Is this a boom year for University admissions so harder to get in?

[Docdado]

Is it true that it's tougher for this year/ 2022 entry - I mean due to so many students deferring from last year, so that means less places available for students doing A-levels, etc this year?

DD's thinking of deferring, but says if she gets a place, she'll just call the University on results day and ask if she can start in 2023. I wonder if she might be better getting her application changed to 2023 now. If this is a boom year and she slips a grade on results day, surely she's less likely to get a place, but if she's already deferred to 2023, they might still take her? Has anyone got any advice for her? I'm just using logic and her school aren't very helpful - they just said it's up to her.

Btw, she knows about the changes to Student Finance, but she's got an amazing opportunity to volunteer abroad next year so has decided to go for it.

No one know what exactly the grade boundaries will be this summer so it maybe that everyone gets their predicted grades or more fail that expected but the universities take them anyway to fill the places.

Lots deferred from the 2020 start because of covid restrictions to start in September 2021. i remember the uni that DC goes to at Lancaster had a issue with nearly all their accommodation beign taken up. And also york uni had to send students to accommodation in hull, there was that many intakes.
If its Oxbridge,. id say no do not defer. They are not so keen on deferals.

If she gets the grades shes needs and gets a place, she calls the uni and defers her place, that should be ok. It would be a good idea to call UCAS as well to get the proper procedure about deferals and how to go about it.

If she doesnt do well in grades and does not a place, she could re apply the following year to other unis that will accept her with the grades shes got, or to do the resit and await until 2023 results day to see if she got in her original choice uni.

As for how busy its going to be for a 2022 or 2023 start its very hard to say. last year was an exception because of the covid 2020 cohort. It might still be a bit high this year due to some students for the 2021 start on alevel results day being asked to defer to 2022 by unis, but will smoothen out this year and even more next year.

www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/when-apply/deferred-entry

Particularly this bit, if intending to just call up on results day:

If you have been offered a place for 2022 but would now like to defer, it will again be up to the university or college. As this is considered a late deferral, you may be asked to reapply. Make sure you’re confident of your choice, if you defer at this point it will become a final decision.

Also, if you are either applying from the off for a deferred place, or asking to defer 'late', you still have to meet the terms of your offer this year.

Re the number of applications so far in the current admissions round, this is also on the ucas site

www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/ucas-undergraduate-analysis-reports/ucas-undergraduate-end-cycle-reports

Thanks all - it's so confusing isn't it?! Obviously it's all course dependent too, as some are far more popular and oversubscribed than others.

One thing to remember if you defer a 2022 place to 2023 is the massive impact it will have on repaying the student loan as 2023 starters will be on the 40 year plan rather than the 30 year plan if that makes any difference to you/her.

Oops see you know that already

Thanks though SeasonFinale!

she's got an amazing opportunity to volunteer abroad next year

Whilst I'm a big fan of a gap between A levels and starting Uni flipping this one on its head, given the loan term changes, is that type of opportunity one that could still be taken after graduation?

Unfortunately not, @boys3. It's a one off chance.

A lot will depend on whether the course in question needs "face to face" or "hands on" work or whether it can mostly be done online. If mostly online, there is a lot of elasticity/flexibility as to numbers on the course.

My son is doing a dual honours at Lancaster, one half is mostly face to face and has been somewhere near normal in terms of numbers and lectures/seminars etc with very little only only, the number of students is apparently the same as normal. But on his other half, it's been mostly online (no "in person" lectures and few face to face seminars), and he says the numbers are massive, with the lecturers saying they've over twice as many students on the course as normal - that's simply because there's no "need" for physical face to face/in person "teaching" at all, so the Uni basically didn't limit number of students and just filled their boots leaving the lecturers to try to cope with more students than normal, and doing most teaching online.

As for uni accommodation, it seems they allocated campus accommodation for years 2/3 to nearly all the first/second years who asked for it, instead of knocking them back and prioritising Freshers. So hardly surprising if there were first years who didn't get allocated campus accommodation really. My son is on campus in his second year and says his entire block of his college is 2nd/3rd/4th/PHD students - if that's replicated across all the colleges, it's a massive number of "returning" students who've been allocated accommodation that would normally have been given to Freshers. He was most surprised to get accommodation on campus - they'd been told the numbers available were very limited and strongly encouraged to look outside the campus, but he applied anyway on the off chance and got his first choice (as did loads of people he knew there, all of whom were quite surprised!). So, it sounds as if the Uni were desperate to secure the renting out their own accommodation in case of further restrictions/lockdowns reduced new students and got existing students signed up instead of risking a shortage of new students in the Summer.

I think the past two years have been boom years for many universities. The awarding of predicted grades instead of actual results meant that universities had to honour more conditional offers than normal. Some students deferred in the first year of Covid, in the hope that normality would return by the following year, but even so students numbers were high for 2020 entry. Then in 2021 universities had to accommodate both the deferrals from the previous year plus another crop of applicants with predicted grades instead of results.

But it sounds as if your daughter is determined to defer, so are you just looking for additional reasons to justify that decision?

No, not looking for reasons, @SmithTheeWithThunderbolts. It's totally up to DD and I don't mind either way. I'm more concerned that she's saying she'll leaving deferring until results day. If it is a boom year and say she slips a grade, so gets ABB instead of her AAB conditional offer, she might be less likely to get accepted this year. If she's already deferred to 2023 and Universities are expecting that year to be more on back to normal levels, possibly they're more likely to accept her still. Does that make sense?!

Sorry, that should have been @SmiteTheeWithThunderbolts

@user1497207191 thanks for posting your son's experiences. I think that's what worries me - if the Universities are that full, it's potentially harder for new starters in 2022 and 2023 probably too!

I think the general idea is that the offer is being made, and the grades achieved assessed, as an application within this year's cycle. You are applying now, against this year's requirements, even if you have / make an arrangement to start next year. Presumably, if the course is not oversubscribed and the university is letting everyone with a slipped grade in, then that would probably be applied to those wanting to defer. But there is no reason why a fully-subscribed course would allow someone in with lower grades, just because they are starting next year rather than this. Some courses are already showing a higher entry requirement for the 2023 cohort.

@user1497207191 DD is 2nd year at Lancaster. From the student room forum in August last year, first year students were struggling being given a townhouse, or standard when they wanted ensuite. Seems like accommodation allocations were a problem last year, and I think that was down to the 2020 cohort deferring coming into 2021, and like you say, they was hoping to get 2nd+ years in, in case somthing else happened Covid wise and more restrictions.

And fair play, a dual honours for your DS, :)

Good point, @MarchingFrogs - I will tell DD it's best to call the admissions people and talk to them about deferring and see what they say.