Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
Thread gallery
9
goodbyestranger · 09/03/2021 21:48

Chilldonaldchill isn't your DD's Cambridge offer AAA? Or is it two A? I'm wondering what use a Durham A*AA offer would be?

Chilldonaldchill · 09/03/2021 21:55

@goodbyestranger

Chilldonaldchill isn't your DD's Cambridge offer AAA? Or is it two A? I'm wondering what use a Durham A*AA offer would be?
That was my argument to her and I worry that, this year of all years, it's better to withdraw if she won't take it. She feels that it's rude and she wants advice from school first.
Chilldonaldchill · 09/03/2021 22:09

And sorry, that wasn't meant to be insensitive or thoughtless - started off just trying to reassure Bend that not all history responses have come today.

SeasonFinale · 10/03/2021 02:18

No sorry don't mean to cause alarm. It just means there is movement and they have started but I would suspect if the department has started they will be through by the end of the week. But it is an unusual year. I suspect they may be waiting for the Oxbridge people to firm and thus decline so they can see what else they can offer elsewhere. It's catch 22 this year when we know there will be fewer offers of people are merely waiting to see if they get all their offers.

MidLifeCrisis007 · 10/03/2021 06:32

Still waiting here for Durham History and History/MFL.

Yawn.

DS has also emailed the Oxford college he applied to FOUR times asking for feedback but they have consistently ignored him. He is beyond caring now.

goodbyestranger · 10/03/2021 08:22

SeasonFinale yes that's correct. This is the stage at which Durham is waiting to see how many Oxbridge offer holders firm and insure elsewhere and the numbers are particularly tight this year. I have to say that I'm aware of a number of offer holders for Durham History in rl and so to say 'they've started' is a bit misleading. I think you mean only that you can see some coming through at your school, but remember yours is a very particular type of school, so it may only say something about offers to that type of school. Anyhow, a caution - this is all a bit different from interview invites for Oxford which are done at the same time for each subject at each college. Also, out of interest, has your school had any rejections from Durham in the three subjects you mention? Were they issued at the same time as offers?

goodbyestranger · 10/03/2021 08:24

Chilldonaldchill it wouldn't be in the least rude. My own view is that it would be decent to withdraw from Durham in cases where it can't be an insurance, especially this year. But I do appreciate that young people like to know if they'll get an offer or not - just that to a limited extent that does block places.

goodbyestranger · 10/03/2021 08:27

MidLifeCrisis that really is beyond rude of the college in question.

namochangeo · 10/03/2021 08:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Chilldonaldchill · 10/03/2021 08:48

@goodbyestranger

Chilldonaldchill it wouldn't be in the least rude. My own view is that it would be decent to withdraw from Durham in cases where it can't be an insurance, especially this year. But I do appreciate that young people like to know if they'll get an offer or not - just that to a limited extent that does block places.
Yes I feel this quite strongly and she says she's not invested in getting 5 offers and would withdraw if it will help other students - but she still wants to speak to her teacher about it first. Luckily she has a lesson with him today and hopefully he will reassure her that it's the right thing to do.
chopc · 10/03/2021 09:01

@Chilldonaldchill noble of her and probably the right thing to do if what goodbye says is correct. But do what's best for your DC and what they are comfortable with. Your DC is ultimately not responsible for Durham offers

chopc · 10/03/2021 09:04

@MidLifeCrisis007 I am so frustrated for your DS on your behalf. Hang in there .......

Not even sure what to say about the feedback. Can his school not intervene? I know he is year 14 but school would have still have supported his application? He may be beyond caring now but he may change his mind in the future

quest1on · 10/03/2021 09:07

On Durham, I don’t know about History, but for Geography BA they over-offer massively in a normal year. I think in 2019, they made offers to 500 of 520 applicants and it was similar in other years. So, I’m not sure why they need to drag it out over 6 months. I don’t think it’s all about waiting to see who declines for Oxbridge either, as people may equally decline for many other unis too. Also, few can insure with Durham due to the high entry requirements, so that will naturally filter a lot out. In this sense, they can afford to over-offer quite a lot.

Also, I’m wondering if grades this year will in fact, be as inflated as last year because it does seem that there will be quite a lot of testing between now and Easter. Especially in cases where online school has been patchy and / or low student engagement - are teachers more likely to rely on these tests in the absence of anything else? If so, could even be that some unis find they have been over-cautious and under-offered?

goodbyestranger · 10/03/2021 09:11

quest1on I think in this year in particular, with very tight margins, Durham is particularly keen to get an idea of how many firm offers it will get. But it remains a fact that they do always look at numbers closely in this settling down period in March.

goodbyestranger · 10/03/2021 09:13

And yes obviously offer holders may decline for unis other than Oxbridge but those two unis are the obvious suspects and probably the most significant numerically.

Original poster
BigWoollyJumpers · 10/03/2021 13:57

Completely random rant of the day. DD found out yesterday afternoon, whilst on the platform waiting for a train, that said train no longer exists "due to coronavirus timetable" Angry.

Great, so all the schools go back and they cancel the 16.50. There was a 16.20, and a 17.20, but what was a half hourly service is now hourly. SWT apololgised and agreed it seemed odd to cancel afternoon school trains when they are running regularly at other times of the day.

I have to drive into town to pick her up. Not happy. SWT did say the timetable would change in the coming weeks, so keep checking..... great, when we have already bought the weekly ticket..... should have know better! What's the chance that they will get round to re-instating the normal timetable in time for Easter, when no longer needed.

OP posts:
Beetlesand · 10/03/2021 14:06

I imagine trying to guess numbers of applicants likely to firm is an big task at the best of times but this year impossibly so!
I read on other threads that Durham usually keep quite a lot of people waiting until the end of March so I guess they aren’t actually doing any different this year.
DD is rooting for 2 friends in particular ( one fellow oxbridge rejection,one not ) who are desperately waiting on Durham and they do intend to go there if offered. One other person she knows has a Cambridge offer but intends on accepting Durham as firm if he gets offered it due to a pandemic driven change of heart about the intensity of the Cambridge course ( short terms and Saturdays) and wanting to achieve a good study/ life balance.

Pumpkintopf · 10/03/2021 18:26

BWJ that's really poor. There should be some joined up thinking on school transport really.

Revengeofthepangolins · 10/03/2021 18:38

Could be worse re Durham all you wait-ers. Ds1 (history) was rejected a week after the Oxford response date, which made his HAT 78% and near miss shown by being pooled post-interview particularly bittersweet. Was v poor timing for him and very disappointing. I can’t see why he wouldn’t make a good Durham history student, but I guess they didn’t think so.

So waiting is grim but at least it shows they are still in the game.

goodbyestranger · 10/03/2021 18:45

Where has he got offers from Revengeofthepangolins? Is he happy with those?

quest1on · 10/03/2021 19:38

God knows why they would have rejected your DS Revengeofthepangolins. It’s ridiculous, in my view. How is he doing now?

I just had a look on TSR and people who applied for Liberal Arts are getting weird offers. One got Chinese and that’s it. Confused One has been offered psychology. And another, I think, got Theology. I mean, surely the appeal of Liberal Arts is that you can draw on a broad range of disciplines? Very different to single-honours in any one of those subjects.

SeasonFinale · 10/03/2021 20:00

I suspect because Liberal Arts is by it nature appealing and thus oversubscribed and that the alternate offers are being driven by their A level choices.

Re offers/rejections. A couple of rejections too for one of the subjects and still some waiting for any decision.

chopc · 10/03/2021 20:33

@Revengeofthepangolins sorry to hear about your DS. I would like to think they had a good reason but I no longer believe a Uni has a good logical reason for accepting some candidates and rejecting others.

I hope he has some other offers he is happy with?

321zyx · 10/03/2021 21:32

@Revengeofthepangolins that's really tough!

jano69 · 10/03/2021 23:06

That's truly awful @Revengeofthepangolins - makes no sense at all. Our young people are going through so much stress.