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Higher education

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

Applying for Uni 2020 :2: Offers arriving

999 replies

MillicentMartha · 18/10/2019 21:34

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3655914-Applying-for-Uni-2020?pg=40

Previous thread

OP posts:
KingscoteStaff · 28/10/2019 21:31

Massively jealous of reduced Durham offers - that’s fantastic!

SukiPutTheEarlGreyOn · 28/10/2019 21:51

Many thanks for the sound advice MillicentMartha - much appreciated. May I also check whether the unis contact applicants directly re: offer holder dates? Dd wouldn’t visit selected unis prior ro making application so I’m hoping to have more success in persuading her to do so for the offer holder days (judging by how excited and delighted she was this evening I think she may well be more receptive now) but wonder if there is another source of info on these or whether it is all via UCAS?

SukiPutTheEarlGreyOn · 28/10/2019 21:58

Thanks so much HugoSpritz and KingscoteStaff. This is such a lovely welcoming and supportive thread for lurkers such as myself who have been quietly reading along to get sage advice, information and to help calm jitters! To answer question about the course, Dd has applied for psychology.

MillicentMartha · 28/10/2019 22:36

The unis will contact your DD directly about offer holder days, if they do them. UCAS won’t be involved. My DS only got his form in to them today so I’m trying to remember from DS1, 4 years ago. He went to 2 offer holder days but I can’t remember if all 5 unis held them.

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SukiPutTheEarlGreyOn · 28/10/2019 22:43

Thanks again MillicentMartha. If I can persuade DD to go to one offer holder day it’ll be considered a win. It must be a relief that the UCAS form is now submitted and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for your DS.

oneteen · 28/10/2019 22:49

@suki - What a superb offer. Your DD must be over the moon given it's her first choice. So good to see so many posts on Mumsnet about early Durham offers, hopefully changing people's perceptions on their admission process which can only be positive.

Ginfizzlife · 28/10/2019 22:50

@SukiPutTheEarlGreyOn, there is some information on post offer visit days on Durham’s website. I think it’s under ‘visit us’. There are dates for both day visits and residential visits (staying overnight in college). It says an invitation will be sent after the offer.

Durham are certainly breaking the mould this year and not before time either.

sandybayley · 28/10/2019 23:01

Great news @SukiPutTheEarlGreyOn - your DD must have been a very impressive candidate. You should be v proud 😁

SukiPutTheEarlGreyOn · 28/10/2019 23:09

Agree oneteen and ginfizzlife this strategy is a welcome change for Durham. Thank you for the steer re offer holder days and the info has now been found on their site. I’m so happy that she’s happy!

nodtik · 29/10/2019 06:26

@SukiPutTheEarlGreyOn that's awesome!!!

And there was me thinking my DS had done well with his reduced offer!

Which college did they apply for? My DS chose St Mary's ... but as you know it's all a bit of a gamble which one you will be allocated!

Great though to see Durham offering so early xx

SukiPutTheEarlGreyOn · 29/10/2019 07:24

Your DS’s offer would have any of us all doing the happy dance, nodtik Grin Huge congratulations he must be over the moon. DD has applied for St Aidan’s but it might well be all change when it comes to allocations.

Alittewornout · 29/10/2019 07:34

Hi Millicent my Dd is also a maths applicant(Scottish) and applied at the beg of October. We too thought it would be a long wait but she received an unconditional offer( as has Scottish highers in hand) from Edinburgh. She is both delighted and shocked as they have in the past been notorious in giving out offers in March. So hopefully you won’t have too much longer to wait!
Well done on all the offers, our dc work so hard and it’s nice to see that being rewarded. X

MillicentMartha · 29/10/2019 18:10

Thanks, Alitte. He received acknowledgements from 4 of the five today. Just waiting on Manchester, but they’ll interview in any case.

OP posts:
MillicentMartha · 29/10/2019 18:11

Meant to say congratulations to your DD! That must be a weight off. Is Edinburgh a top choice?

OP posts:
thewomanontheshore · 29/10/2019 21:27

Durham AAB offer.

MillicentMartha · 29/10/2019 21:37

Ooo, will that be first choice, thewomanontheshore?

OP posts:
oneteen · 30/10/2019 00:18

@thewomanontheshore - Well done to your DD. Judging by TSR there seems to be more offers coming out of Durham than most Uni's. Has your DD applied to Oxford too?

thewomanontheshore · 30/10/2019 00:53

It was the standard offer - not reduced like some lucky people! Yes, has applied to Oxbridge too.

Alittewornout · 30/10/2019 07:43

Thanks Millicent she has applied for one not to to mentioned in this thread but that is a long shot. She is luckily not over invested. Her top choice is St Andrews but Edinburgh is def up there as it’s a great course. Good luck to your Ds sending positive wishes he gets an offer soon. It just gives them a wee boost of confidence.x

sandybayley · 30/10/2019 08:29

@Alittewornout as an Edinburgh alumni I can confirm your DD will have a fabulous time if she goes there. Lovely city and great student experience. Graduates do well - lots of my classmates have done very well for themselves and I met DH there.

Great to hear about all the Durham offers. Certainly seems they are adopting a different strategy this year. Would love DS1 to get an early offer as it would be his no 1 choice after one of the unmentionables. I'm hoping his Imperial interview (next week) converts into a quick offer to take the pressure off a bit.

MillicentMartha · 30/10/2019 10:24

That’s come around quickly, Sandy!

OP posts:
NotEnoughTime · 30/10/2019 10:28

Well done to all the Durham offer holders. Fab news-especially the reduced offers. My son keeps checking Track to see if Durham has made him an offer. I had really hoped he might have got one from them this morning-it would have been a real boost before he sat the Cambridge 'entrance' exams but it wasn't to be. Never mind, hopefully he will hear from them soon (with good news).

SoundofSilence · 30/10/2019 11:55

Hi, can I join? Feeling jittery at the moment because DS1 is sitting his MAT test for maths right now and was feeling so grouchy this morning that he was talking about walking out of it if there was something he couldn't do. That is just not him.

He hasn't submitted his UCAS application yet. Those who have submitted, when did the schools finalise what your DC's predicted grades were? Did you get anything in writing to help decide what universities to apply for? We've had nothing in writing, just 'Currently Working At Grades' in school reports which are reportedly a snapshot of their performance that term, don't refer to predicted results at all and which don't agree with what some of his teachers have verbally told him they would predict for him.

He has a new teacher this year in his third subject who is dishing out whole class detentions and has reduced his CWAG for this half term to a B. The report was issued at the end of the last day before half term, so he has no idea until next week whether this means his predicted grade has dropped, whether it's an error like his understated maths grade was and, if it has dropped and it isn't an error, whether he has time to pull it back up to an A before UCAS submission. This happened just as his maths teachers managed to get his maths grades corrected in the system, so just when it should have been all systems go, we have a week of limbo.

Consequently, he's been in a state of simmering rage since getting his report. Normally he gets everything out of his system at ju-jitsu, but he's skipped two of his last three classes to do homework set by the new teacher. Add to that his conflicted feelings about the universities we've visited and I feel like I'm watching a pressure cooker with the heat turned right up.

Sorry, that was long. Venting my own strain while trying to be calm and collected dealing with his.

Hoghgyni · 30/10/2019 12:19

Hope it all went well Sound. I forgot that some people would be sitting the exams today without having submitted the dreaded form yet. I suppose I'm in a lovely early entry bubble, where everything that could possibly be done is already out of the way for DD, all possible offers are in hand and UCAS can be forgotten about for a few weeks. Time for DD to pull her finger out and focus on coursework and her EPQ.

SoundofSilence · 30/10/2019 12:59

I got a one word text response "horrible" then radio silence. I'll just let him calm down and tell me about it when he's ready.

That is where I really want to be, Hoghgyni, everything done which can be done and just getting on with studying for a while. I can't imaging the stresses of early entry, that must have been hideous while we were in the 'not time yet' zone.