Uni choices

[fromwesttoeast]

My son got BCCC at AS. One of these C grades was in maths where he messed up one paper but did well in the other two. He is planning to retake that module and has been predicted an A in maths.
His predictions are ABB. He wants to apply to university courses which state entry requirements of ABB.
Will his lower actual AS grades mean he is less likely to get offers?
He has five choices ranging from ABB to BBB entry requirement.
Should he swap one of those for a lower tariff place, or just rely on clearing as his back up plan?

What course is he looking at at which type of unis (roughly) ?

If his predictions are ABB then I'd expect him to get offers. Was he far off the higher grades with his AS? If he just missed the higher grades in AS then it will be easier to go up a grade in A2.

His highest ranking choice would be Loughborough and his lowest ranking choice is Brunel, so he has chosen a range. Field is computer science. Question is whether he should have a CCC type uni on there as well.
The ABB prediction is reasonable based on what he did.
He is also doing an EPQ in the subject area and has other relevant activities on his personal statement.
But I suppose it depends on whether actual AS grades are the main factor or not in obtaining offers.

I think Brunel does a foundation year for it computer science course for students who don't have the grades to get on the Comp Sci course. It might be if your DS completely bombs his A levels that he could do that? I don't know how it works for the comp Sci foundation year but it might be worth investigating. It might be that he automatically would be offered the foundation if he did badly.
Loughborough also have a foundation year for Comp Sci which could possibly act as a back up .

Perhaps get your son to email each of the admissions departments at the Uni's at the top end of his predications (or you could email them too). My daughter is also applying for Comp Sci and I attended an online virtual open day for the course at UCL and the admissions tutor was answering people's questions about predicted grades. I don't think admissions tutors mind potential candidates getting in touch, as they'd rather have realistic applicants.

Various unis do a foundation year for computer science, it depends on grades but also on what courses have been taken before - some insist on a foundation year. I strongly advise on courses which offer a sandwich year/year in employment with a decent placement. There are a lot of people graduating with computer science degrees and the experience really helps when applying for work.

DS1's course is different and probably less competitive but his AS results and predictions were very similar. AS results were BCCC plus B in General Studies. His actual marks were mostly close to the next grade though and he was predicted ABB (General Studies not being included in predictions).

He got offers from the three Unis he applied to (two ABB offers and a BBB), retook two papers and ended up meeting the ABB requirement of his firm choice this year. The ABB Unis were both Russell group but not top tier Russell group.

Thanks for all the advice. He is only applying for courses with a year in industry, so we have that one checked off.
I hope he wouldn't need to do a foundation year. Computer science departments seem to teach programming from scratch, as they don't assume previous knowledge. At one uni DS was able to ask some questions about this and the level of programming they do in the first year is hardly more advanced than the A level. The thing with DS is that he doesn't always perform as well as he should in exams - he gets nervous. He does actually understand the work though. If he can get on to the course I think he will cope - especially as they have coursework not 100% exams. They told him doing the A level in computer science means you have a head start.
Thanks for posting your experience Phaedra. It helps to have a similar example.

DSS got BCDE at AS levels but got offers for 3Bs and achieved 3 Bs at A2 so all's well that ends well. (Reading geography at Queens Belfast)

Great achievement. Thanks for sharing