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Higher education

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

Original poster

Experience with " near miss grades " for uni, advice on what to do?

180 replies

Bagpuss555 · 07/08/2015 18:02

OK long story short, DD pretty sure she won't make AAA offer possibilities more likely be AAB or AAB, her condition didn't include equivalents. If on results day she gets rejected with those grades but the B is close to an A is it worth ringing up the uni to ask them to reconsider or maybe go for remark? Any success stories ? DD offer isn't from Oxbridge or top 5 uni. Any advice is appreciated, might be of help to others who may be of a similar dilemma.

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Original poster
Bagpuss555 · 13/08/2015 10:15

Urghhh I need help!! Dd is 2 marks off A for history. Her firm rejected herSad if she remarks will she have to be released from insurance, basically can she hold her insurance whilst she has a remark. Anyone can give us a quick ASAP response would be great!! She got A*AB

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Decorhate · 13/08/2015 10:17

I was wondering the same bagpuss. My dd is also having a remark. She doesn't want to lose her insurance place in case the remark doesn't change anything

elephantoverthehill · 13/08/2015 10:25

I personally would go for the remark, as I have thought very seriously about this during my v. stressful 2 hours this morning. What do the school advise?

Original poster
Bagpuss555 · 13/08/2015 10:25

Dd doesn't want to risk losing insurance now if she has a remark but may end up no where to go if remarks ends up the same. Oh decorhate what are we to do????

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Original poster
Bagpuss555 · 13/08/2015 10:28

She was 2 marks off A* in the other subject. School not give advice they have lots of unhappy kids to deal with, going into clearing, so we went home try and deal with this ourselves

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elephantoverthehill · 13/08/2015 10:28

And congratulations to your DD. That is a very creditable set of results. Has she spoken to admissions? We thought all was lost until my DS spoke to the Uni and was given an unconditional offer this morning.

titchy · 13/08/2015 10:31

she can most certainly hold on to her insurance while she goes for the remark - all institutions will have a percentage of UFs who never actually turn up on enrollent day. She does need to tell her firm that she's going for the remark though.

Decorhate · 13/08/2015 10:37

Just had a quick look on UCAS & it seems to be that if the firm eventually decide to take you, they have to contact your insurance for them to "release" you

horsemadmom · 13/08/2015 10:46

DS missed his offer by quite a lot and still got in. Bloody miracle!

Bronwen11 · 13/08/2015 10:47

Thanks for clarifying that, decorhate. I was wondering what DS should do about his insurance, which, along with the firm, offered him a place based on today's results.

DS' marks not entirely as he would have hoped but the place confirmed nevertheless. I'd say phone - there's nothing to be lost in a call to admissions. Another DC is a casual worker on a clearing helpline but he assures me that for tricky situations an admissions tutor is at hand to take over calls.

One thing I'm just a little curious about - DS didn't look at tracking until today but noticed that the universities had confirmed their original conditional offers a couple of days ago. Could he have found out sooner or do they simply not release the information via UCAS until today?

Good luck - whatever the outcomes - to all our lovely DCs.

serendipity200 · 13/08/2015 11:23

We're in limbo as OCR lost one of DSs papers the one he thought he did best in. So offers haven't updated. Gave him a prediction when we wenr to school thia morning n based on his mock which he didn't so well in, so he is a grade down on his own predictions. Had to send prediction off to unis and now have to wait until phone lines close and they get to their emails, until tomorrow, they say to see if he goes into clearing or not. Not what we needed today as can't ring clearing until he is out of limbo on UCAS

MissDemelzaCarne · 13/08/2015 11:29

DS didn't have to make any phone calls thank God, he didn't do as well as he'd hoped and was rejected by his firm choice but was taken on by his insurance. Smile

Husbanddoestheironing · 13/08/2015 11:36

The universities get sent the results confidentially a few days earlier so they can match up all the results and offers (a lot of it is done manually and in most places every applicant who doesn't meet the offer will be individually considered before any rejection decision) but are under an embargo until results day and are not allowed to make any contact at all with applicants At all until today. Schools and colleges will have had the results yesterday.

Original poster
Bagpuss555 · 13/08/2015 11:37

Dd rung firm uni that rejected her, they said that she will have to go for a remark, to which she fills a online form, she has till 31st August to get the results. They said they will generally accept a applicant should they get the right grade after remark.
We've done the deed gone to the school and asked for remark on 2 subjects hoping one might go from A to A* and B to a A . Urghhh I'm back to nervous wreck

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Bronwen11 · 13/08/2015 12:01

Thanks for clarifying, Husbanddoestheironing (gosh, you're lucky if he does).

Can we just let the insurance place go now or does the uni need to know that DS has been accepted by his firm? Thanks.

Bagpuss - this sounds nerve wracking. Hoping the re-marks are swift and successful. Is there no latitude re this university? A to A*?

Original poster
Bagpuss555 · 13/08/2015 12:27

bronwen Sad her firm choice, when dd phoned them said the applicants this year was very strong, so have been unable to take many missed grades. They did consider her application very carefully before having to reject her.

The agony and angst is prolonged a little longer for us urghhh.
DD isn't happy on one of her subject 2 modules she achieved full 100 ums on one and 75ums on the other, however she's absolutely sure she has done better in the module she got 75ums than the one she got 100 ums. Confused

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Decorhate · 13/08/2015 12:34

I'm worried that even if dd's grade goes up (she just missed it by 2 raw marks) they won't take her as all the places will be gone. It's for medicine so they are restricted on numbers still I think.

Northernlurker · 13/08/2015 12:42

Decorhate - she needs to tell them she's going for a remark. I would have hoped that if that comes out at the right grade they are obliged to take her surely? Because she's made the grades the offer was conditional on?

Moominmammacat · 13/08/2015 12:43

I think unis have to take you if you get the grades after a remark. Horrifying being so close ... my DS was 2 UMS off an A* ... didn't go up on remark. It's worth paying to get the paper back, I think, so you can see exactly what happened.

TheHammaconda · 13/08/2015 12:46

She could have done better in the paper that she 75 UMS - it depends on where she is in relation to the grade boundary. You can get 100 UMS with a lowish raw mark if the grade boundary is low (i.e. if most people performed badly) and 75 with a high raw mark and high grade boundary.

If you're concerned you can ask for copies of the papers from the school.

alreadytaken · 13/08/2015 12:56

Dercorhate I have heard of people being offered a deferred place for the next year when there is a remark and the university has no places left. However as I believe it is Oxford you are concerned about I cant say what they would do.

Original poster
Bagpuss555 · 13/08/2015 13:01

The one that she got 100 ums was out of 120 raw marks and the one she got 75ums was out of 80 raw marks. Theres no subjectivity in the answers like history it's very much formuliac, she knows she nailed it, she wrote 4 sides extra, dd wonders if they've scanned all her papers. Oh well only time will tell.

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Decorhate · 13/08/2015 13:02

Thanks all. Yes I am worried that it will be a deferred offer (if she gets one at all obv). With medicine being such a long course a gap year is not really what we had planned...

alreadytaken · 13/08/2015 13:24

Oxford will be a 6 year course, Leeds could be 5 if she doesnt intercalate. If you are worried about length of time to qualify run with the insurance.

With mine 2 years into their Cambridge course I'm still not convinced that Oxbridge offers much extra for medics.

TheHammaconda · 13/08/2015 13:49

If there's a chance that all her answer sheets haven't been scanned I would ask for a copy of the paper. It's all electronic and takes no time at all.

Do you have her raw mark for that paper? She could have nailed it and got a high raw mark but still have the lower UMS.

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