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

[Littleham]

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

Although DS1's remark won't be in until start next week at the earliest he's had his Cambridge place confirmed this afternoon. All rather tearful (me that is).

ona , prettydaisies, squirrel, tea it does seem a bit like a lottery when DCs are getting great grades but not quite enough for whatever reason, although I understand the STEP challenges.

I'm so pleased three of you are sorted with great places to go. AAB deserves better for your DC prettydaisies, and I'm shaking my head that even over achieving on two subjects - with As for goodness sake - whilst falling marginally on a third could result in a rejection. But with scores likes that something will work out for her, and whether or not that is after a gap year Tea*'s 10:40 comment will stand true.

Any news Littleham ?

Yes - she got into her Insurance at Bristol University & is delighted! (see previous very relieved posts).

Thanks for all your support traceyinrosso.

I've been catching up with the results thread - what a rollercoaster it's been. Great to hear so many happy endings.

My DD accepted her unconditional offer to do languages -solid red brick uni mid table - so we didn't have the anxiety over whether she would get in to her first choice but of course she still wanted to do well.

As it turns out she did better than any of us would ever have imagined and typically for me I'm now wondering whether she should be at least thinking about other options, though not sure what else they would be. Basically she ended up with A,A,A. She contemplated adjustment but we can't think where to adjust to.she had offers from Durham, and Southampton (both more illustrious for languages) but preferred the other uni. I suppose the other option is consider Oxbridge for next year but is it worth the risk?

She will almost certainly stick with her current choice but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else is considering adjustment or any other views generally.

Oh no

DD hasn't been successful with first round of accommodation at Kings, don't know whether she will get anywhere now. I very much doubt we can afford for her to go private

prettydaisies, Ds was at an indie in the centre of the nearest City, I wonder if your dd may have been too? If so he too is hoping to go back and help with sports now he is so close.
He has quickly adjusted to the fact he's staying put and has already been investigating xmas temp jobs to booster the finances. yesterday it was like the world had ended but he seems to have bounced back amazingly quickly

legallady, which subjects? If languages, then that is a phenomenal result ( I mean of course fab for any subjects, but languages have been notoriously difficult to get an A.) I was a seminar in Cambridge recently where they stressed that although their Modern Languages offers include an A as do all their courses, that A does not have to be a language, can be another subject because they are aware of the discrepancies of the percentages of A in different subjects and that it has been a higher barrier in languages.
If she has a A* in a modern language, I would expect her to be able to name her price.

Thanks for response Catherine. Interestingly it was her language that was an A - though a very high A.She didn't apply to Oxbridge as really didn't think she was in with a shot as As levels weren't stellar (though probably good enough gcses). Is it really worth the risk to take a year out to apply to probably Cambridge without any guarantee? Though I suppose she could try to work in France or Spain during the gap year and improve her skills in the meantime.

Thanks for response Catherine. Interestingly it was her language that was an A - though a very high A.She didn't apply to Oxbridge as really didn't think she was in with a shot as As levels weren't stellar (though probably good enough gcses). Is it really worth the risk to take a year out to apply to probably Cambridge without any guarantee? Though I suppose she could try to work in France or Spain during the gap year and improve her skills in the meantime.

Fewer Dc are taking language A level because schools are very aware of the relatively lower level of A*s awarded, so people are playing safe. Have not yet crunched the numbers, but it looks as the universities are responding to this and in clearing are offering language courses with lower grades, and also even for initial offers often DC do not even have to have studied the language, can start it 'ab initio' ( from scratch). I spoke to a mid-range uni, HoD recently who said they are really struggling, and having to merge with other depts - eg history - to off 'European Studies' type courses to keep the languages dept still functioning...
With the grades you DD has, especially if from a maintained school, and especially with a gap year in a job where she is using one or more languages, she is definitely (to a uni) highly desirable.

after I posted Littleham my thread refreshed and I found your relieved posts! Glad to hear she's got into Bristol - big sighs of relief for you. Hope she enjoys it there :)

onadifferentplanet DD was at that school too, I assume.
We're visiting my mum and dad now and things don't seem so bleak.

Thanks again Catherine and yes she is from a state school albeit a selective one. Think we'll be mulling over things at the weekend but with her accommodation already sorted and knowing several other people who will also be at the same university, will probably convince her to stick to her original choice.

There is always the option of Oxbridge for a Masters Legallay.

I wouldn't underestimate the difficulty of getting in for a Masters there Medibeagle, and a lot can happen in three years. Also, perhaps critically, funding for non science subjects is exceptionally hard to secure, even for Oxbridge graduates with very strong references and degrees - in all probability a humanities/ arts student needs to find £26k. If she really likes her chosen uni legallady then it's all good, but if she's wobbly why not look at the Oxford and Cambridge websites for MFL and see what the entrance process requires? She's in a very favourable environment with MFL, and extremely well placed with those grades.

DS had his Oxford place confirmed by ucas before he got his results (checked ucas at 7am), though when he went into school he was just short on one grade - and well below his predictions. The school hadn't talked to Oxford though so I assumed it was a ucas admin mistake but school subsequently checked and it's apparently not :) It seems harsh that other places are rejecting on a single grade, but I suppose Oxford and Cambridge have extra info through their own pre-tests and interviews etc so are better placed to make the call. Glad to hear you've come out ok too boys3, though what a grim wait - the process was kinder to DS.

I think what DS found so difficult was that when the final decision was made on the Friday the lady in admissions said that the C would always have stopped him getting a place even if he had A in all the other subjects . If that was the case why keep him hanging like that, as he said had he known first thing on Thursday he was going to his insurance and then gone in to school to discover his A it would have given him in real boost instead he had of 24 hrs of anticipation when told to be patient by the Uni on Thursday only to then be rejected.
He has bounced back amazingly quickly and I am immensely proud of how he has handled everything.

The whole process seems a bit random & cruel to me. Whether they got what they wanted or not, I think that they have all done extremely well.

As a lurker with younger DCCC, I am so impressed with the maturity that posters' DC have shown in this very stressful process - you have brought them up superbly! Just hope ours will be as resilient when tested by setbacks...

Littleham there are always complaints about the seeming randomness of various offer processes at a number of different unis and there does seem to be randomness at this stage too. But behind the scenes there's going to be a method in the madness: some of the very popular departments and unis are much more inclined to over offer than others and that may be the synthesis here. Anyhow, very glad indeed to hear that your DD is happy with Bristol - I remember you said she was torn between choices for her firm/ insurance at the outset.

onadifferentplanet at least your DS is nearer the gf! Presumably that's also cheering him up?

Yes - she was torn between choosing her firm, but always very decisive about the Insurance. Moral of the story is to stress as much about the Insurance as the Firm!! (Her other favourite for Firm is in clearing, but she has decided to stick with Bristol, as she likes everything she has read).

I wasn't commenting on my own dd when I said I thought the offer process seemed cruel. She is very happy. One or two of the other stories seem extraordinary to me though, as their grade were stellar. Perhaps over offering is a bit unfair on them?

Sorry Littleham I was misremembering - I thought she was torn between two and put one of those as her firm and the other as insurance, so that her current position was almost as good as could be. Anyhow, I'm glad it's a good result even if not quite as good, from her point of view, as I thought! Bristol is fab.

I looked at clearing very early on Thursday morning, with a view to seeing what was there for the current DS if he missed both choices and then, after track sprang to life, for the next DS in Y12 who is going for the same subject (as older DS and also your DD2). But I also noticed that a number of unis which were in clearing last year aren't there for the same subjects this year, so I'm cautious about advising DS that those will be easy ones to opt for. Very difficult to second guess........

You are right Molio, it is impossible to second guess. My only real strategy with child number 2 is to tell her to have at least three favourites (with different grade requirements), because she could end up at any of them! Hopefully it will be easier in 2015 now that we have been through it once.

Littleham you are doing it again next year! At least my next one will be 2016. You will be the MN expert by then.

Yes I am.

DD2 is doing her A2's and DD3 is doing all her GCSE's in 2015. I will either be a MN expert, or jibbering in the corner or taking to !

sorry - gibbering - happening already....