Applying for Uni 2019 entry, parents support thread

[Decorhate]

Now that they are back at school, working on Personal Statements, doing the final Open Day visits, I thought we could do with a new thread...

Piggywaspushed

He keeps saying he wants to do history but doesn't have history A level. his GCSE is a C ... partly down to bad coursework/ supervision.

The Oxford Brookes web site doesn't say A-level history is required to do a degree in history. (My daughter is doing an Asian language there at the moment without a language A-level, although that's a bit more common.) He should contact them to find out whether he can apply with the qualifications he's doing. They might want to interview him if he doesn't fit the usual pattern. My nephew did history somewhere else but nearly shot himself in the foot by writing a personal statement that was all about ancient history: all the courses he applied for started around 1500 (Brookes's starts in 1450).

Well yesterday's offer turned into an unconditional today!! So happy for DD.
ifonly4 Not St A's. Not expecting to hear from them till 31at March. It was York

I'm surprised at York giving unconditional offers. It is highly regarded and over subscribed.

I know!! We’re in shock!!! Nice shock but still shock 😂

I guess those predicted grades were pretty good! Well done her Was York likely to be in her top two?

Ds had his first offer today, so he's happy too.

Yes Atia it was joint favourite. She is thrilled and I am astounded/relieved/proud. Predicted grades good but no *'s in them.
Wishing everyone else's DC the best of luck with this whole process.

Great to hear of offers already- but making me impatient for ds to press send!

2 offers here - both unconditional, both places she doesn’t want to go 🙄😂. A confidence boost though, but waiting for the favourites to show their habd

newmodelarmy my other child doing Geog - first year compulsory field trip free (except beer money!!) and later trips very much optional and actually sounded like jollies to me. He hasn’t done any of them and it’s not been an issue at all

Oh VanCleef Fingers crossed she gets one from a favourite then...At least mine wants to go to hers!

Just read all messages on this thread and am impressed by how organised other people's dc/schools are. My ds still not finalised PS, and only just started going to Open Days. He has moved from a combination of A Level/Btec to triple Btec. He should still get a chance to do Business and Marketing or similar somewhere. When dd (now 2nd yr) applied she was so much more focused and organised. I have one that works too much and another that parties too hard. Sigh...

Hello all. Just checking back in as thread has dropped off my list. Glad to see there are some people still at our stage. DD has at last finalised course choice - Philosophy and Economics (or some version thereof) - pretty much picked five universities (going back to check Exeter at an open day at half term) and is now cracking on with her personal statement. School encouraging them to get applications finished by end of November to allow room for manoeuvre. I'm assuming all these early applicants on here are all Oxbridge or medicine.

Not necessarily, but each school has its own internal timetable with varying numbers of Oxbridge/medics etc from year to year. I just had a look at ds's PS as he left it on his computer when he went out. His tutor seemed to have forgotten to look at his, and just waved a pen over his first draft, which will need a bit of overhauling as far as I can see. Ds only seems to have 3 that he wants to apply to.

Congratulaations to those who already have offers.

This thread is from last year's cohort, but makes interesting reading about unconditional offers.

Interestingly, at Manchester University's open day they said that they never made unconditional offers because they wanted students who actively wanted to go there. They are not interested in "bums on seats". They also interview. Given how many students there are they must spend a lot of time interviewing.

Yes Atia it was joint favourite.

Extra lovely then! My daughter for an unconditional from her favourite, and although she did still spend a lot of time working out if that was really the best place for her, once she'd accepted it, it did make life easier for the last few months before results day.

I think an unconditional offer should just be a bonus, don't accept it just because it's unconditional!

2 offers here - both unconditional, both places she doesn’t want to go

I'm just curious - given that there is no obligation to use all 5 slots on the UCAS form at all, let alone at first submission, why apply to those in the first place?

Another UCAS submitted form household here. Passed the button on Monday and school have said they will have the reference added by the end of the week so hopefully we will have some offers during half term. It's Politics and International Relations that he has applied for at Sheffield, Nottingham, Liverpool Aston and Keele.

Interesting thread on unconditional offers, Lonerica - at least until it turns into a debate about whether or not it's even worth applying to anywhere less than Durham :)

DD's application went in yesterday. Three RG and two non-RG on the list and she's certainly not expecting any unconditionals. That said, a friend whose predicted grades are slightly lower then hers has just her initial BBB offer converted to an unconditional from UEA (which is non-RG, how very dare it...)

Even the initial BBB offer, by the way, was lower than the published tariff.

"at least until it turns into a debate about whether or not it's even worth applying to anywhere less than Durham"

Yes. There was some terrific snobbery on last year's year 13 threads. Although some of the parents of Oxbridge students were lovely and not in the least bit snobby. The current 1st year at university thread is lovely and supportive.

I sit somewhere in between as DD applied unsuccessfully for medicine last year, and then decided she didn't want to do the option she was offered or go through clearing/adjustment so she is on a gap year now with the right grades at A level to do what she now knows what she wants to do.

It does seem that there are a lot more unconditional offers than ever, and I get the impression that some universities are very uncomfortable about the idea.

News article here

My older two are both working now, but unconditional offers just didn't seem to be a thing when they were applying a few years ago.

That said, they must have sort of existed back in the Dark Ages (aka the early 1980s) when I applied. My insurance was an offer of two Es from any of my A levels (including General Studies, which was my compulsory fourth) from a RG university. That seems pretty close to an unconditional!

Jane You had to have 2 E grades to get the grant when I applied, so I don't think anyone colleges accepted less. We referred to 2E offers as unconditional, as it was the lowest offer you would get .

I got 3 2E offers, although I think they all said excluding general studies.

That's interesting, Witchend.

What I do know is that the 2 Es offer really didn't make me take my foot off the gas (though, of course, my firm offer was rather higher). I worked myself stupid for my A levels. I'm sure there's an element of coasting among some students with unconditional offers, but I'm equally sure that others continue to work very hard and - perhaps - better, without the added stress of higher offers.

Checking back in after a hectic few days. Good to hear some of our thread have offers already!! It's making me impatient to get DDs PS finished.

Thanks Monkey and eatinglesschoc for the advice on the UCAS tool.

DD has finally got coursework drafts in but it's been a nightmare getting her to do the work. She is so unmotivated to work, I would say lazy but that sounds too mean. I hope she's going to cope with the demands of uni ok.

My ds sounds like your dd, Framey. He seems to prioritise his social life but looks horrified when I suggest he look for an apprenticeship or a job rather than go to uni. I think he lacks the maturity at this stage but hopefully that will change when things start to heat up.