Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Applying for 2023 - all welcome thread 2

344 replies

AnonymousThreadStarter · 17/03/2023 15:07

I have started a new thread as our previous one is nearly full. Name changed so I won’t forever be the OP. Originally for non early entry applicants I am sure anyone who would like to can be on this thread as we wait for final decisions to come in, negotiate UCAS extra and hope that the results will match the offers come August.

OP posts:
Azure · 18/03/2023 13:39

Hi. Joining in, if that's ok. DS has firmed Durham and insured Warwick, and so also starting to think of college ranking. He didn't want to go to an offer holder day for any of his offer unis as felt he had had a good look at the open days.

londonmummy1966 · 18/03/2023 14:25

Thank you for the new thread. DD still waiting to hear from Durham. Have an offer holders day at Nottingham next weekend but no invite from Cardiff which is probably her preferred option.

troppibambini6 · 18/03/2023 15:13

Finally!!! Leeds law have offered!! Dd has an offer she's so pleased as it's her first choice just need to get the grades now...

Leeds Astar A A
Manchester A star AA
Sheffield AAA
Newcastle AAA
Liverpool AAA

Going to Sheffield offer holder day as she thinks she might have been a bit hasty dismissing it as an insurance. It's there or Newcastle, I thought the open day for Sheffield wasn't great but hopefully the offer day will be better.

Chickydoo · 18/03/2023 15:30

Had an economics rejection yesterday from Leeds.
DS predicted A star A star A
Leeds wanted 3xA
Very frustrating especially as he's predicted over and above what they are asking for.
He has offers from
York AAA
Nottingham A star AA
Bath A star AA
Southampton AAB

Has visited all and likes Nottingham and Southampton the best.
I like Bath, it's not up to me though.
Will firm in the next 2 weeks and then sort out accommodation accordingly.

deathbollywood · 18/03/2023 17:59

Offers from LSE and UCL. waiting on Kings that's likely to be insurance and LSE firm even though King's offer won't be lower than LSE which is risky

redrobin75 · 18/03/2023 18:30

Sorry to ask on MN but I have a TSR account and I'm trying to work out how to find the university of bath offers spreadsheet. My dd is waiting for an offer from Bath for the psychology placement course, does anyone have a link they could send me?

tealgate · 18/03/2023 19:41

Went to offer holder's day at Royal Holloway today - really impressed with the course and accommodation. She's holding five offers from Cardiff, Bristol, Liverpool, Reading and Royal Holloway. They range from ABB to BBB.
Four of those courses (Classics) went into Clearing last year. If for lots of reasons, she gets lower than BBB and her firm and second don't offer, can she go back to that first and second choice if they are in Clearing or can she only go back to the last three and any others she wants?
Just covering all our options Smile

SerenadeOfTheSchoolRun · 18/03/2023 20:41

Trying to understand your question but I think you are asking could she get into her firm or insurance through clearing if they reject her? No she couldn’t (or st least she wouldn’t get in if she did) or they would have accepted her. They might do that with lower grades depending how full they are. I am pretty sure she could approach any other university in clearing including the ones that were on her original UCAS form that she turned down.

tealgate · 18/03/2023 21:00

Thanks, sorry I wasn't very clear. So we could have contact with numbers 3-5 to see if they would. Obviously hoping this doesn't happen, but the course seems to be offered at a pretty similar grade expectations across all the unis that offer it.

bguthb90 · 18/03/2023 21:36

redrobin75 · 18/03/2023 18:30

Sorry to ask on MN but I have a TSR account and I'm trying to work out how to find the university of bath offers spreadsheet. My dd is waiting for an offer from Bath for the psychology placement course, does anyone have a link they could send me?

It's at docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ch0H_iIiiRRLmbpD0xnz7KW077_kRTFRzjGIEFGvBzo/edit#gid=0

Neversaygoodbye · 19/03/2023 13:26

So DD has submitted her Firm Surrey and insurance Reading. Quite a relief to have made a decision as it was harder than expected.

KittyMcKitty · 19/03/2023 13:59

Is anyone else off to Durham next week?

mrsconradfisher · 19/03/2023 14:50

DS is still waiting for his final decision, well decisions actually as he applied for 2 courses at Loughborough.
Not sure what he is actually going to do if he gets rejected, there is only one of his other choices that he will consider (Surrey)so options are accept that with no insurance, reject all and go for Extra or just take a Gap Year and apply with grades in hand. He really really wants Loughborough and I don’t think anything else will compete.

NotDonna · 19/03/2023 17:23

Nothing wrong with applying for two courses at the same university @mrsconradfisher DD did the same re Bath and was offered both, fingers crossed for your DS too! Does he like Surrey though? Did he just do 3 courses? DD only did 4, as wasn’t sure if York (potential insurance at the time) would drop a grade for Core Maths, so wanted to keep a 5th choice free incase she needed to look elsewhere for an ABB insurance option. It was a tadge risky if York had taken their time but they’re not known for being tardy and in fact offered within 48 hours, so happy days. If he’s still got spaces he could add others.

mrsconradfisher · 19/03/2023 17:50

@NotDonna no he did all 5. Two at Loughborough, Surrey and then Birmingham and UEA(which is our local uni). He has discounted Birmingham and UEA despite Birmingham being an ABB offer as they don’t offer a placement year (he wrongly thought they did until the open day) and he didn’t have a great experience then which has totally put him off.
He loved Surrey(and so did I). It actually seems a much better fit for him than Loughborough if I’m honest but he so desperately wants to go there. It’s for Sports Science so Loughborough has the best reputation. I think he’d be happy at Surrey (and it’s BBB) whereas Loughborough want A star AA and he is predicted AAA.

redrobin75 · 19/03/2023 19:16

Thanks @bguthb90

NotDonna · 19/03/2023 21:00

@mrsconradfisher Astar AA is such a big ask isn’t it? Totally understand why he wants L’boro for sports science. It’s massively popular hence the high grades. Surrey is also a great option.
DD had L’boro as one of her 4 but they don’t reduce for core maths so it’s the same grades as Bath and for Business Bath is pretty highly rated and the course looks amazing with 2 x 6 month placements, so can do entirely different experiences. Like your DS a placement ‘year’ is a dealbreaker.
Similar to Birmingham DD went to Lancaster open day where we both thought there was a placement year until after the open day when it turned out they wanted different grades for the placement option. Bizarre.

londonmummy1966 · 19/03/2023 21:44

@tealgate - interesting to hear about Holloway open day - DD has offers from there and Cardiff (from your list) for Ancient History. I'm a bit worried that Egham is rather a small town though. DO you know if Cardiff are holding an open day for Classics and related subjects as I think that is her favourite. FOr what its worth she had a chat with Cardiff for clearing last year - they had a professor on the case who could make an offer on the spot for clearing places.

tealgate · 20/03/2023 06:26

@londonmummy1966 there are three offer holders days in Cardiff, one gone, this Friday 24th March and Wednesday 3rd May.
Yes, that's the lecturer we heard speak, who said that you could call him in Clearing and he would decide on the spot. That's what prompted my last question as if they have already rejected you, presumably you couldn't call, which leads you to a weird thought, 'is it better not to firm them and try to get in through Clearing?'

londonmummy1966 · 20/03/2023 14:48

@tealgate - thanks for this - will investigate 3 May as wonder why she's not had an invite. I listened in on the Cardiff conversation last summer and tbh I suspect that if there was a good reason for not getting the grades they would give a decent hearing - was the case with my DD

petitebleu · 20/03/2023 21:40

Still waiting for Sheffield and Edinburgh here for CompSci. Offers in from Newcastle and Leeds with A*AA achieved. Seems to be taking so long this year.

NotDonna · 20/03/2023 23:01

londonmummy1966 · 20/03/2023 14:48

@tealgate - thanks for this - will investigate 3 May as wonder why she's not had an invite. I listened in on the Cardiff conversation last summer and tbh I suspect that if there was a good reason for not getting the grades they would give a decent hearing - was the case with my DD

Are those dates for his subject? In my very limited experience the offer holder days are subject specific, with maybe only have 4 or 5 subjects. It’s nothing like an open day that’s open to the masses. When did he get the offer as DDs offer days were sent within days of all her offers. Maybe he should chase?

ineedaholiday03 · 20/03/2023 23:29

Can I join too? Decision making is imminent. DD loved Durham at the open day last summer but it feels like a long time ago now. We went to an offer holders day at Exeter at the weekend because we never made it to an open day and it’s now a strong contender. DD is off up to Durham this week for the offer holders day to see if she still loves it and if so will firm it. In which case the Exeter offer isn’t really low enough to be a safe insurance choice so she will look to one of her other offers. As I keep telling her there isn’t really a wrong decision, they are all great unis.

user73 · 21/03/2023 06:40

Ds is trying to choose between two at the moment for first choice. I think it’s coming down to the fact that Exeter has a compulsory dissertation in year 3. He has done both EPQ and history NEA and knows that large bits of coursework are not his forte. Whilst he’s scored highly it was a nightmare for him from an organisational perspective and I’m not sure he’d have hit the deadlines without my significant nagging efforts. It’s really worth looking carefully at the course structure.

Cantonet · 21/03/2023 06:45

@Bobadob18 DD here has also not heard from Edinburgh re. Architecture. Also Liverpool strangely. She has offers from Manchester & UCL which she was thrilled with. As she's another desperate to attend Ucl.Most in her school still haven't heard from there apparently.