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?

Is Durham one of the universities that looks at attainment in the context of the school the applicant attends when considering offers?

While your DC’s results and predictions would put them in the ‘top tranche’ in raw results terms, it may well be that if, for example, they are gained in the context of a highly selective private school inna wealthy postcode, they will be judged differently against the grades of applicants with slightly lower grades from more challenging school and hone environments.

If it helps at all, I got accepted at Oxford and rejected by Durham back in the day- which goes to show you can be a strong applicant but just not the right fit. Rejection can be so hard but it doesn’t mean she’s not an excellent prospect.

Where else has she applied? Might be worth bigging up the benefits of those courses. Durham has a lot of prestige and all the lovely old buildings, but often the slightly newer universities have more unusual course choices available, interesting opportunities for going abroad, internship opportunities etc.

Apologies for typos. I completely understand the personal disappointment of rejection, especially late rejection, from a ‘dream’ course and hope that your DC finds a way forward that makes them happy and successful.

She definitely needs to ring the admissions and check. I've worked in admissions and they definitely don't offer archaeology if you applied for history. Offering a BSc option if you applied for integrated masters yes, but not an entirely different subject.

I attended a presentation from UCAS ceo and we are now in the baby boom
Years. Demand far outstrips supply and as the posters suggest, despite your daughter being exceptional, there are many others an extra 35k spaces required for 2023 entry. It's tough for our young people

Another one advising to ring admissions and check .
If it is Archeology then look at the Uni blurb re course - if she has her heart set on Durham ( and they obviously liked her to make an offer ) then go . There may be an option to move between courses . Taking a year out and applying again - still no guarantee of a place . I’m a scientist but my simple perception of non science is there are some similarities between History and Archeology . What were her longer term plans for work after graduation ?
Sorry for her disappointment but an offer does mean they saw value in her . As others have said too many applicants and not enough places .

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4772909-ancient-history-durham-offered-ancient-civilisations-instead

It seems to me they do want her to come to Durham - why else offer a place on a course she hasn't applied for? So she's a 'fit' for Durham, but not on her course of choice which is apparently extremely competitive.
Echo others in saying contact Admissions directly, rule out any chance of it just being an error, and then try to speak directly with someone to explain. They might be able to explain opportunities for switching during the course.
But in reality - no matter how clever your child is, and how hard they have worked, she is not entitled to a place. Dealing with disappointment is a vital life lesson as is dealing with unwanted comments on an internet forum

Oh and please make sure that she calls admissions, not you. Sounds obvious but.

Also, don't bash people saying that she needs to take this as a life lesson - she does. Sadly, life isn't fair, and you do need to learn how to deal with setbacks.

Many people when I went to university applied for archeology as a way to get onto the history course - as the requirements were less but as soon you got to uni you could choose your modules and if you did the right number then your degree was classed as history.

however in your case I would call and email and ask for an explanation. I would tell your child to do that though - as really it’s on him to sort this all out.

I would also say that whilst years back, I did a music degree and had perfect AS levels and GCSEs and good predictions for a level, Durham was the only one to reject me (I’m not bitter at all……….) even though the requirements for Durham were much lower than my top choices (Manchester (AAA) and Mottingham(AAB) (Durham was BBC back then).

Every year at dc's school there are pupils who get Oxbridge offers but not Durham and vice versa. It's all a bit of a lottery. And this year even more so as so many applicants have all 9s at GCSE because they are the cohort who didn't sit independent exams. It's tough but there are lots of rejections out there unfortunately.

I agree to check if there is a mistake. If not I suppose there is just a lot of competition for the course she applied for. She has got a few options. Go to a different Uni, take up for the other course, defer for a year and apply again. I dont think she should rely on being able to change course if she accepts the offer.

Could it possibly have been a mistake and they clicked on the wrong course for her?
Stuff does happen. Dd had conditional offers on all her choices then one day went onto UCAS and it showed her being declined a place at all choices, just a few hours later her offers were back. She was so upset for a few hours there. For all she knows it could have been showing declined for ages as she hadn't been on the site for a week or so

Check with the admin but also would say, once you're in there's usually the first term of students swapping courses. Bit risky but you'll always get a number of people who drop out quite early and want to change courses so there is definitely movement.

Plus the actual professors love their chosen subjects, so a student who presents themselves as being incredibly keen to switch to their subject is usually met with a 'ah let's see what we can do then'.

No guarantees though of course. Might be 1st year needs to be repeated. But once you're in - they don't tend to just say - oh well bugger off if you don't want to do this course, not if you're a bright dedicated student anyway.

UCAS do love their journey to a million applicants.

What they dont seem so keen to discuss is that this year there was actually a fall (all be it small) in the number of applicants compared to last year, which is especially unusual in a time of economic uncertainty when applicant numbers typically increase.

@albertandlilylight 100% I agree with those saying get in touch with Durham admissions.
It may be better for her to send an email, clearly setting out the quesiton - including her UCAS ID number, that way they will put the answer in writing so there can be no doubt as to what it is.

Plus then you can help draft it for her as well.

In any new student intake, there will be some who don't turn up for their accepted place ( variety of reasons; family, health, finance, an opportunity they couldn't refuse, a change of heart). And some who change course at the start of term.

A course like History, has flexible capacity.
I'm betting Archeology offer is just an error , and check that.

If it isn't, take it and change to History in Freshers week.

I agree that it might be a mistake and she should check (again: she should ring, not you!). But also I think that people drop out of uni all the time. First year doesn't count towards classification in many places. So she could go, opt for history flavoured modules, and try to switch. Often if you go to your tutor at Christmas and say I really want to switch or I'll leave they will try and find a way, it's not like they want her to drop out and take her money with her.

Not unreasonable for him to be disappointed and for you to feel frustrated on his behalf. However zero you can do from here, he can accept the course or not.

Unfortunately this could well be an impact of TAGs during the pandemic, which led to significant grade inflation. Universities are now having to cope with the consequences of that as that year group of GCSE students reaches the UCAS stage:

Some 3,606 students in England received straight 9s this summer [2021], compared with 2,645 in 2020 and 837 in 2019.

There will be a lot of students with your DD’s grade profile competing for places at those top-ranked universities.

Before getting upset and disappointed, she should call them to check it isn’t an error. Why would they offer a course that she hasn’t applied for and in all honesty is only tenuously connected to her course of choice?

mistakes happen… I cocked up my a levels but was offered my first choice of uni, for about 3 hours when they called to tell me they had made a mistake. Now that’s disappointment 😂😂

One thing I learnt from uni (and through conversations with friends in all unis) it's way easier to transfer once in, than it is to get in in the first place. If i were her, I would try out archaeology, and if she doesn't like it, she can change after year 1.

Agree with what others are saying - when
I got an offer for my university in the 2000s I was able to transfer onto a different biology course I didn't know existed before applying. I did all of the transferring before I even started at the Uni.

Contact admissions, find out why the offer is for a different course. History and Archaeology likely share a lot of modules so it seems likely that DC will be able to transfer to History either straight away or at the end of the first year. Either way, DC got an offer and should be very proud that their hard work has paid off with an offer for their first choice University. This is by no means a failure on their part!

Hi OP, professional historian here who sometimes wishes she'd done archaeology instead... digs have charms that archives don't.

True that archaeology is its own thing but there is plenty of overlap, especially with ancient history and the very fashionable subject of history of material culture/of and through objects. I'd advise taking the offer then changing.

That said it is odd to apply for one thing and get an offer for another. Call admissions office just in case.

It's such a tricky thing, the whole 'effort will be rewarded' rhetoric. Because in truth it isn't always, but you've still got to keep some optimism. Hope it all works out.

I went to Durham and totally get why her heart is set on it , mine was too. I actually went to do pure French and ended up combining with Linguistics and Economics. So I really think its worth considering and bolting on some other subjects when she gets there.

Durham is amazing and worth some adjustments to get to go.