Top universities "ignoring A levels" in race for top students : The Telegraph online

[ryansbeat]

Apologies, I don't know how to link but there is an article on this in the Telegraph....just wondering if there are lots of unconditional offers being offered and if they are being accepted?

that once there you come to appreciate what they have to offer

I think that's the interesting thing about the Birmingham initiative. A lot of people overlook Birmingham -- as the original "redbrick" it's sort of always been there. As has the city.

But from my observations (external examiner there a couple of years ago) it's got an enormous amount to offer. Beautiful campus setting, but very close to an amazing city. And the library & rare books collections are really good -- best I've come across outside of London & the Bod.

Upthe yes to the lovely campus, and library, and apparently a great student life, what impressed me though was the student focused way in which the departments that DD was interested in had developed the courses, with a real emphasis on supporting them in developing the skills required for academic study of their subjects, as well as the usual focus at other universities on offering interesting modules, facilities, chances to persue their interests in student activities etc. It felt a very safe choice. As it happens DD felt she didn't need that level of support and she preferred the choice that was going to expose her to more leading research but we came away feeling she would be more than happy to end up at Birmingham. The unconditional strategy does seem to be backed up by a strategy to really think through delivering on the best possible whole student experience.

DD's friend got an unconditional offer from Birmingham, but it wasn't her first choice, and it was only valid if she made it her firm offer. So it was useless as an insurance. She didn't go there.

DD had a DDD offer from a uni whose standard offer is BBB - we suspected they looked at her predicted grades, realised that there was no way they were going to be her first choice, and wanted to be her insurance. They were, but she got her first choice grades.

I had a 2E offer from Oxford. Friends were jealous, but had rather missed that the entrance exams were considerably harder than A levels!

My friends son has an unconditional offer, plus financial inducement from Birmingham, if he makes them first choice. He is an absolutely solid A* student though. I think he has been quite tempted, just waiting on Cambridge.

My dd has an unconditional offer from Nottingham, if she makes it her first choice. She has 3As at AS and I think she was predicted 3A*s at A2, although i dont know how likely that is. Still waiting to hear from Durham. She is very tempted as she liked the campus and dept. It's a tough decision and I don't envy her saving to make it.

Hmm it must be very tempting to be able to take your A levels with no pressure. My DD1 is applying this year with A levels already in hand. So much less stress than when we were waiting for DS1's results.

I think there is a huge difference between universities making unconditional offers to just get bums (any old bums) on seats, which does go on, and those universities who can be pretty sure that they want a particular student based on GCSEs, AS results (including raw scores) and predicted grades, particularly from schools with excellent track records of making accurate predictions.

Those later students tend to get very high A level grades, whatever offers they receieve.

It will be interesting to see how successful these offers are, no?

The sort of applicants receiving them will often also receive offers from Oxbridge, the top London universities, Durham, Warwick etc

Whilst an unconditional offer is tempting, these students tend to be very high achieving and ambitious.

Anecdote rather than data -in true MN tradition-.

What does seem to work for students whose parents are probably not in a position to provide any financial support are "scholarships". At this point a, say, £2000 inducement does seem to steer some students away from at least top London Universities to lower ranked institutions in cheaper parts of the country. Add in perhaps a better chance of gaining a first, and it becomes quite a tempting offer.

Don't forget that Birmingham & Nottingham are also 'top' universities

I think that parents/those outside the university system need to try to avoid seeing this practice as something sinister or manipulative. It's simply good universities trying to secure the best possible students; we all do it, because we have to engage closely for 3/4 years with these young people -- we want the best who will thrive. It's made more obvious & possible by current Government policy removing the funding cap (well, they removed the funding full stop!) for students with ABB at A Level. We can all take as many as we can admit and accommodate (of course, it's not as simple as that).

The Telegraph headline is sensationalising: universities making unconditional offers are not bypassing A Levels -- they're very much using the A Level system, but they're also making their own judgements about the applicants' applications as a whole. From my experience of doing Admissions and running successful Departments, 'd expect that there have been clear & detailed internal memos, discussions, and lengthy meetings of Admissions admins and Admissions tutors to sort out the principles and the conditions under which such unconditional offers can/should be made.

Scottish unis have made unconditional offers for years based on highers. I think it rarely happened before in England because when I was a teenager there wasn't a lower 6th exam but now there is (from what I understand, my kids and I are in Scotland) there seems no reason for English unis not to follow suit.
They are only likely to give unconditionals to teenagers they think will succeed on the course anyway and it does take the pressure off them, although it can take the pressure off too much and they don't bother trying which can be frustrating for parents and teachers, but they have another 3-5 years of studying ahead so a few months less stress shouldn't disadvantage them.

Mid level Unis are handing out unconditional offers too. DD has received two unconditional offers. It was probably obvious to the Uni's that they would be the insurance choice due her predicted grades and AS grades so it make sense that they would try to tempt her to make them her firm choice.

I think there is a race to be the insurance offer for some candidates. That was my experience, though quite a while ago.
Yes, indeed. A friends DD was tempted by this and wen to Birmingham as her insurance, to arrive to a complete accommodation fiasco that involved students on the first day being herded into a hall and told to buddy up with other students (none of them knew each other at that point) and go out and start ringing around for accommodation.
No way will DC at her old school now opt for B'hm as insurance whatever bribes inducements offered