Hello, everyone.
I am no longer doing Admissions but I’m glad to give it a go, @NotDonna
If offers state that one has 31 Aug to meet the conditions of the offer, which is new to me as a formal policy, then using priority remarking strategically sounds a good idea.
In this case it is helpful to the Admissions Team if the applicant sends an email briefly outlining what remarking is being requested, with an estimated timeline. Emails from applicants are much more highly regarded than those from family members.
Because this is a courtesy, it can go to any Admissions Tutor or Administrator in the unit of admission (eg School of Physics). You might not have a name, but if you do please encourage your applicant to use the person’s title and surname. For academics this is almost certainly Dr or Professor. Admin staff identifying as women hopefully list a preference.
In this note the applicant may want to briefly state their continued enthusiasm for the degree programme and if they are close to a grade boundary they should state their current mark.
Email is better than a phone call. A phone call generates more work than email.
Include the applicant’s name as it appears on UCAS, the DOB and the UCAS ID in the email!
Then let the situation play out. If the cohort fills up with applicants making their offers there is nothing more to be done (unless the remark succeeds by 31 Aug) Otherwise, the near misses will be analysed. Some may be admitted even without remarking. (Some may be admitted even before pupils get their results). Having alerted the School to one’s status as a near miss with high interest, who may yet succeed on remarking, can’t hurt and might help.
However. I do read a lot on this Board from family members who say, essentially, ‘DC didn’t make the grade, so we pleaded and it worked!’ No, it didn’t. If the cohort wasn’t full, the Admissions Team assessed whether it was sensible to admit some near misses rather than go into Clearing (or before). The Tutors ranked the rejected and worked down. That’s how DC was admitted.
It’s true that at some point you have two spaces left for three equal students. At that point I would favour an applicant who has contacted us (appropriately) about non-mitigating circs around their exams and expressed a continued interest in coming to us. But others find this a turn off. So reaching out is a wash. If your applicant is not going for remarks, hence lacks that reason for contacting the Admissions Team, keep this in mind
Admissions tutors go to great lengths to be fair. Low key keeping communications open is helpful; pleading or attempting to throw one’s weight around is not.