Will A* A* D not cut it if uni is asking for AAB?

[SuburbanRhonda]

DS bombed in Maths (D) but got A in Psychology and A in Sociology.

He has a confirmed (offer BBB) for 2017.

He's thinking he might decline the confirmed place and reapply, including some unis who are asking for ABB or AAB. I'm thinking the D in Maths will mean he won't get offers, even though he has enough UCAS points.

Any advice?

But congratulations to your DS on 2 A*s!

Manchester is on his list of unis to phone, hellsbells .

And transferring is definitely an option, so that's on his list of possibles too.

This happened to me. Luckily the A was in the subject I was studying at university so they let me in

Liverpool is also on his list!

Resitting maths with a 1:1 tutor would definitely be his best option, but he starts work soon to raise money for uni so he'll have to think about how that would work.

And thanks for the congrats - he was thrilled to do so well in subjects he loves, especially Psychology

That's very encouraging, grace.

Good luck!

Thank you

Is his joint honours degree BPS accredited? This is really important if he is thinking of pursuing a career in psychology after he graduates, or wants to keep that option open. Joint honours programmes don't always have enough psychology content to get accreditation. The university website should make this clear but it's always best to check the British Psychological Society website too as they have a list of all accredited programmes.

If you get a 2.2 or above in an acccredited psychology BSc you get Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), which is absolutely essential if you want to go on to become a chartered psychologist. Without that, you can't train in any of the main specialisms in the UK - e.g. clinical, forensic, health, educational psychology. Getting onto the postgrad training programmes is difficult anyway so it's important not to make things even more difficult by choosing the wrong undergrad degree course or just the wrong combination of modules.

It is possible to do a postgrad conversion course to get GBC but it takes a year and of course adds an extra year of fees.

He should also bear in mind that if he wants to work in psychology later on it's a big advantage to start building up relevant work experience while he is studying or even before he starts.

Good luck to him!

Thank you, gasp, that was one of the factors that led him to cross some unis off his original list as they weren't accredited.

Thank you for your very useful careers advice as well - the unis covered some of this in the open day presentations but it's always good to hear from people in the know!

ds is about to start his BSc Psychology degree at an RG uni, having gained AAA. His firm choice required A*AA and rejected him, despite him only being 3 UMS short. Competition for the top unis for Psychology is extremely competitive. Might he be better off resitting his Maths?

Psychology is extremely competitive, I doubt they will accept a D in maths regardless of the breakdown of the modules as psychology has a large stats component (around one third). Psychology courses aren't crying out for students as far as I'm aware, unless the fee situation has had a really big impact. It's worth phoning to ask but he probably shouldn't get his hopes up.

Well, if it helps, OP, I've known someone who dropped not one, not two, not even three, but four grades and still got accepted into a reputed RG university (1st Choice) doing a BSc degree. This was due to the fact that the individual concerned had a "out of this world" interview prior.

So, all is not lost!

There is a difference between dropping a grade but still getting in to your firm or insurance and applying with achieved grades that are less than the usual offer. The first is much more common.

Psychology courses for UCL, Bath with placement and Durham (maybe) and Oxbridge obviously are probably the most competitive and won't take missed grades or equivalents. Applicants are more than likely exceed the grade requirements. But uni requiring AAB we found for psych courses are more likely to take missed grades. I remember York & Nottingham saying on open day that they're a tad more lenient on missed grades especially if they had firmed them as they prefer to take applicants who want to go their uni then taking students from clearing. If he can improve his maths it definitely will be more advantageous. As top psychology courses do prefer science and maths rather than all humanities subjects. Although incidently bath is probably the only top psychology degree uni that doesn't stipulate 1 science subject needed like the others. Only that they prefer a list that they have compiled. Dd knows someone who got in there with no science or even a psychology A level all humanities. So I suppose it's worth reseraching, some unis will have a specific subject profile of the candidates they want. Dd reckons the perfect subject combo would be maths, biology and a essay subject eg history or English lit. She said the psychology A level she got wasn't very helpful as could actually learn from scratch. It only came useful with being familiar with case studies but that's it. Psychology A level is a very poor representation of what Degree Psychology is truly like it's definatley more scientific at uni's requiring higher grades.

He's seems to me to be pretty realistic that many unis will not accept a D in maths no matter what other grades he has. That's why he's going to phone the unis themselves tomorrow.

I think the fact he has a confirmed offer means he's not panicking about other unis saying no.

Just wondering how he got on. Reading uni have an excellent psychology department but I think they might've closed to offers now. Good luck

He rang two of the unis on his list and they both said (in no uncertain terms!) that the two A*s wouldn't make up for the D. Pretty much what he expected, so he's changed his confirmed place to straight Psychology and has started looking at accommodation. He's definitely seeing the positives and he's relieved it's all sorted for 2017.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

That's a great outcome. He gets to do what he wants where he wants.