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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

UCAS forms sent - just the waiting game now !

999 replies

snowyowl70 · 27/09/2013 23:07

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 ?

OP posts:
mumeeee · 22/03/2014 13:34

Just to let you know for all those still waiting replies from universities. Students can't firm until all uniuniversities have replied. Well that was what DD3 and my niece found out last year. They found Kinston was extremely late. Yes they both applied there for different courses.?

bruffin · 22/03/2014 14:04

I think you cancel a pending appliction then firm if you want to.

venturabay · 22/03/2014 23:42

Yes you can firm at any time by cancelling pending applications.

DS has just firmed Oxford and insured with Bristol, who took the trouble to phone up, say hello etc. Feeling welcome appears to have made a difference.

Littleham · 23/03/2014 18:26

This whole process is like a rollercoaster. It is all so unpredictable.

You won't believe this, but dd1 has just been given an offer by Durham! Not only that, but it matches Warwick. We were not expecting it at all.

boys3 · 23/03/2014 21:15

Durham! DON'T GET ME STARTED!

Sorry about the shouting, but they certainly take their time. That said DS1 finally heard from them late last Friday, and has an offer! I am therefore, tempted to forgive them.

However the offer came through too late for the applicant days which are tomorrow and Tuesday, and he has yet to find out whether he got allocated to his preferred college. So I've not succumbed to temptation just yet.

Littleham - congrats for your DD's offer.

Just the exams to get through now (reaches for large drink at thought!)

Littleham · 23/03/2014 21:25

Yes - we are in the same position. She got her offer on Friday too and won't even hear about a college allocation in time to go to the offer days. So how can she compare this latest offer with the others? She had just got everything settled in her mind as well! Great news, but wish it had been earlier.

Wine Wine Wine Think I need a glass too.

Littleham · 23/03/2014 21:28

Also congratulations to your DS1 for his offer boys3 and to ventura's son for deciding on Oxford. We may have Bristol as reserve too & may well end up there after exams.

ICantFindAFreeNickName · 23/03/2014 21:44

Congratulations on your DD's offer Littleham. we are still waiting !!

lalsy · 23/03/2014 21:59

Hurrah for Littleham's dd and boys3's ds! Well done them.

venturabay · 24/03/2014 07:48

Great news about the Durham offers - don't worry about colleges too much; everyone always seems pretty happy with wherever they get!

yourlittlesecret · 24/03/2014 13:23

Littleham and boys3 better late than never I guess. Were they at least in the right subject?
Too late for the overnight offer holder days but I am sure they could still go for the day.
DS is going tomorrow and the timetable is such that day 1 (actually less than half a day) is all about the college and day 2 is about the subject.
I think the subject sessions will be far more valuable than the college day, especially if Durham is going to be an insurance option.
There are some sessions laid on for parents I believe, but DS is going on his own.

NB DS got his offer in December and didn't get his chosen college, I don't think he minds much.

yourlittlesecret · 24/03/2014 13:35

Part of the subject offer holder's day involves a "one to one" with a tutor.
Any ideas what this might be about? DS is nervous at the best of times and not looking forward to that bit.

crazyspaniel · 24/03/2014 15:23

Usually the "one to one" is a charm offensive, designed to convince the applicant to choose this institution over others! More and more of these tactics are now being deployed by universities (phoning students up, sending postcards, etc) - it's important to see them for what they are and base the decision on solid criteria such as the course and institution themselves.

Littleham · 24/03/2014 16:22

Yes the offer was in the right subject yourlittlesecret. Just as well after all that time. We are investigating whether we can go just for the day to have a look round. DD1 is just confused now / not sure what to do.

Hope your ds has a good time. Don't worry about the 'one to one', as we had one of these with a different university and it was just a chat / opportunity to ask questions.

2rebecca · 24/03/2014 16:28

I thought she didn't want to go there from an earlier post? My son had decided his provisional order before offers came in so when they did it was easy. He'd visited all of them beforehand which made it easier and only revisited his favourite as he hadn't been round the department as it was just an evening open day.

yourlittlesecret · 24/03/2014 16:58

2rebecca Several posters DCs on this thread have changed their minds about choices after the second, offer holder visit.

chemenger · 24/03/2014 17:15

Our one-to-ones are just an opportunity to ask questions away from the group (and sometimes away from parents who are reluctant to allow applicants to speak Smile). I always describe them as the applicant's opportunity to interview us.

Littleham · 24/03/2014 17:20

She didn't decide the order before the offers, but did so after the offer holders days (decided on Warwick). She completely dismissed Durham as she / we were convinced it would be a no anyway.

venturabay · 24/03/2014 19:36

Littleham has she ever visited Durham? She really should go - it's so different from Warwick in every way. If I were her I'd phone the admissions people and press to know about college application before Monday - it's only fair, given the wait/ lack of opportunity to go to the overnight thing. They'll obviously want her to firm, having given the offer, so she has a degree of bargaining power - use it!

Needmoresleep · 24/03/2014 20:02

I agree. They are both lovely Universities with lots to offer a student, but very different. Worth drawing a line under Durham's tardiness and, if you can, going up there to have a look. It would be a fantastic place to spend three years.

Having made an offer they will want your DD to firm. It is reasonable she wants to see the place so they can be expected to try and help.

When do Universities break for Easter? Still no word from UCL. DS breaks up quite early so i might drag him around the campus so he can decide whether it is worth waiting to see if they offer.

Littleham · 24/03/2014 20:06

We did a flying visit during one open day last year. She liked it, but then went off it for obvious reasons. We concluded that it had been a bit of a mistake on our part, as it became obvious that they were only offering AAA & she was a bit borderline. However, she now has a lower offer....all very unexpected.

She has asked about college allocation, but the offer days are this week - today, Tuesday and Wednesday, so I don't think it can be done in time. Not sure what she will do at the moment! Think it is a good idea for her to have another look, but tbh we would be happy with whatever she chooses.

boys3 · 24/03/2014 21:28

yourlittlesecret - yes offer was in the right subject thankfully, one of DS1's classmates who had applied for the same course as him at Durham got offered a different but vaguely related subject to that applied for.

In our case DS1 went to both of the pre-application days at Durham. He likes both Durham as a place and more importantly the course a lot, although as he also has an offer from Cambridge, Durham may well be the insurance offer. That said it is a very close call between them and the Durham college allocation might still be a factor, which hopefully he'll find about about later this week.

venturabay · 24/03/2014 22:51

boys3 college should only make a marginal difference even at Cambridge, with a possible exception for a single sex college or one a few miles out - but at Durham colleges are only very slightly glorified halls of residence, certainly not worth warranting basing a no/yes decision on.

rightsaidfrederick · 25/03/2014 03:26

Needmoresleep - it varies by uni, and you should be able to find the details on the website of relevant unis. However, I know that at least some break up at the end of next week.

That said, the admin staff and admissions tutors (who are often just glorified admin staff anyway) who deal with admissions will most likely be working as normal over Easter.

BeckAndCall · 25/03/2014 07:43

I'm glad to see it's not just us who are angsting over who to out as an insurance offer. Durham was not on DDs list, so we've not been playing the waiting game like all of you, but how to choose between the others? And all that consideration for somewhere you hope they won't go!

Two of her choices are the unis where her brother and sister were/are, so at least we know them very well. But then there's a great fun place down in the southwest which could be all of her own ( as would be the first choice)....