Second gap year - a mistake?

[AB89]

Family friend didn’t get into any of her universities of preference last year because she got a B in the subject she wanted to. She paid for remarks, but they didn’t go up sufficiently despite teachers reading the papers and believing that they didn’t deserve the marks they achieved. 7 different teachers, 3 from her school and 4 from other schools, have all said they believed the marking on the first paper (graded at a D), to be categorically wrong - not following criteria. However the next stage was a £130 appeal, and her family was going through a legal issue at the time and too proud to ask for financial assistance from friends, so none of us knew this was an option.

The girl reapplied this year as she has to retake the A level and take a gap year, and got rejected from her two universities of preference (her firm and insurance last year). She now has a place on a joint honours course at her third choice university, which she has firmed, but is now considering another gap year to try again for either the original course at her third choice, or her firm/insurance universities.

Does anyone have experience of a second gap year? Would it challenge her socially (being 20 when lots of others are 18)? Is it worth it to get on the original course/University? She is very much torn.

/Tbh failed oxbridge applicants are common at Durham! Is she interested in teaching at all? If not I wouldn't bother with the joint honours education. Bearing in mind to "use" English lit as a careers you are looking at teaching at shool/college or Masters/research route. From personal experience at the uni in question getting into a (funded!) PhD for english lit is very, very hard,

@AB89

What do you want people to say? Yes, she will take another gap then will be off to Cambridge? Get real.

Many, many clever, well adjusted students apply for and don't get into Oxbridge. English literature in one of the most competitive subjects too.

She didn't make the grade in her exams - she had a re-mark and that didn't change anything.

Joint honours is the offer she has this year. To get onto English lit at Durham she’d have to apply at the next admissions cycle, which would require taking another gap year - she has enquired

I don’t think she wants to “use” English for a career as such. I think she wants to do something normal (the idea of a high powered job freaks her out!) or humanitarian. She definitely said no when I asked about academia!

She didn't make the grade in her exams - she had a re-mark and that didn't change anything.

Her paper has not been properly marked, at first instance or at the remark. She could not afford the appeal the school wanted her to go for. So now they are appealing to Ofqual.

She didn’t miss the grade due to her own performance.

I don’t think she should take the second year, but I also don’t think she should have to settle for an alternative course at a university she’s not sure about because of someone else and her financial situation.

In all honesty I’m just mad they didn’t tell me and let me pay for it.

Did she apply for straight English lit at Durham but then got offered the joint course. Imho it sounds unlikely that they would consider her for it even next year. Another option would be to ring them on results day and see if they would offer her a deferred place, assuming she achieves the upgrade. What are her other grades so far and predicted English Lit ?

I’m also mad that she’s now being forced to take the A level all over again, with the instruction to just do what she did before because there was nothing wrong with her exam performance, while working 50+ hours a week. That’s not easy for an 18 year old.

I also think that if the school had felt that strongly they would have financed the appeal - success would mean the fee gets refunded.

No, she applied for joint honours as she assumed she’d be rejected for straight honours although Durham explicitly said to her that they don’t discriminate against retakes.

She has 8As at GCSE and AA* in her history and physics A levels, and an A at AS level French. So aside from this B her academic record is flawless, and I’ve never met a child more well read. I just feel very sorry for her

So what grade did she get in lit as you mention both a D and a B?

For the very top unis they will expect a A* in the subject one wants to read.

I also think that if the school had felt that strongly they would have financed the appeal - success would mean the fee gets refunded

The school had already funded her original remarks, and a history remark (which went up by a ridiculous 16 marks) and she lives in an area where funding for education has been hit one of the hardest. I also think her parents didn’t want her to go this year, so were telling her they’d pay for it until the deadline elapsed and they hadn’t

With the cost of HE these days I wouldn’t recommend anyone embarking on a course if their heart isn’t in it (I work in HE)

She got a B overall. Full marks in her coursework, then originally an E in paper 1 and a B in paper 2, and after remark a D in paper 1 and a low A* in paper 2. She was something like 2 marks off an A overall, and because the overall grade didn’t go up the exam board didn’t return the money - apparently you only get money back if the overall grade increases.

Sorry it should have read A A in her A levels - the silly thing boldes the second A!

Yes that is correct. However English lit is hard (and dull at times) at degree level. You do not just get to study what enthuses you. Getting a D in one paper would suggest to me she may struggle as she is already lacking some skills.

Getting a D in one paper would suggest to me she may struggle as she is already lacking some skills.

But she didn’t get a D in the paper. 7 teachers, 5 of whom were examiners, have independently marked the paper and graded it a minimum of 55/60. She received something like 30/60, because in the third essay two pages were marked as blank so she was given a ridiculously low mark, and the assessment objectives were frequently not being acknowledged in the margins (she has copies of the scripts).

She doesn’t struggle with English.

The first two essays were worth 15 marks each, and I don’t know what they achieved but I know it’s lower than what these teachers she’s never met think. The third essay was worth 30 marks and she was given 9/30. The average mark from other teachers for this essay has been 26/30. That means her overall mark was a minimum of 15 marks off. That would have taken her safely into the A (she was only a mark or two off).

Similar happened to dd's gcse English papers. It was as if one essay had not been marked and points under-credited. However at some point you have to move on. By resitting it will no longer matter what happened last year, only performance in this exam counts. So it will be a gamble whether she can replicate that performance consistently enough to improve the overall grade. Has she redone her coursework too?

She has been able to resubmit her coursework, so that will be full marks again. It’s only 20% though. She’s studying for the exam at home in her own time as her teachers said there was nothing else for them to teach her.

I went to university age 21 - it was absolutely fine

Along the lines of @zzzzz 's post, this happened to me, I changed my mind about courses, and switched to honours in my subsid subject in yr 2 fairly easily - once she is there, the tutors who will make the decision will know her and have seen what she is capable of. This was a while ago, but I am not sure much has changed. If she thought she'd get onto the single honours successfully would she then be happy with Durham?

Re gap year, the advice I got at the time was that the only problem with gap years is that you go backwards slightly in terms of study habits and brain train, though in this case they will still be studying so that might not apply? In relation to the age gap I really think it depends on the student. Maturity levels and life experience vary hugely amongst the same age group!!

I hope that she makes a decision she is happy with. Sometimes things happen for a reason!

I expect Oxbridge have 1000s of applicants from all over the world and they only select the best. That is life and it happens when looking for employment and hobbies too. I agree, sometimes things happen for a reason.

If she's worried about age she can consider the mature student colleges. From my own experience (15 years ago now though!) at Cambridge one of them took people from 21. I knew one guy who went there after he had a few personal issues that delayed his progress through A levels and on to uni. From what I know he enjoyed it just as much as I did at a regular college.

I do know she must have been very good to get pooled and it demonstrates she meets the standard for the uni as a whole. Just unlucky. The whole thing sounds like an unfortunate mess.

However, even having been there and I know I speak from privilege, whilst she should absolutely study the subject she wants to, she should seriously question whether either UCL or Oxbridge are worth waiting another year for and consider the costs/benefits strongly. She can do whatever she wants from Durham I'm sure. It's not worth studying something she doesn't want to though in my opinion.

I think she should take the second year if she really won't get to study what she wants for half of the time, especially if she is working/saving /socially ok waiting. I wonder if she does actually like the joint subject but doesnt see it as prestigious to do a joint honours, which I think is not a good reason.

However I wouldn't advise her to wait another year just to get a specific university, unless it was Oxbridge, but I think now that is highly unlikely. I think she should have/have had more than 3 locations as options.

Moving away to study hopefully she won't just meet people on her course and in a group of uni students I don't think her starting a degree aged 20 will be a problem.

I think she has to wait on the resit mark before deciding but I think she should go to Durham in Sept and not let this exam marking narrative go on any longer.

Sorry I just read the posts a bit slower and see it is joint honours with education. So unless she is interested in Education (which is useful of course even if you are not a teacher) then I think she should reapply to English Literature.

Looking at the Durham website it does look a bit like Education with English.

If she's really capable of getting the grades - and it sounds like she is - then I think she should take the second gap year and reapply to where she really wants to go. Make sure she is talking directly to admissions, and that school is involved.

It's just a year. She can spend it doing useful work, saving for college, learning about life. I'd say if anything it's better to start college at 20 rather than 18, which a bit more life experience under your belt.