Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Higher education

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

Original poster

Exeter offers : incompetent or arrogant?

620 replies

TalkinPeace · 25/03/2016 22:42

DD submitted her form last October
Exeter have still not had the courtesy to send an offer (the other four Unis all have)
when phoned they said

  • no offers have been issued (bollocks as DDs friends have theirs)
  • offers will be made by end of December (bollocks as its now late march)
  • offers will be made right after the UCAS cut off date (bollocks as it was in January)
  • offers will be made by the end of March ........

Exeter are arrogant liars
the word needs to go round

OP posts:
Coconutty · 10/04/2016 17:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
TalkinPeace · 10/04/2016 17:09

quit
Would she really have preferred a straight rejection?
Yes actually.
Because if they had done so she would have completed her application to the other Uni/s and have her halls lined up and student finance arranged.
As it is we've hung around for 6 months to be given an "offer" with no grades Hmm
And its still not appeared on her UCAS track.
NB
Her other four offers were all without interview, all within weeks of her form being submitted three days after the Oxbridge deadline.

Anyway, it looks like she's headed up north with the unconditional as backup.
Which is where we actually were in November

needmore / kaddy / titchy
I started this thread to stop me ranting in real life. DD knows its here.
If nothing else it may be useful in giving a frustration timeline to those going through similar experiences with other Unis and other courses.

rondo
We spent last week in Padstein - hence passing through Exeter on the way home. DDs friends are more likely to have horse boxes than boats Wink

OP posts:
whatwouldrondo · 10/04/2016 17:36

If it is the same Winchester oop north that I am thinking of, where the nightlife is cocktails in jam jars served up by waiters in beards, then accommodation is given out to those who firmed and met their offer via a sort of lottery on a particular day after the results are out. They send out tranches of emails and if you are in the first tranche you have a full choice, if in the last not so much. So accommodation can't be sorted out in advance. Quite a few universities have similar post result processes. I don't understand why given how common it is for some universities to give out late offers any universities give advantage to those applying early for accommodation.

whatwouldrondo · 10/04/2016 17:39

And it is surrounded by a rural area where horses outnumber people -fact.

But round here a lot select Exeter for it's proximity to Chelsea by the sea and the chance to wear red trousers without fear of ridicule

Molio · 10/04/2016 17:53

Which uni is Winchester North? Confused. And what is the reference to Winchester? Confused.

boys3 · 10/04/2016 18:25

Isn't Southwold Chelsea-on-sea - or is that just for old money? :)

senua · 10/04/2016 18:25

Now, after a 6 month delay, they have offered DD a course that has less than 20% overlap with the course she applied for.

That probably goes into the incompetent/arrogant territory. Considering that elite Universities bang on and on about the importance of a passion for the subject, it is inconsistent to then counter-offer with a "hey, why don't you do this different subject instead?"

AtiaoftheJulii · 10/04/2016 19:08

Which uni is Winchester North?

Who knows, Molio! I suspect you might have to come from Hampshire to know Wink

And I thought Southwold was Islington-by-sea (New Islington, obvs, not the Islington my parents grew up in!), but maybe that's just Walberswick.

whatwouldrondo · 10/04/2016 19:08

I wonder if the arrogance manifesting itself is having overestimated the competitiveness of the Exeter Nat Sci course. Setting up a Nat Sci course has been very much a trend, not very long ago there were only a handful amongst the most highly ranked unversities, but the course reflects as others have said the interdisciplinary directions that scientific research is taking, and the graduates are sought after. Those established courses were popular and attracted good candidates. Then Nottingham started one five or so years ago and it seems a few others including Exeter have joined them. However other unversities like Durham, UCL and Bath have been running the courses for years and have built up excellent programmes and pathways. I wonder if Exeter thought they could set the tariff high as is policy it seems across the board but have found themselves not being firmed by applicants who have gone for the established courses.......

AtiaoftheJulii · 10/04/2016 19:15

And the annoyance at "Tesco substitutions" and senua's point about wanting students who really want that course, are bang on.

Would have made more sense to ask 4 months ago whether TP's dd would like to be considered for that course.

Molio · 10/04/2016 19:46

NatSci at Exeter sounds like a dead cert for an offer for anyone thinking of NatSci for next year. It may well also appear in clearing for anyone without a good offer. Useful info TP :)

Molio · 10/04/2016 19:48

But please do come back and enlighten me about Winchester.

Original poster
TalkinPeace · 10/04/2016 19:50

Molio
Look at the modules ..... bear in mind that DD applied for one of the biology courses .... if DD wanted to do maths / physics, she would have applied for that.
What makes Exeter think she might magically want to switch subjects?

And she has 4 other really good (achievable) offers

OP posts:
Original poster
TalkinPeace · 10/04/2016 19:53

PS the Winchester joke is small cathedral town with a river and ever so twee shops
she's at college in Winchester so by sods law, all towns are compared with it or Southampton

OP posts:
Molio · 10/04/2016 19:57

But rivers are in every cathedral town surely? Do you mean Durham or York?

Molio · 10/04/2016 20:00

And I agree completely about the course - she's better off elsewhere doing what she wants to do.

Coconutty · 10/04/2016 20:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
TalkinPeace · 10/04/2016 20:13

Yorvik is numero uno
Selly Oak is the uncon
the spares are the Spa town and the maths oriented tourist castle
not in clear because MN threads are google searchable

OP posts:
stonecircle · 10/04/2016 20:18

So York, Birmingham, Bath and Warwick?

Kaddy · 10/04/2016 20:20

Yovork is fab. Grin

Coconutty · 10/04/2016 20:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

stonecircle · 10/04/2016 20:29

Tis usually the case with unconditionals, but the question has already been asked on the thread so sounds like TiP's dd has very rare offer there

Original poster
TalkinPeace · 10/04/2016 20:30

Wow stone, that was helpful Hmm

coco it is uncon only if firm BUT the grade mix is a sweetie so with the Viking in first she's as safe as she can be

OP posts:
stonecircle · 10/04/2016 20:32

Not sure why the sarcastic face - or why the very irritating need to talk in code Hmm

Original poster
TalkinPeace · 10/04/2016 20:37

stone work it out
MN threads can be searched on google - I'd rather my daughters full UCAS form was not listed hence why I never type all of her options on one thread.
Its basic courtesy to her privacy.
Its also why I have never typed the name of the course variant she has applied for (or been offered) at Exeter or the others.

I rarely name change - she is easily identifiable. I just make an effort to make it less obvious.

OP posts: