Ucas / Results 2014 (carrying on Ucas Forms Sent.... thread)

[Littleham]

Thought we might need a new thread for the results...

tracey It's just something they could do without worrying about on top of everything else. If we'd known other universities did it differently, it might have influenced his choice - it's so much easier for then to live in halls for their first year.

I can't imagine trying to find a flat in the city and people to share with who he's never met!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

I'm about half an hour away from Bath, so if it comes to it & you would like help traceyinrosso70 just PM me (I really do mean that).

timetraveller it seems at DS's insurance they guarantee accommodation to all who apply before a certain date, however if you put them as your insurance they're only obliged to offer you a shared room. Still very worrying though!

Interesting about Durham boys3. DS came home from the open day saying that last year 20% of offers were given to near miss candidates on his course but who knows what will happen this year. It's a very, very stressful wait!

Littleham thank you so much - fingers crossed it won't come to it but if necessary I will ask for help !

DD1 getting very twitchy as she knows Uni get her results tomorrow (gulp) so she asked me to help keep her busy. So, we decided to watch Who Do You Think You Are with Julie Walters that we had recorded - turned out to be all about The Land League in Ireland which she wrote an essay about on her A2 History paper - not as distracting as we had hoped ! Just wishing Thursday would be here now !!

To those wondering what to do on results day. ...

My dd also heard from her uni in the early hours, welcoming her. She saw it just as she logged on in the morning to check UCAS. Was a bit odd as she still felt unsure about what was going on. But my advice is definitely to check the UCAS site before getting the actual results. They might have not quite got the grades they need but still get the place.

Which Durham course was that friendface (with 20% near misses)?

We are distracting them today with a visit to Grandparents, but we are running out of ideas to take their minds off the looming big day.

My DD's insurance choice is the same offer (A*AA) as her firm (Cambridge) but a much lower ranked Uni so, we hope, more likely to accept a near miss. Would it be worthwhile (or even possible) to phone the insurance Uni before results day to check that they would be amenable to a near miss and who to phone on the day. Or is that weird, becaue if they had wanted her with AAA then they would have offered that?

Aaagh, I keep dreaming that it will be ok but have no real basis for that!

littlemiss DS1's firm is at Cambridge, his college emailed him before exams even started to ask that on results day if he did not get the A*AA offer to scan and email through his detailed UMS scores. I don't know if all Cambridge colleges do that or whether even it is course dependent within a college.

And of course it does not mean they'd necessarily look favourably on a very near miss. I collapsed and needed several hours on an oxygen tank felt quite weak at the knees when I read your earlier post about DC missing out on an A* by just one point across all three subjects.

However I am very proud of DS1 whatever results Thursday brings, and I am confident that everyone on this thread feels the same way about their own DC. Our DCs have done everything that they could do. Hopefully they will receive on Thursday the results that they need.

Littleham it was geography. It is quite a large course however at 200 places, so 40 out of 100 getting in as near misses sounds far more reassuring than 10 out of 50 somehow!

40 out of 200 that should be

boys - my DD has had exactly the same letter from her college - saying contact them ASAP with full UMS details if she's a near miss. Other applicants from her school have had the same letter too, so maybe it is relatively common?

I just remember a friend of my sons missed an A by one mark (pre a* days) and was still rejected, so it must vary by college and subject ( and by year - that was five years ago)

Yes, we got that email too (well, a phone call actually). I am surprised that the colleges don't get the UMS marks straight from the Exam Board when they get the results, but obviously they don't.

It must depend on that college's results each year, Beckandcall eg if they have made 7 offers but really want 5 students, and 5 have all made their offers then the other 2 will be rejected no matter how close. OTOH if they have made 7 offers, want 5 and only 4 have made their grades then I suppose they take the nearest miss to fill the last space...

boys3 yes, it was fairly awful especially as she could have got A* in chemistry with one more mark in her practical, which would have been perfectly possible if the school had let her have a second go (normal at most schools) but they couldn't be bothered didn't. I should have insisted at the time instead of letting it go.

DS has that letter too from his firm at Cambridge. Alas, even full UMS won't help him if he misses the STEP by as much as he expects.

boys3 However I am very proud of DS1 whatever results Thursday brings

Hear Hear.

Most of all I am proud that he overcame numerous obstacles and worked so incredibly hard in the last year.

boys3, well said.

So many random little things can affect the best laid plans......good luck to all dc on Thursday.

We are off on holiday shortly after results day - it was that or not have a family holiday this year. But is is the sort of holiday where a couple of us can delay for a bit if need be. I would not recommend it, although I think if we had gone just before (our preferred option), dd's stress levels might have ruined the holiday. If all goes well, she can enjoy it knowing things are settled. Not easy.

boys3 I feel the same in terms of being proud of my daughter, Whatever happens on Thursday she has worked so hard, has helped run a Brownie pack, including completing her camp licence by organising pack holiday for 23 Brownies, she has represented Girl Guiding at political conferences, at "thinktank" meetings with MPs etc etc and been Head Girl as well as her studies. I don't know many adults that could have kept up that pace and still maintained excellent grades ! It's convincing her if she doesn't get into her firm that she is not a "failure" !! Her distraction therapy today is baking - she was so anxious this morning knowing the Unis get their results today and she keeps saying "my fate may be sealed today" . So stressful for them all

Thank you friendface. My dd probably won't get into her Firm, but she is really hoping for her insurance.

Chislehurst caves has been an excellent distraction today. One family spent three years underground during WW2 - kind of puts things into perspective.

They have all tried so hard. It would be so brilliant if everyone got in somewhere good. How are we going to fill three more days!

Just 3 sleeps now folks

The latest letter from Durham says this about near miss applicants -

We will make decisions on `near miss' applicants (where all results related to the conditions of the offer are known) as soon as possible once the A-level results are published on 14th August 2014 and by Wednesday 20th August 2014.

This is a nightmare, because if they leave it that long, then all the clearing spaces will be gone. Do all universities do this?

Just catching up with this thread having not been on for a while and I'm just grateful that DD firmed her unconditional offer. I'm not sure I would have coped with the palpable tension leading up to Thursday if she'd gone with one of the other offers (particularly as the two she would otherwise most likely have firmed were both 3A offers, one of them being Durham.) Luckily there were valid reasons why she thought the unconditional was the best fit for her.

Good luck to all your DCs come Thursday morning. (I'm actually feeling more stressed about gcse results next week for DC2 but that's another thread........)

I've started to get a bit jittery now.
There was a brilliant thread last year and I've found it helpful re reading it so I thought I'd post a link

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/a1820708-Results-Day-and-UCAS#40907163

Thanks "letsface" that is a great link.

I just phoned my DD's insurance choice to find out what to do on the day. As mentioned before, they made the same offer (A*AA) as DD's firm choice so technically she will get in to the firm or fail both offers, so I wanted to know how the insurance uni would treat a near miss. They said that they would have made a decision well before Thursday and that my DD would be able to see on UCAS on results morning whether or not she had been accepted or rejected by her insurance offer in the event of a near miss. Gulp.

Thanks for the link letsface.

Interesting how quite a few people on the thread got an unconditional update from their insurance, even though they hadn't heard back from firm. I didn't think that was possible.

I'm getting DS2 to go through all the Geology courses at the unis he shortlisted and rank them in order of preference. That way, if he misses the grades for his firm offer and they offer him a different course, he'll be able to judge it against other courses quickly.

TBH I was so desperate for DS1 to get his first choice uni last year (and hated his insurance uni though I kept my mouth shut) that I couldn't even think about it as a possibility.

I like all DS2's choices though but I really have got everything crossed because he has ASD and both the support services and the department at his first choice uni were so reassuring. They knew their stuff. (unlike 1 of the uni's we visited - who ought to be ashamed)