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Higher education

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

Original poster

A level Results - 18 days - anxiety rising....anyone else??

999 replies

Poppledopple · 31/07/2016 13:31

Maybe because it is August tomorrow - but seems to have come round quickly. Had a nice break not thinking about anything since last exam and after full on year choosing, applying, getting rejected, getting offers etc....

Might as well switch off and try and get distracted for the next 18 days....as either way it will be v busy few days/weeks after results to get started on next phase of his life.

PFB -- any old hands out there want to give me a slap?

OP posts:
NapoleonsNose · 09/08/2016 22:07

Joining in. DD is resonably chilled at the moment, although I know she is a bit apprehensive. She's gone off her insurance choice because she doesn't like the accommodation. I've told her that its only for around nine months but she's just getting huffy with me. I'm pretty confident she'll get the grades for her firm, so fingers crossed it won't be an issue in the end.

Hassled · 10/08/2016 08:18

Another joiner here - I went to sleep fretting about results day, and woke up fretting about results day.

DS2 needs AAA - his insurance offer is unconditional, which on the face of it is great but it isn't actually somewhere he wants to go (so why did you put it down, DS2? Why?). And because I'm a fool, I didn't push him to even visit the campus when he had the chance so we know nothing really about accommodation etc. And because he's accepted the unconditional as his insurance, that will mean he can't go through Clearing - so I don't know what the hell he does if he misses the AAA.

LockedOutOfMN · 10/08/2016 09:51

Hassled Come Results' Day, if your son doesn't have his firm choice and sees a course he likes in Clearing and has the grades for, he can call his insurance and ask to be released by them. They can say no, but in my experience they don't. His school will be able to advise.

Hassled · 10/08/2016 10:00

Oh that's a relief - I hadn't realised. I'd assumed he was locked in - thank you.

On the plus side, DS2 seems oblivious to the stress.

Needmoresleep · 10/08/2016 10:30

Just wanted to say hello and wish everyone the best.

Both DC applied for super-competitive courses where most applicants have predictions above standard offers. This made the application process fraught, but the silver lining is that the offers were lower than predictions. Many of DDs friends have STEM offers covering 4 A levels mainly A A AA from London and Cambridge, but with a couple needing 4x A*. Who knows what she has done, but at least she has a bit of wiggle room. Plus she has spotted the course she might do, if she does not get the grades for medicine, in clearing.

jaxxyj · 10/08/2016 12:24

Hello all
Glad we have this thread as my DD doesn't want to be reminded and my DS is so laid back its unbelievable!

flyright · 10/08/2016 14:03

I'm still a bit confused by clearing at this point and how universities know what they have available. I know there's not a cap on number in most cases but even so I would have thought they needed to know how their candidates with offers do before knowing they have places to fill? Or does it mean that past experience shows that only X percent reach the offer and as they know how many they offered they have an idea of their overall availability?

Also does anyone know if courses currently in clearing will stay there after results? Is it possible they get withdrawn if their offer holders do well?

homebythesea · 10/08/2016 14:18

flyright you are assuming they made as many offers as there are places- maybe some courses were under subscribed?

haybott · 10/08/2016 14:30

Universities make many, many more offers than they have places (apart from medicine, Oxbridge...) as students have 5 choices on their UCAS form and students from abroad apply to many other places. Typical numbers would be 1000 applications, 800 offers, 150 students start the course.

Students have however already made firm and insurance choices from their offers, so courses know how many firms and insurances they have. They can estimate from previous years roughly how many of those firms and insurances they will get.

People keep using expressions such as "places to fill". Again, in the current climate, there are target numbers but no rigid numbers for most courses. A course which expects to get 150 students from firms/insurances but which could manage tens more students could be put into clearing. If the course gets many more firms/insurances than expected it might well come out of clearing very fast, but the maximum capacity is unlikely to be rigidly set in stone (unless limited by lab facilities, placement availability etc).

Dunlurking · 10/08/2016 16:40

Another one lying awake thinking about results. Good to be on here with you all. Good Luck to your dcs.

Ds needs AAB. He expects the As to be OK , maybe even 1A*, but the B (Maths) may have slipped to a C. If his firm and insurance won't accept the C is he likely to get a history (maybe ancient history as it seems to appear a lot in clearing and he likes the thought of it) based course somewhere like Lancaster/Newcastle/Leeds in clearing with AAC or is he better to take a gap year and resit some Maths modules? Am I right in thinking the unis lose money if they take him with a C in preference to someone with a B? He may get an A grade EPQ as well, if that helps......Any thoughts anyone?

He seems blithely confident he can walk into a clearing place with not much thought before hand and I'm worried that RG universities (which I know he wants) won't touch him with a C grade. Am I just being a worrier? very likely

Just5minswithDacre · 10/08/2016 16:50

Are his firm and insurance others both AAB dun?

Just5minswithDacre · 10/08/2016 16:55

Depending where he's holding his offers and considering that the degree is a humanities subject and the potential C would be Maths, he might be accepted to his AAB offer place even with an AAC.

Just5minswithDacre · 10/08/2016 16:56

Or are his current offers not history?

Dunlurking · 10/08/2016 17:17

Just5 he wanted the AAB as firm and the only other one he would consider at the time, unwisely in retrospect as insurance was AAA (with an A in the EPQ), so that's what he put Hmm It's actually Liberal Arts, but to major in History. Probably outing him here!

The insurance is showing in clearing already, so it's possible they might consider him I suppose, if they don't absolutely hate C grades!

Just hoping the firm would consider AAC, thanks for that thought.....

Cocolepew · 10/08/2016 17:29

DD needs three Bs, she wants to do geography .
She emailed to ask if she got ABC, the A in geography, would she be considered and was told no Sad

Dunlurking · 10/08/2016 17:29

If I remember rightly ds wasn't going to put an insurance at all because the AAB was the one he wanted and the alternatives were 3 higher offers, (and 1 lower he didn't want), but we said he might as well put his second choice (which he also liked a lot) down rather than nothing.

Dunlurking · 10/08/2016 17:31

Oh sorry to hear that about the reply your DD got Cocolepew It does sound like a C grade is a bit of a firm obstacle

Cocolepew · 10/08/2016 17:38

Thanks Dun. She thinks it's going to be a C in ICT.
I just wish it was all over!

Just5minswithDacre · 10/08/2016 17:41

Just5 he wanted the AAB as firm and the only other one he would consider at the time, unwisely in retrospect as insurance was AAA (with an A in the EPQ), so that's what he put **

And I was rolling my eyes because DS is holding AAA firm and AAB insurance offers! Smile

I know quite a few of his cohort are holding two identical grade offers with slightly differing STEP/EPQ/ other requirements.

What happened to leaving a decent gap between firm and insurance, eh?

homebythesea · 10/08/2016 17:43

cocolepew another geographer here! Needs AAB though 😁. Thinks he may have A/A A C. The potential A (based on AS actual marks plus his feel for the exam this year) is not in geography however. Just wish we knew what's going on now. I have booked his Meningitis jab today and hoping that this hadn't jinxed anything (ridiculous I know!!)

homebythesea · 10/08/2016 17:45

just5mins - DS has no insurance as all bar one of the offers were the same and no additional requirements beyond A levels. At the time I understood his thinking but now.....

Just5minswithDacre · 10/08/2016 17:48

Yes it's not just the students' doing, it's the competing unis bunching their offers together, but I'm still boggling.

BirdintheWings · 10/08/2016 17:55

DS is expecting A* B D (and is probably realistic in that) so he hasn't applied at all.

It takes the pressure off in a sense, but he has a somewhat defeated air about the whole thing.

Cocolepew · 10/08/2016 17:56

Dd got her jab a few weeks ago.
DD doesn't want to do any other degree she only wants to do geography so she has no interest in clearing and only applied to the one university.

Cocolepew · 10/08/2016 17:57

Whats he going to do Bird?
DD will be disappointed but she seems to be ok with her back up plan. Though tbh she is sick of A levels.

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