Unconditional offer and grades well below preficted

[dollysmum222]

My DS has an unconditional offer after predicted grades of ABB ( which was always unrealistic- head of 6th was very generous) I was always concerned whether he should accept it in case his grades fell well short. So his results are CDD! He's very disappointed but still wants to fill the place. I have suggested that he speaks to someone at the university for advice. Is anyone else in this position ? TIA

I just don't want him to be with a cohort of students that all got higher grades and deserved their place!

If the university is making conditional offers, he won't be the only one on the course with grades well below the advertised tariff. The inevitable consequences of making such offers are students taking their foot off the gas, or accepting students whose teachers have given over-optimistic predictions (deliberately or otherwise). I think universities that make them are best avoided, tbh.

Typically his reaction to his results is to take to his bed and refuse to discuss it

Hard as it is, I think you just have to step back and let him take control of his own fate.

Thanks again for all the replies. He's definitely got his place and just received an email confirming his first choice accommodation. I think we will let him sleep on it and then try to talk to him.

If he wants to do it then he can, I would point out the limitations of student funding though, if you think there is a realistic chance that he might want to change courses at some point. But if you know that he can do the course with a bit more effort, then it's just a case of making sure he is motivated to put the effort in (which is, I know, easier said than done from a distance).

You seem very negative. A level study is very different different to that of a Uni Course. Presumably he was given an unconditional offer because Course leader was keen for him to join.

If it's the field of study your DC wants why would you not want him to go and what alternate would you propose?

I am concerned that the lecturers will have to take him begrudgingly

Honestly, we really don't have time, emotional energy, or the desire to hold grudges against students.

I would only look up a student's A level results if they were in a tutorial with me in their first year & telling me that they're struggling - and then only if it seems relevant.

I doubt anyone he is taught by will know his grades.

I have to admit to being mildly appalled by the growth in unconditional offers, having been a feckless teen myself. I got a 2E offer to Oxford when I was 16, back in the 80s and what happened ? I duly dropped a grade each on two subjects. Wasn't going mad on the partying but it just took the edge off. It then took me a while to get going at university - I think I had lost the habit of driving myself.

General observation, rather than a guide to what your son should do, I am afraid!

He can certainly turn it around, my husband got those grades, but also got a very high 2:1 and six figure job.

He needs to firmly place that foot back on the pedal. He got off lucky, and he should not squander this chance he has. You should also reiterate to him the importance of knowing when a change of course/direction is best. You can only take him so far, there's another thread here where the DS got 3As but has totally flunked uni. That's the situation none of us want to be in, I totally sympathise with her anger

You can only take him so far, there's another thread here where the DS got 3As but has totally flunked uni

That thread is really sad, I felt awful for the OP. It's not the first time I've heard of this happening, either. The lesson from that is that parents should be asking to see the actual marks that their children are achieving at university. They are all released online, so get them to log on and show you. The OP of the thread referred to has lost an awful lot of money, and will be forking out even more for her son to eventually graduate.

I know it’s an anecdote, but someone on my course (at a Russell Group university in the 1990s) ‘only’ got a C at A-level (one mark off a B, mind), but ended up with a First, followed by a Distinction in their Master’s at another Russell Group university and then a DPhil from Oxford.

What’s done is done. The important thing is his attitude going forwards.

Thank you so much for all your help. He's out of bed, spoke to someone in clearing and currently confirming his accommodation. Hopefully this will be his wake up call. He admits he took his foot off the gas. I don't mind what he does, like all of us I just want him to be happy whatever his life brings

The lesson from that is that parents should be asking to see the actual marks that their children are achieving at university

Well, that's for parents to decide, but speaking as an academic, I would not be sanguine that that policy will work.

No-one forces anyone to go to university. r, no-one should be pressured, expected, or emotionally required to go to university. If a student's heart is not in it, in my experience, no amount of parental pressure will change that.

And about half of the students who end up in my office (as head of dep't) over their progress, attendance, or behaviour, are at university at their parents' behest, rather than their own.

Should he be studying a subject at degree level that he can only get a C at for A level? Not meaning to be a twat- genuine question

I'm an academic as well, SilverBuckles. And having seen how often students lie to their parents to cover their own arses (which has, on more than one occasion, extended to actually defaming me and my colleagues), if I had children at university, I would be asking to see their marks. I don't suggest it as a "policy" for getting them through university, but so that their parents can pull the plug on funding them to the tune of thousands of pounds for not showing up or submitting work.

Why are you and him regarding this as a problem to take to bed/MN about? He's got a place. End of. What he does with the opportunity is up to him. Same as if he got 3 A stars. He either knuckles down or he doesn't.

(By the way loads of others will have been offered unconditional and got low grades so I wouldn't worry about that.)

I don't suggest it as a "policy" for getting them through university, but so that their parents can pull the plug on funding them to the tune of thousands of pounds for not showing up or submitting work.

But all that would mean was that those with full maintenance loans won't be dependent on their parents financially, so the disadvantaged continue to be disadvantaged by not having their parents metaphorically whip their asses.

Good luck to your son, and please be kind to him. Your relationship is more important than any set of marks. You don't want to throw that away. This unconditional offers thing is all part of the marketisation of the unniversity system we are seeing - as academics it makes our work very difficult. Great news he's in and accommodation sorted - something to celebrate surely?

I'd say a degree is easier than A-levels, so he will be fine. But this might be the kick he needed.

I am concerned that the lecturers will have to take him begrudgingly

The fact my uni consistently takes students who are far off our entry requirements does make me and my colleagues feel like this But that is because it's bloody unfair on the students, who often are not capable of working to degree level yet get given retake opportunities before being spat out when those are exhausted, in a great deal of debt with nothing to show for it. It's fucking unethical and wastes an enormous amount of their and our time.

However: our new cohort will have roughly 120 students, and I won't have a clue who got what in their A Levels unless I explicitly go and look it up (which I do do when I read an essay that looks like a monkey on drugs smacked a keyboard repeatedly; or is just a massive bigoted opinion piece). No one will pre-judge him; he will be marked on the work he produces at the institution. In that sense this is effectively a fresh start for him. He can't coast; if this is his achievements after coasting at A Level, doing so at HE Level will result in him failing. As long as he works hard he can leave this behind him and get on with the future.

Titchy - I see it more as parents (like the OP of the thread referenced above) not being disadvantaged by losing thousands, or tens of thousands, of their savings because their offspring is lying to them. In that case, the parent wouldn't have been whipping her son's arse, so much as pulling the plug on a completely pointless third year.

It is indeed. I've tried to persuade him to go out with his friends but he's happy with a takeaway. We are going out to look for bits to take with him ( and some pokemon hunting) now. Thanks for all the helpful replies. He's in a much better place than this morning.

If it's in anyway reassuring I messed up my a levels, barely scraped into my degree course. I got a massive wake up, got my arse into gear and ended up with a 1st, MA and PhD....it's not the end of the world, but it's up to him now how he uses this opportunity.
Hopefully he'll thrive at uni.

an essay that looks like a monkey on drugs smacked a keyboard repeatedly

I think I love you for writing that @Dljlr Oh if only we could write that in our feedback on essays!

Haha @silverbuckles it can be so tempting can't it! I had a beareavement earlier this year and had to mark through it; I ended up having to go back and edit almost every bubble comment and moderate my feedback on Turnitin prior to their being released as I had been faaaaar too honest harsh!

to put it into context, does he have any Music grades grade 6 and over? Or any AS points, I think they all can be added to the UCAS tariff, if you feel guilty about him not having enough points? The other thing is that a student with UCAS points from a BTec qualification would sometimes not be able to achieve a D at A level as it is different style of qualification, yet still be getting those UCAS points in excess of your son's. Your son may be as well prepared as some of the other people in the cohort, just from having done A levels at all. Ds has an A* equivalent in Btec and UCAS tariff, but I don't think he would have managed the same points from an A level (and hasn't, his maximum was a C grade, which he is pleased with x 2)