Getting in touch with universities

[nightsoutasap]

Hi. I am writing this out of sheer desperation!
Daughter took the IB.

Predicted 39
Moderated work - 36 (which the school is appealing)
Mock - 37

Offer at Edinburgh 34
Awarded 29.
Edinburgh declined her (IB results out 2 weeks ago). - She has been constantly trying to get in touch, both before and after her decline came via UCAS.
With A level students now being admitted on their mock results, we are trying to get through to Edinburgh to reconsider, in order for her to be judged on the same footing as her peers. However there is literally nobody answering emails or the phone. Its so unfair, I feel very sorry for her.
Is there some other way of getting hold of somebody at admissions?

Can you search via their website for the course leader of the course. Email them direct.

We cant find this information either!

Presumably, one of the emails your DD has sent is to let them know that the school is appealing her given grade? It does seem strange that there should be no response at all to her attempts to communicate with the university.

If you appeal let us know

If you make a formal appeal you must let us know. You should do this within 10 working days of your exam results, or by 7 September 2020 (the UCAS cut-off point for meeting the conditions of your offer), whichever is earlier. Email us on: [email protected]

www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/2020/ib-results

Try the admissions office www.ed.ac.uk/student-systems/support-guidance/applicants/ucas-app-help/university-of-edinburgh-admissions-offices

The course leader will not deal with admissions - all go through the admissions office.

These links are the exact ones we have followed and written very detailed emails to on several occasions. We just get an automated response, saying they will respond in 10 days...which has expired since the first communication and is far too late for the most recent.

This is the auto-reply
Thank you for your email to the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Undergraduate Admissions office.

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, admissions staff are now working remotely. Please be assured that we have everything in place to process applications and manage email enquiries as usual. However, please note that we currently do not have access to the office telephone line, or to any items which have been sent to us in the post.

For up-to-date information about the University of Edinburgh’s arrangements for applicants, please visit our website: www.ed.ac.uk/news/covid-19/prospective-students

We will aim to respond to your email within 10 working days. However, due to current circumstances, there may be some delay in receiving a response. If you have provided additional documents or information to be added to an application then please accept this email as acknowledgement of receipt.

Please note that it can take up to 20 working days to respond to requests for feedback. Our Feedback, Appeals and Complaints policy is located at the following link – www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/2014_feedbackappealscomplaintspolicy_final.pdf

If you are emailing about a current UCAS application you have made to the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences please remember to always include your UCAS personal ID number/UUN (Edinburgh Student Number) within your emails so we can locate your application if necessary.

As you wait for us to respond to your email, please find links relating to various information you may find useful below:

@letsmaketea

The course leader will not deal with admissions - all go through the admissions office.

Depends on the course and the uni. I've certainly had applicants contact me directly in the past and have then liased with admissions on their behalf.

They aim for 10 days, but they also say it could be longer.

Have you given them all the correct info they ask for?

Just checking if you ever got a response from Edinburgh admissions? Hope it worked out well for you eventually.

We are in the same boat with our son on A levels. He was predicted A*AA, needed AAA and got AAB after govt algorithm adjusted grades. Edinburgh was his firm choice but as he missed one course by one grade was rejected. We tried all day to call admissions but no one ever answered a phone call! We got a fairly automated email response.

We tried ringing admissions all day to no avail. Rang the clearing line and it was picked up immediately. They transferred us to admissions and we got through straight away. Perhaps try this?

Yes, just ring the clearing line 👍🏻

Thanks -- we got an email later that said to get back in touch post appeals. Would have been better to have the admissions answer their phones but would have gotten same answer in the end!

But Admissions tend to deal with things before August - best to start wit the CLearing hotline. That's where we put all the staff.

And don't do what some hapless applicant did to my Department - spam all members of academic staff with a verrrry long email about how they didn't get the A Levels they expected , hadn't applied to us in the first instance, but have just realised we're where they really want to study, and then giving us (about 20 of us) a mobile phone number to ring asap.

This does not get you a place.