OR 22 - Edinburgh, Warwick, St A, UCL, Durham, Nottingham, Bath and more

[Valleyofthedollymix]

Following on from the Oxbridge rejects thread but I've got rid of those two words. I for one am interested to know where they all end up and when Durham might finally deign to reject/offer DS...

@Eightytwenty one offer? Sweet baby Jesus. And actually not great to be the only one in a college doing a subject - that's a strange decision. But I guess they could have more turning up who deferred last year and only had one place to offer so even more kudos to him for getting an interview. But glad he can move on.

@Eightytwenty in the words of my teens ... wtf.. but echo the sentiment of others that it's good he can close this off now. Scratching my head as to how did these alleged brightest minds think it was a good idea to go through all this rigmarole to only offer one place. Will share Dd HSPS feedback as soon as we get it..

@Igglepigglesblankie seems a lot of the brightest were failed this year if they've got five rejections. It's certainly sharpened the focus for my younger teens seeing this whole process. I have one with significant SEN and his sister's biggest cheerleader .. he said he was glad he didn't have to think about doing this !

Think its time pressure was brought to get each college to admit how many places they actually have available,this is unfair on candidates..

It doesn't always work like that in terms of the number of places they have at a college. In my DD's year at her C college they chose to only admit one student for a particular course although they could have taken four. They preferred not to fill the places with what they thought were not suitable candidates. I think they trade to some extent with other courses where there have been very good applicants- labs and other facilities being available of course.

My son has seen so many of his incredibly bright friends being rejected from good unis that in past years would have been snapped them up. My son was turned down by Cambridge which he understood as his interview did not go as well as he had hoped. he was pooled but not picked up. He got an offer from Durham yesterday (his 18th birthday) and I have so say I think it was the best birthday present he could have had. We have been advising him that the system seems more of a lottery than ever before and not to feel any loss of self esteem if you are rejected, it feels so very arbitrary.

ds3 college states they have 12 places per year for his course,obviously they only offer 12 places if the candidates are good enough,but if they already have 6 or 8 or whatever number deferred from the previous year they should say so..

They did mention the overall number of places that they were offering for a 2023 start but not how many were deferred from 2022. I had assumed that they turned their noses up at all bar the 1 who they offered to (as opposed to not only having 1 place) but who knows! Just glad to have moved on and that DS not tempted to have a year out and try again with grades in hand. Think if you’ve got a place you’re happy with then that is a win. If you get a choice then that brings pros and cons.

UCAS’ own data show that there were slightly less “early applications” by 15th Oct 2021 than the were bu 15th Oct 2020 (though applications for both years are significantly up on early applications on Oct 2019). Obviously, early applications will include Medicine applicants, as well as Oxbridge. When O and C publish their data it will be possible to see if there have been unusual surges in applications for particular courses.

I don’t know about O but, despite the impact of CAGs / grade inflation in the first Covid-impacted cycle of 2019-20, C confirmed they accommodated all offer holders who made their offer conditions and did not have to ask anyone to defer. In the last cycle 2020-21 (after the announcement that grades would be cancelled for a second year running) O and C anticipated grade inflation again and consequently made less offers than in a normal year because far fewer students were expected to miss their offer grades (I think it was about 15-20% less offers made across the board). This year, despite numbers of applicants that were only slightly lower than the last cycle, offer ratios have returned to normal because exams are happening (ie they over-offer by a certain margin to mitigate against a few not getting the grades).

The same can not be said about Durham who did not alter their normal offer algorithms and were caught out with a surplus of offer holders they could not accommodate for two years running. In 2019-20, they offered means-tested amounts (I think up to £1,500) to defer - but also, students could reapply through UCAS if they wanted (ie another shot at Oxbridge essentially) but still have a guaranteed place and first choice accommodation at Durham if they wanted it! In 2020-21, some students for Durham’s larger courses such as History and Geography were being offered £4-5,000 to defer (they could not reapply through UCAS, but would get first choice accommodation for 2022).

Hey all,

I've had issues with my account so have disappeared for a bit!

Amazing to read all the updates. Such congratulations Fishingeagle and doubleshot and Stelwicks, I'm so glad your DC have been rewarded formally their hard work.

DS was at Glasgow Offer Holder's Day and was really impressed, I think. He had a great time chatting to lots of professors about Maths ( in my mind!) and seems genuinely delighted that he can take Environmental Geography as one of his first year subjects (he got the Geography prize in S5). It's such a beautiful university and it was a gorgeous, sunny day- perfect conditions!

Edinburgh have really annoyed me: delayed Offer Holder's Day this Sat the 2nd. Was really looking forward to it, day together all booked and they messaged yesterday It's cancelled due to Covid . Next one is 23rd April - it's leaving it pretty late before his exams.

St As still not offered/ rejected and the offers day is also Sat. What's the point of not confirming before the bloody important offers day? Sheesht.

Welcome back @Puffalicious- thank you for your good wishes.

So glad he had an exciting day in Glasgow - yes DS was a bit disappointed about Edinburgh too. Really hope we can make the 25th.

@Eightytwenty I entirely agree. DS has moved on too. I think getting a place at any of these places this year is a win not worth risking next year for some imagined Oxbridge perfect, especially if your context means you've got to absolutely smash every element of an application to be competitive.

@ItsWorkNotAParty (great name!) I think that's right - there seemed to be no fixed number at DS's college for history.

Perhaps we'll see you there fishingeagle. Had you made travel arrangements for this weekend?

@Puffalicious a friends son was there today looking at the maths department. Sounds like it was a good day. Mean time St A have a lot of people waiting for places - can’t see they will meet their targeted deadline of tomorrow.

@Puffalicious To be honest DS was humming and hawing because a good chum's got a birthday party on the Friday and he didn't know how he was going to make it all work so I left it up to him; he was still ruminating over when it got cancelled. The later date works better for us anyway really, but he'll have to come out of school for it. We did have a wee scoot around in the summer and got to see a lot of the main accommodation if only from the outside. Would be really great to see the dept though and meet some people! He's really excited to have his offer.

[quote Eightytwenty]@Puffalicious a friends son was there today looking at the maths department. Sounds like it was a good day. Mean time St A have a lot of people waiting for places - can’t see they will meet their targeted deadline of tomorrow.[/quote]
Ooh they may have been right beside each other- so funny!

fishingeagle that's better if it suits you and coming out of school won't be too bad if it's just for the one uni. I'm so chuffed that's he excited and you're at ease now.

Finally DS has all his offers after Edinburgh came today. He got offers from Warwick, Imperial, St Andrews and Edinburgh (declined Oxford). Think he will firm Warwick for MORSE and insure St Andrews for statistics

DD is now only waiting for two, after a rejection today for the dual at UCL/Sciences Po. She is very upset. It had been her favourite, and though DH and I are relieved because we actually don't feel she would cope being abroad right now (recent ADHD diagnosis, and some other medical stuff going on), but I'm still disappointed for her. She usually appears quite resilient, but this has knocked the stuffing out of her a little.

Found you! I thought I'd lost you all after the old thread dropped off my list.
Nice to see more offers trickling in and choices being made (even though it's a bloody stressful business)
I tagged along with S1 to Bath offers day yesterday & I'm so pleased I did. He really enjoyed meeting staff & current students, everyone was so welcoming & enthusiastic. After the campus tour & lunch they all went off to one of the studios to do a mini design project for 2 hours (architecture). It was so reassuring to watching them all chatting & joking at their presentation afterwards - looks like he's found his people! I'll admit to being quite anxious about him moving so far away but I'm a lot more relaxed about it after yesterday. We had time for a wander around the beautiful town in the sunshine & a nice meal, I think we'll be visiting him a lot
He's just updated his UCAS with Cardiff as insurance so now we move on to accommodation & finance...

Flipping heck that was a long post lolol

A Close Match I'm sorry DC is upset, but I'm a strong believer in 'Whit's fur ye, ull no go by ye' (What's for you won't go by you). I really am, and it looks like you know your DC best. The sting will fade.

Congrats Darbs great set of offers and great decisions made.

Millicent sounds like a wonderful day and a great time ahead.

Hey. Anyone at LSE holders day on 27th April would like to meet up, we’re free!

Yay @MillicentFaucet another Bath firmer! So glad he liked it and that the offers day was positive, we are off next Saturday for the Politics day. Very much hoping she loves it still as. she has already firmed!!

@Darbs76 Fantastic news!

Thanks @Puffalicious - glad the offers are finally all done and dusted. It’s been a stressful process and DS is lucky to have 4/5 offers, even if Imperial offer was really as good as a rejection as they wanted STEP paper in middle of his A levels which was never going to happen. I think he will leave it a few more days and he’s still not 100% not accepting St A as his firm as that was the plan once Oxford was a rejection. But since we have investigated Warwick being a target Uni for banking and it’s so much closer to home (by 6hrs!!) it makes sense. It’s a bit risky having it as the insurance as grades are the same ask but Warwick have specified the 2 A have to be in maths and further maths whereas St A have not specified that, so if he got A in maths and Spanish then he would get in. His maths teacher doesn’t think he will have any problems but you just don’t know what’s on the paper, or maybe you do with maths, but still. Edinburgh is lower grades so that was always going to be the insurance. I think he’s reluctant to let go of St A but need to think realistically if he should choose that over Edinburgh for back up.

@ACloseMatch Sorry to hear about the rejection, it really is not a pleasant experience to be rejected never mind seeing our DC going through it. Everything happens for a reason even if they/we don't see it at the time...........I am telling this to DS 17 whose girlfriend has dumped him after 2 years together, he is absolutely gutted. Ah to be a teenager again!!

@ACloseMatch sorry to hear about UCL. Disappointing if it was her top choice.

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango ohhh I feel for you. Those early days were raw here. Still some sad times even a few months later. It’s a long time to be in a relationship when you’re young. I guess uncertainty about their future will be driving some of these splits.