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?

@twelly Both DH and I went to Sixth Form colleges and had a blast - no uniforms, the ability to come and go outside of lessons, and so many people our own age from other schools. It was like a preview of University life but with the training wheels still on. I was at a non-selective Sixth Form and had class sizes ranging from 31 (Biology) to 12 (Chemistry). I didn't do noticeably better in Chemistry and went on to do a Biology degree and PhD. So it really does depend on the student. A lot of my friends also seemed to really thrive at Sixth Form where they'd been less motivated at school.

I guess it depends on the College, but I highly recommend the experience!

I have to admit I’m a bit confused by the whole process and by contextual offers.. We live in a really deprived postcode and both ds and I have been through the application process in the last few years. Ds was completely ruled out of Glasgow because they wanted five highers, which none of our local comps nor the college offer (only the private school let you take five, plus the state school in the most expensive part of the city). However he was offered St Andrew’s and his home city which is actually ranked higher for his subject. I’ve been offered St Andrew’s as a mature student on an access course, but others are saying it’s the toughest to get into for Scottish students.
My point being, I guess a lot goes on behind the scenes that the average applicant doesn’t know about. Hopefully OP’s dd can get some clarity and ends up on a course she’s happy with.

This is really strange. Where are you? All schools in Scotland- from my knowledge of almost 30 years in education- offer 5 Highers to pupils who are academically able. DS1 went to our local comprehensive in Glasgow, got 5 x As at Higher and did a further 3 In S6 along with 2 Adv Highers (again all As). This is not an unusual school, it's bog standard. For the popular , high-tariff courses you always need 5 Highers.

I work in a very deprived area and we have kids sitting 5 Highers all the time. Obviously, we have a range of pupil abilities- from National 3 to Adv H- but everyone is catered for.

Yes, I have never heard of it being impossible to sit 5 Highers either. Surely that would mean that the school was a selective school by stealth (but in the other direction i.e. anyone who wanted to go to University would plan to go elsewhere?)

Could they even legally call it a comprehensive?

I find the opposite, kids encouraged to do 5 highers when they might be better doing 4 in some cases. A lot of degrees these days require 5 highers at the first sitting. At our school kids are encouraged to do 5 and it’s a decent but not amazing school.

Having looked at his previous school, they’re currently offering six subjects in s4 and then five across s5/6, but I’m not sure how many of those in the one sitting. We aren’t Edinburgh or Glasgow, but still a small to medium city. In other areas 7-8 subjects at nat5 seems more common as well.

Six at Nat 5 is the governments preferred option - BGE S1-S3 then 6 Nat 5s. But right from the start some areas ignored this and started working towards 7 or 8 Nat 5s from S3.

*six Nat 5 at S4

Op have they spoken to admissions yet?

Even our very poorly performing local schools allow sitting 5 Highers (they are close to the bottom of the national league tables).

When CfE came in our school restricted students to sitting 6 Nat 5s in S4, whilst other schools were allowing 7 or 8 and teaching across S3 and S4. Universities put out a statement to say students sitting 6 Nat 5s would not be penalised.

All universities or Scottish ones? I know people applying to England who have been.

This is most unusual. Ive never ever heard of this.

Some councils bordering Glasgow do 6 N5s. I personally think it's good for some, but far too restrictive for many pupils. Both my DS would have found that they couldn't examine all the subjects they wanted to, they found 7 frustrating too (when friend's kids at private sat 9). It's specialising too early. It also doesn't allow for error, e.g. DS2 hated Chemistry and PE at N5, so was able to drop both for H. If he'd only chosen 6 at N5 where would he be for 5 H choice?

I too agree that it's usually the other way- kids being forced into 5 Hs when 4 or 3 would be better (it's all about the bloody school data!). I had a massive fight on my hands to reduce DS2 to 4 Hs after prelim. It's definitely best for him. Too many schools are not about what's best for the individual pupil.

My elder DS only took five Nat 5s (took one of his highers a year early) and got into Oxford law with this along with with six highers and three advanced highers. He's just graduated.

Our school only offers six subjects in S4.

Scottish - my eldest was first cohort of the CfE and both state and independent schools were doing a mix of Nat 5s and Ints and there was a concern that students at schools sticking to the CfE as intended (so only 6 Nat 5s) would be penalised.

I’ve also seen on MN that Scottish students at schools that only allow 2 AHs in S6 can still get places at Oxbridge - so there must be some mechanism for flagging this up during the application process.

I think only being able to study 6 Nat 5s at S4 does penalise students, by narrowing down their focus too much too soon.

Your preaching to the converted - DS was left with only 4 subject choices after compulsory Maths and English. He picked up a crash Higher in S5. You couldn’t choose all three sciences in S4, so lots had to pick up the third science as a crash Higher too.

It also created issues for a couple of students that dropped MFL after Nat 4 only to find that a Nat 5 was required for the particular university they chose.

I know my son ended up doing the full time highers program at the local college, but that was still only four subjects, although the choices suited him better. Unfortunately they no longer run it, although you can take individual highers part time or as evening classes. He’s happy with the degree program he’s on, and glad he chose the university he did, but some routes were ruled out for him.
I am also grateful to have been given the opportunity via the access route as a mature student. I don’t know if we come under a different quota though to school leavers or if postcodes still make a difference.

@albertandlilylight I can totally imagine her disappointment (and yours ) but look at these numbers !!! Not sure if you have seen them already but it would make me feel a little better .
Durham university
The university received more than 32,570 applications and granted places to just 6,160 students for history .

This was taken from Theprofs !! Crazy numbers

Those statistics are for the university as a whole, not just History. These are the latest published stats. 58% of home applicants were offered the History course they applied for, riding to 69% if alternative offers are included.

That should say 'rising to'

The offer ratio at Durham is really high in general. This is why it annoys me that they take so long to get offers out to people. I remember seeing some stats when one of mine applied there a few years ago, showing that for that course, they offered to almost everyone with the grades, year on year. So why take months if they're going to offer to everyone anyway?

They have offered less than a 1/5 of students that applied for history. They have lots of applications to plough through and they have no need to hurry because if the student wants to go there they will wait if not they aren’t the right fit for Durham.

Durham don’t have an issue getting students and for those that apply and get rejected it’s the first time they have had to deal with rejection.

DS's girlfriend- at Glasgow with him- visited her best friend recently at Durham. She is not really liking it- feels that it's very much lots of Oxbridge rejects, the course is okay, and it's too small a place for her, personally. Meanwhile DS's girlfriend loves the big city vibes of Glasgow and is on a very highly regarded course. Horses for courses. It's not going to suit everyone.

Years ago....Durham Student Theatre put on its Freshers revue. I always remember that one song had the line "are you an Oxbridge reject too?".....