Bath uni going to be asking AstarAstarAstar for comp sci

[itsmyp4rty]

After hearing from a lot of people following this years A-level results that they didn't get what they were hoping, especially in maths, I've just had an email letting me know that for comp sci Bath will be upping the required grades from AAA to AAA (not sure if the A stars work - basically they now want 3 A stars rather than 1). So that's one of DS's top choices out as he 'only' got 2 A stars. I guess it makes deciding where to go easier but a bit depressing that they're raising the bar so much after what seems to have been a bit of a disappointing results year for many.

I'm guessing that this year they had enough applicants who achieved 3 A stars or more. DD is at Bath, not doing CS, but she's met many students with 4 A stars including FM. Even when she applied for her course 3 years ago, outside of London and Oxbridge, Bath has the highest entrance grades.

Hopefully your son will find a happy alternative but I can understand how disappointing it must be when the goal posts move when you're already keen on somewhere.

Fortunately for him he will get a guaranteed 'widening participation' offer from Exeter which should be more reasonable. He could still probably apply for Bath as he is also doing an EPQ which (in past years at least) drops the requirement one grade down as long as you get a high EPQ. He just doesn't want the pressure and risk of having to get such high grades all round which is fair enough IMO. Exeter has such a beautiful campus that I'm really keen for him to go there, I was just quite surprised at the grades going up so much after what seemed like a 'not great' year.

If he gets a contextual offer from Exeter won’t he get one from Bath too? Bath surprisingly gave my DS a contextual offer as they are one of a few that also look at IMD of home postcode.

Why is comp sci so popular? I know that physics and engineering was in clearing for Bath this year.

Lots of jobs and a very well paid industry.

I don't know as I don't really understand the system. He got into the widening participation scheme due to SEN and spent a week at Exeter. As a result it gives him a guaranteed offer and a three whole grade reduction.

Bath however don't have SEN as a qualifying criteria for their contextual offers and he could not have got in their widening participation week.

I didn't see the clearing site but I wonder whether any engineering courses in there were the more specialised ones. Bath were trying to shift mech eng applicants to robotics and electronics just before exam season.

Bath's hugely popular and has way more applicants than it can take. I feel for anyone having a three A star offer though - however good you are at exams it's bloody stressful knowing that you can't afford to slip even one grade.

The only U of Bath engineering courses in clearing this year were related to Civil Engineering and to Chemical Engineering; both were filled very quickly (within 24 hours if I remember rightly).

Just spoke to DS and apparently his predicted grades will be Astar Astar Astar because they use aspirational grades even though he got 2 A stars and an A in the exams. I might get him to apply just to see out of interest what they offer, he's pretty set on not going though, he's autistic and would be stressed over the worry of not getting the grades.

Where there any Mechanical engineering places?

It is so course dependent at Bath and I suppose anywhere. My ds is doing a gap year to work but got in on politics and IR with an AAB offer (grade drop for epq).

Hi @Lampzade, no Mech Eng courses in Clearing, only Civil Eng and Chem Eng (and some Physics-related as mentioned by other posters).

Ultimately it is about the number of students applying for a finite number of places. CompSci and Mech Eng are popular choices.

I thought Bath did include ASD in their contextual offers - we did the autism summer school there and they said it was included.

DS has just done A levels and applied to Bath as one of his 5 choices. His predictions were 3 x A star, no FM (but these were very aspirational and in reality he didnt achieve anywhere near this). He got an offer from Bath in mid April for Astar AA but there were others on The Student room with exactly the same who didnt get offers.
He didnt choose it as firm or insurance as he wasnt keen on the campus and preferred another uni.
We visited Exeter as well and though the campus was really nice, didnt feel that Exeter was a very Computer Science focused uni, the talk was uninspiring and the 3rd year options the seemed limited compared to everywhere else. They also didnt have much accommodation if you insure them.

Computer science is popular because of the sort of wage that is possible to command. My friends DS was on 50K a couple of years after graduating, top in his year and headhunted. He took a year off in his late twenties because he had saved so much, went travelling and walked straight back in to work no issue.

Make sure your DS considers declaring his autism, it’s his decision if he wants to declare but there is more support for students.

Good luck to him.

Really? That's very confusing! From the website:

If you submit your application after 1 September 2023, you will be considered for contextual admissions (including contextual offers) if you are a student eligible for UK fees and you meet any one of the following criteria:

• you are verified by UCAS* as eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) between ages 11 and 16.
• your home postcode is in an area of high socio-economic disadvantage (IMD quintiles 1 or 2) and IF you attended an independent school, this was for no more than two academic years in your last four years of school or college
• you are a care leaver, care experienced, young carer, or estranged student
• you are a refugee, asylum seeker* or person with humanitarian protection, or you are the child of a refugee, asylum seeker* or person with humanitarian protection.

Find out more about the contextual data we use

What did he choose as his firm and insurance in the end? DS wouldn't want to go too far from home (live in the south) and wouldn't want a big city like London/Reading/Bristol. He's looking at Southampton too and we looked at Surrey. The lecturers seemed really good at Surry but the campus was so ugly IMO and they didn't seem to make as much of the year in industry as I'd hoped - said relatively few students took it up last year. In his week at Exeter he did some stuff he really enjoyed on modelling ant behaviour so it'll be interesting to see what happens when we visit.

It's possible that they didn't actually have the desired number achieving 3 A stars, but that they did have too many achieving two A stars. In that case, they would not risk an offer only requiring two A stars, as they might end up with more students than they can handle - but they might admit some of the near misses to get to the right number.

@Morty12 Surrey campus at Stag Hill lovely. Did you see the lake and wolf statues? I was impressed.

Sorry. My message for @itsmyp4rty

You're right the lake is lovely, I didn't see the wolf statue though I don't think. The buildings just really reminded me of my 90's secondary school. I guess it just seemed old fashioned - I've seen that they have comp sci in clearing which surprises me as it is a really good uni, under rated and over looked I think (I hadn't even heard of it till recently). The woman who headed the department up I just loved, passionate and really interested in teaching - and that should probably be the most important thing!

@itsmyp4rty
He picked Birmingham and Loughborough. Didn't get either and got a place at Surrey in clearing. Glad to hear you think the teaching is good! I wouldn't say the campus is bleak, there are some 60s buildings but most Unis have those. Agree the lake area is lovely. I personally found Loughborough very bleak.

At Surrey there is a statue of 3 wolves ( I think) by the lake. I have to say other universities struck me as more ugly than Surrey. I didn't get that vibe from Surrey. My ds had Surrey as his insurance for Bath. The Surrey lecturers really impressed both me and ds. I will always have a soft spot for Surrey although ds firmed Bath in the end. I did feel the teaching would have suited him well at Surrey.

Two years ago, CS at Bath was definitely in clearing. I know someone who got in at the last minute in this way with either AAA or A star AA.

Yes you couldn't have got a more wonderful woman heading up the department I don't think. And the young lecturer that showed us around was really engaging too. I think I was just put off because the buildings reminded me so much of my secondary school and I didn't have a great time there - probably just me projecting! Also I was expecting big things of the year in industry but they said the numbers doing it had really dropped off. I agree that a lot of uni's aren't that great looking, I don't think Bath is supposed to be a beauty. It's probably not the best reason to choose a uni on!