Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Applying for Uni 2020

999 replies

daydreamornot · 04/08/2019 11:29

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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
MillicentMartha · 17/09/2019 22:42

Yes, 23rd Sept for UCAS predicted grades for early entry. The school don’t seem to have the same policy as others in issuing UCAS predicted grades. They finalise them as late as possible to make sure they’re a bit more accurate. I can understand them waiting until after AS results (they do 4 AS levels) but I’m finding it a bit painful, tbh.

Hoghgyni · 17/09/2019 22:44

Happy with a 3 month wait (I know at least 3 will drag it out) as where there's nothing, there's hope.

Ironoaks · 17/09/2019 22:47

Yes, I can see that there is a balance to be found between setting predicted grades too early (less accurate) and setting them too late (less time to visit universities and decide on feasible choices).

MillicentMartha · 17/09/2019 22:51

DS1 got 4 of his offers within a fortnight, then his last one a month or so later. He submitted his form in December.

Ironoaks · 17/09/2019 22:51

Happy with a 3 month wait (I know at least 3 will drag it out) as where there's nothing, there's hope.

True, although I think DS would rather know one way or the other. He isn't comfortable with uncertainty.

oneteen · 17/09/2019 22:55

DD's school seem to be the same - quite late but most DC would have already been deterred from applications if the grades were not feasible.

The application process seems quite cruel for the more academic DC in terms of they could be rejected from Oxbridge and also Uni's like Durham and St Andrews -often the later two make offers fairly late in the process.

oneteen · 17/09/2019 22:58

I'm being Optimistic that DD has exceeded all the predicted grades for the 4 UNis on her list - so touch wood she should get offers ..one space left empty...

Hoghgyni · 18/09/2019 07:26

I think Edinburgh drags it out until the last minute as well.

QueenOfToast · 20/09/2019 09:51

So excited to have discovered this thread. I haven't had chance to read through all the posts yet, but my DS is planning on studying chemistry. York is currently top favourite, but he's going to look at Durham on Saturday, so things could change. His personal statement is almost finished which is good because school are encouraging him to apply as soon as the Oxbridge deadline has passed so that it's all done and out of the way.

We've also got DS2 doing GCSEs this year, so I'm hoping that our house will be Revision Central from January onwards, but with 2 very laid back boys I think I'm the only person thinking about revision at the moment!

Hoghgyni · 20/09/2019 15:10

Did you go to York at the weekend? It was a bit disappointing that you couldn't have a good nose around in the depts but I thought the campus and halls were lovely. DD was disappointed with the facilities for her sport, but I pointed out that they have more bad weather in Yorkshire which cuts the season down a lot.

Alittewornout · 20/09/2019 15:34

Edinburgh open day for Dd tomorrow. It’s our home city so she is going with a friend ( for once no travel costs too!!😉)

LIZS · 20/09/2019 19:08

Edinburgh made offers around Christmas last year.

Serin · 20/09/2019 20:11

Hoghgyni Our DS2 is really taken with York, he spent a week there doing a residential course and absolutely loved it.
It's his first choice.

Alittewornout · 20/09/2019 20:16

That’s what we are hoping for LIZS.

LIZS · 20/09/2019 21:36

They do faff around to establish which funding stream each candidate falls into first though as they have limits for each.

Hoghgyni · 21/09/2019 12:21

Serin my SiL & BiL met at York. They were telling DD which colleges to look at & we had to point oug that theirs had been demolushed & moved to the East campus. We found that duck & goose poo is quite a hazard!

QueenOfToast · 21/09/2019 13:43

Hello @Hoghgyni and @Serin

DS and I did the Nottingham and York monster train travel excursion last weekend (plenty of geese to avoid at both!). These were the first campus universities DS1 has seen - previously looked at Manchester, Sheffield and UCL and he really liked the campus university feel. However, despite the celebrity of Martyn Poliakoff doing a short talk at Nottingham, it was the chemistry department at York that particularly impressed him; beautiful labs with plenty of space and an MChem that is structured slightly differently to other universities. If you opt to do a year in industry, you do this in your 4th year (instead of doing it in your 3rd year and then going back to uni for another year).

For others who are interested in the same subject area, the chemistry department at York were very keen to stress that they will reply to your application within a couple of days and they also said that they only make offers to those that have been to an open day.

DS is in Durham today with DH (another mammoth train journey). Given that he likes (and has visited) York, Nottingham and Manchester, do you think he needs to look at Warwick in a couple of weeks or do you think a virtual tour will be enough? Depending on what he thinks of Durham, Warwick might not even get onto his UCAS form. If he did put it on and he received an offer, then presumably he could go to an offer holders day. How many universities have your DCs visited? We've spent quite a few £££ on train travel already as well as a LOT of time.

Ironoaks · 21/09/2019 13:53

they also said that they only make offers to those that have been to an open day

Did I read that correctly? What about overseas applicants? Or those who can't afford the travel costs?

Hoghgyni · 21/09/2019 14:04

That is absolutely barking if it's correct. It would take me 8-9 hours to get from Cornwall to York. How utterly short sighted of them if it is true. The open day does diddly squat to demonstrate academic ability, subject interest etc. It simply shows you have enough time & cash to have a nice day out.

QueenOfToast · 21/09/2019 14:38

Maybe I've misunderstood, but this is only relevant for the chemistry department, not the whole university. I can't remember the exact wording in the talk on the day - to be honest, I was (rather selfishly) pleased that there seemed to be some benefit to having gone to the open day. Anyway, I've attached an image of the letter that they sent out afterwards which might be interpreted as confirming what I thought was said, but is also suitably vague!

Applying for Uni 2020
QueenOfToast · 21/09/2019 14:43

Just found this on the York website:

For example, offers will be influenced by:

the content of the UCAS application
any extenuating circumstances
the requirement to visit the Department of Chemistry. For applicants who are based in the UK and whose application meets our selection criteria, we require you to visit the Department before considering you for an offer. You can visit the Department in three ways:
If you've visited us on an Open Day and applied to study at York, we'll invite you to a post-offer visit day, meaning you have another opportunity to visit us before making your decision
If you've never visited us, but you've applied to study at York, we'll invite you to a pre-offer visit day. This allows you to see the campus, department, teaching facilities and meet members of staff, and allows us to learn a bit more about you
If you've missed the main University Open Days, you can attend a pre-application visit day over the summer, where you can see the department, teaching facilities and meet our staff

Serin · 21/09/2019 16:58

QueenOfToast, uh oh! That's a bit alarming for DS! He hasn't visited a York open day but did spend a week at summer school there, hope that counts!
He is also with DH in Durham today.
He is the youngest of our 3, so he has been dragged around a lot of uni open days when his older siblings were viewing them.
His choices so far are York, Durham, Edinburgh and Loughborough. He may go for Oxford Brookes/Royal Holloway as insurance.
This is for computer science.

Hoghgyni · 21/09/2019 19:39

Phew! I've looked at the requirements for DD's chosen subject & a couple of other subjects and it seems to vary from subject to subject. She doesn't need to do anything other then send in her UCAS form and keep her fingers crossed. Others insist on interview and others offer the opportunity to visit without making it compulsory.

oneteen · 21/09/2019 20:47

I think York will be on DD's list but she did go to the open day in June (although at that time she was looking at Biochemistry rather than Biomed).

She's had her reference read to her on Friday, she was really pleased, it definitely plays on her strengths for the course. She sat the recent Biology AS paper last week with very pleasing results - so hopefully she is on course for the A *.

The Yr13 girls had a climate change demonstration outside the school on Friday (during PE session and lunch), bless them, the school was a bit Shock but after the initial how do we handle this was supportive.

Oratory1 · 22/09/2019 08:22

A number of courses make the offer conditional on attending a post offer day. That’s not the same as having to go to open day. And it means you can wait to find out the results of your other four before deciding whether to go or not so effectively only need to go if your thinking if firming it