCAS track number, all his exam grades back to GCSE and his personal statement when he phones, as they may wish to discuss these.

If, on the other hand, it says he has been unsuccessful, your chances of getting in are much lower. This usually means they have already got enough students for that course, and taking more may cause funding issues, or they plan to fill the last few places through clearing, and believe they can do this easily based on previous years. He has nothing to lose by phoning as such, but usually the only students who will get accepted this way is those who are getting priority remarks and get the grade.

LetsFace How did he get on?

The school need to do the decent thing. This is his whole future whereas they get to learn from this shoddy working and it probably won't impact on them very much.

hope LetsFace wont mind me saying her son is off to Southampton :), it's on another thread

Excellent just wondered!

Have just got back from a celebratory meal out with DSs

As Already said, DS1 is off to Southampton though he dropped a grade in each of his subjects - which was a shock, but we don't mind because he's in. Phew.

DS2 did really well with his AS grades - far better than we hoped.

Double celebrations all round - and it means we do get to go on holiday instead of having to sort out clearing.

My sitting room looks like a camping shop

It's been quite a week.

Congratulations to everyone's DCs and I hope they all have an amazing time at uni.

Hallelujah! Well done to your DS's.

We have started making lists.......eek this is going to be expensive !!

Have a fab holiday!

Thanks

I am very much in the ostrich position about how much it's going to cost....

With you there........ Minimalist iving is going to be the key I think & srcounging stuff off family!