Economics offers- whether to defer and reapply or not

[monkey42]

My daughter applied to uni for 2022 with predicted aaa. She was disappointed to only receive one offer (from York, Aab). Last week her results were a (maths) a, a (philosophy and economics). I’ve read the previous York threads and she likes York and I think will accept it… but she’s agonised about whether to take a gap year and reapply…but no one seems to know what the 2023 applications will be like either, will the pressure on offers be as bad as this year etc. she really loved Edinburgh (but they upped their offer form aaa to aa*a and rejected her anyway) or maybe Durham or bath. Is taking York the sensible plan ?

DG studied at Sheffield for his economics degree. Loved it.

Yes I have a friend who loved Sheffield, it’s also still in clearing at least on ucas

UCAS are warning not to expect next year to be any easier - one of the reasons being the demographics. The trend until the end of this decade is of ever more 18 year olds in the population. The attached graph showing this trend is from the Economist (MN seems to crop the heading off).

Add to that a developing financial crisis in the UK university sector, pressure to raise home undergraduates’ fees very significantly, and the recent announcement that students starting in 2023 and later will wait an extra 10 years before their student loans are written off, and you can see why there’s sense in taking the bird in the hand in 2022.

Yes that’s the worry- that although delaying by a year is no big deal in the grand scheme of things the reality is it might not come to anything. I also think this cohort have missed so much due to covid they are on the whole keen to get on with life. I really don’t know what her chances are even with achieved grades, because maybe most other folks on the a star aa unis are actually getting a star x3….

Honestly I think she’d be well-advised to take either York or a good clearing place for 2022.

Durham, for example, is openly planning to offer an increasing proportion of its places to international non-EU students because their fees are needed to make the books balance (see below). They won’t be the only ones doing this.

www.palatinate.org.uk/durhams-international-intake-to-reach-39-by-2026/

Clicky link re Durham

Thank you, that’s reassuring, as even the school head didn’t know what to suggest- having been shocked by the dearth of offers this year it’s like normal rules are most definitely not applying. I think she’ll stick with York and hope it all works out

Best of luck to her, whatever she decides!

Agree with others
Definitely take the place at York

I don’t know what she should do but I think next year will be tough. Your DD’s AL grades were moderated, to land between the very high teacher assessed 2021 grades and the 2019 grades. We don’t know what will happen next year.

Universities were feeling the pinch even before the current inflationary crisis and now the financial situation is awful.I think almost everyone will be recruiting more Overseas students, and Economics is one of their favourite subjects.

If she were my DD you can tell what I would be hoping she would decide. (I am a former Russell Group admissions tutor.).

I am on all the Economic threads because DS has an offer, but last year he got a couple of rejections first and we wondered if he should take a gap year. I was advised by an admissions tutor here that a gap year is not a good idea for maths-heavy subjects because the DC will forget all they have learned.

I should also add that all these unis you mention will be heavily targeted by international students from India and China who have fantastic grades, often in the IBDP.

Another one who would say take York. There was nothing in clearing this year for the higher ranked uni's.

Have a look at the other thread re economics. It is very very competitive as it has become so popular. If she looks at re-applying ensure she looks at course content. Why, for example, would she go for Durham for economics? It's not known for this and there are lots of better unis.

Another option is to pair economics with another subject e.g. politics if she wants to re-apply but it is a big risk.

I really don’t know what her chances are even with achieved grades, because maybe most other folks on the a star aa unis are actually getting a star x3….

I don't want to be horrible. But you are right. The A star AA unis are actually taking those with 3 A stars in reality this year, and perhaps the next.

I would take York in her position. DS has a place at Manchester for economics and got his predicted grades of AAA*, but only had offers from Manchester and Birmingham. V tough this year and as a PP said, ucas have said next year will be the same if not worse.

Thank you to everyone who has replied because it has really helped reassure her that she’s doing the sensible thing in taking York and moving on to the next phase…this cohort have had so much uncertainty I suspect many will dread the thought of reapplying more than would typically be the case

I would take the certainty of York. As she doesn’t have an A*, aiming higher might be difficult next year as others have said. York is a great university.

My son looked in clearing as did better than predicted and wanted to check he couldn't get a "better" uni than 1 had offer for and couldn't find anything. I think deferring only a good idea if going to spend year doing something to enhance application for next year. York is a good uni in a nice city so I would go for it

Has she sorted accommodation? Someone on WIWIKAU said they can't find any.

I have just realised the original post may have messed up the grades- it was a star (v high one) in maths ( was doing further then dropped it), a, a.

Hi @monkey42
what did your daughter decide at the end ?
thanks

Thank you for asking! Bit the bullet and went to York. Loving it so far so delighted with the choice… and quite pleased not to be having to do the whole ucas all over again….!!

@monkey42
Great decision!