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Higher education

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

Original poster

Uni offer higher than website

61 replies

Fossie · 05/03/2021 13:51

Disappointed DD here who has now been offered a place at Manchester for AAA though the website says a typical offer for her course is ABB. She has ABB from last year (plus a retake for one A level last Autumn) so she has to conclude they really don’t want her. Are others finding offers are higher than might normally be expected?

OP posts:
Middersweekly · 05/03/2021 14:21

How strange of them to offer that when she’s already stated her grades. If she’s keen on Manchester as her firm choice I would advise her to call the university admissions team and explain what has happened. It could be an error on their part.

Revengeofthepangolins · 05/03/2021 14:30

Sounds like an error to me too. What would the point be of offering to a grade in hand applicant at a tarred they can’t meet? Surely they would have just rejected instead?

OnlyTeaForMe · 05/03/2021 14:36

Are you sure the ABB wasn't last year's typical offer and it's now been updated due to anticipated grade inflation.

I would definitely get her to call up and query it though.

Apart from anything else, holding an offer (however impossible to achieve at this stage!) would prevent her from entering UCAS extra if she got no other offers I think?

MarchingFrogs · 05/03/2021 15:51

Yes, if she wanted to enter Extra, she would have to reject any offers already made and withdraw her application from any universities which haven't yet responded.

If she has no results still pending, then a conditional offer would usually only be conditional on the applicant providing proof of the grades held, I think and yes, it would make no sense to make an offer that the applicant has no practical means of achieving in this admissions cycle.

Sootess · 05/03/2021 16:32

Odd to make an offer when they already know what her grades are!

I have heard of someone else being made a conditional offer this year which is higher than the stated typical offer. They are assuming it is due to the expected grade inflation this year.

lanthanum · 05/03/2021 17:46

Is she re-taking the A-levels? Presumably, if they're giving her a conditional offer.

If so, perhaps their reasoning is that if she can't improve those Bs to As with an extra year, that suggests that either she is wasting her time this year, or the ABB was over-generous last year.

SeasonFinale · 05/03/2021 19:25

Are you sure that the ABB is not what their contextual offer is and there are two different garde requirements listed eg. AAA-ABB (the first is usually the standard offer, the second contextual).

Original poster
Fossie · 05/03/2021 20:21

Thank you for your thoughts. There was a grade range but her A levels were the exact sciences needed for the degree so she thought, having already got the lowest grade entry, that they would just accept her.

She has gave up on retaking A levels this summer when the exams were cancelled in January . This whole situation has taken a huge toll on her mental health so I’m not sure where to go next.

OP posts:
LIZS · 05/03/2021 20:25

She needs to ring and check if it is correct. Any post results offer should be unconditional.

titchy · 05/03/2021 20:29

@LIZS

She needs to ring and check if it is correct. Any post results offer should be unconditional.
Agree. Though I'd suggest email!
OnlyTeaForMe · 05/03/2021 20:37

There was a grade range but her A levels were the exact sciences needed for the degree so she thought, having already got the lowest grade entry, that they would just accept her.

If she assumed she would get in at the contextual offer level, but she is not eligible for a contextual offer then she has been badly advised!

Has her former school/college been supporting - they should have picked this up Sad.

Does she have any other offers for her grades?

SeasonFinale · 05/03/2021 20:48

@LIZS

She needs to ring and check if it is correct. Any post results offer should be unconditional.
Not if her application has gone off with an actual grade and a pending grade because she was going to retake.
LIZS · 05/03/2021 20:50

Possibly not, but all the more reason to contact them .

Original poster
Fossie · 05/03/2021 22:30

She is encouraged to contact the university and will email a careful letter this weekend. She does have one other offer (she has the grades) but had rather gone to Manchester. Thank you.

OP posts:
MarchingFrogs · 06/03/2021 01:25

While she is at it, if she has any subject down as 'pending', because at the time of application, she was intending to retake this summer, she needs to let both UCAS and her universities know that she has not entered for it after all, including the universities which have already made offers.

There is an online form on the UCAS website in the Making changes to your UCAS undergraduate application section for amending her UCAS application, but the universities have to be contacted separately as well.

Revengeofthepangolins · 06/03/2021 09:10

Ah, if she applied saying that she was going to do more retakes that could explain it I am afraid. And yes, I think the ranges are mire about contextualisation and predictions than best fit a level subjects. Did she have a prediction in her application that would have fitted the offered grades - that may have sealed the tariff .

Original poster
Fossie · 06/03/2021 11:09

Her UCAS predictions from the school have been AAA both years. She didn’t apply to Manchester last year so she doesn’t know what they might have offered her then.

OP posts:
Ellmau · 06/03/2021 22:40

A prediction for an exam she's not actually taking is surely pointless.

Typical offer doesn't mean the offer they give every candidate, I'm afraid.

MarchingFrogs · 06/03/2021 22:42

Her UCAS predictions from the school have been AAA both years
And there, as they say, is the rub.

Piggywaspushed · 07/03/2021 07:52

Yes, I am afraid this is definitely because UCAS (and, therefore, Manchester) have her down as resitting. She needed to inform them that she is no longer doing this. It is a complicated system and more so for resit candidates. It does sound like she hasn't understood the prospectus very well : it should be laid out on the entry requirement pages that lower offers are for grades with EPQ or for contextual offers.

Where is her other offer from? Maybe she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth?

Try not to panic : this will sort itself out in the end.

Piggywaspushed · 07/03/2021 07:54

What did she get in the A Level she retook OP?

Bluntness100 · 07/03/2021 07:57

I’m a little confused. Has she already sat her a levels and failed one or did she take a fourth? What is she retaking?

SeasonFinale · 07/03/2021 08:23

Bluntness100 - I took it to mean she got her A levels with CAGS last summer and retook two in the Autumn sitting to try to increase the grades her CAGS gave her. In those situations the UCAS form would show the existing grades for example ABB and then if she was retaking any it would also have a pending grade for the ones she retook in the Autumn sitting which the school would enter a predicted grade for.

If the OP would say what she got in the retakes we would be able to see whether she met the AAA requirement.

(I think she did not realise that if a uni lists grades requirements as AAA-ABB that this is usually AAA unless there is criteria she meets to be entitled to a contextual offer at ABB, and suggests she did not read through the entry requirements properly).

Revengeofthepangolins · 07/03/2021 08:24

It is even just contextual issues. Last year when Ds looked Exeter showed a split tarried fir the course he was interested. Ds emailed to aka what determined whether they asked fir an A star or just AAA and they said if you have an A star predicted, we will require it “to encourage aspiration” which I thought was a bit cr*p

SeasonFinale · 07/03/2021 08:26

Sorry just saw that she was only retaking one so if she got that up to an A that would still leave her at AAB and missing the AAA requirement.

I am confused however as the OP has said that the school have AAA predictions for both years which suggested that she was retaking 2???