Baytree, a particular issue, if Universities are contextualising student applications, is what they do when a "disadvantaged" student arrives.
Whereas a strong A* applicant like CBear99's DD may worry that they arrive "overprepared" there may also be other students, admitted via a widening access plan, who through no fault of their own, arrive underprepared.
There seem to be three options: either the University provide additional support to those students, or they redesign their course to ensure it is not too challenging, or they apply "sink or swim".
The first option is presumably preferred, as the second implies diluting the status/rigour of the course, and the third is, at best, unkind. I hope that the Office for Students is thinking beyond intake, and perhaps is also looking at how many contextual students complete their courses. Observation suggests that the sink or swim approach happens, and that students from non traditional backgrounds can struggle as a result.
And CBear99, DS' experience was that there was a lot to stretch him beyond his course. His university seemed to recognise that first year compulsory courses for 200-300 were not always the most inspiring, and had a parallel voluntary series where PhD students, visiting academics and sometimes the students themselves, presented. Take up was relatively low but it worked for those who wanted to be stretched. DS was also engaged in the subject society and in his second year managed to wangle an invitation to a peer review group more normally meant for post graduates. That plus reading, discussion with friends and the odd public lecture mean that academic life at University went well beyond course content. Others chose, rather than to dig deeper into their subject, to engage in broader University activities such as sport, drama or music.