Unconditional offers

[ShinyGirl]

DD is in year 12 and is trying to find out which universities sometimes hand out unconditional offers. I know Birmingham do but not sure of others.

She isn't sure where to apply yet but her anxiety can affect her during exams hence the question.

Many thanks for any replies.

Lancaster do a scheme whereby if you have an unconditional and then meet the standard offer anyway, they give you a bonus of £2k! The idea is that is motivates you to work and achieve your grades despite the unconditional.

Yeah, a few places do similar. My dd got some money which was the icing on the cake

Many Scottish unis do them for Scottish students, but they do highers in S5 so the S6 exams are extras. I'm not sure if the same applies to English students as although I did English exams it's all changed since then, I'm not sure to what extend lower 8th form (or whatever year they're now called) exams are regarded as real exams before A level proper in upper 6th.

6th not 8th

Doesn't have to be really exceptional tbh, DS3 got one from Hull for mech eng, and the offer of some cash if he got particular grades ( I think BBB) but opted for a russell group uni instead.
I think they can be useful for dc with anxiety or stress as it removes that particular problem. Can encourage some less keen students to slack off a bit too much ime.

I teach in a secondary school and lots of quite average pupils now get unconditional offers, particularly from Birmingham. In our experience the pupils nearly always take their foot off the pedal and end up with lower A level results. This is quite disappointing for everyone concerned and they may well regret it in years to come as companies look at A level results as well as degrees.

My daughter got one for law from reading, which I understand is quite unusual for law. She had to reject the other unis and confirm it. She rejected it and put birmingham as her first choice, even though they required three As. She got them fortunately., but it was stressful and it was a big leap to reject reading. At the time I thought she should accept reading and take the pressure off, but didn't try to sway her either way.

In our experience the pupils nearly always take their foot off the pedal and end up with lower A level results. This is quite disappointing for everyone concerned and they may well regret it in years to come as companies look at A level results as well as degrees.
I think this is very true. Looked at the other way round, my DS seemed to do the minimal work for GCSEs, but since turning down an unconditional offer, it does seemed to have really motivated him to put the work in. I've seen a total transformation! However, he is not prone to anxiety, so with hindsight I think it was the right decision, even if he doesn't get into his first choice.

For those who tend to lack motivation and have accepted unconditional offers, maybe there's an alternative incentive scheme parents could employ?

I think offering a few thousand is a good incentive for the universities.

Yes, no wonder my £10 incentive wasn't very effective for GCSEs.

What about planning a gap year. Then Yr 13 can just be about school with no added pressure. And hopefully an extra year of maturity and experiencing different things (and saving some money) with help with the anxiety.

They can be a bit of a poisoned chalice these days - lull you into the peace of certainty but mean you end up at a worse univesrity then you otherwise might go to with implications for your career hereafter.

One of my sons going in September (he has his twin got AAAA in AS level last yera) rejected his Nottingham unconditional offer and then firmed choosing between Durham and Bristol with conditional offers for those two - he picked Bristol as did his twin. Whether they will regret it on results day remains to be seen.........

This below is how I see it too
"Lecturer at Birmingham unashamedly said it was given to students who had high predicted grades that might mean their first choices were Oxbridge, Durham and the like. To get them to come to Birmingham instead."

I wouldn't apply to a UNiversity or course on the off-chance of an UC offer, you should want to go there first.

As far as I'm aware UC offers are very rare even at universities that do offer them. a girl at my DS school got a UC offer to De Montfort which she didn't take up.

I agree that it's about attracting exceptional candidates who might otherwise go elsewhere. It's worth thinking about

I completely agree with QuiteUnfitBit post; it can be a poisoned chalice. My DD's best friend got an UC offer from Birmingham. She took her foot off the pedal and ended up with much lower grades than she originally intended to get.

Unconditionals are also used to get students to come to universities where they may not have enough high calibre students and are likely to go into clearing, or worse, having to close courses. Hull and de Monfort are not first division so would need good students who could get into Russell Group.

Jeanne, I am not sure Birmingham offer them to "quite average" students. The standard offer for History is AAB but unconditional offers are only given to those predicted at least one grade higher (AAA). There are quite a few people at his school who applied hoping to get unconditional offers but who received standard offers.

DS is working much harder for his A-levels than for GCSEs because he wants to do well for himself but I know a friend's son who had an unconditional offer and then slacked off and got 3Bs.

DS had an unconditional offer for Reading. A friend's son has one for UEA.

An article in TES suggested it is not just about attracting exceptional candidates, but also about university departments trying to ensure their course is full. Apparently there's been a sharp increase with about 12% (from memory) candidates receiving an unconditional offer.

I have certanily heard of a lot more unconditional ones. One of my son's friends has accepted one at an ex poly (architecture - he wants to be an architect and his grades are not that good nor predicted very good but at least he now knows he can do the course no matter what).

Grades do matter. Some higher paid graduate jobs even if you have a first from university STILL want your A level grades and UCAS points before they will even let you apply never mind interview so I hope all teenagers are aware of that.

DS has one from Sussex for maths. His predicted grades were a's so I guess it's to lure students in who may have gone elsewhere. He liked the university and has accepted which has taken the pressure off. It does mean you can't go anywhere else, whatever grades you get, but on the converse side university is guaranteed. He personally loves the certainty of it. There is also a financial incentive offered if he gets 3 a's which is aimed at stopping too relaxed an approach!

I've heard of a fair few from UEA, and know someone who got one from Leicester. The temptation to just ease off the work must be massive, though - if that were me aged 17/18 I know I'd have just done the bare minimum.