Uni applicants 2022

[NCTDN]

Can we stay a new thread? I'm on a few higher education threads but these seem to have people starting this term and I'd really appreciate support and advice specific to applications for starting next September.

Dd has received her predicted grades, A A A, for some reason none of class got an English grade so we're still waiting on that, expecting it to be a B. We're really pleased with them.

Now she just needs to get on with actually applying! The personal statement is still unwritten and other than her top two choices (St Andrews and Lancaster) her choices seem to change daily depending on which website we've looked at most recently. It's probably fairly telling that her two top choices are the two we've actually visited. That said we did drive around Warwick in the Summer and neither of us were keen on it so that's discounted despite its excellent reputation for Maths.

Other possible contenders are Nottingham - campus looks great and their website is one of the best we've been on, good academic reputation, I'm a bit worried about this recent increase in spiking that seems even more prevalent in Nottingham than other places; Edinburgh - love the city, the Maths department came across really well on the online open day, excellent reputation, not sure about the Kings Campus set up - we need to visit really, also I'm sure I've read something recently that made me have second thoughts but I can't even remember what now, maybe lack of f2f; Leeds - good employability for Maths graduates, great city, closest to home and easy journey on public transport (this is a pro for me, dd does not seem to think she'll be wanting to come often enough for this to be a factor!), cheap accommodation in the city compared to eg St A and Edinburgh; Stirling - stunning campus, fairly low entry requirements compared to her predicted though and had places in clearing this year so maybe not a sensible choice; Bath - I feel like we discounted it but now I can't remember why.

Who else's child was applying for Maths? I would be interested to hear their choices and why.

I have to say I'm a little bit glad dd discounted Oxbridge, I can relate to the poster above who said it seems so big of an idea. I would have supported her if she wanted to apply but she really wasn't interested (maybe she would have changed her mind if she'd visited but we'll never know now) but it definitely would have been an extra level of stress and pressure.

Sorry I didn't intend that to be so long and badly punctuated.

Thanks all.
I had not found Discover Uni - thanks, and that definitely covers something I was unsure about. Will read today.
Maths GCSE = 8 so no worries there and none of his courses require Maths A level, he's all over that.
Like ergo, I haven't spotted any where first in family is the only criteria. Our postcode is good and he goes to a high performing grammar so doesn't meet any other criteria although I know it varies from Uni to Uni. DS did tell me that a friend is applying for Oxford aiming for a contextual offer based on state school only, but Oxford isn't for my DS.

I don't think I could resist free tuition if DS was eligible and would be pushing hard for Scottish Unis!

(now looked up Oxford's contextual offers myself and it sounds totally normal - not sure what DS's friend is thinking of)

Hello 👋

Any creative course applications here? Trying to decide on doing a foundation course before the degree in graphic design?

What is anyone else doing?

Be a bit wary of the various websites which purport to show what actual grades people have. If you scroll down, some are based on very small samples and also, they are surely muddled by contextual offers. They can be two grades lower than standard so having them in the mix potentially understates the relevant grades for standard applicants.

@Chewbecca Glad you found Discover Uni (previously Unistats) useful - it is a good place to look at previous entry grades but only deals in UCAS points so in the top courses it can be distorted if lots of kids are doing four A levels. Student satisfaction is important - but the question This course is running smoothly is always telling so a particular favourite of mine (sad I know). Please remember some results relate to a specific course but if the course is small or new then numbers from several courses from the department maybe blended together so look at other things too. Does not sound like you'd get contextual if Grammar and good postcode. 8 is a strong Maths GCSE so no worries there.

@Revengeofthepangolins totally agree about the entry requirements and small samples etc on Discover Uni and some unis like Oxford have much more detailed stats via FOI but useful if you have a course which a DD or DS is considering and they don't like to be at the bottom of the class and grades are AAA on their website so DD or DS is considering but when you look on course entry the lowest person accepted got AAA*A equivalent in UCAS. Likewise some unis advertise AAA but discount heavily and often in clearing so when you look 80% are BBC candidates.

@Fruitygal. Yes, I guess use with caution is always a wise approach . And a good point about checking if one will be out gunned.

Have any conservatoire applicants had any updates yet? Mine has an (online) interview with his second favourite. Still one audition to upload though.

@Siriusmuggle yes DD also has an online interview this week.

That’s great @PaddingtonPaddington, hope it goes well. He’s also got an interview with his 3rd choice next month. Nothing from first choice yet (and still one recording to submit).

Ds is looking at politics and international relations. His predicted grades are ABB.

The unis he’s thinking of applying to are:

York- AAB (least likely to apply to this one as he thinks it’s unlikely he’ll get a second A)

Lancaster - ABB

Cardiff- ABB-BBB

Southampton- ABB-BBB

Loughborough- ABB-BBB

Hull- ABB (BPLS)

UEA- BBB

Aberystwyth- BBB-CCC

We visited UEA last week and he liked it. I think it was difficult in that it was the first and he doesn’t have anything to compare it to. I don’t think it gave him ‘oh my god, I must come here!!’ vibes… but ‘yup, this is nice, I could be happy here’.

From looking at websites/prospectuses his favourites so far are hull and Cardiff, but obviously could all change. Unfortunately he couldn’t get a place at the Cardiff open day. We’re off to hull this Saturday.

We’ve heard good things about the politics dept at Aber but it’s a long old journey from hertfordshire where we live.

We won’t get any additional funding aside from the minimum maintenance loan I assume (family income of 50-60k)? But we’ll find it financially tight so I suppose that may influence choices, if everything else is equal.

Anyone knowledgeable have any thoughts on his currents choices?

Joining in if that's ok.
DD2 (Yr13) now applying for Business and Management with Economics, Geography and Biology A levels.
She's chosen Exeter, York, Southampton, Reading and UWE with Southampton and Reading her preferred choices after visiting for open days.
We're now finalising the personal statement ready for school to look at next week.

@DrunkenUnicorn have you looked to see if your DS would be in line for contextual? Postcode or performance of school/college or home postcode etc; Did DS do an EPQ ? These might bring York’s offer down ?

@DrunkenUnicorn like the choice of unis btw - been to all but UEA and Hull with one of the DCs in past 5 years so

@OrangeBlossom28 my DD with similar A levels and was debating whether to go down management with economics or biosciences route - chosen Biosciences but also chose Exeter and York as 2/5 - Ucas form with school at the moment for reference amd hopefully off next week. Good luck with PS - it’ll feel great once it’s in !

@Fruitygal I don’t think we do. He goes to the local grammar school and live in an area where most DC expect to go to uni. No EPQ unfortunately.

He’s actually very happy with his choices and obviously needs to cut it down to 5. It was mainly me hearing that you ‘should’ have an aspirational choice on your list, so thinking we should put a higher entrance requirement uni on the list. I suppose based on the idea that DC ‘should’ apply to the highest ranked/hardest entry requirements they can realistically get into… he’s happy with his list so far. Maybe if we visit some and he decides they aren’t for him then we’ll have a space…

@Fruitygal DD2 looked at Business Management with Economics but decided that she'd rather be able to choose more of the mgmt modules than have half economics so we're really pleased she's clear with that.

I'm in please. Ds1 has submitted his UCAS early as advised by HoY. He was just glad to get it done, having me, my mum, and tutor, HoY and other school teachers having reviewed his PS endless times, we'd all had enough of it.

Accountancy.

It feels like a long time between now and when final offers will come in.

I'm loving vicariously through Ds1. I'm getting enjoyment from all his applications etc. He's blasé about it all.

@DrunkenUnicorn only mentioned contextual because we have a super academic sixth form near us which as it’s central has a postcode that mean some unis give contextual. A lovely surprise for DS1 when he applied a couple of years ago. DD at a grammar so no contextual for her but she did do the hell that is EPQ 😂😂