Can anyone talk me through the relative merits of going through adjustment vs applying again for 2016

[basildonbond]

Ds has just got his IB results and has done much better than predicted

His school's suggesting looking at adjustment as he's now got the points he'd need for places like Durham but there's no guarantee the course he wants will be in adjustment

The other option is he has a gap year and applies for 2016 entry - he has an Australian passport and lots of relatives there so would be relatively easy to arrange

Just wondering what the pros and cons would be

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/clearing/11720384/Clearing-2015-Russell-Group-universities-with-vacancies.html

Have you heard the Budget news that "student maintenance grants [are] to be replaced with loans from 2016-17, to be paid back once people earn more than £21,000 a year" Source: BBC.

Does this affect your decision?

he wouldn't have got a grant anyway so that makes no difference to his decision ..

clearing is open for IB students but he's only eligible for adjustment as he's exceeded his offer rather than missed it

straight history at Durham is in clearing which I'm surprised by but not English and History - trying to get ds to call them but he's working all hours at the moment and knackered when he's not

Maybe reading between the lines but if he was really keen on Durham & finding out more wouldn't he be finding a way to make that call?

tbh I would rather he stuck with Exeter - I think it will suit him and he doesn't cope brilliantly with changing plans

dh is very keen on him trying for a more 'prestigious' university though

I've had a look at clearing for Durham and can only see pharmacy and social work. Am I looking in the wrong part?

Doh! Good thing I'm not doing the application.. I was looking in the general 2015 courses bit - does UCAS only list courses which still have places?

Yes - but if you rang them and asked explaining his grades they may know that some of their ib people have missed their offers and find a way to admit him without going through Clearing

basildonbond do you think that your son over performed (for want of a better word) or do you think the school under predicted his ability. I ask this because My DS needed an A in maths but school predicted him an A even though they said he would probably get the A. So DS persisted as he said he would prefer to go into clearing than adjustment. DD school had already told us that adjustment was really only for State schools. Your DH is right, I come from the same sort of Uni process as he. The system here is very confusing and doesn't always guarantee that everyone gets fairly allocated.

A bit of both serendipity - he pissed about in Y12 so when it came to doing his predictions at the start of Y13 his teachers were actually being a bit optimistic- by the time his UCAS form actually went in they were feeling much more confident he'd make his predicted grades.

He then started to work his socks off once he finally decided he was going to university so in the end he got a bit under what he'd been told he 'should' get at the start of sixth form

Today's Telegraph has Exeter as No 6 for History, that seems pretty high up to me.

I got ds to actually look at the differences between courses today and the Exeter course ticks many more of his boxes - he's really into military history which features much more highly there than at Durham for instance

(Plus after the euphoria of getting his results starts to fade he's realising quite how much work re-doing his application would involve...)

whether the reason you're applying for them is because you missed your higher offer or exceeded your lower offer is irrelevant

Not quite. If you are in adjustment, you can phone universities and ask if they have places without giving up your own place. You can only go through clearing if you are not holding any offers. So if you have met (and exceeded) the offer, but want to change course, you would have to decline the place, which by now will have become unconditional firm.