UCAS forms sent - just the waiting game now !

[snowyowl70]

My super organised DD1 has had email today to say her forms/reference have been received and should be at her chosen Unis in the next 48 hrs !!!!! So the waiting begins - to those seasoned parents who have done this before can you remember how long they had to wait for their first responses ? At least 2 out of her 5 may call her for interview (MFL) so am guessing these might be fairly on the ball ?

rightsaidfrederick there are many reasons why a particular university might put themselves further forward on clearing than they have done in the past, with the landscape ever changing. I think it entirely possible that what you divine from the outside may be different from what it looks like from the inside. What I don't think it's possible to say with any certainty is that Durham was desperate last year, which is what you seem to imply. Although if you have particular knowledge, as opposed to conjecture, I'm sure several posters here would be interested to know :)

Indeed combining what you yourself say about the Durham clearing process/ the Durham response to slipped grades and what Littleham quotes, the inference is that Durham is sitting quite pretty and doesn't need to sharpen up any one of its acts. Which is why I myself would counsel caution in approaching them early unless possibly you're international with money to bring to the table, since the initial response is almost bound to be 'No'.

I agree that Durham's initial response to Hattymatty's daughter will probably result in a 'no' & clearing doesn't look like fun. When you read the thread from parents in clearing last year they had a massive roller coaster ride (you need to read to the end of thread) www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2429802&page=5.

Some kids dropped out of the process and went elsewhere. Interestingly, whilst some students were left hanging with no offers for about two weeks because of a major mess up, in the end they all got offers from Durham. Big gamble though!

How many is 'all' Littleham? And do you know for which subjects with what grades?

Just 'all' the ones on that particular thread, but they might not be representative. Their subjects were - Maths, Business, Combined Arts, Law, Physics....

This is one example on the thread -
'AAA offer, got A*AA and was rejected despite it being in Clearing for home applicants with AAA. Bonkers, if you ask me, but there you go. They're off to Nottingham now.'

& another
'We were told on Friday there was a place for my child A A A go thru clearing so we dropped her place at another uni and went into clearing as places at Durham still showing yesterday - heard this morning rejected so we now have NOWHERE!!!! :eek:'

Thanks. I'll read the thread when I've got time but what I'd glean from those two examples (with the caveat that the first one appears to be reporting someone else's experience, so possibly isn't accurate) is that Durham is rejecting people even at the post results stage with extremely high grades, so the fact that it's gone into clearing doesn't in itself suggest that Durham is short on good applicants or particularly long on spaces. Other top universities have been more flexible on results day recently and of course Durham may reverse it's policy (as might the other universities :)). Durham and Bristol and UCL etc. are always tweaking the finer details of their policies, so I wouldn't count on anything!

I'll keep you all posted on progress with Durham, although DD says she wants to "wait a bit" before writing.

Does your DD have all her offers in yet, hattymattie? Does she not have a UCAS deadline by which she needs to firm + insure two offers?

Hello Bonsoir - we're waiting on one offer which has become irrelevant. It's a double French/UK thing and I get the impression there are problems with it as they keep writing holding letters. I think she should withdraw her candidature for this course.

I think after the Feb holidays, when Durham have allocated colleges is what she's thinking.

Well that gives her some thinking time at least.

I don't think I would (personally) advise anyone to keep an insurance offer that has the same grades as his/her firm offer. Terminale is anxiety-inducing enough as it is! But maybe you and your DD are braver than us!

No - I agree she should have a lower insurance offer - this is coming from her - personally I'd have the uni offering 14 up my sleeve. She is definitely made of sterner stuff than me.

I think the only thing that would make me easier about this is if she gets a spot the on double diploma offered in France as back-up. This is based on dossier and not dépendent on a bac result.

When will she know about that, though? Not for ages, presumably?

You're right - I'm going to sort out some timelines.

I Don't think you have to make any decisions until you have heard from all your choices.
Plus even if some unis open for accomodation early, it's worth checking if they give equal preference to all candidates who apply before a cut off date (with Warwick I think accom opened in March, but all applicants would be treated equally provided they put in their accom choice by July)

FirConesAtXmas - That last bit of information about the accommodation is worth knowing -thanks. I'll get my daughter to check that for her choices, because it would mean we could sit back & wait for the final offer/ rejection without panicking too much.

Has the one that has offered 14 sold itself short to your DD, hattymattie? Does she think less of them for the unexpectedly generous offer?

Littleham - yes, do check. I would hate to give you the wrong info, but I'm sure that was correct last year.

Fircones - I'd better look into the accommodation as well - good point.

Bonsoir - no the 14 uni is a great uni - it's just she really loves Durham.

Accomodation issues are pretty irrelevant for Durham.

hatty your DD is clearly a strong applicant, as my elder DC were, and sometimes there's too obvious a gulf between the firm and the 'safe' insurance. Since ending up at the 'safe' insurance could be very dispiriting (since it would have been about some exam fail rather than raw ability), I've consistently championed my DC taking what many people might regard as risks. Fortunately none of them have so far been called to account, but I've taken the view that a safety net lies in a gap year.

It's their three or four years after all, and they have to feel that they fit wherever it is they end up.

This is Durham's policy for accommodation, -

Applicants who accept Durham University as their firm choice and who meet the exact terms of their offer will be guaranteed their allocated college. Applicants who accept Durham University as their insurance choice or fail to meet the terms of their offer and are accepted as a near miss applicant may be reallocated a college in August. However, wherever possible, applicants will be placed in the college that they were originally allocated to.

Yes Littleham that is the way Durham has done things for the past few years because it likes to be firmed and doesn't like to be used as an insurance, and the college thing is something the university can attempt to use as leverage. The reallocation of near misses is of course perfectly fair. However, the possible reallocation of college is not an accomodation issue in the way it is at some universities with halls of residence. Because there's very little real choice at the outset.

College allocation has become increasingly fluid at Durham in the past few years, as there was a huge imbalance between applications to just three colleges as opposed to all the others. So when they use the term 'allocated', it's become pretty much that. Have you read the specific guidance on how the college allocation process works? That's why I said it's not really an issue. Something over which you have very limited control at the outset is not especially material in terms of devising a plan of action.

Well and of course all applicants are going to be housed in their allocated college in whatever room types that college happens to have. There's only an opportunity to state a preference for room type within a college in very limited circumstances - it's not the norm.

venturabay thanks for that. DS had not noticed that his Durham offer did not actually specify that he had a place at the college he applied for. It is clearly not a college system like Cambridge.
He is unsure about whether to choose Durham as his insurance. It would be as you describe, the "safe" insurance and Warwick would be the risky one.
I see that their offer holder visit day includes an overnight stay. It seems a good opportunity to really get a feel for the place.
Littleham Presumably then, if DC ended up there as insurance they could end up anywhere. Do you know whether they guarantee accommodation to all first years whether firm or insurance?

That's my understanding yourlittlesecret. If your DC chooses it as insurance it is possible to end up anywhere. Which college has he chosen? Some are more popular than others.

As venturabay says, it is not as big an issue as at some other universities. Durham is so small, which means all the colleges are really close to the departments & centre. Unless they have their heart set on a particular college of course. Somewhere like Bath is more of an issue if you choose it as insurance, as you could end up not being on the campus & having to get buses in from the city centre.

yourlittlesecret Littleham is exactly right when she says the colleges are all within a fairly compact area, or at least within two compact areas both of which are not too far from one another. It's all walkable anyhow.

The only thing I would say is that if your DS chooses Durham as his insurance and has strong reasons why he either doesn't want to self cater or does want to self cater or needs to be near to his department for mobility reasons (obviously sometimes there are going to be good medical reasons) then he should probably get in touch with the admissions people at Durham as soon as possible. They're bound to be helpful with anything like that. Otherwise, it's pretty much wide open for an insurance applicant, though difficult to go too far wrong, since all first years will get accommodation at one of the colleges and actually all the colleges are pretty nice.

Going to Durham for the offer holders day is a very good idea if he's unsure, as you say. I assume he has an absolutely foul offer to meet for Cambridge Maths, so being comfortable with his insurance might help take the pressure off in June. Is Warwick nearly as onerous as Cambridge with its offer? I can see it's a difficult decision, but in reverse.