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Higher education

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

Original poster

A Level Results Day

479 replies

3catsandadog · 30/07/2018 09:50

Hi If UCAS does not update first thing before the school opens for result is it a bad sign that the offer has been missed.
Good luck to everyone awaiting results :)

OP posts:
JuneMyNameIsJune · 22/08/2018 00:14

"People have referred to Loughborough and Bath as good universities that are not part of the Russell Group

Conversely Birmingham and Southampton are part of the RG and certainly the number of unconditional offers thrown out by Birmingham in particular would make you wonder about it as a destination for an undergraduate"

Just to illustrate how difficult and course-specific all this is, Southampton is ranked 4th in the UK (after Cambridge, Imperial and Bristol) for Aerospace Engineering. DS2's best friend secured an insurance place there with AAAA! She missed out on her Imperial place.

Nescafegold I think you are very honest and brave to raise this point. It's something that I've discussed endlessly with my own children. I do wonder if some people are actually disadvantaged greatly by being encouraged to go to University. They lose out on 3/4 years of employment and end up with entry-level jobs that they could have secured as school leavers, but saddled with massive debt.

LadyWarleggan · 22/08/2018 00:16

Not sure where the idea comes from that if you have low grade A’levels you can get an apprenticeship? Certainly not a degree apprenticeship.

Thesearepearls · 22/08/2018 00:24

I have two school leavesr on a modern apprenticeship in my team at a Big4 accountancy firm. The first went to Oxford and dropped out due to stress - you can imagine we're delighted to have her. No stress issues have manifested themselves and she seems happy. The second got AAB at A level and he's doing very well too.

This is a valid choice increasingly embraced by highly talented individuals who don't want to rack up £50k plus debt with uncertain prospects. The positions are rare though as someone has said and very greatly sought after. The quality of our school leaver applicants is generally as high or higher than the quality of our graduate applicants.

jewel1968 · 22/08/2018 01:09

We take apprentices with GCSEs and A levels. If they are good at the job. they can get moved to graduate scheme.

Nescafegold · 22/08/2018 01:57

My dd wouldn't have gone for the competive higher advanced apprenticeship equivalent to degree level. Her A levels were too bad. More like Level 3 apprenticeships. I think even if she did do a low level apprenticeship scheme, she would still have similar or better financial outcome 3 years later but atleast be debt free and have important work based skills. At the time there were quite a few apprenticeships in finance, HR and marketing opportunities . The pay was rubbish some paying less then £100 per week but still, to look back is better than £18k debt per year. Apprenticeship in her days were not very popular a bit of a unknown quantity many choosing to go the uni route. My dd had no intention of becoming a lawyer, doctor achitect, teacher etc. She was very clueless career wise. But school had sold her the idea that getting a degree opens a lot of doors. She really learnt the hard way. Her 3 close friends graduated with law degree's same uni. All have been unbale to secure training contract but lots of local solicitor and voluntary work experience. They are now retraining in other sectors. Reputable uni's do have great connection with industry are better at equipping students with the right mindset and skills for graduate job market. I think this is also very important.

Original poster
3catsandadog · 22/08/2018 11:58

...

OP posts:
vivprod · 27/08/2018 07:48

Hi any body waiting for remarks from AQA.

jewel1968 · 28/08/2018 13:40

Viv - yes we are. Not heard anything yet.

vivprod · 28/08/2018 19:46

jewel1968 - we were told initially that it could take up to 15 days!

jewel1968 · 28/08/2018 20:05

We were told 10 -14 days but hopefully quicker. Not sure if that is working days or calendar days.

Chicky2 · 28/08/2018 21:44

My daughter just got her further maths remark back from Exdecel, she'd missed an A by 1 UMS, her Maths teacher advised getting FP3 remarked, and they increased her mark by 9UMS, so she has her A now.
I'd been a bit harsh and told her to get over it and feel slightly guilty now

vivprod · 28/08/2018 22:07

Chicky2 congratulations to your daughter. My daughter missed her firm place by 2 marks, said would hold her place until 31st. She decided not to wait and went through clearing - just as well now 28th and still not received remarked paper back!

Bouledeneige · 28/08/2018 22:15

My friends son has got one A level remark back - a C up to a B for English. Not sure what board.

They're waiting on his Politics.

jewel1968 · 29/08/2018 01:51

Viv - what will you and DD do if it comes back a higher grade? I guess it could be back by 31. My DS missed grade by 2 marks. Not sure what to expect.

9 mks that is a lot. What was the reason or do you not get told that. Just curious.

Piggywaspushed · 29/08/2018 08:07

ladywarleggan I agree with you. It's a MN thing based on very little research and a sense of pecking order/hierarchy of qulaifications. My DS is on track for maybe BCC - CCD at A Level and people keep saying 'have you thought of apprenticeships?'

The only one that vaguely suits his sckills locally at a higher apprenticeship/dgeree apprenticeship fairly locally is Santander. It has an eye watering application process and requires 104 UCAS points.

He hasn't really got the right A levels to apply for a finance/ economics type degree but he could get into a decent uni to study similar with 104 pts or less.

Apprenticships are just a different route : thye are not marketing themselves at the less able: why would they after all? MN seems to think they are an option for the C and below at A Level posse (of whcih there are rather more than this site suggests)

This does still rather leave the BCC - CCC brigade all at sea , opportunities and options wise... especially if one's location is reasonably rural/ isolated/ boring urban town

And as soemone said on another thread, there aren't apprenticeships in politics/history/ languages : subjects many students pursue at A Level and have every right to pursue further.

Piggywaspushed · 29/08/2018 08:17

It's also not true that students 'nowadays' get into unis with 'lower grades'. OK, so we can argue grade inflation if we like, but the heyday of doing 'Tellytubby Studies' at the University of SmallTownshire was the mid to early 90s where students were accessing places with DEE .

The glut of unconditional offers this year, however, does perhaps mean something ofa return has been made to that landscape as what it says in the prospectus (say BBC) does not necessarily match what the students actually have at all closely. Market forces, and all that.

Justanothermile · 29/08/2018 08:27

My friends DS has had a remark and his marks improved by 30, yes 30.

This error in the original mark meant he didn't get his initial course offer and was offered an alternative. And no confirmation re halls until the remark. He's been offered the original course now, but I'm not sure about accommodation.

jewel1968 · 29/08/2018 10:35

I would be really interested to know how a paper can improve by 30 marks. Do you get to know that it was an admin error or something more fundamental. My friend had her DD gcse remarked and gained 15 marks. I thought the was a lot and then I saw 9 up thread but 30 Wow!

Justanothermile · 29/08/2018 15:51

I don't know the answer. I only know my friends DS had three papers marked for the subject, two were A* results and one a C and he didn't think the paper had gone badly, hence the remark.

For GCSE we did get two remarks for DS. One changed upwards by 7 marks (and changed his grade upwards) and one went down by 9, but still luckily was well within the grade boundary!

Didn't get a remark for A Levels though.

Justanothermile · 29/08/2018 15:53

But the family have been through a lot of stress this last week in any event. I think I'd be one to complain. He potentially didn't get his first choice because of this situation.

jewel1968 · 29/08/2018 16:26

Thanks. I think I might complain too in that circumstance.

vivprod · 29/08/2018 20:04

Hi DD received AQA Chemistry remark today up 5 marks to an A. Awaiting Biology.

Chicky2 · 29/08/2018 23:05

We are pretty surprised that she gained 9 marks, it was one paper out of 6, and in Maths as well which probably has less room for interpretive marks than other subjects.
we've had no feedback other than an email to say 9 extra marks and an A* rather than an A, her Maths teacher is a bit perplexed and wonders if the original marker missed a question????
Definitely makes me a bit concerned about the marking system,
Daughter is over the moon and Durham place is confirmed plus we get our remark money back as the grade changed

jewel1968 · 30/08/2018 10:23

Wow. It must feel like a lottery. I wonder why they don't share the reasons for mark changes. Still waiting here.

jewel1968 · 30/08/2018 18:50

DS had his remark back. He LOST 25 marks. Luckily he didn't drop a grade. In one paper he lost 20 marks. We are totally confused. Wondering if there is any point in calling for the papers and see if we can make any sense of it.