Applying for uni in 2021...

[Parsley65]

Thought I'd start the ball rolling on this one...

Dd wants to study psychology and we've been checking out dates of open days.

Her school still does AS levels. She's doing psychology, physics & business.

Please come and join us on the long and bumpy ride past revision and exams and on towards the much anticipated start of uni life in Autumn 2021.

Seems like there’s been a bit of activity. Good luck with interviews. Not sure I’d fancy a group one. How’s the portfolio coming along @minesawine?

So exciting to see our dc working through applying/receiving offers. Dd applied to Sussex, Sheffield, Reading and Southampton and has received offers from Sussex, Reading and Southampton so far. All very similar...need to apply to her 5th but struggling to find an insurance she actually wants to go to!

@NotDonna its not going was well as I would like, so far she has to submit for Portsmouth and Bournemouth within the next 10 days and she can't decide what to include and has not even started getting anything online. I will be cracking the whip this weekend 🤪

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/birmingham-university-is-first-to-cut-entry-grades-gn272hlhh
It’s behind a blooming pay wall so not sure what’s actually happening especially for those who have already received offers.

I’ve managed to read the whole article. The only courses they’re not dropping grades for are medicine, dentistry and those allied to health (nursing, physio etc), degree apprenticeships & those externally awarded. It says it’ll include those who’ve already received offers.

That's interesting @NotDonna, does it imply that Birmingham is just the first of a trend of unis doing so? And what is the reason, are there less applicants than expected?

The Times are certainly implying that Birmingham are the first and possible more will follow. The article also mentions how Birmingham were the first to offer unconditionals, which have since been banned. Birmingham have said in the article they don’t need to increase numbers at all but that teens have had a hard year and by reducing offers gives them a bit more certainty. I guess on results day it may mean more need to actually get those offer grades than usual. Quite often results of AAB end up being accepted for offers of AAA - so I wonder if they’re just trying to take that inflation out.

Universities won’t know yet if they’re low on applications but I doubt they will be. It’s not a low birth year, is it? There’s lots of talk about this year being less places due to more deferrals. I’m thinking Birmingham hasn’t got lots of deferrals, which is great for our DC. And if universities are going to follow suit, it suggests the battle for places may not be as hideous as first thought. I’m still not convinced that lots of students deferred as what would they do for a year?

It’ll be fabulous if other universities follow suit and grades offered actually become those actually required. Forever. It’d be so much fairer and transparent. I know a teen who applied to Reading needing AAB but was accepted with BBC. That’s actually quite a difference and should really have been offered that in the first place and be their standard offer for that course. It’s a really odd system.

All applicants (whether or not they pass the info on to their parents...) should be aware that it isn't necessary to use all 5 slots initially, because it's in the section on the UCAS website re how to apply:

5. Course choices

You can choose up to five courses (all now or some later). There’s no preference order and your universities/colleges won’t see where else you’ve applied until after you reply to any offers you get.

www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/filling-your-ucas-undergraduate-application

And re making changes, the even better news is that it is actually 14 days (to sync with the 'cooling pff' period for distance selling, possibly?)

You can swap a choice for a different one within 14 days of the date on your welcome email. You can only swap eachchoice once.

Within 14days of the date on your welcome email you can swap the choice in Track. The 14 day period starts from the day you receive your email.
www.ucas.com/undergraduate/after-you-apply/making-changes-your-ucas-undergraduate-application

Thanks @NotDonna, I agree, transparency would make the process a lot easier all round!

Dc got an offer from Edinburgh today. V pleased

Well done to your dc Beetle fantastic!

Ds has only had the Liverpool offer plus one of the courses at Bristol has said they’ve put his application on hold (so not good news I’m guessing). He only submitted on Monday but difficult not to be impatient.

Thanks Kitty although as I keep reminding Dd “ err you do realise you’ve got to actually get the grades right?!”

kitty I know what you mean about impatience. It’s great that your dc heard so soon. I hope they hear back from others. Dc has lost hope with Cambridge after a bad assessment test in her opinion) so these other offers have meant a lot. She would be happy at all the other places I think.

The University of Bristol website actually has quite a lot to say about the process of assessing applications and when / why they might put people on hold. Frustrating as it may be at the time, not really all doom and gloom on the subject:

When you will hear from us

We aim to make a decision within five weeks of receiving an application. Sometimes it can take longer to make a decision, especially aroundUniversity closure periods, and we mayplace your application on holduntil later in the cycle. If this is the case we will email you to let you know.

www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/after-you-apply/your-application/

We often put applications on hold until after the UCAS application deadline so that we can consider all applications fairly. Making too many offers early in the cycle might mean that we have too many students to fit into our teaching space or accommodation.

We may put applications on hold until we know how many of our offers are being accepted. This gives us the best chance to get the right number of students on each course, ultimately to provide our students with the best university experience.

www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/after-you-apply/your-application/decision/

I was rather hoping that DS2 would decide to apply to Bristol, as DS1 is there at the moment, but unfortunately, he didn't fancy the course there for his subject, so it hasn't made the shortlist.

Thanks Marching we’d seen the info from Bristol about putting applications on hold but can’t help feeling if they really like someone they would just offer. Nothing (other then a confirmation of receipt) from the other Bristol course or QMUL and Manchester yet 🤞🏻

I'm slightly confused about the pay/send section in the UCAS application. My Ds has completed the application and his personal statement (as yet unchecked by his tutor) and is waiting for an appointment to see the careers office before they send the application off. He has had an email saying he must pay before before the the college can see him. When we go to the section it says pay/send and I'm scared if we push the button the application will go off without anyone looking at his statement or checking he has completed the form correctly.

Does anyone know what will happen if I pay and hit the button?

It’s fine it just sends it to his school. They then add the reference/ double check etc and when all finalised tge school release it to UCAS. (I had the exact same worries).

At our school we had to pay the school first and they were the ones who paid ucas and sent the form off when it was ready. We have sims online payments for school and there was a 'ucas form' option.

Thank you so much Kitty and Leia. I'm going to push the button now!

kitty Ive just scrolled back through the thread & my posts and as thought, DD had an ‘offer on hold’ email from Bristol, then 11 days later received their standard offer (economics). So it’s certainly not doom & gloom!
MarchingFrogs is your DS1 enjoying Bristol?

@NotDonna

kitty Ive just scrolled back through the thread & my posts and as thought, DD had an ‘offer on hold’ email from Bristol, then 11 days later received their standard offer (economics). So it’s certainly not doom & gloom! MarchingFrogs is your DS1 enjoying Bristol?

Thank you we’ll keep fingers crossed! He’s applied for two courses at Bristol- Phil & Pol and Social Policy & Pol. Both heavily oversubscribed (but then they all are at Bristol!). Phil & Pol is the one which has put him on hold - they ask for AAA which is his predictions. Social Policy & Pol ask for AAB - they’ve just sent tge “we’ve received yr application” email.

Bristol & QMUL are the two he really wants.

Anyway we won’t hear anything from anyone now till at least Monday

Edufl dd3 had a moment of panic before she hit the button as well, but then we talked it through and she remembered that right at the beginning when they set up their accounts they had to say that they are applying through a school/college - and that ensures that it gets sent to the right place rather than off to UCAS.

@KittyMcKitty DS also got an on hold email from Bristol but received an offer within the week. I think it’s course specific and don’t think it’s means anything other than they are processing.

@NotDonna, yes, he is - it's a rather niche course only offered at a couple of places. He started the application for the Edinburgh version first, but got frustrated with the idiosyncrasies of their application system (I gave it a whirl, up to the point beyond which I had to be 'kosher', iyswim, and had to agree with him on that one) so decided that if Bristol's was easier to navigate - and they offered him a place, of course - it would be the one. He hadn't visited either city before; when he was in Birmingham I did suggest a day trip to meet up with DD and myself as her other open day guest, as it'san easy train journey, but he thought this was a rather odd idea and declined. Bet he wished he'd said yes, come this summer... But seriously, I was fairly certain that he would like Bristol as a city and I'm glad that the course is okay, too.