Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
goodbyestranger · 31/07/2018 15:47

Caveat: I can see that it might be correct for universities where number restrictions aren't so tight, but I don't know about those. I guess a bit will depend on how far out the grade is too, since jumping more than a grade is extremely unusual on remark.

lahlah11 · 31/07/2018 15:53

Whether you get UCAS offer through before you get results will partly depend on what time your school opens. UCAS last year said that offers would not come out until 8am and DS son's school opened at 7.30. He kept checking to see if his offer came first but it didnt. We got results at school and he missed a grade in 2 subjects so headed home to start the clearing process but on the way home (about 7.45) his offer came through from his first choice Uni.
So you may need to wait until 8am or almost. When we were at school at 7.30am very few if any had had an update from UCAS so only those who had got their grades knew they were in.
I have heard of people getting their offers just after midnight and through the night but that was not our experience or DS's friends experience last year.
Good luck to everyone waiting. We had GCSE and A Level last year. A year off public exams resutls this year - first one for 3 years!

UrsulaPandress · 31/07/2018 15:57

Every time I open this thread I feel a little bit more sick.

There seem to be so many variables as to how they find out.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 31/07/2018 16:09

dd gets her first set of results at midnight 15/16 so then it's a wait for another 8 hours if there's a bit of a miss on those to see whether it's going to be ok. That's the bit that worries me. That 8 hour overnight wait, before the then possible extended wait.

I've got to stop that thinking though. It's not going to change anything, it's not anything we can prepare for.

titchy · 31/07/2018 16:17

wondering if it is actually true that they hold a place if you are having a remark?

As long as a priority remark is requested and the result is back by the end of August, the place will normally be held open. Not guaranteed, but most will. Even places like UCL and Imperial.

Skiiltan · 31/07/2018 16:24

As long as a priority remark is requested and the result is back by the end of August, the place will normally be held open. Not guaranteed, but most will. Even places like UCL and Imperial.

My own department (medical school) will hold them until 31 Aug if we possibly can. If a re-mark comes through after that and they consequently meet the offer criteria we'll give them a place for the following year if they want it, and give them first refusal on any unfilled places resulting from other students not turning up.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 31/07/2018 16:37

Skiiltan would that mean they would have to wait on accepting their insurance then? That could be a gamble in terms of having somewhere to live.

NoHaudinMaWheest · 31/07/2018 16:46

I have constant anxiety at the back of my mind but dd says she is not worrying at the moment but anticipates a massive meltdown the day before.
She does have an insurance but its offer is actually higher (we just thought there could be a scenario in which the combination of subjects, grades and leeway would mean insurance would take her while firm wouldn't).
However she is so sold on her firm that I am not sure anything else would do. Her combination of subjects is unusual so she didn't have a lot of choice in the first place. As she has complex disabilities a completely unknown choice from clearing is unrealistic.
In other words there is no plan B.

goodbyestranger · 31/07/2018 17:01

lahlah11 our school opens at 9am for A level results and each year UCAS has sprung to life at 7.30am, regular as clockwork, with the offer confirmed. I just assumed most schools would open around 9am too.

Original poster
3catsandadog · 31/07/2018 17:02

Hi We have no Plan B or insurance offer either

OP posts:
goodbyestranger · 31/07/2018 17:06

None of mine have ever had an insurance in the real sense, in that all their offers were at the same as their first choice, or higher, so although they put down another choice as insurance, it never really was an insurance in the true sense of the word, just another uni to potentially haggle with, if the grades weren't right.

BagelGoesWalking · 31/07/2018 17:14

DD's insurance was meant to be Sussex as entry grades in prospectus/website were lower. She received an offer, but at higher grades, I/she should have followed it up at the time with the uni but didn't. So she has no real insurance either.

LoniceraJaponica · 31/07/2018 17:27

Since DD has decided on a year out, I feel more and more thankful that the pressure is off. Especially when reading these posts. The anxiety is jumping out of my phone.

Her school opens at 8 am BTW.

NeaterBonita · 31/07/2018 17:57

This thread is brings back memories of last year' results day. Certainly a bit of a rollercoaster but with a happy ending.

Dd was up at 7:30 and ucas showed that she had been accepted by insurance choice. I think her first choice remained unconditional. I tried to reassure her with things I'd read on here but we felt that Her insurance new something we didn't.
We got to school fairly promptly and she came out to the car with the envelope in her hand and said a teacher had told them to come and talk to them before she left. Not a good omen.Her offer was an A star and two As. Her results 2 stars and a B. The B being in the subject she was most confident in. It wasn't even a high B .
So I went off to get money for remark from bank . School had already prepared a letter to send to her college begging asking them to consider her anyway and highlighted her strengths and expressing slight disbelief at her grade. She then called the college and was told that they'd be having a meeting later in the day to decide.
She went off to work and I tried not to think about it but felt somewhat sick. Even though we focused on the positive that Ucas still said place was conditional and that maybe remark would be successful. At about 4pm I was on computer and noticed she was still
Logged into Ucas. Refreshed the page and saw her place had been confirmed.
Relief is an understatement! As it happens the B did go up to an A on remark.

It's hard to know why they took that chance with her. Did letter from school help? The extra A star? The interview had gone so well? Perhaps a science would have been stricter? Hard to know, but there is obviously some leeway.

Original poster
3catsandadog · 31/07/2018 18:11

We know of quite a few who have remarks and gone from a B to an A

OP posts:
UrsulaPandress · 31/07/2018 20:01

We would never have the confidence for a remark.

LeiatheSchnauzer · 31/07/2018 20:41

I think my ds would just go with whatever he got, I'm not sure that he has enough confidence in his abilities to go for a remark either.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 31/07/2018 20:47

It's the potentially losing out on accomodation at the Insurance place by hanging on that would worry me. They may say on their website when accomodation requests have to be confirmed by.

HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 31/07/2018 21:17

Another one here with a that heavy feeling of dread here. If DD doesn't get her firm then she's in a tricky situation as her Insurance, UCL, don't seem to give any assurances over accommodation if student doesn't mark them down as first choice.
Unfortunately we (like many, many others) are not in a position whereby we can chuck money at the problem so everything's crossed here that her she is accepted onto her Oxford place.
However, results are pretty far from her mind for now as thanks to Herr Manfred Weber, she is the lucky recipient of a DiscoverEU Interrrail pass. She woke up in Budapest this morning and is going to sleep in Prague tonight. Preparations took centre stage as she had ledd than than a month to orepare and DD and I like to research and plan the heck out of any trip .
I expect that the 6 days following her return won't be pretty as the clock will be ticking very loudly for all anxious students and parents.
If only there was an initiative for parents of exam sitting students and we could let the train take the strain on our own Interrail adventure.
As for gaps, it'll be 8 years before DS is in this position. By then I'll have just started to heal from the agony of awaiting results this year.

ifancyagreencard · 31/07/2018 21:34

DD has one total car crash exam. So she’s not super confident ABB is going to happen, despite it theoretically being well within her reach.

She has her heart set on her first choice and has already declared that insurance/clearance will never meet her dreams. We totally suppprt her stance on this; three years wishing you were somewhere else is no fun.

So 16th August could see Plan B (a year working in for a charity she has extensive experience with in) come into force, whilst she regroups. Gin for everyone on the thread!

goodbyestranger · 31/07/2018 21:42

How does chucking money help? Do you mean the cost of a remark? Your DD's school (if state) may well fund the remark, depending on the circumstances eg nearness to grade boundary and what's at stake.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 31/07/2018 21:59

I guess being able to pay for expensive private halls would help take the sting out of missing out on ucl accommodation.

UrsulaPandress · 31/07/2018 22:21

I keep reading on a FB group about Unite halls. are they private?

goodbyestranger · 31/07/2018 22:35

But expensive private halls don't help mitigate the loss on the social side do they? (ie being in the mixed university halls).

HoofWankingSpangleCunt · 31/07/2018 22:42

Yes, youbadkitten that is exactly what I meant.
Private accommodation is beyond our financial reach and UCL accommodation may well be nigh on impossible to secure. So, the worries are endless really.