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.

@Shrillharridan

Have any of you applied for student finance yet?

No, but that's a great reminder, thank you!

Ds's offers are AAB and BBB. He said last night that he's actually a bit more excited about the idea of going to his insurance rather than his firm (thinks he'd prefer to live in Glasgow than in York). I'm trying to see that as a positive given the potential nightmare of grades this summer...

Not sure I can bear to listen to Williamson this afternoon. More than any other member of this appalling government, the sight and sound of him makes me want to put my foot through the tv screen.

How do we apply for student finance? Is it done through one main board, or with the university they have decided on as their firm?

@HensInTheSkirtingBoard. If he does decide that he prefers Glasgow, make sure he makes that his firm then

[quote Revengeofthepangolins]@HensInTheSkirtingBoard. If he does decide that he prefers Glasgow, make sure he makes that his firm then[/quote]
Yes, I said that to him the other night. It's hard to know whether to take the plunge and change things though and I don't want to influence him unduly (I love Glasgow!)

The course at York looks more interesting (and tbh the uni maybe has a bit more cachet, not that that is the be all and end all)...but Glasgow is probably a better fit for him in terms of the actual city and 'student life'.

They are both good options though, there will always be positives and negatives to anywhere I guess!

Not sure if York has more cachet than Glasgow but they're certainly both very good choice. I would be happy to live in either city :) My ds is probably going to Glasgow too (also has an offer from York but it's higher).

Just had an email confirming the extension of the UCAS deadline to 29 January.

I guess that means it will be February before ds hears from his final choice now.

It's Strathclyde Uni, not Glasgow @annevonkleve, sorry when I referred to 'Glasgow' I meant the city itself rather than the uni.

But tbh as someone who works in an RG uni I take most notions of 'prestige' etc with a massive sack of salt anyway

Yes Strathclyde is really good too - interestingly when I look at my LinkedIn contacts I only have one who went to Glasgow - and seven who went to Strathclyde - and the one who went to Glasgow went to both :)

Is anyone concerned that the latest news about how grades will be awarded might change how many offers universities make to prospective students?

My DS' application is only just about to go off. He went back and forth about what to do and where to apply so it only went to school for his reference to be done just before Christmas.

I'm now worrying the latest announcement that teachers will be awarding grades again, will result in universities deciding to make less offers in order to avoid the chaos of being over subscribed again this year!

I do have a tendency to over worry though. Can anyone put my mind at rest or is this something others think might happen?

Not sure Pistachio. It is a possibility I suppose, but on the other hand universities will want bottoms on seats, they will be missing out on a lot of overseas income this year.

If it is teacher assessment they really should be able to get grades out sooner, get clearing started sooner and give the Y13s some time to sort out their next moves.

I also wonder whether there will be less leeway with missed grades as they will expect teachers to be more generous than exams would have been? I would have preferred some sort of exam/test in one of ds' subjects as I think his teacher will mark him down.

I also think doing away with exams has let schools off the hook whose provision was abysmal during the first lockdown.

AdditionalCharacter assuming you are applying from England the application is to Student Finance England for any uni.

I don't think applications are open yet, I haven't had a reminder to reapply for my older DC. But if any of you want to be organised in advance you need your information from the tax year ending 2020.

Thank you. I'll wait and see if DS gets anything through, then look in April after DH and I get our P60s

@pistachioicecream. At the higher academic en did the university scale, I think it is inevitable that fewer offers will be made.

@pistachioicecream who knows what universities will do. They could well assume that CAGs will be generous and thus offer higher grades and/or fewer. However they do need to offset losses from overseas students but I’ve no idea how severe these have been or are likely to be.
If DC already have offers can they be pulled, altered, increased? I accept once they’re formed it’ll be a contract but at offer stage is there an obligation to adhere to that offer? I’m thinking about Birmingham who reduced pretty much all their standard offers. It’d be an appalling strategy but...

*firmed not formed

Hi. Has anyone had a response from Bournemouth or Brighton yet?. Specifically for Animation, but I am just wondering if they are generally quite slow. Thanks

Just something else to worry about then I guess. Along with the concerning messages on this thread about people receiving offers that are higher than the published entry requirements!

Feel so sorry for this year group; they’ve had so much to cope with.

Anyway DS has had notification this evening from UCAS that they’ve received his application now so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Fingers crossed the drop off of overseas students helps!

Universities are businesses when all said and done and they will need bins on seats / eyes on laptops.
Birmingham uni website still announcing that they’re dropping grades which is somewhat reassuring.

DS has had an e mail from Bath confirming that his offer will not be changing based on recent events (ie moving it up!). To be honest I assumed that Uni's would be more selective with their offers this year, and was surprised at Birmingham's decision to lower all offers. Surely once a uni has made an offer they can't change it, can they?!!

I really don’t think offers already out there could or would change. Any switch in strategy will have to be soaked up by the as yet unprocessed places.

DD2 has had an offer from Exeter today that is 2 grades lower than their standard offer. Great news for her, but I'm really surprised given the currently situation. I don't think she is contextual either.

@twoinyear13 DS has a contextual offer from Exeter BBB. We were very surprised because he goes to a selective 6th form but Exeter seems to have different contextual criteria and it was based on the number of students enrolled who live in particular post codes.

@twoinyear13 Sorry, I forgot to say congratulations to your DD! I think my DS will probably firm Exeter

DS still waiting to hear from Exeter, congratulations on the offers. I can't see him getting a contextual offer, we live in one of the least deprived areas in the country.