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 ?

Still waiting and dunno about DS I'm getting nightmares about it!

How will I cope till results day and are medical places ever offered through clearing?

Found this article / advice Theas18 (bit out of date, but probably hasn't changed much).

www.independent.co.uk/student/into-university/clearing/medical-clearing-theres-a-narrow-chance-of-survival-doctor-2339072.html

Hope he hears back soon.

I'm probably fretting unduly now (and it's not my choice anyway) but how much thought did your DC give to the "reputation" of certain universities to the general public (i.e. employers and the like) when deciding which offer to firm.

We all know that different universities are better for certain subjects than others and of course this will affect which universities your DC will apply to. However, when it comes to the general public (i.e. those people who do not specialise in a particular area) will they even know or care that university X was ranked third for a particular course and university Y was ranked 23rd?

My DD is not taking a vocational degree and is likely to end up applying for a job that doesn't require a particular degree. So she will probably end up competing with applicants who have degrees from every type of univesity. I'm pretty certain that the potential employer is not going to know how highly ranked her choice of university was for her particular degree and how difficult/easy it was for her to get onto that course. They will probably, however, have a clearer picture of the general ranking of universities (which I always think is slightly suspect anyway.)

So in a very long rambling sort of way, I'm trying to ask whether, if all things were equal (similar type of campus, similar modules, method of assessment etc) how much importance should you give to how "prestigious" one university is over another? I know that you have to pick the university that is right for you, but is going to an "elite" university because it's known to be elite part of the consideration process and if it hasn't been up until now, should it be?

legallady We are wrestling with that factor in the mix too. In any case applying for joint honours it is swings and roundabouts as to which uni is best for DDs subjects. DD1 is telling DD2 to go for a university that according to her friends graduating now seems to have the best name with employers (of the ones she has applied to) but that is not the top one in any tables, general or subject

I am thinking that having actually interviewed on the graduate milk round myself employer lists tend to be so subjective anyway that beyond Oxbridge and London (not dissing Durham Warwick etc just that employers tend to have subjective lists of where they shop but London and Oxbridge are almost always on them) then anywhere in the top 10 or so is going to be as "prestigious". In any case now the old models of recruitment are breaking down, lots more is online, via often quite extensive pre testing and telephone interviewing etc, and that just to get the internships, and quite often the jobs are going to those who have either since uni, or whilst there, built up impressive CVs of work experience, and of course have developed the skills and qualities that make them attractive to an employer. Quite often they are not graduate schemes at all, but unless you are a graduate you are unlikely to be successful in applying. DDs friend who has got the most wow job amongst her peers so far went to Southampton which as an alumnae I am perfectly prepared to admit may not be regarded by many who post here as "elite". All the girls who have been at Oxbridge etc are asking her for advice on CVs etc whereas I know that it is her personal qualities that have landed her the job.

That is beyond law where they I know some city firms really do only select from 6 or so unis, but then which 6 is opaque. In one case a partner told me it was Oxbridge, UCL, Bristol, Durham and Warwick which doesn't chime with any league tables, general or law.

What we are now realising is more important for my DD is the emphasis of the courses, so now the modules offered and whether they are in the areas my DD is most interested looks like what will swing the decision. If she isn't studying what she expressed all that "quirky passion" for in her PS then she is unlikely to do as well on the courses and these days if you don't get a 2.1 as far as graduate employers are concerned it seems it is hardly worth bothering.

legallady I don't know the answer but it's a good question. Anyone not in the throes of this or with a special interest may have "heard of " certain universities and make assumptions.

Two of DSs offers are from Warwick and Durham. For his subject Warwick is the higher ranked and yet when he mentions these two everyone thinks Durham is the most prestigious. This might lead you to believe employers have a similar view? I don't know.

It's always been a major factor in this house legallady. But that's been every bit as much about peer group as about employer perspective.

It's a tricky one isn't it

Interestingly one of the largest city law firms has publicised that all of its trainee interviews are now carried out on a "university blind basis" - i.e the interviewer is not told which university the applicant attended. This has resulted in applicants from a much wider range of universities being hired. It would be great if all employers were to do the same thing, but until they do, I'm worried that we should be giving more importance to the "university's name" than we currently have.

Needmoresleep - my DSS1 applied for Economics last year and the wait was horrendous. Please don't despair! DSS1 got 4 rejections before his only offer, Bristol, which arrived in late March (I think) or maybe April. He is there and loving it - he is also doing exceedingly well!

Gosh your poor DSS Bonsoir. I sincerely hope that Bristol had always been his top choice. How incredibly dispiriting. Happy ending though! Did you find out what was wrong in the view of the other four universities? Very unusual to have four no thank yous but then Bristol - was it something to do with maths?

Trainee interviews may be blind but the vac scheme interviews can't be, so that sounds better than it probably is legallady.

In the company my DH works for, there is a bias against Oxbridge ! (engineering) I think if you try and second guess employers you may be there for a long time, as each company and each person will have his or her own idea ( prejudice).

Bonsoir. Did the others keep him waiting months? I was hoping that given how long they have kept him hanging at least one of them would come through.

DS received very achievable offer from Bristol quite early on. His fifth choice. This would not be unusual, though other alternatives seem to be Nottingham or Manchester. The other four courses are considered far more mathematically rigorous. The trouble is that few other Universities either in the UK or elsewhere in Europe seem to offer comparable courses. Hence the huge demand.

Venturabay - no, not maths - he is very strong in maths. Two universities wrote to say there were too many qualified candidates with a similar profile (which we assume meant French candidates) and he got two straight rejections from Edinburgh and UCL.

He is so happy at Bristol that it's all forgotten now!

DSS1 has told me that the Economics course at Bristol is changing as of 2014 and becoming less mathematical. TBH he could have coped with a more mathematical course than the one he is on and slightly regrets not doing Mathematics and Economics.

Warwick kept him hanging on for ages. Not that he regrets Warwick - the only course he preferred to Bristol was UCL.

Legal lady, it's a shame but that is only partially correct. The many thousands of applications received by that particular law firm are first sifted by an outsourced company so those interviewed are from a pretty narrow range and have excellent cvs.

It is only after this process they are to be interviewed blind. The partners are very aware that they lose out on good people with unusual backgrounds that way, but the sheer volume of applicants means it is inevitable.

Warwick finally rejected one DD on 31st March and Birmingham finally accepted one DS on 31st March. One thing is certain - nothing is certain!

Very glad he's so happy Bonsoir - how grim to be sitting on four rejections :(

He applied in France as well so all did not depend on UCAS, thank goodness! He didn't make his final decision until late August when he rejected his prepa offer.

My point exactly Slipshod (I think :)). Are we talking about vac scheme applications though or training contract interviews?

I rang Durham today and asked whether they held more than one offer holders weekend. Those who receive late offers (March / April) will miss the March one. Apparently they only do the one offer holder event, so if you miss it then the only option is to do an individual trip.

Don't understand this, as all the other unis hold multiple events.

Durham offers overnight accommodation so is confined to the Easter holidays.

Oh - that explains it. They could do a day event though like the other unis.

Ventura, I was referring to proper training contracts.

To be fair, post offer could simply be seen as a nice-to-do, as opposed to essential. My DC have done no post offer days and only visited their top two choices before submitting their application. The rest was done by looking at websites and talking to people. Many students will have their order of preference already decided - though it's been interesting that some DC on this thread have come away from post-offer views with a new impression. Obviously it's great if you can visit your choices, but it's very difficult for some and probably not essential.

Thanks Slipshod. Well I'm in the dark as to which firm but how does that work with vac schemes? And (given that vac schemes are a pre-requisite for training contracts at the big City firms) how does that translate? I'm curious as to the process. But the bottom line is, on which I think we agree, that it's not as good as it sounds!

My dd said that the post offer day she did was completely different to the the open day. I think they are more important if you are undecided.