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.

My daughter has had the same problem with Manchester. Advertised as AAB which are her predicted grades but then tell her she hasn’t met the entry requirements. She has checked their website and they are still there as AAB. It’s so frustrating as she could have chosen a different uni instead, preferably one that has lowered their grades.

The promise of 'the generosity of the CAGs' for Autumn A level takers never really happened. Grade boundaries in most subjects were inline with 2019 grade boundaries. So some subjects had 2% receiving an A star this Autumn compared to 17% in the CAGs. It was a unique cohort.

I think/hope the government will do all it can to ensure A levels go ahead. I also think grade boundaries will remain at 2019 levels.

Yes
Leicestershire offer was higher than stated here too

Leicester even

It's very frustrating as said by previous poster if you knew beforehand you could have picked another Uni.
I did expect that applications may be down for EU students and Internationals too due to Covid, Brexit and travel restrictions.
I think it's very unfair to assume grade inflation when this years A level takers have missed so much learning and all activities such as mock bar trial, educational trips, activities pertinent to A level choices, social time, summer programmes and many more enrichment opportunities besides.

Its a clusterfuck mess, frankly.

I'm still not convinced exams will go ahead.

Ds1s college had NO online learning for 2 months once schools closed in March. Nothing.

The geography teaching has been so bad that we've got ds a tutor.

Ds1s offer for Nottingham is lower than Leicester and he didn't do an EPQ! Baffling.

Gosh I feel for the dc with the higher Manchester offers / rejections. It wasn’t anything to do with the gcse profile they’re asking for or anything? Ds still has nothing through from Manchester- applied for philosophy & politics which has a standard offer of ABB and his predictions are AAA so we are crossing everything!

Still waiting for Loughborough...anyone else?

Are the dc awaiting Manchester offers applying for stem subjects?

@KittyMcKitty

I hope you hear from them soon, it is frustrating but at least your son has the predicted grades for the course.
My son had a couple of low GCSEs combined with a few high grades so perhaps there is something in that but English and History were the high grades the low were Maths and Computer Science which do not lend themselves to History anyway. It's such a headache.

@Shrillharridan

Still waiting for Loughborough...anyone else?

Are the dc awaiting Manchester offers applying for stem subjects?

Nope Philosophy & Politics here which at Manchester is a BASS

@Wornout12108 I imagine they’ve shut up shop now till 5th January- he’s on hold at Bristol (2 courses) who emailed to say they were closed till the 5th.

It’s been exactly a month since his UCAS form went in - after Liverpool offered in less then 24 hours I think we got over excited but as we keep reminding ourselves he has 2 good offers.

Was hoping to get some good news today to brighten the mood (he failed driving test this morning- nerves - silly error) but I guess no news is better then bad news

Ds1s gcse results were a bit spiky too.
He is currently predicted AAB which is what Nottingham have offered.
Are RG unis worth it?
I didn't go to university so am rather useless at advising him.

Sorry to hear that kitty
Ds hasn't even had chance to book his theory yet

@Shrillharridan

Sorry to hear that kitty Ds hasn't even had chance to book his theory yet

It’s a nightmare isn’t it! I feel for this year group so much - yes today’s test was his first after 7 cancellations (1 we canx as we had COVID) so the stakes were just too high and he panicked- currently have a retest for early Feb (initially it was April!) and hoping to get one sooner 🤞🏻

I don’t think Manchester has rejected her based on gcse grades as they were all 7-9 grades. Politics and economics course and from this thread it looks like the politics is quite popular.

Yes, this year's cohort really have missed so much. DS had so many exciting things planned this year, so many trips away cancelled including one to see his dad in the US - he's now not seen him for 3 years

@KittyMcKitty - tell your ds that all the best people fail first time

@Wornout12108 ds's humanities subjects were all 7-9, it was just the science that really scuppered it. Frustrating isn't it? But I am a firm believer in the idea that they end up in the place that's right for them - and that's not always the super-popular RGs.

Whyare that does seem strange! Is she doing A level maths?

Yes kitty she is doing maths a level. That’s her weaker subject but also doing politics and she’s borderline A/A* so who knows.

That does sound odd! My ds (applied for Phil & Pol) is doing Politics, Psychology & Geography- it’s going to be a long wait until January!

@Whyaremychildrenmad

My daughter has had the same problem with Manchester. Advertised as AAB which are her predicted grades but then tell her she hasn’t met the entry requirements. She has checked their website and they are still there as AAB. It’s so frustrating as she could have chosen a different uni instead, preferably one that has lowered their grades.

Given their website states grades lower than her offer but within her predicted, it may be worth your DD emailing the admissions to clarify. The website should be correct as that’s how potential students make their decisions. Nothing to lose has she?

Is her ucas form correct @Whyaremychildrenmad - the predicted grades entered correctly etc? Mistakes do happen. It sounds very odd!!

My son has been offered AAA for a course at York which has a standard offer of AAB. Feel like they’re saying ‘we don’t much like you so you can only come if you jump a higher bar than other candidates’.
Think I’ll encourage him to bin that one.
Very odd.

@GaribaldiGirl

My son has been offered AAA for a course at York which has a standard offer of AAB. Feel like they’re saying ‘we don’t much like you so you can only come if you jump a higher bar than other candidates’. Think I’ll encourage him to bin that one. Very odd.

I think I've said further up the thread that ds was offered a place at York for a course he didn't apply for, but with entry requirements of a grade lower. He knew when he applied that it was a big of a long shot as they wanted AAA, and they offered for a related course for AAB.

So I don't know whether to take that as "we don't like you much but you can do this course that we find slightly more difficult to fill" or "you're just not good enough for your first choice but we do like you so here's an offer for this related course instead".

My DS just got an offer from UEA which was his Insurance. Two down three to go I was very surprised he got something today as I pretty much discounted anything going on till after Christmas hols.
He's very happy I think he feels he has a safety net now after the Manchester offer.
Fingers crossed for everyone waiting to hear, that they get some news swiftly.

@Wornout12108 that’s fantastic news and on a Saturday too! Really pleased for him.

We’ve just descended into tier 4 - mocks supposed to be starting on 6th Jan so crossing everything 🤞🏻