Finally, an offer!

[pinksugarmice]

DD has had an interview and now has an offer at last! She's had one straight rejection, is awaiting the outcome from another interview and is still waiting to hear from the other two. Boy, this creative lark sure is stressful so it's comforting that people are still waiting to hear from Durham etc for academic subjects as well.

That was supposed to be on the UCAS thread- posting on phone!

That was supposed to be on the UCAS thread- posting on phone!

Congratulations! You only need one! Must be a big relief :)

Thanks Mindgone,it is a huge relief!

Well done, and what a relief. It is really stressful. According to student room, my son's second choice (he was rejected by his first) sends out rejections on a Thursday. Each Thursday more post saying they have received rejections. These emails seem to go out one by one till 6.00pm. So if you don't hear anything by then you are safe for another week. From what is posted, very few acceptances so far, and then only to obvious sure fire candidates, mainly those with their grades already.

It a bit like the old rhyme of ten in a bed. Each week one falls out. Not being rejected so far is an accomplishment, but to go through all of this and then not get a place would be awful. (And he is still waiting on choices 3 and 4, who have made a number of offers, including to some of DS' friends - but not him.) So a tense day today. An offer before half term and mocks would make so much difference.

The creatives do have a tough time. Despite being predicted really high grades my daughter has had interviews at all of her four choices, and two rejections. However, she has an offer at her first choice and they wrote to her changing it to unconditional yesterday so, actually, she couldn't have wanted for a better outcome but, my, it is a stressful process.

Needmore, would that be LSE? If so I'm feeling your pain and anguish at the never ending wait.

Kez100, great news! Congratulations! :)

Isthis, you got it in one. On the other thread I described the process and the various emails. We are now two weeks beyond the 5 week email, even allowing for the additional two weeks for Christmas. This followed the initial 2 week email and then the seven week email.

DS is still waiting for Warwick and UCL as well. His problem is that he, unexpectedly, bombed one of his history AS papers. Otherwise he should have been a very strong candidate. Unfortunately all these Universities have thousands of strong applicants and only a few hundred places. They don't interview and so in the end it will be down to marginal differences in UMS scores, personal statements and references.

Still he is still in there and not rejected yet so no news has to be good news. The wait is pretty awful, so pleased to have some company.

I am an LSE alum, and the Director is giving a talk next week about The Future of the University. I am trying to work up a good question to ask about their (awful) admissions process. Imperial have similar numbers of applicants but seem to be able to make decisions quickly. Any suggestions very welcome!

(They keep asking me for donations, or to remember them in my will. Not the right time...)

I think I might ask:

If any course is as over subscribed as theirs are, why do they not interview? Give the creative courses their due, it must take them hours and hours to interview everyone and talk through their portfolio but at least you know after a rejection, the process was as fair as it could be.

Needmore we are at exactly the same point as you. For DS I'm surprised he made it this far with them. He has excellent AS (4xA), his UMS are all over 90 with the majority over 95, but and this is where I would think they think he falls down and that's with his GCSES,s. 1A, 5A's and 5B's. Also school predicted him 3xA because nowhere needed A historically for his course so to keep the pressure off. He has 4 offers already. His PS shows extensive work exp, broad reaching and focused commitment and god forbid to use that word but passion. He lives for his subject.
Good luck to us both, have one of these ready for tomorrow.

DS has good GCSEs but then goes to a school where everyone has good GCSEs, and is predicted AAA*AB. He will resit the offending history paper, and the one other paper which was not in the 90s, so hopefully a reapplication should go OK even if he does not get anything this time round.

I am surprised with UMS scores all over 90 your son is not predicted As. However to give LSE their due they have been asking for UMS scores so perhaps have used these to over-rule the school's prediction. (Though this does not help us!) It seems a bit mean of the school not to give him at least the AAA prediction that meets the grades most Universities are looking for.

I have had a quick look at student room and they seem to be issuing some offers today. Good luck for your DS, and well done on his other offers. for you as well. By the end of this I will have been driven to drink.

Kez, one of the problems is that 50% of candidates will be overseas and of the home students a good proportion will be from elsewhere in Europe. Even if they had the resources to interview it would then be very difficult for many strong candidates to attend. Even in my day I was the only Brit on my undergraduate course. I was recently told by a reliable source that LSE economics is now the most over-subscribed course in the whole of London University. Curiously though UCL are requiring people to attend open days before issuing offers, as if they want to filter out those already destined for Cambridge, or those who are really prioritising courses in their home country and have only applied to the UK as a fallback.

DD had just had an email from the only uni she hasn't heard from requesting her mini portfolio.I don't know if I can bear her going through this again as this is the most competitive choice and it is time she can ill afford from a level work.

Oh, I see, needmoresleep. Really, once you have done the application and the academic achievements, it's just a lottery of luck if it's that oversubscribed.

Pinksugar - I tried to convince my DD not to bother with her last interview (fourth choice) because it was miles (and miles...and miles) away and she already had an offer from her first choice. It was a conditional offer at the time but easily achievable in UCAS points. She wanted to attend for more experience and to have an insurance - seems she loves interviews and talking about her work. (Her secondary school teachers wouldn't recognise her!). Luckily, in the end, another student on her current course was going on the same day, so they went together and she did get an offer. It freed me up but she still took another day out of college. Just not needed in the crucial final terms. Not on top of the other interview days as well.

Hi
My dd got 1 interview to go mid march leeds college of art.
Actually got 3 offers so far . today's interview apparently 125 interviewees for 25 places. Good feedback in the interview and she was told she was a strong candidate was told up to two weeks wait for a possible offer!
And this is her first choice
Also my daughter will struggle to get the grades I think although the art is good. Aaarrrggghhh!

Good luck! It is horrid.

We are still waiting on choices 2-4. I understand the courses being oversubscribed and that there is a large element of luck. The school had warned us in advance but confirmed these were the right courses for my son. (The issue is that the more competitive courses demand strong maths qualifications. Having got these you want to do a course which uses them. Not least because the most sought after Masters Degrees then look for strong maths at Undergraduate level.) What I don't understand is why, a month after the entry deadline, Universities have not been able to make decisions. None interview. They know how many candidates and places they have, and have everything they need to score and rank candidates. Economics is not a lab subject so if they go over their numbers a bit it wont matter too much.

I just cant see that delaying the process (and it has now been almost 5 months) leads to a "better" decision. And it does not help the candidates.

In fairness LSE did seem to try to communicate by issuing a series of emails suggesting how long it would take for them to respond. Trouble is that they are now 4 weeks beyond their own 4 week deadline. I wonder if the admissions tutors ever look at Student Room?! With this level of demand, and the pace at which it is growing, they need to consider an additional tool like BMAT or STEP to help identify potential and reduce the lottery element.

DS seems to have moved onto a form of acceptance. The odds are that he will get one of the three. If not he reapplies. This is quite a lot of pressure as he will presumably need better than his current predictions, so he has decided to resit a couple of AS papers where he feels he could have got better marks. And DD has started talking about applying for medicine....

Hope all goes well 46direct. The good creative courses all seem to be massively over subscribed. Remember, just one good offer is all that is needed and she some already. Which? University is useful to see what the offer rate is on the courses. (Mind you, only look if you have a steely composure as my daughter's four choices came in at 16%, 21%, 34% and 44%).

My daughter has been extremely lucky, I feel.

Wow! Happy daughter
Her first choice just offered CCC
Others she met there have had BBB offers.
Her insurance was going to be a CCC offer from somewhere else. Her other offers were BBB. Another interview due in a few weeks at Leeds college of art but may not attend now as wasn't first choice.
She is chuffed!
She got CCD at AS so fingers crossed!

Fab news 46direct! :)

My daughter has received two offers so far for Graphic Design. One at Huddersfield and the other at Carlisle. Now we are in the position of trying to work out which one to accept as she really like both Uni's. Huddersfield is very new and seems to have excellent facilities, but is also very big, whilst Carlisle is almost cosy in respect of size, but I get the impression the tutors spend more time with them than at Huddersfield. Aargh, I really don't know how to advise her having not been to Uni myself.

My dd had offers from these. But for illustration.
She is having uclan as first choice and Carlisle as insurance (favourites so far) although both offered CCC. has had Cardiff (didn't like), and yet to interview at leeds but so far this is her gut feeling.

Last year my DD attended an interview for Photography at Brighton University in mid February. By 28 April she had still not heard anything.

She attended two other interviews at Universities who managed to respond by the end of March deadline and another gave an offer without an interview. Brighton seemed to want Art Foundation students only but clearly indicated A level grades likely to be required in their prospectus. They also asked for DDs work on tumblr prior to offering her an interview. Well after the end of March, Brighton had my DD's course on their list of courses for which they would still accept applications. She rejected them on 30 April without ever knowing the result of her interview!

Arts students do have too many interviews ! However the disgraceful behaviour of Brighton is now put behind her and she has started at a more prestigious college who only asked for CC based on her portfolio. Fortunately they did recruit A level students. If DD had known Brighton were sniffy about A level students, she would never have considered them but this only became evident at the interview, not at the open day, and at the time of the interview she had not heard from her top choice so she had to go to Brighton. Prospective students can be very shabbily treated!