Exeter offers : incompetent or arrogant?

[TalkinPeace]

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

[BadgerCrossing]

This is an inevitable consequence of the government's decision to remove almost all core funding from universities and make them totally reliant on student numbers

And the fees don't quite cover the costs. The shortfall is made up by academic and some support staff working way over their paid hours.

Part of the problem is that - as some posters demonstrate on this thread - the current government encourages applicants, pupils and then students (and their parents) to think of themselves as consumers. However, pupils/students are, by definition, not yet knowledgeable enough to be able to judge what they need to learn.

I see this even more when I browse The Student Room. The level of misunderstanding and misapprehension - and getting things just plain wrong is very high there. I know what I say to applicants at interview and Open Days. And then i read what they think they've heard! Well, there's an issue with applicants hearing what they want to hear.

[senua]

I know what I say to applicants at interview and Open Days. And then i read what they think they've heard! Well, there's an issue with applicants hearing what they want to hear.


Communication is a two-way process, involving both the speaker and the listener. I shouldn't have to tell you this. And yet you are convinced that the fault lies entirely with the listeners.

[BadgerCrossing]

Well senua my colleagues & I use a PowerPoint presentation (okayed by our PR people as clear & informative) and we speak to it. And repeat the information in three different ways. The information is also clearly laid out in our print prospectus & on our website.

And still, there'll be the student who complains about 6 weeks into the first term of their first year, because 'I didn't know I had to do that module,' or 'Nobody told me that this module involved 3 essays' or 'Oh this isn't what I expected,' or whatever ...

Luckily it's only a handful of students each year. But I do wonder just what they attend to.

[senua]

Oh. So the "level of misunderstanding and misapprehension - and getting things just plain wrong is very high" has back-tracked to "only a handful of students".

[voilets]

Sorry to hijack this thread - but I've been looking on student room for reviews of people actually studying course and cannot find them - did a year ago. How do I find current student reviews?

[OrlandaFuriosa]

Need more, really helpful. Thanks to a number of things, Ds has one offer to read a subject he doesn't want to read at a campus he doesn't want to be on, waiting on laśt possibility. Think it will be clearing or gap year and reapply. Humiliating and depressing when mates with lower predictions and lower actual scores are getting offers for the same courses at the same HEIs. But outwardly he is being brilliant, though still not working hard enough IMV. But I'm proud of him for behaving with such grace.

[TendonQueen]

If honesty and courtesy cost nothing and are important to you, OP, then you should be posting 'My DD has not had a good experience with her application to Exeter'. Amazing how you hold them to a standard you have no intention of observing yourself.

[titchy]

So Orlanda why did he put that course and university down then?

[OrlandaFuriosa]

He didn't put the course down. The HEI, no fault of theirs nor his but his school's, didn't offer him the course he wanted, but another on a different campus. When he got back to them they said tough, they'd made all the offers they were going to in that course.

[BadgerCrossing]

So it was an error by the school? Not the university at all?

[BoboChic]

IME Exeter gives out offers by return of post to applicants who meets its criteria. Presumably the OP's DC isn't a particularly good applicant and is lingering in the "maybe" pile.

[Needmoresleep]

Orlanda, your poor DS.

Does he know why its so tough. DD expected it because medicine usually is, but DS (economics and a 4A* prediction) did not. He ended up with the offer he wanted, and you only need one, but looking back he says his PS really was not good enough.

If he has an idea, and he should ask for feedback, he will be better able to reapply, making sure his application is stronger (do more reading round, relevent work experience, have experienced people read over the PS, etc) and pitching at the right level of institution.

He needs to get working now. (I am sure you have told him that!) The better the grades the more doors that are open, plus he has more chances with clearing. For competitive courses I think it helps to have actual rather than predicted grades. Certainly decisions seem to be quicker.

I get the mates thing. DS was quite upset when someone else got an offer from a course/University that had rejected him. The poor boy then failed to get the grades. Its the old thing of life being unfair, and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. DC who have had a smooth passage through the UCAS process, presumably will have to learn this at a later stage. DS in contrast struggled to get a summer internship, but now knows you check that you are pitching things right and then keep on trying. He finally got one last week, so is in a better position than those who gave up after the first rejections.

So tell your DS not to worry about humiliation and start thinking about what he might do in a gap year. Having Plans B, C and D help when Plan A seems to be failing. One option might be this www.workaseason.com/ essentially November to after Easter. Apparently a good proportion will be reluctant gap yearers and they allow people, albeit at their own expense, to fly home for interviews, however there is quite a lot of demand so you need to apply around May/June. A good gap year, with new skills, ought to make him a better student when he finally gets to university.

Fingers crossed on the last one.

[OrlandaFuriosa]

Coconutty, they put in a wrong, lower, set of predictions. He only discovered when he got rejected by an HEI , asked for feedback and was told he didn't meet their entry requirements. Fury is one name for it. Not a good year for this to happen given that HEIs are questioning schools' over predictions.

Need more, we were in fact discussing gap year plans over lunch, so thanks and I'll look. Although dyslexic he is good at languages and is quite inclined to brush up his Spanish and Catalan and teach. Am in favour...though not relevant to his course. Yes, his ps needs working on, though at least one friend, a professor in his subject, thought it pressed all the right bells and was better than most he gets...he's taking today off .

Sorry, OP, didn't mean to derail...but thanks, guys, for sympathy and support. It's complete shit atm.

[LittlehamHums]

That happened to one of my daughter's friends. By the time the mistake was picked up the course was full.

[OrlandaFuriosa]

Badger, yes, school. HEI behaved rationally given info in front of them initially and then when info rectified decided could not make any more offers available in oversubscribed subject.

Other HEIs have clearly looked at level of increased uncertainty despite what words of reference say and have rejected. Have offered to mates with lower AS scores and lower predictions.

Can't blame them.

DS would have taken diff strategy to applications with lower prediction.

But need school's help, senior elements if school have been v helpful ( it's their fault, but they did try..)and now just need to get DS to produce the goods.

Reciting IF to myself when feeling peaceful, thinking of film of IF when not as want to machine gun school.

Sorry, op.

[OrlandaFuriosa]

Coconutty, they did. But has made no difference. Uncertainty introduced, was clearly towards bottom of pile when considering initially ( quite rightly) and in an over subscribed subject they have made their offers already.

[OrlandaFuriosa]

Little, yup. What did she do? ( need inspiration and good news stories)

[LittlehamHums]

She got a place (Primary education) through clearing and is really happy.

[OrlandaFuriosa]

Yup, clearing or reapply are the options.

[lljkk]

@Voilets: maybe the reviews you want are on The Student Room?
I wonder if any of my DC will actually apply to Uni & I will ever get to see the parent side of all this.

[BitchyComment]

Orlando isn't he eligible for Extra?

[TalkinPeace]

needmoresleep
And ironically problems with late decisions at several top Universities may stem from a decision to keep selection costs down by not interviewing.
Utterly fair point.
None of the other offers were interviewed.

FWIW I have made two phone calls and one email. I do not know what DD has done. The TSR has just been a source of stress as its full of people who have their offers.

And to those who wonder why I give a toss?
Its a really good course (DD has looked at the modules and research teams) and a lovely location.
Therefore DD would be stupid to turn it down just due to the delays
but in amongst many other stresses (which I NEVER post on MN about)
we could do without this one.

The other Unis have sent monthly update emails - Exeter stay up on their hill.

Orlando
You have my utter sympathy and support.
Two of my best friends from first year changed Unis at the end of the year and it was the best thing for both of them.
Children of friends have also bitten the bullet and done the right thing for the long term not the short.