Applying for Uni 2020

[daydreamornot]

Thought it may be nice to have a 2020 support thread, everyone welcome! (maybe Oxbridge posts could be kept to the Oxbridge thread).

It's all so clear now! I've had no idea what you all are talking about with predicted grades, clearing places and conditional offers. It really made no sense to me at all. Then The Economist came to my rescue with this:

www.economist.com/britain/2019/08/17/labour-plans-a-shake-up-of-english-university-admissions

Do you really have teacher predict what grades they think students will get and universities base admission decisions on that? That seems a bit bonkers to me. They can't see into the future and if the kids works hard and does much better than predicted it's too late to get into a better uni.

Anyway, I am much less confused now.

MissConductUS it's not quite that damning. There is a system called clearing which mops up the unfilled vacancies on degree courses offering places to students who didn't quite make the grade for their firm or insurance degree course offers. Clearing also offers something called adjustment, where if your grades were better than expected, you can reject your firm offer and accept a place on a course needing higher grades if they have a vacancy. For example, if a student had accepted a place for biochemistry after initially being rejected for medicine actually got 4 top A star grades, they may find a university was now willing to take them for medicine, especially if other students had not got the grades required to guarantee them a place.

& that is why I doubt if any of us on this thread will be on holiday in the wilds of Borneo this time next year! We will all be waiting for UCAS track to update online early on the Thursday morning, waiting for emails to pop into in boxes and hoping phones have good signals and don't run out of battery on the day. It really can be first come first served.

@MillicentMartha - Well done to your DS3, I think my advice to my DD will be the same not to have insurance which will leave her clear to contact any Uni's straight away if she doesn't get into first-choice Uni. There were quite a few Uni's indecisive yesterday, one of my friend's sons missed his AAA prediction (AAB), Uni - Bath flatly refused acceptance via early morning phone call and then offered place by email later that morning.

HugoSpritz I think a number of schools are massaging the EPQ into the full A Level results for the purposes of their press releases!

Really happy, the maths and FM were great results. He actually did better in FM than in maths!

Well done your DS. It's funny isn't it? My Dd is predicted A* in FM but A in maths and yet FM is obviously harder. I think the grade boundaries need sorting out really.

I also agree that the predicted grade system is ridiculous and needs an overhaul.

@MissConductUS and @Hoghgyni it does sound like a bonkers system when it's written down like that though.
After being through it once with DD1 I tried to convince DD2 to take a gap year and apply after results but she wasn't interested.
I do think changing the system to allow all dc to apply after results would remove so much stress and angst.
DD1 was relatively lucky last year and was still accepted by her first choice despite a dropped grade (which went up on re-Mark anyway) but many of her friends had a terrible time with indecisive unis and clearing, and I'll never forget the nerves and the dread in the run up to results day.

Furniture my reasoning on the maths vs FM inconsistency is that DS is really rather good at maths, understands the concepts well but can be careless and can lose ‘easy’ marks by making errors. So in maths, those more careful and maybe less over-confident will gain marks over DS. In FM, because it’s all harder he’s perhaps more careful and gains some marks on harder questions.

In the old modular days it was rare to do better in FM because the optional modules would be shifted around between maths and FM to get the optimal result with maths taking precedence over FM.

DS actually got a higher raw score for FM than maths even before grade boundaries are taken into account. Good job he wants to do maths at uni!

That does make sense Millicent, my Dd is also prone to making silly mistakes on the easier questions.
Good job she doesn't want to do maths at uni, she has her heart set on psychology.

I know biology, chemistry and physchology A levels are gaining popularity, especially with girls, but I hadn't realised that maths entries had dropped by 5.8%. If that trend continues, things may be looking rosy for the maths applicants here.

Lots of nice success stories in the papers today about students overcoming the odds to get places for quality apprenticeship schemes and universities. Stories of multiple A*s with or without an EPQ don't really reflect the real world for the vast majority, so it's great to see some normal students getting their Andy Warhol moment.

One of my friends DD's has been accepted for a wonderful degree apprenticeship at JLR. £18.5k a year (no tuition fees to worry about), no doubt a nice discounted car when she can afford the insurance to drive it ...and grades required were CCC!

I'm just beginning to sort out new names to old GCSE names...very confusing.

DS has contemplated a degree apprenticeship, but I think is put off by the lack of living support i.e. not having uni halls to live in. He's not really ready to go it alone in a new place while working/studying. It's complicated by the fact that we're expecting to relocate some time in the next couple of years, so he can't rely on living at home (even if there were anywhere nearby offering an apprenticeship he wants).

I'm very envious of all of you who know how well your DC in their exams - DS has given me the grades, but no more than that, so I don't know how close to boundaries they were at all. I'm hoping he's a little more willing to share next year, when it may potentially come to the Clearing scrum! He'll probably tell us at some point, when he's processed it all, but I'm expecting him to be discussing resits with his tutors when he goes back to college in September and leave me out of it, really.

@oneofthegiants. I think some degree apprenticeships do offer help when it comes to accommodation. I'm almost certain that my friends DD will be in some form of sharing accommodation near Warwick/Leamington (JLR have a site on the Uni campus) and their plant HQ is not far away...Not sure about any of the others. Good luck to your DS.

The bigger firms will have a whole gang of school leavers and grads starting at the same time. They offer support by putting them in touch with each other and recommending reputable agencies for flat shares. I believe some will also put them up in a budget hotel for a couple of weeks if they are relocating.

Oneofthegiants does your school have a parent portal? I know the results mine achieved in their summer exams and predicted grades from that.

Hi, I'm new to the thread. DD is going into yr 13, looking to do Criminolgy. I've been reading the threads about clearing and adjustment this year, and was wondering how far after results day (13th Aug'20) it was safe to book a holiday?

Interesting question! I think if DC go into clearing then you can end up making an additional trip to see a completely new university the week after results come out, friends of ours are in that situation now.

Actually 2 years ago, another friend ended up visiting 2 different unis (including one that required an interview) before her DD eventually chose the course she wanted (and is loving)!

We have to play safe and go on holiday earlier in August or July anyway - I have to be in work on GCSE results day and the week before will probably be quite busy sorting out DS1!
I hope DS1 starts on his holiday homework and PS before too long...

I have to book my time off around 18 - 21 months in advance. I have the Thursday & Friday of results week booked off & then DH & I are going away 10 days later. DD & I have a post exam holiday booked for the first week in July. It's harder to make plans for a significant birthday at the end of Sept.

@redPT. I lecture criminology if you want any advice. Does your DS know where he wants to apply? Even with clearing its normally safe to go away the week after results. There won't be additional interviews for criminology so clearing decisions usually made on the day over the phone.

@EightToSixer that's really helpful thank you. We've been to quite a few open days DD's favourites are Bristol which is a 4 year course with a year abroad or Liverpool a 3 year course with a possible semester abroad (and then a year in China). Just got Cardiff left to look in September. She is passionate about criminology and really wants to spend some of her degree abroad learning about another countries criminal justice system.

Not much "school work/PS preparation " being done by my DD in the next 7 days - party social BUT I guess shes happy!

Hi all!

DS wanting to do History but planning a gap year first.

Predictions will be in the Bs and Cs I think, possibly an A in History. He just got B,C,E in his internal exams at the end of the year. The B was just a couple of marks off an A and the E was just off a D (also misread a question - dyslexic)

So who knows?! He’s been doing some reading and note taking for his History coursework over the summer plus working in the subject he did poorly in.

So far he has loved Liverpool (will be aspirational). Plan to look at Manchester Met, Leicester in October. Not sure we’ll manage more than that (we live far away!)

One q- should he apply for deferred entry or just wait then ask to defer? Or do it in his gap year?

Notsureaboutthis

Possible reasons for applying this year:

• If he thinks his predicted grades are optimistic and he might get lower in the actual exams.
• School / college will be more on the ball with references etc and require less chasing.
• Next year is likely to have more people applying to university (based on birth rate) so could be more competitive to get an offer and universities might not drop grade requirements as low on results day.

Possible reasons for waiting and applying next year:

• If he is not yet sure what subject he wants to study.
• If he thinks his A-level results are likely to be higher than his predicted grades.

No parent portal unfortunately, Hoghgyni - it's a (very new) sixth form college, and we've had very little contact other than a parents' evening. I'm not sure how much that's down to DS, though - he's not the most proactive at letting us know about things/bringing home newsletters! I'm not aware of any talks/meetings about UCAS at all, even, and DS seems clueless about the whole process. That might be because he missed chunks of the last year due to anxiety, though, so there could have been talks they had that he wasn't aware of.

On the plus side, he said yesterday that he's now feeling better about his results. I had a quick look on Exeter's website for clearing offers (basically because it came up on my Facebook feed because I like their page), and Physics is listed asking BBB, so all hope is not lost, even though typical offers for next year are AAA!

I don't think we're going to make much more progress until he goes back to college at the beginning of September, though. Your DD isn't the only one who's not very motivated at the moment, oneteen (though DS is sleeping rather than partying)!

Maybe I can get him to look at some slightly less aspirational unis in the meantime, though I'm not really sure where is good (but not top-ranking) for Physics. Any suggestions, anyone?

Southampton (if you've picked up Exeter)? Quite a few regulars for STEM went to look around on their open days. Which region is ge thinking of