University offers for 2017 start (Part 2)

[EnormousTiger]

Continuation of the original thread which is now on to 40 page maximum.
Original thread (part 1) here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/2759621-Uni-offers-for-2017-start?

Most offers now received. My twins have had offers from their 4 and are currently deciding which will be firm and which insurance. One twin
( possibly two of them) is going to an offer holders' day coming up at Bristol next month with his friends from school.

Ds after much deliberation finally made his choice last night and pushed the button. His first choice (Warwick) was not in doubt but trying to choose between Exeter and Bristol for his insurance was very difficult.

In the end he went for Exeter because he preferred the accommodation and it was one grade lower than Bristol.

Anyway ds has finally made his choice. Now for all the other tasks ......finance forms, accommodation, revising ......

I went to Bristol and then Exeter (for PGCE) and I'd say Exeter is an especially beautiful part of the world pericat. It was particularly nice for teacher training as we were able to work in some lovely Devon village schools. Plus occasional visits to beach or Dartmoor, what's not to like? Also a grade lower for an insurance choice seems helpful?

DD is mainly hoping to go to Swansea which I think is also in a beautiful part of the world near the Gower peninsula, her other (higher/ firm) choice is Sheffield, on the edge of the Peak District. She likes getting out and about and will be doing zoology with lots of fieldwork, so I think these are important considerations in making her choices.

I love the idea of saying I've done it for her and then naming 2 completely random unis that she knows nothing about .

I hope my two firm up tomorrow.

Exeter is lovely. My older son nearly went there (but went to Reading through clearing given his grades).

Mine are both at uni now but I remember the button pushing prevarication well. It seems to be a matter of pride to leave it to the wire. With DS2 I remember saying "what if the internet breaks?"

Quite a few of you seem to have DCs who have put Bristol - I am now imagining a Coca-Cola style lorry with the MN logo delivering belongings from all over the country down to Bristol in late September.

My DS will also probably put Bristol - he hasn't firmed it yet, says he'll do it tomorrow! He's been quite torn between his top 2 choices. He asked me, 'What do you think I should do?' I told him I can't decide, it's his decision. We talked about pros and cons, but in the end it has to be his choice, not mine.

We visited Reading Janet and I thought it was great! Loved the campus around the central lawn and the student union too. But DD narrowly chose Swansea over Reading in the end ( based on the course she prefers mainly) I'm consoling myself that Swansea is in such a lovely part of the world and right by the beach. Am looking forward to sharing ice-creams on the sea front 😊

Wales is lovely. Reading... well ion the last 2 years he commuted from home. Unlike his older sisters he did not really take part in unviersity life. Anyway we're all different. I suppose at least that saved me the cost of his rent in the last 2 years.

I just texted the twins to remind them about firming their offers. I said last night one reason I have done pretty well in life is I am usually first at everything. I even joined the Law Societry a year early at university so I could receive the free weekly law magazine they produce and I saved up to put the copies into special binders you could buy.... and who much better my son said that he is so relaxed he will firm up the day before. He is actually correct that it makes no difference to your offers I suppose (as long as you do it by 4th) but I just don't like last minute things. he says that sums up how much better his attitude is to mine. I think I said something like well the obligation to feed the family tends to make it sensible to do things on time. We were having our usual banter..... and he says accommodation will be very different as in that respect first come first served might indeed apply to some extent.

Dd still hasn't picked . Jane I'm glad I'm not the only one who always does everything early, in complete opposition to the next generation.

When is the deadline? Do either of you have any fingernails left?

The deadline is tomorrow. If firm and insurances haven't been accepted by then YOUR CHILD WILL BE DECLINED THEIR OFFER.

Because I know you're so hot on this stuff titchy and it might help someone, what time tomorrow is that deadline?

Close of play which is normally 6pm - but please double check that!

Hopefully the UCAS systems are designed to be able to deal with high last- minute volume - but all systems have limits.

The UCAS system is supremely equipped to deal with traffic volume - on clearing day it has the highest volume of hits per hour in the entire world!!!

Really? Wow, that's impressive. Maybe whoever implemented it should get the next HMRC contract.

Aeons ago when we were students, DH had a summer job doing clearing at UCCA as it then was. The 'system' apparently entailed shoeboxes of index cards. (Of course, far fewer people went to uni then and most offers weren't a stretch so numbers must have been relatively tiny)

Knowing that the deadline is tomorrow and DD's propensity for leaving everything until the last minute, I told her the deadline was today. Of course she hasn't checked that. She has reluctantly just given me her 2 choices.

She wanted to put the one with the higher offer second, so I had to explain why this probably wasn't a good plan. Then she wasn't confident she would get the higher grades anyway, so scrapped that one.

Her favourite is the one with high grade requirements, but I think she was sensible to leave that one off, as it would take some sort of miracle for her to get the grades.

As soon as it's done, I'm going to drink wine. I'm supposed to be going swimming, but I'm really not in the mood for lane hoggers.

Choices made. Really feels like a big decision clicking those boxes. DD seems even more stressed now!

dd did hers as soon as she got all her offers and I didn't even find out what they were for a while. Mini control freak.

It would have been a bigger decision not to have clicked those boxes! Enjoy your wine.

Ok. So ... when we get the big wobble about I made the wrong choice, I don't want to go, blah blah blah. Where do we stand. The ucas FAQs say something about phoning within 7 days and something else about having a 'contract' with the university.

So ... supposing she gets the grades to get the offer, can she still say she doesn't want to go, wants to go somewhere else, or whatever? Are there financial penalties?

I know I should have asked all this before, but I thought I'd looked up everything I needed to know already and her wobble today has unnerved me.

11.59 tomorrow night my son just told me.
However despite that the UCAS teacher has emailed them all today chasing them, they've emailed her with their choices, she replied within a few minutes and just now they both firmed up on Bristol with one having Nottingham as back up (and the other Edinburgh although as his Bristol offer is fairly lowish AAB I think he will meet his first choice grades but who knows.....)

Anyway at least it's done now. It was 13 years ago their oldest sister was doing this so it's been a long period of children going to university for me.

I feel a bit sad that DD hasn't put her favourite, because she's unlikely to meet the grades. I know she could have taken the gamble, but hey ho.