Defer University for a year?

[Edufl]

Before I start, please excuse the waffle! I have a few questions about deferring for a year.
My son used 4 of his UCAS choices and luckily got offers from all 4 to do zoology. He kept back one choice to give himself more time to decide where he wanted to go. He has reasonable UCAS predicted grades and as he is good at exams was fairly confident. The cancellation of exams is not good news for him. He finds remote learning really hard and has barely been to his 6th form college in a year. He is really struggling with lockdown and misses seeing his friends. He stays up all night producing music and sleeps a lot of the day. I doubt he is submitting enough coursework to be assessed at the grades he needs, and he thinks his teachers hate him! He has admitted that although he has always thought he wanted to study zoology, his real and heartfelt desire is now to study a degree in music and sound production. He would like to use his 5th choice for that. He would also like to take a gap year to travel, volunteer and spread his wings.
So just in case anyone is still reading my question is: How does he defer?
Should he contact the 4 uni’s now and ask them to hold his offers for 2022 entry? Should he only accept his firm and insurance and ask them to defer? Supposing they say yes and he doesn’t get the CAG grades he needs? Presumably he won’t be able to go through clearing for 2022 entry. Should he wait till results day before asking to defer?
He’s not 18 till August so quite young and a year out might help him clarify what he wants to do and whether a Music Production degree (without a music GCSE or A’Level ) is bonkers or even possible.
Any thought or advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks

It's fairly unlikely he will get an offer for Music Production using a personal statement written to show his passion for Zoology.

If he's set on MP, he might be better to pull out of his Zoology offers and either try in clearing or reapply next year.

Or if he's not 100% sure yet, see what happens with the A-levels and how he feels about his subjects when the results come - and what is available in clearing - but with a good chance of not going this year.

I certainly wouldn't count on any gap year travel; he might be able to volunteer locally but that's not really spreading his wings is it?

That said, he would be able to spend the year working on his music and things to put into a new personal statement.

Clearly he can apply without music gcse
digital.ucas.com/coursedisplay/courses/0e312276-e4a0-4448-b319-1d695871fb44?academicYearId=2020

But too late this year unless in clearing ?
If he doesnt want to do zoology no point accepting is there?

Other thoughts:

I'm not sure about the mechanics of deferring, and I also don't think that you can reapply if you're already holding a deferred place for 2022. Can anyone confirm?

You also really need to urgently look into whether music production is possible without any qualifications in music. There is no point getting his hopes up if it's not.

www.whatuni.com/degree-courses/search?subject=music-production

Taking two at random, the Leeds Conservatoire course requires a level 3 qualification in Music, whereas Edge Hill will accept evidence of musical ability in the absence of a formal qualification at level 3.

Normally, you can't apply through UCAS for 'year x' whilst already holding a deferred offer for that year, although there was / is a system in place to allow that for 2021 entry, due to the autumn exams.

Your DS sounds like my BF's DS.

This time last year he no plans to go to university. He was spending all night in his room composing electronic music and sleeping all day. He was taking Biology, Maths and Music A levels, but lost his way and was just obsessed with music production. He ended up dropping Biology at the end of Year 12, then dropping Maths in Feb '20, only for lockdown and CAGs. (He got Grade 8 distinction at 13 years old in an orchestral instrument and is a talented musician who hates performing and just wants to produce.)

Lockdown was perfect for him to spend hours composing and producing music in the night. He had not applied to University.

Come August '20 he discovered a BSc Music Production course at BIMM
www.bimm.ac.uk/london/ and put in an application. With his one A level and his Grade 8 he had enough UCAS points and started there in September. He loves it and he is a changed young man with direction in his life and studying his passion.

Thank you so much for responding. I put the same question to the WIWIKNAU page on facebook , got lots of great replies and promptly forgot I had posted here. Apologies for not responding sooner. My son has decided that he wants to hang on to his zoology offer till next year and spend gap year exploring possibility of music. He thinks it might end up being more of a hobby/interest than a career thing.
I still don't know whether we should firm one and accept another as insurance and then ask to defer or wait till results and then ask to defer or reject all of them and go through UCAS again next year with either 5 music choices or 5 zoology choices.
Very good point about using his 5th choice now for music. His personal statement is a heartfelt description of his commitment to zoology so would be a bit odd. Anyway, good luck to everyone's son's and daughters struggling to make it through in this crazy new world.

If he knows which he would like to firm and insure he should speak to admissions and ask whether they will defer. DS had already firmed and insured and asked to defer last June and they agreed and when his results cane through it changed on track to a 2021 place rather than a 2020 one.

I would say if there's any chance of him still wanting to do the more practical subject - hang off this next year as I can see things still being fucked up in terms of covid and it's courses like the arts based ones that have been completely hammered where I am in terms of lack of access to facilities (since healthcare based were allowed back in January)

Good point about arts type courses and covid restrictions. I think we are pretty sure now that he will take a gap year and just trying to work out best way to manage that. Thanks.