Missed place - worth contacting department directly?

[emkana]

Called clearing hotline - one mark off their offer. Is it worth contacting the department directly to make your case?

Depends on the uni and the subject. It couldn’t hurt to try and if there are spaces a chat with the admissions tutor might help. But then again it might not. Are there other options?

It would be unlikely to undo any harm. If not successful it may bring about closure.

Yes always always. (UK academic in a RG uni).

Would email or phone be better?

Dd worries that the department won't be staffed at the moment

If you have the name of the admissions tutor you could try calling directly through switchboard. Some will be in their offices this week. Or you could email in. Or you could go back through the hotline and ask to be put through. I’m surprised at a flat no for a one mark miss to be honest. But it does depend on the demand for the course and the uni

My friend is an admissions tutor and she will be working bonkers hours for the next couple of weeks. So I imagine her equivalents elsewhere will be in a similar position. So yes contact them. Good luck

When she says not staffed does she mean because of clearing or because of summer? Because if it’s the latter I can assure you that all admissions people are in at the moment. Whether they are at their desks is another matter, but they should be reachable

It’s worth a try but equally be prepared for the answer to be no. Do they still have places in clearing now?

admissions people will all be at work this week.

email then follow up with a phone call. Make very sure the email is well written and has a number to call you back.

Our admissions tutors are definitely working this week and checking email (as are the rest of us).

Has she already called the clearing line then and they've still confirmed no? In which case then it's a no. Clearing phones are answered by admission tutors.

If by one mark off you literally mean one mark, rather than one grade, how about getting a priority remark - uni should hold open the place in those circumstances.

@titchy yes clearing hotline.
Are they just general admission tutors though? Was wondering if talking to the department directly could help. At open day they were very keen on dd

Which university and which course? That will have a bearing on how likely they are to have places.

As everyone says, it will depend on the course and the uni. But definitely definitely call and explain your case.

It's quite outing so I don't want to say but it's quite a niche subject (STEM related) at a RG uni

There are still spaces free according to the website.
On the hotline they said they'd take BBB but she has BBC.
Does each department have its own admissions tutor or is it per faculty or...?

Everyone working in admissions would be working crazy hours this week so it is unreasonable to expect admissions tutors to pick up their phones in their offices when they are likely to be locked away somewhere else in the university picking up Clearing calls.

If she is just missing her offer by one grade, call the Clearing line tomorrow as her Department may have readjusted their expectations if they didn’t have many takers today. You can also ask about other STEM courses as there may be other departments in the same uni that may be happy to offer a place to her with her achieved grades.

Please note however that each university/department has an absolute lower limit for grades, they will not tell you what that limit is, but if they say no 2-3 times, forget about it and start ringing other universities.

I'm inferring that the 'offer' was higher than BBB, and that they've already lowered their offer with the "we'll take BBB" - is that right ?
In which case she hasn't missed by one grade, in one subject, it is more than that.

Apologies if I'm wrong, but that seems to be what is suggested by you saying "We'll take BBB".

Yes that's exactly right BackforGood. So I am wondering if it's worth asking again/differently- talk about closeness to grade boundaries? How extracurricular interests qualify her?
Or is it futile?

Remarks being done btw but not too hopeful on those

The subject and university isn’t particularly outing - the numbers are big. I think there are a few people on this thread with inside knowledge but can’t share it publicly. It should be possible to give you an idea of success if you can share that information. For example, I know that there are some RG STEM courses with places who might consider BBC. I also know that there are others where that wouldn’t be possible. It depends a little on what the A levels are. Extra curriculars can help, but the best thing is to focus on why that subject at that uni and how driven she is. She’s going to need to be driven to turn it into a good STEM degree, though I’ve seen it done before.

The admissions tutors are all working flat out. Some are in central call centres, others are in their offices. All are contactable but the clearing hotline might be the best option to get through, or the department email depending on what’s happening there. She needs to make the calls herself - academics prefer to deal with students themselves.

I don’t think anything is futile, but you need to be realistic. You’re asking the university to take a gamble on someone who doesn’t meet the requirements. The knock on effect is that they could be less able than the cohort, harder to teach, and more likely to drop out. I think those are the points that need to be addressed ultimately.

Give it a go, it might work out. The worst the could say is no!

I work at an RG University where we just do not accept applicants below BBB. So that C might be a sticking point.

And we’ve also all had an email saying any enquiries to us must be passed through to our general Admissions office. If you can email the department/subject Admissions Tutor directly you might get an answer.

But if they filled their quota with BBB students then your DD may just have missed out.

(I’m in a Department which is not in Clearing - we made our target and were only looking at excellent Adjustment applicants)

If it's still showing on the clearing page is that not necessarily a good sign?

Have you considered a re-mark if you're that close to the grade boundary?

Just because the course is still in Clearing is not necessarily a good sign. They may well be still only looking for BBB applicants. And there will be plenty of them still looking today.