Durham - deeply disappointed child - any admissions insight

[albertandlilylight]

First choice university by a mile and really really wants to go there and college system would suit very well. 43 (IB) in predicted grades, am told by school very good school reference and personal statement. However, got an offer for a course did not apply for and for which has no interest. Don't understand at all. Worked so hard all the way through school, told hard work rewards and then this. Anyone got any insight to how Durham are offering and is there anything that can be done from here?

A couple of thoughts. First, after the last two years of huge take up of places and subsequent accommodation problems etc - Durham may have offered fewer places than in previous years. Secondly, history is the most competitive course you can possibly apply for, bar PPE. She may have been outstanding in a school context, but you don't know what the competition for history places is like. If she's been offered archaeology they obviously like her and want her, but don't have a history place for her this year. Why not apply again next year if she's really fixated on history at Durham, with grades in hand? Or take the archaeology offer. They've obviously thought about her and like her.

They may have rightly rejected you because they saw your mysoginy and unconscious bias. OP said several times the child is DD but you still assumed it was a boy.

Edinburgh struggles with student satisfaction.....

You will be surprised, Imperial has or had the worst record for student satisfaction, this aspect is not even reported by Cambridge and Oxford. I guess it has something to do with how much work the students get.

I worked for one of the ten worst universities in the country, and while we scored so low in in the leagues particularly in academics we managed to be in the top ten of the country for student satisfaction at the same time for a few years.

I can tell you, our students might not have been very academic and could have gotten a place even if they had no grades above C, but happy they were, very much!

I admit that since I saw that happening in the leagues, the only category I am always happy to take with a big pinch of salt is student satisfaction…

To be honest....I'm out of date with it all now but yes.... now you mention it student dissatisfaction with imperial does ring a bell.

Unfortunately there are lots of candidates with straight 9s at GCSEs and 3/4A* for A Levels. If they are desperate to go. It’s probably best to take a gap year and apply again.

DD applied for Natural Sciences at Durham 2 yrs ago - attended non selective state school, GCSEs 8 9s, 2 8s, and predicted (and got) 3A* A level - but was offered Psychology instead. Was very disappointed at the time, was tempted to accept it as she was very keen on Durham, however in the end decided it was better to stick with the course she wanted. Currently doing NatSci at Exeter and is very happy. Definitely the right decision for her.

This may not be any help at all, but I applied to many universities for history and history and archaeology (not a real passion at the time).
I got a call from the archaeology department at my top choice of uni letting me know that I hadn’t got onto my courses but they could offer me a place in the archaeology after interview.
I went to the interview with the intent of changing courses to history midterm if I could.
I got in.
And fell irrevocably in love with archeology. It’s the hands on untangling of history without biased sources.

Which universities are these where you watching accomodation drain away and/or become limited in the last day in March ?

My DD's friends have been accepted and rejected in the most random way. Rejected from Glasgow Caledonian yet Unconditional from Edinburgh etc.

I have no idea how they are awarding placings this year but i was told that as so many deferred their uni placements during covid, this was the most competitive year they have ever had so can only think that is why the offers and rejections are the way they are!

@Bellie710 does your friend's DD have contextual considerations? Edinburgh has an offer structure that is very heavily weighted towards contextual offers for a number of courses for home students at the moment.

I thought that would be last year that people would have deferred to not this year.

No, no contextaul offer but rejected from Strathclyde and got Edinburgh. Another one was rejected from all Glasgow Unis for Law but got Edinburgh, again non contextual.
My DD waiting on StA got unconditinal, Strathclyde and Dundee and rejected Edinburgh, again non contextual.

I thought that would be last year that people would have deferred to not this year.

But then a knock on effect with DC not happy with their options last year applying now with grades in hand.

No apparently not, last year was the start of getting back to normal but a lot was still online so loads of people deferred.
We were told that at both Edinburgh and St Andrews open days it will be the most competitive year there has ever been, Whether that was course specific I don't know?

I’m sure with those grades she’ll get a good place elsewhere and have a great time and come out with a great degree. It’s horrible seeing our kids upset though

The proportion of applicants applying for deferred places has been lower over the past few years than it was in 2012.

Are the students you refer to Scottish?

The situation for Scottish students applying to Scottish universities is rather different to that in English as the number of places for them is regulated by the Scottish government.

UCAS and universities were expecting that there would be more applicants this year than there ever were before, as the number of 18 year olds is increasing year on year. This turned out not to be the case with a slight drop in the number of applicants.
For English applicants it won't be the most competitive year ever anyway as there is no cap on the number of places unlike 15 years ago. There is still a cap for Scottish students applying to Scottish universities, which is why the proportion of Scottish 17 year olds going to university lags behind that in England.

Last year ds waited it out only to get rejected (along with a heap of other English applicants) the week before the deadline in May. He was furious and by then one of his other two offers, York, had had its accommodation open since January so he ended up at UCL (which fortunately he loves). It’s the reason my dd didn’t apply this year which is such a shame because it’s probably no fault of the faculty and all about the crappy admissions dept.

This thread is really putting me off supporting my DD applying to Durham for 2024 entry. We have the open day booked for June - wondering now if it’s even worth the time, petrol and overnight hotel cost.

My neighbours DS had to wait for response from Durham right until May when A levels were underway - he was offered a place on the course he wanted to do fortunately but I was aware of the stress for months before waiting - and I can’t imagine the fall out and impact on his exams is he was rejected or thrown the curved ball OP is experiencing at that point.

I also think it’s important to look at objective global reputation rankings and not get suckered into the middle class hype that has disproportionately elevated this institution potentially above its merits.

I really don’t think this is a problem in March but I have seen that happening on results day, when Durham releases their rejects to their insurance choices far too late the previous day or even on Results Day, by then the insurance option is full open for clearing and your child’s place in the insurance Uni is up for grabs. (obviously, they will honor the offer but if the places are gone, the offer may be for the next year and yes, it is very likely that if you get a place this late, all the accommodation will be gone).

I know I’m going to be flamed for saying this but if there is anyone at Durham who can say why they hog the students they are clearly planing to reject until so late, I really want to hear. At the end of the day, more competitive entry unis than Durham do not engage in this practice.

Durham admissions admin is known for being very cumbersome and disorganised. Unfortunately, they are not alone in this - LSE is notorious for holding onto applications until May before making mass rejections on the deadline day. Some of these are students who applied the previous Oct - how they can justify holding onto applications for 8 months, I've no idea. But they do the same year on year. I have also seen students being strung out by St Andrews and UCL.

I imagine it's very disheartening for students on TSR watching a steady drip of Durham offers since before Xmas. Durham make contextual offers first and it must be hard to see people getting contextual offers of AAA / AAB or lower months ago, only to be rejected now with much higher GCSE grades and predictions than many of those you have seen accepted.

Other unis may also have issues but that doesn’t negate the utter shambles of the Durham administration. They regularly deflect criticism saying other universities shouldn’t open accommodation applications early on a first come first served basis, whilst they do exactly that- allocating colleges on a rolling basis while others are still waiting to hear back for their offer. They are regular offenders at mass rejections close to the deadline (and close to sitting exams). Last year there were a heap of successful candidates who missed out on choosing their preferred modules because of another cock up in September and some students were put in temporary accommodation last minute with no notice by which time the parents discovered there was no where left for them to stay overnight when dropping off. Such a shame because it would have been a real contender for dd but we decided it just wasn’t worth the risk.

@jgw1 @Piggywaspushed agree very hidden. The statement underneath says
"We will review adoption and survey universities and colleges on the 2024 entry references after the equal consideration deadline (31 January 2024), to understand if they provided the value they required in practice, and the scope of potential refinements for 2025 entry onwards. "
Which sort of suggests they might be doing something in 2025?
Bit confusing.