What (if any) unis use ucas points rather than grades?

[Timestabler]

My dd (y12) is predicted 148 ucas points but when I look at courses they then ask for BBB or ABB and her profile is wider than that.

I was therefore wondering if any unis give offers on points or whether they only do grades. I thought some must do as otherwise what’s the purpose of points?

And my title should be which not what - sorry!

They should all be able to “convert”. They already need to for international students, and even just between England and Scotland

Aberystwyth and Manchester Met made points-based offers to my daughter.

By wider you mean she has 4+ a levels or she has a different qualification or she's predicted A*BD?
Those that do go by ucas points generally state 'from 3 a levels' or similar for other qualifications.

As OP points out they do not 'all convert'. Generally speaking the higher-ranked the University the less likely they are to take points equivalent results. But all this info is easily found on their websites. DD just needs to look it up.

I think that they all do really.

So for an AAA offer they will accept the equivalent total of UCAS points.

But they may specifiy for a subject so that if you are reading maths you must have an A in maths but the rest can be made up of UCAS points

Most unis offer equivalents for A level, IB, Highers, level 3 BTec/NVQ, and UCAS points. However they may stipulate a minimum grade in a specifically relevant subject ie Maths for Engineering. What does your dc hope to study?

Oh okay so it is the 3 A levels that the points are on -

Her A level predictions are A*CC and an EPQ

Because courses then seem to be BCC or CCC

its the A* a level she wants to continue

GCSEs (although TAG because of covid) are 1 9 (a level A*) 6 8 and 2 7

It should be A * CC for predicted

They don't. At the university I work at if your offer was BBB we would not necessarily accept ABC as a matter of course.

With a wider spread of grades it may be that a Foundation year is an option at a "better" uni than going straight onto a lower entry degree course.

No, they really don't all take points equivalent. Higher-ranking Universities often would not consider A*AD as being the same as ABB.

From what I had seen I had thought foundation years were to help wider participation so there had to be a reason for it such as particular schools, deprived areas, first generation at uni, ill health etc

None of those apply - just spread of grades.

No not at all now, much more to fill in any gaps and prepare for the full degree.

All of my dd’s offers a couple of years ago were specific about the grades needed rather than ucas points.
so her first choice Edinburgh) asked for AAA in the results that year. She got AAB. they would not take into account the A in maths she got in year 12 (her school does maths in year 12 and further maths in year 13) and they weren’t interested in her A* EPQ (that she also got in year 12). So in terms of points she has 184 (excluding EPQ) AND has AAA but was still rejected (best thing really for a number of reasons and she loves the second choice she is at - Bath).
But she has a friend who needed AAA for UCL but got AAC and still got in. So it depends on the university.

That should have been A A C in my post above.

Oh for goodness sake. Can’t work out the star! A STAR, A STAR, C.

@LIZS that’s good to know re foundation I will get dd to look into them

Mumsnet need to change * to mean formatting for these boards!!!!

So it appears it’s a uni by uni case but they don’t advertise it - makes applying tricky

In an ideal world dd would raise grades by ucas submission day - but not sure how achievable that will be

I think that you'll often find that even if they take points then they'll say something like "from 3 A-levels", so you can't just keep adding more A-levels to get the numbers up if that makes sense.

I seem to remember that when dd was doing EPQ, she was told as a general rule that she wouldn't get an offer including the EPQ but it might lower a grade (so get AAB offer rather than AAA) or, if she missed her offer, it might be the tie breaker that means they decide to accept her anyway. I don't think she had any lower offers due to it, but she did miss her offer and got accepted. However she only missed by 2 marks which was probably more important than the EPQ.
Her EPQ was directly relevant to the subject she wanted to study as well.

I know very few people for whom has had a number offer rather than grades, and one of those it was X number of points which must include at least a B in chosen subject.

I don't know what you mean by 'they don't advertise it'. Typical offers are on the websites. It's very clear. She just needs to trawl through them. Some will say 3 x As inc A in Bog Studies, others 3 x As or equivalent. Others 148 points to include A level or BTEC Cert Bog Studies, others 148 points. A couple of hours looking at websites will answer this.

There are multiple online resources which would help narrow it down. Try discoveruni.gov.uk or even ucas.

If there's a few courses she's interested in which don't make it clear on their websites whether they require grades or if points equivalents will be acceptable, then she should email those admissions tutors and ask. The contact details will be on the website.

DD has two entirely points-based uni offers which include EPQ - or rather they’ll include EPQ if she doesn’t make it on A levels alone.

It was fairly clear that they were points-based, and we double checked plus asked about EPQ at open days.

It’s a niche course though, the offers are fairly low, and the unis at the lower end of the prestige scale.

OP
Please use UCAS to search.
In addition to was a pp said about the mix of grades ( IE ABC rather than BBB).....

Students can gain UCAS points for previous study, and for other non academic activities ( like music theory and BHS stages). These can be added to their tariff pot.

Very generally speaking, top performing unis ( IE Russell Group etc) are delighted if prospective students have these outside interests. They may consider extracurricular activities when making decisions ( demonstrates transferable skills) but the academic profile of the student is the main focus.
In the entry requirements section of UCAS or the uni website, you will see ' tariff not accepted'.

In addition - unis which do use the points system may also specify some additional requirements, like '112 points which must include a science'

Very generally speaking 'top performing unis' are not delighted with outside interests, they want strong grades and coherent reasons why students want to study their subject.