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 ?

Well after all that DD has come up with a rational reason for not going to Exeter because she has finally actually looked at the course structure and modules so we are back with the two northern unis (with or without "liquidated" sloanes ) and Birmingham.

Shame, I fancied a trip to the seaside! One of my favourite offers days with DD1 was Bath and a long dogwalk along the canal, visit to the roman baths and the assembly pump rooms. Birmingham isn't the same somehow.....

Shooting well done on getting your dd to look at the modules properly (I do see why it is offputting as they list them so badly for the JH I think).

Looks like dd's modules falling off the list is sorted - we again have it in writing that what she wants will be available and that the website does not list all the options (despite the fact that the written brochure tells you to look at it for a complete up to date listing). If her younger db wants to do an obscure JH, remind me to leave the country.

What a useful thread this is, thank you all.

laisy Glad you have some clarity. There have been times when I wished my DDs had gone for straight forward single disciplinary degrees, it would have made the application process and choices simpler but I didn't, even back in the 70s, so I can't complain! I also think it does make them more appealing to employers and like the Natural Science courses at Cambridge and elsewhere, liberal arts degrees on the American model and area studies will start to be increasingly offered. I know a few DDs who applied to the one at UCL which sounds very exciting. It is getting increasingly difficult to draw rigid lines between disciplines both in Science where a lot of the most exciting developments embrace several of the Sciences, and it is recognised Scientists need to be communicators and philosophers too, and in the arts where the trend towards contextual analysis of literature crosses over with the trend towards the study of material culture and society in History. And then there are area studies courses which can embrace everything!

Shooting, I completely agree. And dd's boat is floated by making the connections between her disciplines. I thought that UCL course looked great.

They should edit and control their websites though, to provide complete up to date info, rather than using them as marketing tools. You can't really expect people to spend days tracking down the information, or to make such an important decision without it. I feel weary.

ICantFindAFreeNickName - I came up with this link....

www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/firm_and_insurance_choices

It says on this page...
Once you have made your Firm and Insurance choices, it is effectively impossible to change them, so it very important that you really are very certain of your decision before hitting those very final buttons.
You have 7 days after making your Firm and Insurance choices to change your mind, but this only applies to choices where offers have been received. If you have cancelled any choices before a decision was made or you had unused choices, or you applied through Extra, the official UCAS line is that you will not be able to reinstate any declined alternatives if you change your mind, even within the 7 days.

.......so I am guessing that UCAS must inform your dc's FIRM and INSURANCE universities of this decision some time after that seven days.

Littleham - thanks for that, we were wondering if Durham is waiting to see how many people firm or reject their offers, before making their final offers. My son's form went in before Christmas and he is still waiting - I assume he is in the maybe pile

Yes, I think you are correct about Durham. Our daughter's form must be in the same pile and her application went in during October! I think it is pretty irrelevant for us now, as she is adamant she is going to firm Warwick (unless the other offer days sway her). Don't blame her at all, as the languages offer day was very well organised and it gave the feeling of a department going places.

It will be tricky if Durham does make an offer now & probably easier if they don't.

DS's friend still on that Durham maybe pile.
I don't think he will be confirming firm and insurance until the last minute not if the UCAS application deadline is anything to go by.

Had a look for you on student room and they are still giving out offers at Durham for joint honours (some on Friday), so your DS's friend might still get one.

My dd is doing two languages, so would they count that as joint honours or not?

I think it possible that some of those waiting for Durham may not be on the maybe pile because they're themselves middling, but because Durham is waiting to see if they themselves firm Oxford or Cambridge.

Wouldn't Durham just have given those people offers anyway?

venturabay wouldn't those with Oxbridge offers usually still wait to hear from Durham before firming or insuring?
It's worth remembering that if you put your UCAS form in early for the Oxbridge deadline you don't have to put all 5 choices down. You can add them later.

laleham Certainly in DD1s year at a school where quite a lot of them include Durham in their choices, so quite a big sample, there was no discernible reason in the way in which offers were made, even for the same courses. Oxbridge candidates were kept waiting to the bitter end along with less strong applicants whilst other Oxbridge and less strong applicants got early offers. At first a few crowed about being offered places but after a while everyone accepted it was just plain odd!!!

And some Oxbridge candidates did get rejections, even those who were successful in getting into Oxbridge (though that isn't really surprising given the interview can be the variable)

It is all very odd! Perhaps it is because our name is at the end of the alphabet. Who knows?

One student rang up Durham to query their application, only to find that the admissions office had sent it to the department asking a question about one of their qualifications and the department had not yet even looked at that initial query. The pile must be large!

I do know that one Oxbridge candidate that was rejected by Durham was even more upset when the course showed up in extra or clearing (can't remember which) and emailed the admissions tutor who responded that the course was full and he had no idea why it was on there!

Littleham

I would tell DD not to give up hope yet. Some of my DD's friends are still waiting for languages offers from Durham and when comparing their exam results with hers you would expect them to also get an offer (I know its not all about results but you know what I mean.) The offer open days aren't until 25th and 26th March so still plenty of time if she wanted to visit again (though for anyone not wanting to stay in a college,the central b&bs seem to be getting very booked up already.)

In any event Warwick is great. DD really liked the course and campus but just decided that she wanted to be closer to a big town (being a Londoner and all that!)

I'll tell her that it is still possible, but she is very set on Warwick now. Can't see that changing.

I like them both and you can't really compare them anyway (chalk and cheese). She has said that if she gets an offer before the 25th / 26th March Durham offer day, she might go along, so we will know in the next two weeks or so.

Which languages are your DD's friends applying for?

Does anyone happen to know what admissions tutors might do with a late UCAS application from a well-qualified student? Presumably it wil be considered still if the course isn't full?

You actually may apply up until the end of June. Not for medicine, Oxbridge, etc. It will depend how full the course is. It's a good idea to call the university and ask if they are happy to receive it first so that you aren't wasting time. Do it soon if you can as courses are filling up.

TheBeautifulVisit Found this....

www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/late_applications

Timing- There’s no immediate rush after the January deadline to submit a late application. Late is late, whether the application goes in on 16 January or 29 June. As unis will be processing the applications they did receive before the deadline, they may not know for a few weeks afterwards whether they can consider any more. So, though it may seem odd, it can be better, at the mid January stage, to wait for a while.

By the end of February unis will be notifying UCAS whether they will be in UCAS Extra and if so for which courses. After the end of February it makes sense to get your application in as soon as possible to give yourself the best chance of success, but every year thousands of people get university places having applied so late that they could only go through Clearing.

Beautiful Visit Lots of good courses at good universities crop up in Clearing these days as well. Universities and course that would never have been found there before the relaxation in quotas, increase in fees etc made it more competitive to recruit the most able students.

I think it's less random than it appears to the students Shooting, but I do agree that it does appear to be random!

Littleham no, I don't think Durham can just dish offers out to everyone who looks good. Potentially they could end up hugely over subscribed. A huge number of Oxford and Cambridge applicants apply to Durham as their second choice, but Durham can only guess at who might secure an Oxbridge place, since even 'dead certs' turn out not to be sometimes. It's an enormously complicated guessing and numbers game.

Slipshodsybil, ittleham, Shooting, thank you all.

He previously decided not to make a UCAS application because he hadn't decided what he really wanted to do. He sort of has more of a clue now.

TheBeautifulVisit - in very late June 2013 I helped a French boy with a UCAS application - he literally started the UCAS process on a Tuesday morning and had sent the application off by Thursday evening for a deadline that weekend.

He had four offers within ten days.