Waiting to hear ... ?

[UptheChimney]

I'm nosy, I'm human, I'm intrigued ...

There've been some extreme opinions expressed in this section of MN on the ethics of universities making offers to applicants before they've seen all the applications.

We were still interviewing last week ...

Yet, now we have several threads about 'Waiting to hear from X or Y'

If, on the one hand, a) you want universities to consider all candidates, why OTOH, b) is there this anxiety to hear as soon as possible? Maybe people in group a) aren't the same as those in group b). That's the simple answer.

But surely if you want a fair & equitable process, you understand it's going to take longer?

Chimney, no objections to an equitable process, but I am sure you will agree the current process is lengthy and thus difficult for young adults who are also having to focus on A level preparation.

The Universities involved are predictable. London, Durham etc. It can be assumed that many of these applicants will have had to submit in time for the Oxbridge UCAS deadline, so will have been waiting for six months.

There are early deadlines for Oxbridge and medical schools so that they can process applications promptly. However the increase in applicant numbers (a guess here - but assume there is evidence) means that other Universities are struggling to process applicants promptly.

LSE has improved its guidance so fewer should be caught out. They now say:

There is intense competition for many of our courses and therefore you should not be surprised if you are advised that your application is being held as part of a gathered field to be considered alongside all 'on-time' applications. This is done so that we may give fair and equal consideration to all the applications which are received by UCAS by the closing date of 15 January. Since we do not receive the final 'on-time' application forms until late January, we hold some earlier applications as part of this process. It means that we may wish to look at your application again in the light of the later UCAS forms which we receive. We will contact you if we intend to consider your application as part of the gathered field.

There must be a better way which would allow both equal consideration and a quicker response.

Good luck with your interviewing.

Having gone through the application process with my DCs (and been through myself in the year dot) I think that these threads exist because applicants are keen on the university that they haven't heard from. They worry that they won't get accommodation at the universities that they have heard from if they have to wait to hear from the favoured university. And, they would like the whole thing done and dusted asap.
Life never works our like that. Just wait until they are applying for jobs and the favoured job is the one they hear from last.

For my older daughter's process there was a distinct contrast between Durham, and the London university that got in touch within days of the Oxbridge applications going in, with an early date for an interview session that turned out to be more charm offensive. All the candidates she was interviewed with were Oxbridge applicants and not a few turned up on the course in the end. Durhams offer turned up sometime March / April, with no communication whatsoever apart from a letter telling them that their results / predictions were going to be considered in the context of some complicated algorithm to judge them against the average for the school, not reassuring when your strings of A*s are pretty much average for your school. She actually originally didn't want to go to a London university but by that time there had been a slow attrition of her enthusiasm for going there, and factors like not being right in the centre of things, next to the Research institutions that she wanted to work with etc., how much she liked the academic staff she met and how much she loved and felt at home in the Department asserted themselves. That was in the competitive rounds before quotas relaxed etc. I do think you have to realise that keeping these young people waiting is not conducive to that warm fuzzy being wanted feeling that can tip the balance between two equally attractive courses on other measures. At least treat them like human beings and let them know why it is taking so long.

I'm sure it is a fair process but it can feel like torture to be waiting when all your friends have heard back a long time ago. I think you may be correct that you are dealing with two groups of people but I'm not sure how you would prove it.

My dd2 purposely opted for good universities that have a reputation for making fast offers (she left Durham out for this reason) so she would fit into group b.

And actually my DD would be group A not least because the greater social and cultural mix at a London university over Durham was another positive that asserted itself over the time Durham gave her.

Maybe it's because some DC' have got offers within a few days/weeks of submitting their application and some are still waiting since October. With my dd she had 2 offers that were within a week of submission and one that's still pending since October. It is curious why some uni's can make decisions very quickly and some not so quick. Would this be to do with how the application is processed via computers or human? And how competitive and selective the uni is?

It's because:
They are waiting for all offers to make a full and thoughtful decision. If their preferred uni is late in replying this is impossible.
There is not an equal playing field in applying for accommodation as some operate on a first come, first served basis.
Some deadlines for scholarships are before the final May decision day - again putting those waiting at a disadvantage
Students are humans too and should be treated with the same respect as you would do an academic colleague or peer
The longer the waiting process goes on the more questions students ask about course, places etc.. to the point of going round in circles.

The London Unis often get ruled out for accommodation /living cost reasons (at least that is true in this area).

That was my initial reaction but the reality is different. All but one of DDs 6 flatmates were travelling from more than 200 miles away and three were from low income families and on maintenance grants. If the course is right, indeed world beating, it would be a shame to dismiss it without researching the reality, especially with the levels of bursaries and scholarships and casual work to help with the costs, as testified by plenty of similar students posting their experiences on student room etc. And as well as being more socially diverse than Durham the London universities are most definitely more culturally diverse.

Really? Will have to look into that one. Unfortunately one of my younger ones keeps muttering about London.

Which other universities are slow to reply? I can think of Durham, some of the prestigious London colleges and the Scottish universities. The others seem to have been quite speedy, or am I imagining it?

Littleham - that's about right, though to be fair Glasgow were quick - still waiting for Edinburgh though.

I think one of the issues is that more & more schools are encouraging their pupils to apply early. Not just those that are applying for courses/unis with an early deadline. In my dd's case, most of her classmates had several, if not 5, offers months ago. It is quite hard for those that are still waiting - I know of one extremely able girl who hasn't had a single offer yet (for medicine).
I do understand when it is a course where they interview that the process is longer. But if some unis can get all their interviews done in a month & then make offers (thank you Leeds!) surely others can.

Littleham, I've heard that Bristol can also be slow, at least for medicine

Durham currently seems to be reacting to its recent reputation for being up itself. It certainly couldn't have been more welcoming to the DS applying in the current round. I still wouldn't expect it to take him if he drops a grade, but it's far less aloof than it has been over the past seven years. Five of my six UCAS aged DC have applied there over those years, and the mood has shifted perceptibly.

UptheChimney the kids are anxious because not many of the early applicants buy into the idea of a genuinely gathered field - it's just a sound bite.

Last ds friend got an offer from Durham within a week but ds had to wait until march for no offer. Loughborough was even longer and he missed their offers day as the offer came in the day before.

But it's not uniform even within institutions Bruffin. So sciences are pretty quick at Durham for example, but English, PPE, History, MFL can really drag their heels.

That was what i was saying Molio
It was engineering that dragged its heels last year at durham,but physics was quick. Ds friend gave up on Imperial in the end as he hadnt heard .

I wonder why they can't give an offer date, by which they will definitely have made their decisions, then all applicants find out on that day. It could be different for each uni and each subject. The applicants would be less anxious knowing which day the decision was coming. It's a form of slow torture when they know that offers have started coming out for that course at that uni, and really not knowing whether 'no news is good news' at all!

OP you're referring to my thread among others: Imperial for Computing.

My charge is stressing because a friend of his applying for the same course at the same uni, whose application was sent in three months AFTER my charge's was, and whose predicted grades are lower, was called to interview three weeks ago.

My charge is still waiting to hear. That does seem strange and it definitely does not look to us as if Imperial are looking at all applicants together.

Upthechimney

I have posted about Ds waiting to hear from UCL - he now has.

To be honest it was nothing to do with thinking the university was doing anything wrong, it was just more a supportive place to say something to people who might be in a similar situation. Sometimes it just good to know others are in the same boat