Two identical offers... what to do?

[daughterofliz]

DS1 has applied to 3 unis, 2 that he really likes and 1 that he is less keen on and just put down as a safety net really. He thinks there is absolutely nothing to choose between the 2 he likes better and was going to decide his preference based on the offers they sent.

He has had exactly the same offer from the 2 that he likes (conditional, but easily achievable by him), and an unconditional offer from the one he doesn't like as much. This means he can't sensibly firmly accept one of the ones he likes and keep the other as his insurance choice - if he doesn't get in to one, he doesn't get in to the other. As far as we can work out, his only way forward is to choose between these two, firmly accept one of them and completely discard the other one and provisionally accept the unconditional offer just in case, even though he doesn't really want to go to that one. This is going to be hard as likes them both so much and literally cannot work out which one he prefers.

I would rather not name the unis or the course as it's quite identifying, but does anyone see any other way round this situation? DH thinks he should approach one of them and ask if they can amend their offer slightly but I just don't think they are likely to do that, and it wouldn't reflect well on him if he suggested it.

[JudgeRinderSays]

My DS1 got 1 offer A AA and then four of AAA (mech eng). He didn't like the AAA place at all when he looked round subsequently.At the post-offer open day they held 'chats' with each applicant and one of the universities said that if he firmed them they would let him in if he 'missed a grade or 2', and that swayed him.

[mumahead]

call uni admissions.

I did and asked:" on previous year experience will your uni accept one grade lower on results day"? Both unis gave a clear answer. One said almost definitely but it could be all students get *s this year, in that case no. The other said at this stage we would say they need full offer.

Which website shows you what are the typical grades of students on the chosen course - illuminating - much lower than general offers as far as I could see.

Put down where he/she really wants to go. Chance clearing if not. Just horrible to go to a course you are not inspired by.

[daughterofliz]

Sleepyhoglet, I'll PM you.

[Sleepyhoglet]

Can you tell me which unis they are. It's wasn't so long since I left (finished masters a year ago) and have step brothers and sisters at uni.

[daughterofliz]

They are both campuses but the cheaper and nearer one is right in the city centre, the other one is a long bus ride from anywhere, which to me would be a point in favour of the near one, as DS can be a bit shy and lazy and possibly wouldn't go into town much if he had to make that much of an effort. Both cities seem to have quite a lot going on culturally.

I think I have talked myself round to a point where I know which one I prefer - but it's not my decision!

[Sleepyhoglet]

Are they both campus unis? Are they both large eg with varied subjects. I didn't study music but it was important to me to go to a university with a music department as it meant the music society was thriving.

[daughterofliz]

If the grades are 'easily achievable' then what's your worry?

It wasn't really a worry as such, it was just that if you have the opportunity to make two choices it makes sense to use it, and until several people here convinced me otherwise I had the impression that one of the two would be a "wasted" choice. I'm leaning more and more to the idea that he may as well pick the two he likes, but wait until he's been to the offer holder days to decide which order to put them in.

Because one is significantly cheaper to live at (transport / rent / food), then that would probably be a wise choice

If he doesn't come up with a preference on any other grounds, this will probably come into play. One city is definitely cheaper to live in and also nearer to where we live, which would keep transport costs down. DS2 is only one school year younger so it's going to be an expensive few years! But I wouldn't put pressure on him to choose that one if he showed any sign of actively preferring the other. It is also important that he should be happy!

[SunTree]

uilen.....Yep. I understand. Was hoping for a magic wand response, but, Yep...makes sense.

The whole picture will be taken into account, including less than stellar results, and what has been done in response to said results.

[SunTree]

bruffin that is very good news, and good work. Thanks for responding. Currently waiting to hear about DD's applications, and I'm quietly thinking ahead for Plan B for her, if her C grade blocks her path.

Using the year well for chosen subject is a very good point.

sorry for tangential -ness,OP

[uilen]

If a student applies and gets rejected because of a C grade, retakes an a level, or indeed takes a new a level, and comes back the next year to reapply without the C, but hopefully with a B or an A instead, will the previous sighting of a C be held against her?!

In practice most universities cannot afford to turn away qualified candidates, so no it wouldn't be held against the student.

However, for a competitive course in which academics are selecting from candidates with the same grade (predictions) having originally gotten a low grade and then done retakes might affect the outcome.

[Sleepyhoglet]

If he doesn't like the third then don't put it down at all. If he fails to get the grades then take a year to reconsider options rather than take a choice that doesn't cut the mustard

[bruffin]

Last year ds had an A AA offer but ds didnt make the grade so is doing some retakes and applied again this year for the same course and has an AAB offer although the advertised standard offer is still AAA.
Suntree
He got a A,C,D last year and this year has 5 full offers of AAA, AAB, AAB ABB and undconditional. I would say he has a very good personal statement and has used this year well for experience in his chosen subject. I was worried his D would be held against him, but it doesnt seem to have affected him too much.

[senua]

He has had exactly the same offer from the 2 that he likes (conditional, but easily achievable by him)

If the grades are 'easily achievable' then what's your worry? Go to Offer Holders, decide which is CF and CI and ditch the third course.
Tell him to believe in himself.

[SunTree]

If a student applies and gets rejected because of a C grade, retakes an a level, or indeed takes a new a level, and comes back the next year to reapply without the C, but hopefully with a B or an A instead, will the previous sighting of a C be held against her?!

[uilen]

At the higher end (say ABB and above) exact grades are usually specified, not points, and restrictions on subjects will often be made. E.g. in an AAB offer for physics it might be specified that the As must be in both maths and physics.

Some universities will reject if the grades are not met, even if the equivalent points are obtained - e.g. AAA and AAB and AA*C attract the same points but a lot of universities would reject the last one, because of the low third grade.

If the offers are really BBB equivalent I would suspect they might go lower in clearing.

[daughterofliz]

eatyourveg, I have PMed you too.

Interested that people are saying AAB offer or whatever, do some unis still specify exact grades? These ones have come in the form of a number of points which DS thinks would be equivalent to BBB plus the AS-level he has already passed. They do not seem to mind how exactly the points are made up. It's academic (no pun intended) in his case as his predicted grades are higher than that.

[BlueStringPudding]

As DD1 went through this last year, I did take a look at the Clearing Lists to see if DD2s courses were in there, and am pretty sure that one of the Universities that has offered her A*AA was in there (with AAA I think). It is a newish course for that university too, so that may help her.

Just realised we're still waiting for the potential AAB offer (apparently a small course), so she may not get a choice at the end of the day anyway. eatyourveg, have PM'd you - thanks.

uilen - thanks for that insight. My gut feel is that's the right approach so that's reassuring.

[IKnewYou]

I think you can firm and insure two Unis the the same grades. It's not a great plan but I don't think its that unusual. Does your DS like the third choice? Would he be happy to go there? What does he want to do? Would he prefer to take a year out or a 'chance' with clearing? How stressed does he get. Some of my DC have been happy to aim for the highest possible Uni's whilst DD2 doesn't want to take any risk.
Its hard to know what will happen this year with the removal of student caps.

I so, so wish they could apply after their results were published.

[uilen]

You can't predict clearing for this year from last year. You also can't tell what grades were actually accepted in clearing - some courses were taking lower grades than they claimed, while others weren't actually taking students with the advertised grades. I can name you STEM courses that listed ABB or AAB in clearing to get students to contact them but were actually mainly taking AAA equivalent e.g. A*AB. I can also name you "top" courses which apparently went into clearing but only took a handful of students with good grades even though they stayed in clearing for a long time. Such courses were clearly full enough but would make space for strong students. Without insider knowledge I don't think you can read much into the publicly available information about clearing.

Clearing is not entirely relevant to the question at hand either: universities will often accept lower grades from people who firmed them than they offer in clearing, as they know students who really wanted to go there all along are likely to do better.

The best strategy, as stated above, is to put as firm and insurance the places which you actually prefer.

[eatyourveg]

I would check out if either of the courses have appeared in clearing in the last few years too. I have the lists going back as far as 2009 though last years seems to have been put somewhere else but should turn up if I really make an effort to search my box files. pm me if you want to know if your ds's course is there.

[BlueStringPudding]

DD2 in similar situation with 2 offers for AAA, one for AAB and awaiting one more which if she gets it will almost certainly be for AAA too. We were hoping and expecting one of the AAA offers to have been an AAA offer, but alas not.

She is thinking of putting down firm and insurance choices both with AAA offers and then hoping that she either gets the grades or one of them will be flexible if she doesn't. Otherwise she'd need to take her chances in clearing.

DD1 got into her first choice last year on a competitive course at a popular university despite initially missing her offer by one grade, but she was lucky and of course it may be different for DD2.

So difficult to know whether to go for the universities she prefers or to play it safe by putting the AAB as reserve and then perhaps seeing if she can go through adjustment?

[daughterofliz]

Maybe I'll tell you when it's all resolved. Someone could be lurking from one of those unis and thinking, "Uh-oh, he's a ditherer and gets his mum to do his thinking for him..."