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Higher education

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

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Original poster

It's August ..... the countdown begins

556 replies

doglover · 01/08/2017 15:53

How's everyone feeling? My dd was pretty much able to forget about results during July but said in a very quiet voice this morning, "I'll find out this month where I'm going."

Is anyone doing anything yet in preparation for 17th? Should we be doing anything yet in preparation for 17th?!

OP posts:

goodbyestranger · 16/08/2017 12:24

DS is off to an over priced festival with his friends on Friday, so that will be good, whatever tomorrow's results.

Doobydoo · 16/08/2017 12:34

I feel sick! Thanks for clearing info.All the unis ds applied to have places in clearing.....I dont know what that means re him though if he dosent get grades I am at work tomoz 8 to 20.30 prob best place for me!

yolofish · 16/08/2017 12:34

waiting here too. luckily DD2 is working til 8.30 so that cuts the wobbliness a bit. she 'should' get in, although it's a popular course at a popular uni it's points based and she reckons she's done enough. none of hers were the new courses, and its quite a creative course so fingers crossed.

one question: she has decided if she doesnt get into her 1st choice she doesnt want her 2nd choice but a different one. you dont have to accept 2nd choice do you? she could go via clearing?

am finding very helpful at the moment. good luck to all you and yours.

user8526831517 · 16/08/2017 12:38

I am at work tomoz 8 to 20.30 prob best place for me!

I'd welcome that distraction, 'unfortunately' i'm off work all week!

Doobydoo · 16/08/2017 12:41

It's double edged as I think I will be trying to direct operations from work if it all goes pear shaped!
Re 2nd choice I think iread somewhere that it is a contract but you can contact them to see if they will release you.I may have got that wrong.....hopefully someone will know for sure.

Gannet123 · 16/08/2017 12:49

If an applicant is rejected by the firm choice but accepted by their insurance, they are automatically allocated to their insurance and are not in clearing. You need to ask the insurance to release you into clearing.
Unfortunately, it's too late to address that now before tomorrow (it would have been better to let her insurance know as soon as she made the decison). So if UCAS Track says she is allocated to her insurance choice tomorrow. she needs to ring them immediately and get released so that she gets into clearing and gets her clearing number. Universities in clearing won't speak to her unless she has a clearing number.

aginghippy · 16/08/2017 12:54

she has decided if she doesnt get into her 1st choice she doesnt want her 2nd choice but a different one. you dont have to accept 2nd choice do you? she could go via clearing.

In that scenario, she would have to get in touch with her 2nd choice, tell them she doesn't want to go and ask them to release her into clearing. Once she is in clearing, she then applies to the one she wants.

stonecircle · 16/08/2017 13:03

I haven't pushed ds to think about alternatives if he doesn't get his grades but am trying to familiarise myself with the system so I can support him if necessary.

Lots of places have his subject in clearing at the moment (including his firm) but they all just direct me to their respective websites with the 'typical offers'.

Am I looking too soon? Does that change tomorrow with lower offers? Or is a university with a typical offer of AAB in clearing because it's hoping to attract people who missed higher offers and doesn't intend to lower its entry requirements?

I know I'm overthinking and need to lie down in a dark room with a wet flannel over my forehead ...

sadusername2 · 16/08/2017 13:10

You are not overthinking more than anyone else at this moment Stonecircle. Well no more than me anyway. I have looked at a few potential clearing places for Dd and haven't really identified if they are desperate for more students and will take them with lower grades, or whether they have a few more spaces for applicants that meet their offer.

chelseahotel · 16/08/2017 13:13

Just anecdotal but FWIW.
I've been here twice. Both DC have friends and fellow students who missed their grades and were still accepted by their firm, and this in years when there was a cap on places and on competitive courses at top unis (not Oxbridge).
DS has a student friend who works on the clearing phones at his uni (not RG). They are told to offer places to people with significantly below the advertised grades.

user8526831517 · 16/08/2017 13:14

I think we are all overthinking this at the moment aren't we. DS is out on a driving lesson but the minute he gets back we are going out.

I think I either need to get very drunk go out shopping or find something really fascinating to do so I step away from the internet. I can't concentrate on anything else, least of all the decorating that I had planned to get finished today probably because I haven't even started

user8526831517 · 16/08/2017 13:16

@chelseahotel that sounds promising but I'm not going to tell DS just in case - he's applied to a popular RG university which the BBC are currently describing as an elite university - I wish they wouldn't do that!
It doesn't have vacancies in clearing either so my nerves are shattering now.

aginghippy · 16/08/2017 13:26

user it may be that they aren't listed in clearing because they prefer to make up the numbers by accepting students who firmed them but missed their grades. My dd's firm has a that policy, or so I have been told.

Gannet123 · 16/08/2017 13:30

One of the problems with clearing is that it changes every year, and universities are particularly sensitive to reputational issues that might arise from positioning in clearing. If a 'good' university goes into clearing asking for lower grades than their normal offer, this looks bad - it's particularly difficult for my discipline (Law) and others with professional connections, because the media relating to our professions increasingly scrutinises the process and draw all the wrong conclusions. So I think it's always worth ringing up and asking if your grades are one grade below published; and also if the university is being coy about what grades they are looking for (in that case, I'd ring up even if you're 2 or 3 grades below). But you might get told no.
Having said that, it's only really this afternoon/evening that lists will become properly precise and current, so more detail will become available - back in the day there were no clearing lists until the evening before results, but nowadays marketing teams are trying to get ahead of each other.
A course not being in clearing is not necessarily a bad sign. Most good universities (however you define that) will have a baseline of grades below which they will not go, and will prefer to take existing applicants on or above that baseline rather than risk clearing.

tobee · 16/08/2017 14:24

I'm just worried that if ds goes through clearing it'll all be confusing, panicky and I won't be any good at helping. Might have to rope in dd, she's very good at reading stuff properly. Then ds can do the phoning.

I went through clearing, back in the days of the ark. I have a memory of just saying I wanted to do clearing, applying, and then receiving a card in the post and finding out who had accepted me, with no real choice. Don't know if that's correct. That was after retakes too . Dh went to Cambridge in the old system of requiring two Es after exam/interview. So ds has either end of the spectrum for reference.

yolofish · 16/08/2017 14:33

ah thank you to those that answered about asking 2nd choice to release DD. she only made the decision on Monday!! plus since she got her conditional offer she has managed to pass maths GCSE and IGCSE - despite telling her to phone admissions to confirm she did that she hasnt done it... Fingers crossed for 1st choice as is perfect in so many ways; previous 2nd choice is fabulous but a looooong way away; current 2nd choice is also really good but significantly closer to home which I think could be important. when is wine time??

ShootingQuadrantids · 16/08/2017 14:35

time is any time on a day like this?

Tawny75 · 16/08/2017 14:45

I am quietly panicking now. DD veers between thinking she has done well and thinking she has done badly.......... I have the day off tomorrow, either to help her celebrate or to support through clearing. Still, we are down to just over 17 hours and counting.

I feel gin may be the answer to getting through tonight. Gin and chocolate.

Blogwoman · 16/08/2017 14:50

..and wine and chocolate and gin and chocolate and wine....

user8526831517 · 16/08/2017 14:52

DS has decided that, if he misses his grades for his first but exceeds the grades for his second choice then he's still going to go to his second choice rather than look at a better university in adjustment because he liked the look of the second one and it's somewhere that he can imagine himself living. I think he should look for somewhere at a better uni in that situation but I'm keeping quiet as I think it's better he goes somewhere that he thinks he will be happy rather than an unknown place.

Grammy78 · 16/08/2017 15:10

Just had this through from the uni that my son has a confirmed offer for. Is it a good sign?

We’re likely to have no, or very limited, course vacancies available through Clearing at Xsadnndeb for 2017 entry.

Gannet123 · 16/08/2017 15:22

No. Neither is it a bad sign. It's just an email.

Original poster

doglover · 16/08/2017 15:25

What time of day do schools/colleges receive the A level marks today?

OP posts:

Grammy78 · 16/08/2017 15:41

Thanks Gannet, I know it's just an email but wasn't sure if the fact that they will have very limited courses in clearance was a good sign or not.

tobee · 16/08/2017 15:46

Hmm. It's a bit of an unhelpful email grammy. Like we thought we'd just add to the tension and give you something extra to puzzle over.

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