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.

Thank you so much to those who offered advice about my DD switching courses. I really appreciate it . She has now got all 5 offers for Law (which she no longer wants to do ) and was really panicking about it being too late to change and thinking she would have to take a gap year and reapply. I'm delighted to say that I passed on the tips and advice from here and she emailed her first choice uni directly and they have immediately replied and said she can switch courses (from Law to History & Politics). She is thrilled and SO relieved. I think she's going to email the others now and see if they will all let her swap too. Thanks again

That's brilliant news. Can I be nosey and ask which uni she'll be doing history and politics at - or which her first choice is?

Great news @storminasnowglobe and well done to your DD for taking the initiative

Great to see all the offers coming in

@storminasnowglobe - that is fantastic news! Really pleased for your dd

DS just had a fourth offer from Southampton. Just waiting to hear from Exeter now.

Ds1 just waiting for Loughborough and Nottingham to offer (or not) now.
Predicted grades are AAB
Nottingham require AAA as he doesn't have an EPQ.
He has applied to all universities for history and politics which seems to need very high grades!

De montfort is his insurance at BBC
He liked it when he went (luckily managed 3 x open days before lockdown I'm March)
He's keen on the course at Leicester and Nottingham but didn't visit either

My son hasn’t visited any of the cities/universities he has offers from - I’m desperately hoping there will be some offer days although not very optimistic.

Ds has 2 virutal offer holder open days booked?

We've done some virtual open days etc but tbh (as someone who participates in them for my own institution) I don't think they can really give a proper flavour of a place.

Ds knows and loves both Manchester and Glasgow (hence those applications) but has never visited either York or Leicester. I'm hoping we can at least take a trip to the cities in the next few months before a decision has to be made, even if we can't actually do face-to-face uni open days.

Ds just got a good offer from Nottingham :)

@FastMovingLuxuryGoods I was thinking perhaps I’d wait till Easter time and maybe do a mad dash round the country to look at the cities/campuses. I don’t think a virtual event can replace seeing the places in the flesh. I remember going to Durham in winter when I was in sixth form and thinking it was a kind of bleak coldness I’d never experienced before and could not cope with. Can’t get that sort of feel on a screen....

Anyone heard from St Andrews or Edinburgh?

Yes dd has Edinburgh offer

@FastMovingLuxuryGoods visits sound like a good Idea. We visited 2 cities in the summer which dd had only been able to do virtual open days for. We also walked around the deserted campus at York uni

Yay beetlesand

Dd hasn't ever been to Scotland, let alone visit those campuses 🤔 not sure she'll want to be that far away (we are Southern England).

Good idea to plan a road trip in the spring. DS did a day trip to Bristol with mates in the summer but hasn't visited Sheffield or Exeter. Thinking about it, we could drive his brother back to Leeds and take in Sheffield at the same time (Covid permitting). We are close to London so he's walked around LSE and UCL and has older friends studying there which is helpful.

Hi all, I've been a lurker on this board while my son got his act together and finally finished his UCAS app last week.
I'm hoping someone might help me out with this question?
My son heard back from Manchester last night, he has applied for History and the grades listed on the website were AAB, he got an offer last night of AAA, going back to their website they have changed their entrance requirements to AAA-AAB, since he had applied. I'm assuming they have lots of applications and so they have upped the qualifications needed or maybe my son isn't a strong enough candidate and they have offered a higher grade to see if he can attain it. Do you think we should call for info? I'm unsure what to do but I know AAA is most likely unobtainable for him. Thanks for all the advice you post on here it's been very helpful.

@Wornout12108 welcome and congratulations to your son for the offer from Manchester. What are his predicted grades? Your ds doesn’t need to decide anything yet - wait till he’s heard back from them all.

My ds still not heard from Manchester.

His predicted grades were AAB and that was originally the entrance requirements now they say AAA-AAB but have offered him the AAA, so I'm guessing he's not a strong candidate as surely he would have been offered the AAB, that or they just have tons of applicants and can have the cream of the crop so to speak.
Anyway one down four to go hope to hear from another one over the break but it's probabLy unlikely.

It's so weird that some universities are increasing the entry requirements this year. I know they had an increased intake this year and some deferrals but EU student applications must be way down - most won't be able to afford the inflated fees.

It's also pretty unacceptable to increase the entry grades after applications have opened in my view.

Leicester and UEA both increased the entry requirements for ds' course from BBB to ABB. And that was despite Leicester having the course in clearing for CCC!!!!

It seems to vary wildly between universities and from course to course. I've read about incredibly soft offers from RG universities, some of which have even adjusted down after making the offer. Others are at least as tough if not tougher than their published grades. I suppose they all have a different approach to what might happen with grades in the summer. Some will want to attract stronger candidates with less pressurised targets, while others might anticipate grade inflation across the board and up their requirements to adjust for that.

I presume they can’t change an offer when it’s been offered?. Perhaps some gave out too many soft offers early on and are now having a rethink because of what they think will (or won’t!) happen with exams next summer and tightening up? Who knows.. I find the offers process quite confusing.

I wonder if this grade requirement increase is a reaction to GW’s recent announcement that A-level grades boundaries will be more “generous” this year? Thanks GW!

Up until recently, I heard some eg. Birmingham were offering at lower grades, if anything. DS received an AAA offer for a course at UCL advertised as A*AA.

It does make you wonder if unis are suddenly realising they may need to mitigate against another year of inflated grades?

Yes I presume they think grades will be inflated again.