Where should she apply for given her predicted A levels? If at all?

[skyblue11]

DD was predicted BBC, after AS levels that's dropped to CCC which is only 240 points (plus 20 for AS and 30 for RAD ballet if the Uni takes these into consideration)
What should be be applying for realistically? It could be she pulls this back to BBC/BBB or worse case CCD? Where do you apply to in this case? And if she flunks altogether but still wants to go to uni what can she do to carry on with her dream? What if she doesn't get any offers?
She tried so hard and has slow processing problems, not dyslexic but just takes her ages to write essays etc.
I don't know how to help her, she spends all her time working bless her, I'm so afraid it will be wasted and she will get demoralised.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

We visited Hertfordshire today (although my DD interested in a different subject.)

Really nice place- lovely new accomodation going up for 2014 entrants. Some of the facilities are great and the Forum- venue is amazing their for nightlife etc.

Seems to have a big psychology department and accredited too.

Close to London easy to get to.

[SnowGo]

Getting good a-level results is not the be all and end all of life. A-levels never suited me and my school was too focused on everyone going to russell group unis. The stress made me burn out and I only recovered after I changed which course I had applied to do. They only wanted something like 220 points from 4 alevels so DDDE. I got CDDE at the end of it all. Yet at uni I'm definitely up there with the people who got As and Bs and am easily hitting the 2:1 band in my essays.

Some people dont suit alevels but will flourish at uni if they have the right attitude. Unis know this. Plus many unis drop their entry requirements when clearing opens up so theres still a chance. Let her apply to unis around the CCC mark and cross the clearing/ gap year bridge when you get to it.

[happilyconfused]

A vote for adjustment - there will be places. Plus apply for a degree with a foundation year as one of the five options. Lots of schools are tightening up on predicteds as there are now January re-sit opportunities.

[mindgone]

Oops, just realised I missed a page!

[mindgone]

She may just do a lot better this year! It takes some kids longer to get the hang of A levels, and settle into a different kind of work. My DS got BCCC for his ASs, and improved them enormously in A2. Best of luck whatever she decides.

[skyblue11]

motherof they recommenced that you should take Biology and English for Psych, not all unis are interested that you have taken A level Psych as some cover it again as part of the course.

[MotherOfGirls]

My DD has similar processing difficulties and also has 25% extra time for exams. She is in Year 11 and so currently choosing AS subjects. She is very keen on Psychology so I am really interested in what Kemmo feels are good subject choices. She wants to take Psychology, Biology and PE. Would I be right in thinking English would be the best 4th AS? By the end of L6th she may be clearer in her career aspirations and can drop whichever subject is least appropriate. She is toying with the idea of Geography for her 4th AS. Any advice gratefully received!

[skyblue11]

beckandcall I have thought about it many times.....I personally would like her to take a step back and have a gap year to just get some work experience and have a good long think about what she wants to do.

She however wants to leave home, can't wait in fact to experience the uni thing. The debt scares me and to be honest I will be working probably just to get her through it as I have calculated on the student finance budget section she will have a shortfall of about 1500 which we will have to find, which means no holidays for us for 3 years at least.

My DH thinks she should self fund, and she will if she can get a job but i know she needs the time to study to be honest. She is saving all her wages from her little job for uni so I'm pleased with that, I just want her around longer but that's me being selfish and it's whatever makes her happy.

I don't want her to rush into anything, she's glib about the debt as they have drummed it into them at school treat it like a 'tax' not a debt I'll never pay it back. I feel sick at the thought of the debt but that's just me.

[madeofkent]

It could cause a lot of nailbiting and stress (for you anyway) but you could do what we did and apply late once you know what the grades are. We didn't meant to, my son wants to compose and UEA closed their music department, he really wanted to go there as it was ranked 5th in the country and close-ish and he loves Norwich. So he couldn't find anywhere else he wanted to go to as much, despite us hauling him around Surrey and heaven knows where else, and he decided to become music Gap student for a year at a cathedral school. He was offerd four places as a gap student and they all pulled out at the last minute becauise the government changed the way Gaps can be paid (board, food and around £50 a week pocket money to work all hours) to having to be paid hourly. None of the schools could afford it.

So it was either pull pints or stack shelves for a year or go into clearing, and apply for finance. He stuck down any old uni as a choice for that, I found out later. But then he got his grades and they were lower than expected (for some obscure reason they expect musicians to be mathematicians and physicists, but although he is not slow, and is highly intelligent, he has a short-term memory problem which makes it harder for him to memorise anything) and was despondent for a couple of hours but started phoning around. We didn't know the clearing system at all so did it wrong, he phoned about a dozen unis and they all accepted him with his lower grades. We were astonished. Apparently if you get in fast they have a sort of 'lower grade number of students' percentage allowance, however we discovered at number 12 we should have only been phoning up one uni at a time and waiting to see if he got in before moving on to the next. So he phoned all the ones back straight away that he didn't want.

HOWEVER he turned down all the 'good' unis. He found exactly the course he wanted at an ex poly, DBH and he raced over there to see the head tutor and check it out and he accepted it there and then, they were wonderful and the place was full of other students going through clearing and having a look, I had no idea that unis did that. They spent hours with him going through all the paperwork and putting a couple of things right for him.

It might not be what everyone would choose to do but it worked out very well for us. His grades were actually pretty good, but a couple of his friends got in to the same place with very low grades, far lower than advertised. My son could have chosen to go to some very well-known unis with far lower grades than they were advertising for.

[LibraryBook]

I would encourage her to forget all about UCAS this year and concentrate instead on getting the best grades she possibly can. If she applies next year with grades in hand, she'll be able to target her choices much more accurately.

[BeckAndCall]

Have you asked yourself, OP, if university is the right place for her? With fairly low grades she'll get onto a fairly lowly ranked course, in general and then when she graduates will be in competition with others with high grade degrees from Russell group universities. With the same level of debt.

Is there another way for her to access the kind of work she wants to do without racking up debt for a degree which will not put her in a good competitive position?

An alternative would be to do a degree in some thing more vocational or industry focused at a university - so looking for something at one of the ex-poly universities which the older universities don't do - that's in a subject area where they excel ( eg the psychology of marketing or something focused)

[BlackMogul]

Many people with Psychology degrees never get employed as a Psychologist. Although posters are being helpful, there will be people with amazingly good A levels at the very best Universities applying for jobs. Is she realistically going to be able to compete against them?. Lots of people will go on to a higher level of training too. It's a bit like saying people with 2/2s will get jobs as Barristers. Highly unlikely.

[skyblue11]

pastitall thank you for your kind words, I had kind of forgotten
they'll all be in the same boat with the exams

[pastitall]

She should definately put in an aspirational choice . Firstly, many children with offers of abb were still allowed in with lower grades this year ,in one case dropping to bcc! Secondly ,she may very well do much better than predicted .She has massively improved her Biology she now needs to replicate the techniques in revision , past papers etc she used to achieve this. Thirdly , grades will probably drop in general for everyone without Jan resits ,most children do a few retakes.
Good luck to her !

[skyblue11]

callamia Thank you, I fee a little more hopeful. I also agree a foundation doesn't feel right though it's an option it would just mean it's another year...

My concern is that she will slip and now make BBC or even CCC. She has struggled with her biology but her resit she pulled from a D at New year to an A after revising with her A* friend who's really good but has his own exams for med school to think about.

Unfortunately the removal of the January exams will go against her trying to remember info for 2 exams instead of spreading them will affect her badly I feel.
Who knows, all I can do is try to support her and hope she gets her grades. She is resitting her Psych again from summer to try to improve her grade.

I think she'd like somewhere near to home (ish) she loved York St John but the accommodation was a good way away, she didn't like Derby at all and she liked Chester, we are also looking at Leeds Trinity which is probably achievable at 240 points...

I feel more optimistic now!

[callamia]

She's doing great subjects for psych - which really stands in her favour.

I think a foundation year would not make a good choice, although she should contact the Admissions Tutor for advice first. Foundation years are really for students returning to education, and not really suitable for students who didn't quite make the A level grades. I think she'd also be a bit bored.

If she could realistically make BBC, then I'd seriously consider at least one BBB/ABB course - most will make an aspirational offer, and then may seriously consider her if she doesn't make it. It's sometimes surprising the range of grades that an ABB course will end up taking on come results day.

Where does she want to study? Many post-92 universities have excellent faculty these days - because jobs are so competitive. I have MSc students who come from a wide range of UG backgrounds, and some 'ex-poly' students are some of my best.

I agree too faith looking for some relevant work experience; school mentoring, playschemes, volunteering as a befriender, there's a lot you can do without needing to work with an actual psychologist.

Definitely contact some admissions tutors if you have specific questions, but those predicted grades aren't bad at all - and I'd feel fairly optimistic about her chances.

[skyblue11]

eat your her original predicted was BBC (280) now after AS on the references (that's the only reason I know) the teachers have put CCC, so unsure what to put in for, its hard when it's all new and no one to guide you (at least that's how it feels).
I didn't know about scholarships, are these just for the brightest of students though, and with CCC it's maybe not aimed at her, I don't know do you know how it works? I will take a look...
Yes Chester did seem a long way away, I know it's only about just over 2 hours but I'd like her to be closer, but it's not about me

[eatyourveg]

Don't be put off by the 280-340 if your dd's predicted grades are around 280 she would possibly get an offer for 280 if someone's predicted grades are 300+ then their offer might reflect that. As someone else said it is always a good idea to put an aspirational on the form as well as some on target as well as one below in case of a dropped grade.

Bangor also do scholarships which your dd can sit at school. Email them for past papers - you pick a subject from a long list - no idea where you are in the country but its only 3 hours from london on the train and not much further than Chester on the A55 which you mentioned visiting.

[skyblue11]

IDK, yes she has 25% extra in exams but only since in 6th form nevertheless it's been invaluable, if she were assessed as being dyslexic (like her dad) then she could get more help financially.
She did pick her A levels according to what psychology required so that's a plus but bot if she fails!
Kemmo, thanks for the tip about NLP.
eat your I had already looked at those tables thank you anyway....I know Bangor is a specialist however at 340-280 it's way too ambitious and such a long way from home

[jennycoast]

This may not be of much use, but the OU Psychology degree is BPS accredited. They are very supportive of dyslexia too from what I can gather.

[Kemmo]

Two pieces of advice from an ex psychology admissions tutor:

"It doesn't matter but Biology, English, Psychology". It matters HUGELY what subjects she has. Fortunately she has chosen well :)

Please don't let her mention NLP in any UCAS form or interview without first doing some research about how this is viewed in academic circles.

[eatyourveg]

This might be useful. I have also heard that Bangor have a good reputation for Psychology and looking at the clearing vacancies they have had spaces every year since 2009 - they have several psychology courses so it would depend on the actual course your dd wants. See here

[IDK]

She tried so hard and has slow processing problems, not dyslexic but just takes her ages to write essays etc.

Has she been assessed? DS got diagnosed with processing problems and got extra time in exams.

[moominleigh94]

No problem skyblue, there's another one November 23rd. I'll probably be working there, I tend to do most open days but had to leave yesterday's early due to morning sickness

If you've got any questions feel free to contact me :) either on here or through Facebook; if you go to the Glyndwr homepage I'm Maddie, one of the "students with a view" :)