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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Another Path to Greatness - Part II

999 replies

BigWoollyJumpers · 11/02/2021 12:52

Here we are.

OP posts:
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9
user1494050295 · 23/02/2021 07:10

Re LSE the deadline for applicants to hear the outcome is 29.3

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 23/02/2021 08:09

@chopc you are right, I only ever think of it with Ds's subjects which are maths, physics and computer science. Cold hard factual questions and answers.

Essay writing is so much more subjective and I think massively improves with time ie they do get better for the actual exam. The teacher preconceived idea thing is difficult, hopefully they are not head of the department and there are conversations. I know at Ds's sixth form there are grade discussions and cross referencing of work marked for consistency amongst staff for more subjective subjects.

I really hope your Ds gets his first choice uni. Which one does he favour?

chopc · 23/02/2021 09:13

Thank you @OnTheBenchOfDoom

I think my DS was so set on going to Cambridge that anything else doesn't really excite him. He has offers from Durham, UCL and Leeds. DH and I think Durham life will suit him better as the Durham set up sounds a lot like his school which he has loved and didn't get to fully enjoy 🙈. He is waiting to hear from his final Uni before making a decision so let's see. We will of course support whatever decision he makes.

I think yours is also choosing Durham?

SeasonFinale · 23/02/2021 10:30

I think chopc when worrying about what his grades may be assessed at if you hold on to the thought that he was considered good enough to apply to Oxbridge then his teachers already thought he was one of their better students and I suspect that won't have changed.

chopc · 23/02/2021 10:44

Yes that's true @SeasonFinale. However I think over 30 at his school were interviewed at Cambridge alone and of course more applied that were not interviewed ........

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 23/02/2021 12:10

@chopc I think Ds is very much like us, you cannot change what has happened you can only move forward. If that means trying again for Cambridge then you get proactive about it, but I totally understand the inertia at this stage in the game weighing up the odds again.

Ds of course wanted Cambridge but because his course is computer science it is pretty much the same whichever university offers it. Obviously with humanities or NatSci there is a wide variety of choice on offer.

I agree with Season that grades wise if they thought he was capable of Cambridge then he must be doing well. Also I think some universities dropped their entry grades and now with no exams to be sat may well be reassessing.

I don't know if @SeasonFinale is able to comment on that, I am sure at the end of last year some unis were down a grade, Durham should have been A AA but was AAA or AAB on Ds's offer. I don't know if those grades have now gone back up, not just Durham but Birmingham?

PresentingPercy · 23/02/2021 13:09

Surely grades they offer depends on applications received? Higher quality equals higher offers one would think. Courses that struggle for quality applications lower grades to fill them. Market forces really. With deferrals from last year I would have thought they had sufficient high calibre applicants. However overseas applicants, or lack of, would affect this too.

GuppytheCat · 23/02/2021 13:22

if you hold on to the thought that he was considered good enough to apply to Oxbridge then his teachers already thought he was one of their better students

Surely whether to apply is the student’s own decision, though?

SATSmadness · 23/02/2021 13:28

@PresentingPercy

Agreed but unless all Universities wait until after the UCAS deadline (which was even extended this year), how can they judge the overall quality of candidates. Sure, they could get a feel for it, but if a line has to be drawn somewhere you need to have full data in before getting the pencil and ruler out.

Some Universities were making offers for some subjects well before 29th January.

Also, grades they offer could be affected by their perception of how grades will be awarded and the standardisation of the spread of grades. The government still haven't fixed the goalposts on that one and yet offers have been made. Once the goalposts are fixed and Unis potentially amend the subsequent offer grades accordingly we potentially have a 2 tier entry level system in place. Those who got early offers and those who didn't.

Of course we'll be told that everything is fine, no need to worry, no inequality etc etc. Just like we were initially told that there wasn't a significant increase in deferred places/re-applications from last year's cohort with grades in hand likely to affect the chances of this years Y13 cohort.

chopc · 23/02/2021 13:33

@OnTheBenchOfDoom you are absolutely right of course. Thanks both for the dose of reality

chopc · 23/02/2021 13:33

@SATSmadness I have had a lot of time on my hands to follow a lot of university thread and have no doubt that our cohort has been screwed over again and again

SeasonFinale · 23/02/2021 14:08

@chopc

Yes that's true *@SeasonFinale*. However I think over 30 at his school were interviewed at Cambridge alone and of course more applied that were not interviewed ........
which again would indicate that it is the type of school that gets a high percentage of high grades.
SeasonFinale · 23/02/2021 14:10

@GuppytheCat

if you hold on to the thought that he was considered good enough to apply to Oxbridge then his teachers already thought he was one of their better students

Surely whether to apply is the student’s own decision, though?

Ok then if we are want to be pedantic if they decided to interview they believed he was of an academic quality to be considered.
SeasonFinale · 23/02/2021 14:14

I don't think Durham accepted anyone with lower than standard offer (other than those who had contextual offers) last year. In fact they were stuffed when the moderated grades went back to CAGS and they had more people meet the standard offer once CAGS replaced moderated grades. Hence their offer to defer for cash and guarantee of first year college.

GuppytheCat · 23/02/2021 14:43

I'm a natural pedant Smile; but also, DH tells me he 'wasn't allowed to apply' for Oxbridge back in the day, as his school said no, whereas mine, which was entirely inexperienced in these matters, just sort of shrugged and let us get on with it. I wondered whether things had changed in either direction, in your experience.

Yes, students who get as far as interview are undoubtedly very able.

SATSmadness · 23/02/2021 14:44

@chopc

May I PM you ?

chopc · 23/02/2021 14:52

Of course @SATSmadness . No need to ask. Anyone is welcome to PM me

chopc · 23/02/2021 14:56

@GuppytheCat - if DS's school felt he wasn't a viable candidate, DS may have still applied as that was his ambition. And we would have supported him. However I think the process is hard enough to mitigate without the support of school.

So hats off to those MN who did manage with little input from school

PresentingPercy · 23/02/2021 16:25

@SATSmadness
In general some universities don’t need to offer lower than standard offer. If you are talking about offers right now, they have them all in. Is anyone aware of offers being made early that are AAB instead of AAA at Durham? At less prestigious places maybe. I think grades asked for are sometimes what they would like to attract but not what they actually get! Different universities approach this differently and perhaps the decline of unconditional offers has led to lower offers for some courses at some universities? Just a different form of “bribe”?

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 23/02/2021 16:36

Also, grades they offer could be affected by their perception of how grades will be awarded and the standardisation of the spread of grades.

I think that is why I have it in my head that some unis dropped their grade down by one. I said last year and what I meant was Sept 2021 entry but offers that came out Oct/Nov 2020 when it was the whole exams are absolutely going ahead despite the disruption to education. I only know about Cambridge but Ds had to fill in a questionnaire about how his education had been impacted since March lockdown.

This is my first child going to uni, so all I know is that Durham's usual entry is AAA for computer science and they dropped it to AAA or AAB. Also a separate contextual offer of AAB if you put Durham as your first choice. AAA is the same as Leeds entry which was Ds's insurance.

chopc · 23/02/2021 17:15

@PresentingPercy I know of two people who have got offers of AAB for History at Durham. One is contextual, other I am not sure.

Vargas · 23/02/2021 17:25

At Ds' indie school they tapped the shoulder of those they thought had the ability to try for Oxbridge, and gave them support and interview prep. I'm not aware of kids who wanted to try but didn't get school support. I would think if they'd shown enough passion then the school would have supported them.

Needmoresleep · 23/02/2021 17:37

At less prestigious places maybe.

It is nothing to do with prestige.

As examples

  1. We knew several who received 4* offers from Cambridge, reflecting presumably "educational advantage"
  2. Bristol publish the fact that they give lower contextual offers to pupils from quite a wide range of schools.
  3. Imperial have been known to vary offers after interview, even to people from the same school wanting to read the same subject. A lower offer was taken as an indication that they wanted the student.
  4. We know someone on a junior England sports team who received a lower offer from a RG University who regularly headed the BUCS league in that sport.

This board is to share experience. Copc's observation is interesting. I bet last summer there were a whole load of students thinking of last minute gap years. Or do you have evidence to back up your statement.

Needmoresleep · 23/02/2021 17:38

4 A not 4.

chopc · 23/02/2021 18:16

@Needmoresleep what observation are you referring to?

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