How aspirational?

[Notsureabouthis]

UCAS in now so it’s too late! But he’s having a gap year so we may be going back through this next year with the grades in hand.

Predicted BCC and school advised we took off anything that had an A in pretty much. So he went for a BCC and then integrated foundation courses for the other 4 so entry quite low. They seemed to advise going low then phoning and asking to do the 3 year course if grades were better.

If grades include an A then he will reapply.

It’s History and has applied to Cardiff (BCC for ancient and medieval), Reading foundation(each application on own merits), Manchester Met integrated foundation(CCC), Royal Holloway integrated Foundation (CCC) and Northampton integrated foundation (DDE).

What do you think? Aiming too low? They took out Liverpool and Leicester at ABB saying he might end up with no offers and he could always reapply if grades were good.

OP try this:

www.ucas.com/advisers/offer-rate-calculator/

I put History B, English and Classical Civ both Cs. Result was 85% likelihood of offer from Liverpool for History /archaeology courses.

In fact why don't you point the school to this tool as they appear to be significantly under estimating their students.

I’m on the other side of this daughter currently on a gap year. Didn’t quite get the grades she needed for first choice and accepted poor back up.

Whilst away she’s reconsidered and applied with her actual grades ABC to do a foundation degree at here real first choice which she’d not put as her firm as wouldn’t get the grades.

So what I’m saying really is if he’s off on a Gap year don’t rush into anything and re-look once he’s got his grades.

@titchy that’s interesting. His only come up at 41% for Liverpool and 56% for Leicester due to the subjects he’s doing.

Also not sure if it’s relevant but his GCSEs weren’t great. 4,5,6 with a 4 in History. He’s grown up a lot since then and is using an electronic reader which really helps.

The offer calculator probably underestimates offer likelihood - it uses data from two+ cycles ago. There are fewer 18 year olds than there were, and Brexit has impacted on applicant numbers.

Thanks for posting the link to the offer calculator. Really interesting.

Really great advice from titchy
I think a lot of schools do take the universities advertised grades at face value when really there does seem to be a lot of leeway.
I know a student doing Geography at Liverpool with BCD.
I would also advise him to swap Northampton for Liverpool if he likes the city and the course.

Thanks all! Well, I had a really disastrous chat with my son who got really annoyed and said he didn’t want to change his choices.

His tutor had said that he might find it quite hard at Liverpool . I’m pretty annoyed at this on a few levels but also maybe she’s right. I had a look at Unistats and there’s pretty much no one with B/C on the course. Not great for self esteem. Still feels a harsh comment though!

I then said what about Leicester but he didn’t want to hear it!

Luckily he is taking a gap year so he can reapply when he has his grades.

It turns out too that universities don't automatically offer the 3 year if you’ve applied for foundation and vice versa if your grades are better or worse. I didn’t realise this!

Feel a bit miffed at the school although to be fair he has procrastinated massively and I’m sure the help would have been there if he’d sought it out. He struggled to manage his time between his application and coursework.

So I think he’s sticking and will now focus on studying and hopefully sorting out a working visa for Canada or Australia.

Thanks all for your brilliant advice!

How about LJMU history, OP? They were at 9 in the Guardian league table this year (though I think it's modern history only, which may not work for your DS) : they have a high satisfaction rating, excellent support for disabilities and excellent pastoral care too- and pretty good employability, from what I have read. I think there's also a foundation option.

Though iirc, there's going to be a democratic bulge from 2021,rather than the current trough we're in, so that might alter things somewhat.

@Pilipilihoho. Thanks. He did visit there whilst visiting Liverpool but didn’t really like it. And yes it’s pretty modern history. It’s funny because I highlighted it to him for exactly the reasons you mentioned but he wasn’t keen at all. Man Met is a better option as it’s got the urban thing that he likes and has some ancient history options.

It's much better for him to find the right course and location for him, tbh - and I think MMU is very vibrant: a friend's son left LJMU last year at the end of his first year, having really not liked living in Liverpool at all (though speaks very highly of LJMU) , and is now having a blast still doing history but in Manchester. Three years is a long time to be in the wrong place/on the wrong course, especially at that age. Hope the rest of his year goes well - though I wouldn't worry too much about predictions and what school says right now, though, especially as he's having a gap year anyway.

@Pilipilihoho. Thank you, I really appreciate it