Applying for Uni 2019 Part 6: exams, leaving school/college (the end of an era), a long summer holiday and Results Day on the horizon

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Just when exam season gets fully underway our previous thread has almost filled up. Everyone welcome .

Back up the thread is a link to clearing at UEA.
Don’t know if any others have published clearing lists yet.

digital.ucas.com/search/results?SearchText=&ProviderText=&SubjectText=&AutoSuggestType=&filters=Destination_Undergraduate&AcademicYearId=2019&RegionDistancePostcode=&DistanceFromPostcode=25mi

There may be more added up to the 5th & some universities have individual pre registration clearing links on their websites.

So if there are courses available through clearing that means those courses are undersubscribed at the uni? Does that mean there could also be a chance of an application being accepted at a lower grade?

MrKLaw given this is a low birth rate year I’d say the chances of getting into under subscribed courses with lower grades is pretty high

All of the places Dd originally applied to have clearing places - with the same grades (so higher than the offers she got in some cases) but a couple she didn't apply to have lower grades. I assume all it means is that there’s opportunity for a bit of negotiation if they currently have spaces rather than they’ll take them not matter how bad the results (worst case scenario prepping make me feel better - Dd was not impressed when I told her).

I know that last year Southampton took a few through adjustment rather than clearing for her course - so not getting too excited that it’s on the list (assume the removal of caps to student numbers is a big factor too).

one more hour and that’s my son finally finished. He actually said yesterday he didn’t feel like revising in the evening - but he had already done some afternoon revision. I think that was partly fatigue at still having exams, and partly his routine for revision maybe broke down when he only had one subject left.

@VanCleefArpels thanks. I think Warwick for maths will still probably keep their requirements high (AAA or AA*AA..) - I guess they are regularly oversubscribed. Southampton as insurance may be better

If you miss your first choice but make the grade for your insurance can you still check clearing or do you need to take the insurance offer?

You have to take the insurance unless they agree to release you and only then can you get into clearing. They may not be in a hurry to release applicants which may mean bagging things in clearing may be trickier since that’s first come first served

I made it very clear to DH months ago, he either needed to take the day off or at least re-arrange his day so I could have the car on results day. Apparently DD's school emails them at 6am, with the school opening at 8am - it'll take two hours to get there with rush hour traffic so we'd be up for an early start. In reality, her course isn't available at a lower level, so I think she'd take a gap year to rethink. Still good to talk options through with the school.

Mrklaw - if you exceed the grades required for your insurance you can apply for a course in'adjustment' and still keep your insurance place until you know if your new choice has accepted you. The adjustment choice has to have higher grade requirements than your insurance though.

As well as individual uni clearing lists you can search on the ucas website for 'courses with vacancies' and see which unis are listed for the course you want. You have to put in your country of residence and click on the search key after filling in the university or course you want and clicking courses 2019-20

Sorry , meant to say you can already do this now and see which courses have places even before clearing opens.

It will be a long day - at dd’s they are told to check track at 6am, if they don’t have a confirmed place they need to go into school by 8am. If they have a confirmed place then they can wait until 10:30.

The thought of resists is horrendous - I honestly don’t know what will happen if Dd doesn’t get her grades. We can’t put her needs (financial/practical) above the other children for another year.

Just looked at that UCAS list. DD's firm and insurance both have limited places, but only for international studies. If she narrowly misses her firm, she says she's going to phone them up and fight for her place.

Having been through this last year, (DS has been retaking this year) it seemed like most knew which uni they had been accepted in (or not) by the time they got to school at 8am, UCAS track is updated at 6am, obviously they didn’t know their grades.
The ones that hadn’t been accepted at either choice were taken upstairs where staff went through clearing options with them.
Most students were happy but obviously it’s awful for the ones who haven’t got in to either choice as they know they’ve got lower grades than predicted.

The universities get the results several days before we do. We know a few pupils who I think must have known they were going to miss the grades for borh their firm and insurance, and who picked out a new course or uni and spoke to them before results day so somehow by about 9 or 10 they had already firmed a new place. Definitely worth starting before results day if your DC 'knows' they are going to be out of the 'leniency' zone. You can also pre-prepare a list for clearing of the phone no.s of the relevant unis and answers to the questions they will ask.

Wow it sounds complicated. Didn’t realise UCAS updates before they even go to school to get results. But if a formality going to school then

God job I booked reauktsbday off just in case I’m on the phone/internet all day

Warwick (firm) shows only vacancies for international students for maths, and Southampton (ins) showing the same grades as the offer we already have

So maybe need to review some others on the shortlist but I would guess the top 10-20 unis for a particular subject probably won’t have any availability at this stage?

Even before UCAS updates you might find an email from a University that says “Welcome” - this is what happened to my son 3 years ago, emails sent in the early hours!

MrKlaw my son’s firm choice is usually in the top 5 or 6 unis for his subject & according to that link it has places in clearing. So it’s not just lower tariff unis.

"MrKLaw given this is a low birth rate year I’d say the chances of getting into under subscribed courses with lower grades is pretty high"

How would this affect those universities? If for example the grades required for a certain course are ABB, and a significant number of the intake ended up with BBC does this mean that the lecturers and tutors will have to work harder with students with a wider range of abilities? Do the standards change every year depending on the cohort?

@tapas I’ve asked the same question before in the past but more from the angle of how will the students with lower offers cope. Will they just struggle along? or will as you say, lecturers/tutors tailor course delivery to the cohort to reach the required standard.

Are there any lecturers here who can answer the questions above?

The 3 dd declined offers from are listed, with same entry grades as originally offered, as it the one which did not make the UCAS application.

As to whether entering a course with lower than published grade requirements affect cohort standards: assuming we are talking about an established department that has a reputation and standards to maintain, it depends whether the published grade requirements accurately reflect base entry standards, rather than a crude way to thin out competition.

If the required grades are above actual base standards eg 3A*s asked but actually 3Bs (usually in specific subjects) will be adequate, then there is more scope for flexibility. With A levels in the recent past possibly lending themselves to being taught to the test, rather than being an indicator of understanding and application, the better places use entrance tests to flush out aptitude and base standards. If you got through these, and had a bad day, just missing a grade, it would be reasonable to be taken on.

So entry grades may not affect cohort standards, provided there is both learning potential and capacity to deliver the standards. If it seems 'unfair' that places may turn out graduates of different standards, that tends to be exposed by employers who also use cognitive tests. The 'bizarre' or 'weird' behaviour by universities and employers is simply down to their having 'seen it all before' and knowing how things work out. Bums of adequate calibre will always be welcome on empty seats.

@LIZS (love this whole new “@“ malarkey that auto flags up usernames).
The grades currently showing under Clearing, are the normal entry grades. I don’t think lowered grades can happen until results are out depending on how well people have done. Grades may or may not be lowered. Also some of the universities do not publish their lowered grades and prefer you to call up with your grades on the day then they will make an offer.