University offers for 2018? (Part 1)

[OnlyTeaForMe]

OK, I know I'm a bit early, but let the hand-holding begin...

Come and join us if you (and your DC) are about to start the UCAS process in September - applying for a place in 2018.

I've got DS1, who wants to do Computer Science in 2018. Looking at various Russell Group unis and maybe Oxbridge.

We’ve had a look at student room and they reckon the mat/tmua info will be in the email they send.
Is your ds enjoying Oxford?

Ds has received an offer from Loughborough for accounting. Standard offer of 35 points (he is taking the IB) a level equivalent AAB. Warwick (offer of 38) and Leeds (waiting to hear) are his top choices.

DS has had an unconditional offer but it doesn't say whether it is only if he puts it as his firm? Any ideas as to whether it's likely to be completely unconditional?

When dd had an unconditional offer from Birmingham, the UCAS website said the offer was AAA but she received an email saying they would change it to unconditional if she firmed them.

doistay it might be best to contact the admissions office at the uni to check. Equally, if the offer doesn’t say anything about it only being if he puts uni as Firm I think it would be a breach of their contract if they were to renege on it, if he put it as his Insurance, so it’s probably safe to treat it as completely unconditional. Exciting for your DS!

There is apparently a letter coming in the post, so we'll wait and see what that says, and if it still isn't clear we'll contact them. It doesn't mention any grade requirements either in their email or on UCAS, just says it's an unconditional offer. If it's genuinely unconditional this is very good news, as he'd have a realistic offer from his favourite with an unconditional insurance

Birmingham insist on you making them your firm choice:

This is a two-way agreement – we believe the applicant to be capable of achieving good grades and that s/he will continue to do their best to do so. This merits an unconditional offer. By making the offer unconditional, we are taking some of the pressure off the applicant during the exam period. In return, we expect the applicant to show their commitment to us and make us their firm choice.

DD's application went into UCAS last Tuesday, she is predicted AAA. One week later, she received an offer from Swansea, who she hopes will be her insurance choice. The offer was conditional for ABB, but the University website says that normally the criteria is BBC. DD was hoping to have a lower offer, as a back-up in case she does not achieve the predicted. Does anyone know why this might be? (First time student mum here). Many thanks.

Hi Sacred cow, my DD has a similar situation. The uni she applied to as her potential insurance had a standard offer of ABB, but when her offer from them came through it was for AAB. She double checked the website and discovered that ABB was the 2017 requirement and it had changed to AAB for 2018. No idea why, (or when it changed in their website) and no idea if this is the same for your DD’s course but might be worth checking.

Thank you HesMyLobster, we will check this, and perhaps consider another University for insurance.

My DD had a standard offer of AAB two weeks ago from Nottingham. She had an email today to say that as she is a high achieving student they will make it unconditional if she puts them as her firm first and only choice. She is over the moon but I have told her she needs to go to the open days for offer holders. Don't want her to make the wrong decision just because it is unconditional. Has anyone else experienced this?

Those pesky unconditional offers are definitely lovely for the DC to receive but I agree they need to be handled with some caution. My experience is that after the initial excitement of receiving such a nice affirmation most Y13 students who are on track to get high grades anyway treat the offer with a healthy degree of scepticism. If the uni was always first choice, then it’s fantastic but if not, then proceed with care. I think you are giving your DD sound advice. Also, it’s really important to keep aiming as high as possible for the best A level results, as they’ll probably be recorded still on CVs for a long time to come. 😀

I think I read that there is some evidence that students who accept unconditional offers do get lower grades - not sure how robust that evidence is. But I agree that in terms of future employment it's still just as important to get as good grades as possible.

Thanks for the replies! She is a good girl and works hard so I am sure she will keep at it. It's been a real
Boost to her confidence especially after getting a terrible AS grade in Maths this Summer. Think we will definitely be off on our travels to the offer days.

Exciting news marmite. Do you mind saying which course it at Nottingham? DS will be sending his UCAS form soon and they are his top choice.

It's for Music. She has done lots of singing with various choirs and that is her main instrument. She also does and Nottingham is great for rowing. She is now totally confused!

Nottingham replied the fastest and within a week/ten days out if all of the uni's she applied for.

Thanks for the info Marmite. Congratulations to your daughter.

Well done on offers coming in.

DD got an offer from Bristol today: AAB. Just waiting now to hear from Edinburgh. DD is starting to think about offer holder days. She is planning to do these on her own which I think is a good idea.

Thanks Devon!

If DD had accepted an unconditional (she turned down that uni) then she'd have missed out on the course that she really wants but didn't expect to get a place on.

Marmite: if your daughter is likely to get at least 3As, she might as well hold out for Oxford. My older daughter had unconditional offers for Birmingham and Nottingham. She turned down Nottingham and kept Birmingham as her reserve, which meant that the offer was no longer unconditional.

Your daughter will know about Oxford before having to decide on the others, so has plenty of time to consider her options. If she doesn’t get an offer from Oxford, and Nottingham is her second choice (or equal second, she may as well accept their offer. If she prefers Bristol/York or wherever, there is no point in accepting Nottingham just because the offer is unconditional.

My daughter had something from Birmingham the day before results day, renewing their unconditional offer. I noticed the next day that they had places available through clearing. I suspect there were also places available through clearing at other good universities.

The other thing to remember is that the size of the cohort is still falling, so unless universities have cut places, there will be fewer people competing for them. And music is not a particularly popular and oversubscribed course so, unless things go horribly wrong, I imagine she will have plenty of choice.

Thanks Fifth I am glad I am thinking along the right lines. It's hard to advise your child when she's the first to go through this process. She is not going to rush into any decisions. I suppose that is one good thing about getting the offers early, you have lots of time to think about what is best. To look at the course descriptions and visit again. Think she feels lucky to have some good offers to choose between. Thanks all for the support!

Reading the warnings about unconditionals with interest. DS's only offer so far has just been made unconditional if firm, with the added sweetener of £1000 a year scholarship if he gets one grade better than initial offer plus EPQ. Is that just about the uni having cake and eating it? Taking pressure off in order to fill up with firms, while motivating them all to still aim high? Can see the sense, but very convoluted.

Wow Party that’s quite an offer!
If it’s from one of the student’s top choices I guess it’s a no brainer, and a wonderful position to be in.

If there are courses they think they’d prefer though, there’s some serious thinking to do.

It’s a very clever ploy from the university - do you mind sharing which one?