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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Unconditional offers

58 replies

stonecircle · 08/01/2015 20:04

DS was lucky enough to get 5 offers and had pretty much decided on his firm (Exeter - AAA) and Royal Holloway (ABB). Sussex has now changed their AAB offer to unconditional - if he firms them. Which, whilst very flattering, has put the cat amongst the pigeons.

DS is predicted A*AA and we've just come back from parents' eve where, of course, the importance of working really hard from now until May was really emphasised. He's currently working at ABB and all 3 teachers said he has to up his game to reach his predictions - but they all said he was more than capable of doing this.

However, DS is a natural worrier and I'm wondering whether accepting the unconditional would be a wonderful way of taking the pressure off or whether I should encourage him to stick to his guns and go with his original choices. He's looking to me for advice and if I get it wrong it will be my fault!

He's not the sort of boy to take his foot off the pedal completely even with an unconditional. But he is the sort of boy who may not completely pull out all the stops to get his predicted grades. I'm already stressing the importance of maximising his A level grades in case he decides uni isn't for him or he needs good grades at a later stage.

He's booked himself on a Sussex offer day so he can rethink. I've told him to put it out of his mind until then and bask in the luxury of thinking he's got a guaranteed place if he wants to be cautious.

Any advice?

OP posts:
HMF1 · 13/01/2015 22:36

MoreBeta can I ask what your issue with unconditional offers is? We are in Scotland & a lot of students are made unconditional offers on the strength of their higher results, this has been a common practice for decades.

MoreBeta · 13/01/2015 22:56

My issue is that universities are making unconditional offers purely to put pressure on students to put them first and only because it means money for the university. It is not being done for the benefit of students.

Original poster
stonecircle · 13/01/2015 23:55

Pasta - Geography (Human)

OP posts:
pastaofplenty · 14/01/2015 05:41

Thanks Stone - in that case I'd say stick with Exeter for academic reasons at least (it's 11th to Sussex's 32nd in the Godd University Guide for Geography) I am aware there are other considerations - but if your DS can't decide I think that would sway me. Good luck with whatever he decides

pastaofplenty · 14/01/2015 05:42

*Good!

TeaAndALemonTart · 14/01/2015 07:22

Exeter is definitely more highly regarded than Sussex. I would go for that one, as others have said.

pastaofplenty · 14/01/2015 13:53

Op - spotted this online - from Sussex student paper - may be of interest
www.badgeronline.co.uk/flurry-sussex-applicants-receive-unconditional-offers/

Original poster
stonecircle · 14/01/2015 20:43

Very interesting Pasta - thank you

OP posts:
BoredChurch · 14/01/2015 23:03

Has he had his mocks yet? How were his AS? Are his predictions realistic.

Has Exeter given any indication as to how lenient there are if he misses his grades?

Original poster
stonecircle · 15/01/2015 00:37

BoredChurch - no, mocks are end of Feb. Predictions for UCAS are A A A. Predictions on last term's report were A B(H) B(H). He got AABD at AS.

I wouldn't expect Exeter to give any indication as to how lenient they would be if he misses a grade(s) - but then we haven't asked!

He's doing some work every evening. Teachers at parents' eve last week were confident of him getting As if he digs in from now. Of course nothing's certain.

OP posts:
BoredChurch · 15/01/2015 01:14

That sounds like Exeter is on the cards then Smile but you could always suggest he waits until after his mocks to make his final decision. They don't have to choose for ages. (Although, he might want to double check the accomodation policies for the unis he might apply to to check he won't be disadvantaged by leaving it later to firm )

There is no harm in asking Exeter how lenient they might be. I've three DC in uni and we have always found admissions staff to be very helpful.

mrsrhodgilbert · 02/03/2015 15:57

I am wondering how those holding unconditional offers are thinking now. Dd is trying to decide between two places and the unconditional offer is not really helping matters. It's very tempting and would remove the pressure but I'm getting the impression it's not really where she wants to be. To make matters worse, their accommodation system opens today and rooms are allocated on a first come first served basis so she now feels extra pressure to make the decision. She will hardly talk about it, not that we're pushing her to.

So, have your dc accepted the unconditional offers, ignored them in favour of following their dreams or got their heads buried in the sand like mine?

ivorynewbuilds · 02/03/2015 16:20

@mrsrhodgilbert - this is a marketing ploy from the uni - nothing more, nothing less. The HE market has changed so much over the last few years, so that unis are now competing for students. This is one tactic that they are using to lure students their way.

She should firm the uni that she most wants to attend, ignoring the unconditional offer. She should insure her second favourite uni. If she was to miss her grades (that sounds unlikely?) then there will be places in clearing, depending on her subject.

Has she visited both unis? Very often a visit to an open day / offer holders day can be very illuminating - and it can help applicants to work out what their gut feeling says about a uni (that gut feeling is invariably worth listening to)

bruffin · 02/03/2015 16:28

Slightly different but DS has a unconditional from Portsmouth. He already had enough ucas points to get in last year through clearing, so he is not putting it as firm or insurance and if he has another disasterous day he will apply there through clearing.

mrsrhodgilbert · 02/03/2015 17:32

We have visited both for initial open days and recent offer days. There are pros and cons for both. Courses are very similar, place on league tables neck and neck. One pretty close to home, one several hours away. One a beautiful campus for year one, but she prefers the other city for years 2 and 3. None of the other offers are tempting her anymore.

Interestingly, I was speaking to a tutor at the recent offer day about how he felt about other universities making unconditional offers to tempt students. He chose his words fairly carefully but he was unimpressed and though it unhelpful. I'm just wondering how successful this policy is proving to be for the institutions involved.

Original poster
stonecircle · 02/03/2015 22:08

DS is not going to go with his unconditional offer from Sussex. Before they amended their offer he had decided on his firm and insurance. He was pleased to get the unconditional from Sussex (which came with the promise of £3k if he achieved AAA) and did book a place on the offer day. When it came to it though, he decided not to go and is going to stick with his original AAA and ABB choices. I'm quite proud of him for sticking to his guns actually - I just hope he doesn't live to regret it!

OP posts:
MillyMollyMama · 03/03/2015 12:42

Exeter is better. The "lesser" universities are sprinkling unconditionals around to take good students away from other universities.

Also, how can a university say someone can do a masters before they even attend a single lecture? Or do you mean a Masters undergraduate? This presumably means they don't have the calibre of applicant, at the moment, the masters undergraduate demands. If it is a masters undergrad, could the student not have applied for this in the first place?

mrsrhodgilbert · 03/03/2015 12:59

I would not call some of the universities making unconditional offers 'lesser'. Whilst I might question their motives, the reputations of some are absolutely excellent.

MillyMollyMama · 03/03/2015 13:22

So do people have lots of unconditionals from Warwick, UCL, Bristol, Exeter, Durham or Oxbridge? If so, no-one is mentioning them. Most of the universities mentioned are needing to recruit the better students. I am sure there are the odd unconditionals from the above, but Sussex, Leicester, etc. are not considered as good as the above, hence they are trying to get the students away from the top universities.

mrsrhodgilbert · 03/03/2015 13:31

So apart from 7 establishments, you consider all others to be lesser? Goodness me.

MillyMollyMama · 03/03/2015 17:09

Not exactly and you are putting two and two together and making 5. If we consider the list I have given, irrespective of prejudices one way or another, do they give out lots of unconditionals ? I only listed them to illustrate the point and not to necessarily say all others were lesser. Although some universities must be - someone is bottom of the list!

fairycakes333 · 03/03/2015 18:57

I think I know what you mean MMM no matter what league tables you look at, there seems to be the same 10 universities there on the list maybe in different order but pretty much the same ones year on year out. Which for me would indicate they are the top tier universities, middle ones are Leicester, Birmingham, Leeds, nottingham. It's only a generalised observation.

Unexpected · 03/03/2015 19:12

Ooh, DS is interested in Human Geography, although he is only Year 12. I'm going to settle down and read this thread!

Original poster
stonecircle · 03/03/2015 19:53

If some universities are making unconditional offers to attract higher-achieving students, it presumably follows that those who don't make such offers have higher-achieving students in plentiful supply. Does that make them better universities? I'm not sure it does. It certainly means they are more popular but I'm not sure that necessarily equates to better does it?

Unexpected - geography courses vary wildly from university to university. Places DS was very keen on he subsequently discounted when he attended lectures on open days (eg Cardiff) because of the course content.

Personally I think decisions should be made primarily on the basis of course content and where you'd like to live for 3 years. I would certainly not encourage my DS to go somewhere just because it is perceived by some as a better university. DS's probable insurance will be Royal Holloway - he loves the campus and the geography department is fantastic. He's still minded to put Exeter as his firm but has yet to attend the offer day (next week). If he doesn't love Exeter and the course the way he loves RHUL, I will not be encouraging him to put Exeter as his firm just because it is perceived as a better university.

OP posts:
Unexpected · 03/03/2015 19:57

Thanks OP. Yes, we are aware of how different geography courses in different unis can be so it will be potentially quite a bit of work to sort out a shortlist. I have to say Royal Holloway won't be on DS's list because he could potentially live at home if he attended there, which is never going to happen as far as he is concerned!

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