University offers coming in?

[WombatChocolate]

Just for nosiness and due to excitement about DS’s application going in, wondered if we could have a thread with people sharing offers as they are received, during this early phase.

Has anyone had an offer yet? Who will be first?

And totally realise that most won’t have applied yet and won’t do so for months and that’s absolutely fine and more normal.

And an AAB offer for psychology at Liverpool. So she has had AAB Sheffield and a hold for Bristol. Still waiting on Newcastle and Birmingham which are AAA. Not eligible for contextual

What a coincidence?!

where else has he applied? Has he heard back from anywhere?

My son applied to Cambridge, Bristol, St Andrews, Durham and of course Exeter.

He's applied for Oxford and other than that has a strong preference to be London based (or close to) so he's applied for UCL, KCL, QMUL and Royal Holloway . He's had offers for QMUL ABB and RH (advertises ABB - BBB but they have offered ABB).

So waiting on 3 but they all advertise at 3 As, I think he would really like to go to KCL if Oxford doesn't work out, it's obviously a long shot as they have so many talented young people applying.

@lifeturnsonadime When universities just show a range of tarrifs, the bottom is generally contextual and normal candidates get the top. Some now show these two tarrifs separately, which I think is much clearer for all

@UZS ds1 applied to exter for history a couple of years ago and was given AAA or AAB if firmed (non contextual). Not sure if they are still doing that

Yes that makes sense. It's not 100% clear though because the ones that advertise a single tariff may also make contextual offers. KCL contacted DS because they thought he might be eligible for a contextual offer (he isn't).

ifeturnsonadime - That's a lovely lineup of schools.

My son was adamant that he didn't want to go to school in London so terrific schools like KCL, UCL and LSE were ruled out.

He had Royal Holloway as his backup but changed at the last minute and replaced RH with Exeter.

I have very little understanding of clearing but if he drops below AAA I'm pretty certain that's the route he'll be going. Kinda wishing he would have applied to at least one school with entry below AAA

Although he's predicted three A* I have no idea how accurate these predictions are.

I really wish they scrapped predictions altogether and found a way to decide admissions after results are on hand. Would be so much more efficient.

Yes, every school I've seen does exactly that except Exeter.

Exeter History lists entry requirements in two groups: Typical Offer (AAA-AAB) and Contextual Offer (ABB-BBB), which leaves one to wonder who gets the Typical AAA offer and who gets the Typical AAB offer?

I think they are just retaining flexibility for later in the admissions process. If they need to make more offers, perhaps they will give them to people with AAB predictions…who might not apply without that being part of the standard offer. Maybe they will offer those with AAA offers, AAB if they Firm later in the process…I’ve heard a number unis do that when it gets close to the time to Firm/Insure, especially if they aren’t getting as many Firms as they woukd like.

The EPQ offer seems to only be a grade below IF students Firm Exeter this year. They could use a similar tactic for those with the AAA offer.

Anyway, all any of them can do is their best and aim for the highest possible grades regardless of offers, and I’m sure they will be doing this.

@UZS Exeter can be more lenient than most when it comes to dropped grades at results time - even when accepted as an insurance. When I checked there were some really strong universities with places for history in clearing (including Exeter) which is why we didn’t go too low when it came to back up options.

My son got an AAA offer with 3 A Star (plus A* EPQ) predictions from a state school if want a data point comparison. It was for History and Ancient History but I don’t think it makes a difference at Exeter unlike at Leeds where the standard offer is one grade lower than the straight History degree.

UZL I think it will be a bit of a predicament for DS to choose between QMUL and RH for the insurance tbh, he was set on QMUL because of the association of the RG but he really likes the campus (prestige) of the RH campus! He's now visited both, I haven't been to either but I think the location and the modernity of QMUL will rule it out. But it's up to him!

For what it's worth, I live 10 minutes from RH and can attest to its beautiful, leafy campus and overall fantastic location. Last time I drove by campus they were shooting a film or television show

Windsor Great Park is very close and really is a national treasure and that train from Egham into Waterloo is only about 45 minutes. And Richmond, which is lovely, is only 20 minutes by train.

@uzs I am also trying convince DS2 to use his last empty slot for a choice that would take a B. It is all very well to say "oh I will retake if I get a B", and he is welcome to do so, but I think it would be psychologically nicer to decide to do that because one wanted to, rather had no choice but to. And I think it could reduce deleterious anxiety at A level time. As you say, it is all very well having 3 Astar predictions, but one doesn't have to drop all that many marks to slide from A star to B, and a bad paper can happen to anyone.

So now Exeter can be one of those options for english, alongside Warwick. Will have to have another go at thin about it. Tbh I think he is a bit doen with the topic for now, so maybe I'll leave it a week or so

DS has now also had an offer from York. Also Physics with Astrophysics. Choice 3 of 5 for him so he was very pleased to get the offer. Still waiting on Bath, Lancaster and Keele.

Still nothing from Newcastle , Liverpool or Lancaster for us ( compsci with grades in hand ) . We are also looking at degree apprenticeships but understand these can be very competitive.

@UZS I tried for most of yr12 to get DD to look at somewhere with lower grade requirement than her top choices (at the time was predicted ABB which is the standard for most of her courses - Geology) but what really brought it home was a friend who didn't get anywhere in summer. He was predicted 3A with firm at Oxford with 3A for Psychology and insurance at Newcastle with 3A. He missed the A in Psychology on results day in summer and consequently didn't get into either and then struggled to get anywhere through clearing. He's reapplying this year but has made her realise that there's a reason for having a lower insurance option.
Her predicted grades have actually gone up to AAB but is still keeping Cardiff on the list as it's BBC - and may even be her firm if we like the uni itself.......

Wow that's very high for psychology at Oxford, DD was looking into this for a while and their standard offer is ÅAA. She says her psychology teacher is always telling them how difficult it is to do well, only 9% taking their board got an Å this year, over 70% got a B or below. It's a tough one, that's for sure. Slightly nervous for DD who will probably need an A.

Mine has 3xA stars in hand plus Astar EPQ but not taking anything for granted. She's nervous of not getting offers even at AAB courses! I think til she gets an offer she will be stressed.
We are going to Surrey open day next weekend. Course requirements are BBB but the degree has a good standing on the league tables for her subject (7th in The Times), plus does well with placements and career guidance. Just because entry requirements may be lower it doesn't always follow the course or career outcome is worse!

I agree that it's good to have an insurance that's more than a grade down in one subject. I heard of so many kids who missed firm AND insurance due to an oops this year so I've really impressed on ds the importance of having an insurance that actually reflects what a bad set of exams would look like for him.

I remember when I applied (albeit in the 90s!) that your insurance was advised to be much lower than your firm for that reason.

DS's first choice (Bath) is A star A A but he's also applied to Keele which is either BBB or BBC (can't remember) which as an insurance should give him plenty of wiggle room. He has an A in his EPQ already in hand as well which hopefully will help.

I think this is really difficult. It's not just about naming one of your choice as a place that makes lower offers, but then being prepared to make it your insurance (or what's the point of putting it down?). And we've seen from this year that universities could and did drop offer grades when candidates didn't make them - so maybe it's a better strategy to put down a more preferred option with higher offer grades as insurance and cross your fingers they might drop if needed.

I really wish the whole university offer process would change to work after A level results (yes, I realise that means substantial changes in many places, but the current system is flawed in so many ways).

My DD's current intended strategy (she's also applying for English; seems like a common subject on here, this year!) is that she noted there were a few places that she would be prepared to go to in Clearing this year, so she's planning to pick her genuine top 2 as firm and insurance with the view that she'd have options if she didn't make the grades. I do agree that planning to resit (without a solid gap year plan alongside) is a very difficult decision.

Bit of info I have just received for English lit applicants, the Warwick offer rate is 87% - good news for those waiting. And for those fretting, Exeter is 98%. Maybe everyone knows, but it not, it might be comforting. (Durham and St A's not so much !)

DD has applied for courses with typical offers ranging from AstarAA down to ABB. Now she has an unexpected contextual offer of ABB from Bristol (she was assuming it would be AAA) which may end up as her firm, leaving nowhere lower to put for insurance! She may end up having to do what older DD did, which is pick a firm and an insurance with the same grades and hope that if she has a disaster on the day one or other will take her.

Exactly! Most of these courses will offer to pretty much everyone who meets the required standard. They have to in order to fill, given that lots of them won’t have it as they preferred option. of course they want to give off the impression of being highly selective and turning people down as that makes them more desirable.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t good courses. UpI guess we all like to feel our DC got the offer and is a bit special and that somewhere out there are others who didn’t get the offer. When we know pretty much everyone who applies gets one, it doesn’t feel so special. But having the predicted grades needed in the first place is a big achievement and many won’t be able to apply as they don’t have them.

@PumpkinKnitter But if she was expecting to have say a Astar AA firm and ABB insurance and now her firm is ABB, she really doesn't need an insurance, does she?

@Revengeofthepangolins I’d hope not! It just seems kind of odd not to put one down 🤣. Older DD couldn’t bring herself to do it, even though there wasn’t much logic to her choice - not that she ended up needing insurance anyway.