Things I wish I'd known last year when my child was applying for uni

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I thought it might be useful to put together a list of things that may be useful for parents going through the process this year.

These are the thing that I wish we had known.

1. Although it is not meant to make a difference when you put your UCAS application in, an early application can have some advantages. With some uni's you can apply for your accommodation as soon as you make it your firm choice, so an early application could mean you have a much better chance of getting your 1st choice of accommodation.

1. There seems to be a trend of more uni's offering unconditional places for certain courses. These students are then given their accommodation before students with conditional offers. Which is great for kids with unconditional offers, but means those waiting for their A level results will have less chance of getting the cheaper accommodation. Might be worth asking the uni's what their policy is.

1. Do renew your kids passport even if there is no chance of them going abroad during the year, as it makes applying for student finance so much easier.

1. Durham has a reputation for keeping kids hanging on for a decision, I would ensure your kid really wants to go there before putting it down as choice and managing your kids expectations about how quickly they will get a reply.

1. Don't spend ages investigating what accommodation your kid wants, as the chance of getting what they chose seems pretty small (or is that just my ds and several of his friends).

1. People on mumsnet often have more idea about the whole process than your child's teachers.

That's all I can think of for now, as you can see accommodation is on my mind at the moment.

Roisin I am sure you are right about the 'average 90 UMS from C3 and C4' as well as A grade average (80 UMS) over the whole A level - so at least 480/600 UMS total. There have been many threads, I think on Secondary, where A* calculations have been discussed.

But what I think you are asking, is whether in a resit, the highest s ores for each module can be be counted. Wonder if the same. Rules would follow in all subjects for that?
I would like to know the answer too, as DD1 wants to resit C2 to give her a better chance of bringing a solid B up to an A. May not want to take the risk if only the latest counts.