Sports Science

[ihearttc]

DS1 is doing PE, Psychology and Geography A levels, predicted AAA. He desperately wants to go to Loughborough to study Sports Science, the open day a few weeks ago just confirmed this as he absolutely loved it.
The problem is the actual Sports Science course at Loughborough is AAA and they said they basically don’t accept anyone lower than that. There is a slightly different course,Sports Science, Coaching and Health which is AAB which he is happy to do instead. I very much doubt he will get an A.

Could he apply to both courses at Loughborough in the hope that he’d get offered one? His other option (which I think would be his insurance) is our local Uni which is ABB but again not pure sports science, it’s a slightly different course. His thinking is if I don’t go to Loughborough I might as well just stay home and do it here.
Other thing to consider is although we don’t met the Contextual Offer criteria, our postcode does randomly according to his school. And he will be the first person to go to University (School have included that in his reference as well). He has emailed admissions at Loughborough and they were spectacularly unhelpful, I suspect as the course is so popular they don’t need to worry about filling it.

You are not wrong with that last sentence OP. Sports Science at Lboro is amazingly popular. Is it the course he loves or the uni, or both?
I ask that bc a friend's lad also wanted to do that course there, but didn't get the grades. He ended up at Swansea (same course) and is really enjoying it.

DS2 is at Lboro and it is great with excellent sports facilities, but he would say it is a good idea to be sporty, or otherwise have some hobby the uni caters for, as the town is small and there's not a lot going on (compared to cities like Birmingham or Nottingham).

There's no issue AFAIK with putting down two different courses at the same uni - DD did this for two RG unis and got two offers from both (she couldn't decide between Class civ and Eng lit). The only thing is your PS has to reflect differing interests which can be a challenge. Maybe not so much in your son's case tho,.

if you want any Lboro gen then please shout :)

Loughborough carries such a reputation with it that they can afford to ask for very high grades (I think the annoying MN bolding has muddled your OP!). What clary says is right- this doesn't by default make it the only excellent sports science course. Has he been to any other Open Days?

Sorry, in my first sentence by reputation , I meant sporting reputation. It has a fine reputation all round but the sports are its USP, of course.

You can apply to multiple courses at the same uni so why not apply to both? If lucky he will get offers for both and be able to firm one and insure the other. It might make him work really hard to try to exceed his grades but he will have the back up place too.

DS started at Loughborough this year and is very happy there, despite not being sporty at all.

Thanks for the replies. It’s both the course and the Uni he loves. He is very sporty but in a more general way rather than an Elite level. He plays football but definitely wouldn’t make a top level team.
We have been to NTU as well. He loved that until he saw Loughborough. We’ve also been to our local Uni Open Day (UEA) which is the one that he wants to do in case he doesn’t get in Loughborough. Course is slightly different and he didn’t get such an exciting feel as he did at Loughborough.
The other place he has put down is Surrey which I think from memory is BBC. We missed first open day so going to one in November but 6th Form are pressuring him to get application in now.
It’s further complicated by the fact that he doesn’t want to be more than 3 hours from home. This is due to several reasons; his girlfriend isn’t going to Uni (they’ve been together for 4 years) and he is a bit of a homebody and I think would struggle being unable to get home if he needed to. We live in Norfolk/Suffolk border so it narrows down the search area quite a bit. I’ve told him to just go for it and go anywhere but he doesn’t want to.

Has he thought about Birmingham? That's really not all that far away from you, has excellent transport links and great sports facilities.

No he hadn’t considered Birmingham actually. They have a really handy tool on their website which allows you to input your grades etc and tells you whether you are likely to get an offer. He just did it and it said very likely. I think he’s going to put that one down as well and go to the next open day. Thank you for that as that one wasn’t on his list at all!!

Ah @ihearttc I hadn't clocked it was you! Think I have seen your messages before about your DS. I would just say that Lboro is a great uni for offering a range of sports - DS2 was disappointed not to get into any of the footy teams (he has played since he was about 5 and it was his main sport I would say - GK) but switched ot another sport he had also enjoyed and has a real passion for and he has done really well at that and played for the uni team.

Agree Birmingham is a good shout, also a lot of people from my area do SS at Sheffield Hallam - might be worth a look. Grades needed will be lower than AAA but could be a good back up.

@Chewbecca of course I didn't mean that everyone at Lboro is sporty and that no one else will enjoy it. DD had friends who went there who played clarinet and flourished in the orchestra. But I think an interest (music, theatre, student newspaper) beyond clubs and bands is a good idea - simply bc there are not many clubs or big-name bands in Lboro. Mate of DS's was there for about three weeks and decided it wasn't for him. But DS loves it.

@clary I totally agree!!

I would also look at Durham and Bath if interested in sports science. Both are regularly in the top ranks for sports universities and have much gentler grades.

@ihearttc my DS has just graduated from UEA with a PE degree (but did lots of modules with people doing the PESH and Sports Development degrees). He absolutely loved it - and UEA has the advantage that you don't have to be an elite sports star to get in a Uni team. Great sports facilities and a lovely campus.

Just to add DS had and offer from Birmingham as well as UEA, but went to offer holder days at both and he much preferred UEA, even though Birmingham was probably the bigger 'name' - but both are excellent and different unis/courses will appeal to different people.

Durham is too far, he won’t even consider it I’ve tried!!

Id love him to go to UEA, we are 20 miles away so he could commute in and save a fortune! He was massively unimpressed by lots of things on the open day compared to Loughborough. I think possibly due to the fact we have been there so many times and we drive past it every time we go to my parents house so it’s not new and exciting for him!
It’s the physiology part of sports science he is particularly interested in and there didn’t seem to be much on the course. He spoke to the course tutor who even said if you want to do a Sports Science degree, this is not the right degree for you. But personally I can’t see how they can be that different? And actually Birmingham isn’t pure Sports Science either. He was also considering Psychology at UEA and loved the Psychology talk, the man virtually convinced me to do a psychology degree! But he can’t do that as his whole PS is geared towards Sport.

He’s going to put UEA down as well and hopefully do that as his insurance and see what else he gets offered. He’s doing Birmingham as well along with both courses at Loughborough.

@ihearttc the UEA course are less science/physiology heavy than other places for sure, but that was the attraction for my DS as he was more interested in teaching/coaching. Good luck wherever yours decides to go.

Watching for ds2.