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?

Unis can and do make alternative offers. It means they like the applicants but can't fit them into their first choice. There could well be something in their PS that made them offer archseology specifically though; was it ancient history/cultural/artefact heavy?

Some examples from my school this year:

Psychology at Nottingham offered Sociology
Economics and politics* at Kings offered Polítical Economy
MORSE at Warwixk offered maths

• I think, might have been straight politics.

To answer the initially question; it's crap for your DC but Durham is oversubscribed for its most popular courses and trying to manage the accommodation issue from last year and increase it's percentage of internationals. huge numbers of British students with great grades will apply and be unsuccessful purely down to how few spaces there are.

Firstly, as with Oxbridge, a lot of the top universities have the situation that they have so many that could go there that they have to make choices that leaves some people unhappy. A lot of those rejected would have been just as capable of the course as those accepted. It'll be a thin line between accepted and not.

History at Durham is very popular, and I have heard of history applicants being offered archaeology instead before, so I very much doubt it's a mistake. In some ways it's a bit of a compliment. It says they want her so much they've considered if they have another course she might take up. They'll have put some thought into it because they like her.

I'd say she has a choice:
Look at the other courses she's applied for and go there. She almost certainly will come out the other end of her course saying "I'm so glad I went there" as long as she is able to get over Durham before she goes.
Or
Accept the archaeology. Look into the course, and see what is different. She may, or may not be able to change when she's there, but it is an option for her to think about. However I wouldn't accept it saying "I will change it asap" because if she doesn't then that will really knock her, when she's away from home which could be far worse.
Or do one of the above, but on results day, if she has the results she wants, she can withdraw and reapply the following year. Obviously that isn't guaranteed for her, but maybe also take the time to look at other places and see if she can get enthusiastic about another place too.

I'm surprised by all the people saying do archaeology then swap. Swapping at my uni (not Durham) was next to impossible - I know several who tried and only one succeeded. I think it's very university and course dependent, I'd try and find out more about Durham history transfers before assuming it would be possible.

Having done a course that wasn't my first choice at my first choice uni, followed by a course I was really excited about at not-my-first-choice uni, I personally think the course is much more important. I hated my time at my "Dream" university because the course wasn't for me at all. I would easily choose history not at Durham vs archaeology at Durham if I wanted to study history.

@Lovelyring is correct, I think. The course will be the thing that defines what DC does next in life, not the University. If they want to be a Historian then Archaeology probably won't help them.

There will be clubs and societies and friends and a social life at any University. The prestige of a University name isn't as important as excelling on a course you love and are motivated by.

(Durham was meant to be my first choice too, but I ended up thinking the "City" was tiny and, while very pretty and historic, a little dull for me as a teenager. The university is wonderful but most of my friends who went there spent their evenings catching the train to Newcastle. Not to mention that Klute, Durham's biggest nightclub, has been voted worst nightclub in Europe).

DC will be happier doing History somewhere else, I reckon, and that Uni will be lucky to have them.

One of my housemates at Durham was doing Archaeology, absolutely loved it. Seemed like an interesting course. I also changed to a combined degree after my first year there, as I find a really enjoyed a subject I'd taken as a subsid.

*I found I really enjoyed

Also klute was not voted the worst nightclub in Europe, it was second worst and the worst one burned down.
Had some brilliant nights there. Durham probably isn't for any DC who are very cool/trendy though tbf

Surely this is a mistake . Need to phone them to check

If a university makes an alternative offer, as in this case, it comes with the stipulation that you will not be able to transfer onto the course originally applied for.

OP it is disappointing but sadly Durham did not consider your dd a strong enough applicant to offer her a place on her first choice course but liked her enough to want to make an alternative offer.

I know it’s disappointing but this happens with many popular courses at many universities. (It happened to my eldest). Sadly universities are over subscribed with many very qualified applicants.

it is usually to your dd ultimately as to whether Durham or the subject is more important to her.

Klute ? Wasn't a patch on Rixy's on a Wednesday night 🙂

OMG Klute and Rixys, that takes me back!

Thank you so much for so many lovely and helpful replies. Mental day at work today so didn't get a chance to reply before now - but good to focus on work!!

Neither Klute not Rixy’s were a patch on Planet of Sound at the union. Agree with PPs that this isn’t a sign of Durham being cool….

But to answer OP, a teach friend has told me that they’ve seen lots of rejections of otherwise good candidates this year from top unis. They reckon they’re playing it safe this year as they’re all bulging after overfilling post-covid.

You should see the St Andrews spreadsheets on TSR. There are candidates with 12x9s at GCSE 4 x A stars at A Level and holding Oxbridge offers who are getting rejected from St Andrews. It's brutal. There are simply too many excellent candidates and not enough spaces.

Given that students applying this year had GCSE grades made up by their teachers, I very much doubt any university is paying much attention to them. Certainly Oxford and Cambridge aren't.

This may be barking up the wrong tree, but I wonder if maybe the history admissions team have an unconscious bias that the depth of A Level history plus two or three complimentary humanities and a history based EPQ - even though they don't formally acknowledge EPQs in their offers - has shown more commitment to the subject and is preferable to the breadth that an IB student has covered? And/or that someone who has come through the IB route may be more willing to accept an alternative course because of their broad knowledge base?

@jjgw1 - GCSE exams were sat by pupils in 2021. They are not made up grades

GCSEs were teacher assessed in 2021.

In a small number of countries IGCEs were sat in 2021, perhaps that is what they are refering to?

They may have been teacher assessed but in some schools (my DS's included) they sat more exams than they would have if the GCSEs had been running! They are certainly not "made up grades"!

I think the worst bit of it (for me anyway) is the perceived lack of transparency. Oxbridge has pre assessments, submitted essays, a full interview etc etc and by the end of that I can buy into the assessment of there being a more qualified/ better candidate, more suited etc etc. but as has been pointed out there are apparently more qualified /better suited candidates for this course. Based on what? The personal statement? Really? Because at 43 points, that's hard to beat by volume of students.
But it is what is and we move on. Again many thanks to you all for your thoughts.

I agree they weren’t “made up” I had children doing GCSEs and A levels in that year. Many schools graded students very harshly (my school being one - students achieved better grades last year doing exams then they had under the teacher assessed grades).

it does need to be recognised that, especially within the private sector, there were some seriously inflated grades. A popular private school near me published a big press release in 2021 praising their “best ever” results - funnily enough last year they were back in line with their much lower 2019 grades.

My dd has an offer for ancient history and archaeology at Durham which is the course she wanted. What I would say though is the archeology modules do look a lot more interesting than I was expecting so may be worth her having a look.
I also know there are a lot of spreadsheets etc on the student room re offers so will show grades etc.

If a school did not have higher grades in 2021 than in previous years they were not following the rules set out by the government, which were that the student had to get the best grade the school could evidence.

Made up suggests it was arbitrary.
DD sat her exams under exam conditions at school, the only difference was that the teachers marked them