LNAT - deadline missed. Any advice?

[lnatter]

DD discovered, today, that she has missed the LNAT deadline, so all her university choices bar one are now invalid. Leaving aside all the questions this begs: does anyone know if it's possible to sit the LNAT slightly late, other than for the most extenuating possible circumstances?

DD is now in a panic because she has one LLB offer (AAA) from a university which doesn't require LNAT, so has no back-up.

XH has spent the day on the phone to university admissions tutors, but hasn't got very far (he and I were both university admissions tutors once upon a time, so can see this from both sides).

Clutching at straws, but can anyone suggest anything that might help her, please?

Check UCAS website and make changes before the deadline ?? Or consider a gap year and apply again ?. Huge commiserations

The LNAT website suggests universities are permitted but not required to consider late applicants - so I’d get her to sit it ASAP and beg the universities to consider (preferably with good extenuating circumstances backed up by the school).

Otherwise can she change her choices at this stage, or consider a gap year? Is she certain she wants to study law?

You are both remarkably kind, especially because she is the twit who failed to register for the test on time (which makes me wonder how keen she actually is - but that's a whole different can of worms).

She had already applied for deferred entry and was planning a gap year (though there has already been some discussion about how tricky this might be due to Covid). She does have some extenuating circumstances, but has been discharged by CAMHS due to her failure to turn up to appointments. So there is a bit of a pattern - but I would still like to help her if I can.

If you’re a former admissions tutor yourself I’m sure we’ve not told you anything you weren’t already aware of! But I hope you’re being kind to yourself - it sounds like there’s a challenging backstory and it’s always easy to blame yourself when these things happen (no matter how much we need to teach our kids independence).

Also ex Admissions I world day that if it's not DD taking the initiative and contacting the unis I would imagine her chances of success would be greatly reduced.

I think you need to have a frank discussion with her about what she actually wants, there's still plenty of time to change plans . .

I think it is unlikely that she will be able to sit the LNAT late but, as you know, it is up to the universities.

When did she submit her UCAS form? Is she within the 14 day deadline to change your choices so she can apply to non-LNAT universities instead?

If not, I would be speaking to UCAS about other options for changing her choices. I think you can change your choices through UCAS extra once she has been rejected by the LNAT universities but there may not be many options available. There is always clearing.

Can she withdraw her UCAS application and reapply before the UCAS deadline tomorrow? I've no idea if that is allowed... but you did say you were clutching at straws. Even if it is, I suppose that would rely on the school/college agreeing to redo their part of the application tomorrow.

If she is applying for deferred entry and has been struggling with her mental health is it worth stressing over? I would encourage her to speak to the universities herself to explain the situation and ask to able to take the LNAT late and/or change her UCAS choices if she is within the 14 day deadline. I would probably just think of it as a lesson learned and she's lucky that she was planning a gap year anyway so it isn't the end of the world.

If she is planning a gap year anyway then I wouldn't stress about it. Sounds like she needs the time to take stock. Many people become lawyers who haven't done undergrad law.

@chesirecat99, if the OP's DDwithdraws her whole application, then that is that for this year, as you can only submit once in each cycle. Extra would be available once she holds no offers at all (receives the inevitable rejections from the 4 LNAT ones and turns down the one held), but that only allows one place to be applied to at a time - no good if the remaining non-LNAT universities she would actually like to go to are willing to offer but the offer is no lower than the AAA currently in hand.

www.ucas.com/undergraduate/after-you-apply/types-offer/extra-choices#who-can-use-extra

Thank you for your kind and constructive comments, which have largely reinforced my own feelings about this. It would be easy to ask her school how this slipped through the net (she's at boarding school), but I think the ultimate question is how interested she really is in this whole endeavour. I know she finds it difficult to organise herself, but applying by the deadline is quite a basic thing to miss. She sent in her UCAS form some time ago - I think the school trod very heavily on her tail - so can't change her choices now. I would also have expected a potential student to contact me her/himself if they had a problem with their application; taking the initiative would be a point in their favour.

I personally think that there are other subjects for which she would be better suited, and with entrance requirements which would be less stressful for her, given her MH issues. Given that she is absolutely fixated on Law, though, I said I would try to find out if there was any way round this.

I think that she really needs a year to dust herself off, earn some money, and think about what she really wants to do, once she has the actual grades. I'm not at all fixated on her going to university despite (or maybe even because of!) the fact that her dad and I were both university teachers. What I most want is for her to do something that brings out her own particular qualities and makes her feel good about herself (in the real sense, not in the spurious 'Instagram likes' kind of sense). It's obviously not my decision, though!

Would add the PS that it might now be more sensible to reapply in the next cycle with grades in hand anyway, if she doesn't want to start until 2023?

Having done an LLB at a Redbrick myself this is one of many many important dates she’ll have to remember. Law is FULL on!

@MarchingFrogs I did suggest that to her last night. She said that would just mean she wouldn't end up going to university (which is obviously not true at all, but she's a catastrophiser). I think she would in any case be far better off doing as well as she can in her A levels in the circumstances, and then thinking about what she really wants to do once she has the actual grades. Whatever happens, she needs to come up with a constructive plan for the academic year 2022-23.

@RenGreen

Having done an LLB at a Redbrick myself this is one of many many important dates she’ll have to remember. Law is FULL on!

This is another thing that I was thinking. Some of my closest friends are barristers (which, I think, is why DD is so keen - but she has only seen the very successful outcomes, not the slog that has gone into it for years beforehand).

I would get your DD to withdraw her application and take the extra year to really think hard about what she wants to do, and to concentrate on her health. I did law and three of my DC are lawyers, one in human rights having trained at a Magic Circle Firm, one a London barrister and the third at a different Magic Circle Firm, just about to finish his training contract. Missing deadlines and appointments habitually suggests that law isn't the way to go, certainly not at the moment. It very much sounds as though your DD needs to recharge. She and you have my absolute sympathy though. it doesn't sound as though your DD is in a great place. Good luck to you both.

I agree with every word of this, @goodbyestranger
And thank you for your kindness - DD is my youngest and was the easiest of my children when she was small, but not now!
I am going to let the dust settle for a day or two then will gently suggest that she withdraw the application. If she happens to end up with three As, that would put her in a good position to start from scratch and sit the LNAT - if that's really what she wants to do, having had more time and space to think about it. In practice, given her MH issues (which were significant before lockdown, but were made much worse while she couldn't physically be at school), she's extremely likely to end up with three As. I think she should focus, now, on doing as well as she can reasonably do whilst taking care of herself, and I think that she would be better off without the pressure of 'having' to get particular grades (which would motivate some young people, but sends her into a tailspin of self-sabotage).

We were in a similar situation last year. My DD was having a few mental health issues not helped by lockdown.
She couldn’t face the LNAT at that time and decided she would risk the 2 non LNAT unis
she had put down.
Long story short, she changed her mind. Bristol admissions dept said no way could she do late LNAT but law dept direct later said that due to covid they were doing their own in house paper as many students had not been able to take it.
It’s worth seeing if that’s happening again this year?

Thank you so much @Savoretti It's worth an ask, even if just in order to have all the information that we can possibly get.

I'm really sorry to hear that your DD has also suffered from MH issues. It's awful, seeing them unhappy.

@lnatter yes it’s so hard, esp when there’s nothing you can do to make it better
My DD is now at Bristol and while she still suffers with her condition she is loving Uni life and so glad she didn’t defer

Oh that is fab @Savoretti

I'm so glad for her (and you!)