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.

@Rollergirl11 you are right and they are wrong (again 😂)

If the conditions of the offer only mention A level grades then she can fail the EPQ and still get her place.

I think you are correct- but as she is doing the EPQ it has to be included on the application.
The unis don’t have to include that grade as part of the offer.

I didn’t see there was already a reply 🤣

@stoneysongs hahaha you’re right, they do have form for “chatting sh*t” as DD do eloquently puts it! 😂

DD has received a personal email from a senior lecturer in the English department at Lancaster university to say how impressed they were with her personal statement and how much they enjoyed reading it. They make references to specific points in her PS so not a blanket email. Just goes to show that some departments definitely do read the personal statement. And also proves to DD that she was right not to use her English teachers complete rewrite!! 😆💪

Wow, @Rollergirl11, not heard of that happening before. So glad she stuck to her own version as it obviously stands out. Such mixed messages from universities though about the PS, most saying it doesn't matter.

It really sounds like the teachers at your DDs school/college don’t have too strong an idea of some things to do with universities @Rollergirl11 😮

Some universities - Bristol, Oxbridge and others do not consider EPQ at all when they make offers. Others Exeter comes to mind -- do consider EPQ and may address that in their offer.

I would look up all the universities your child applied to and see what they each say about EPQ and whether or not it's a factor

@MirandaWest i agree. It’s so frustrating. Why say anything when you have no idea?!

The college UCAS coordinator has been really poor this year (she’s a science teacher standing in for the actual person who is on maternity leave). One of DD’s friends was persuaded not to apply for medicine based on poor advice. DD was left to research her subject admissions process for Cambridge herself after the UCAS coordinator said she needed to register for the ELAT - that Cambridge no longer use. They made her apply for all of her 5 choices for the Oxbridge deadline even though you don’t have to and she wasn’t sure on one of them. It’s been very disorganised and chaotic. The college say they offer an Oxbridge/medicine program but it’s far from it!

@UZS yes we thought Exeter might consider her EPQ, along with Lancaster, but whilst she did receive a reduced offer from them the EPQ was not listed as a condition of the offer.

While they have been good in many ways we received dodgy guidance from our school admissions person as well. We pretty much just ended up relying on ourselves to do the research, assemble deadlines, etc - particularly with regard to Cambridge application process.

This EPQ conversation simply adds more weight to what I think is a very obvious change that should be made to the UK admissions process: no more 'predicted' anything. Admissions decisions should be made based on exam scores achieved, just like every other country in the world does it.

I would call or email the admissions offices directly and seek clarification. Seems too important to be left to speculation or outside advice that may or may not be accurate.

@Rollergirl11 If I remember correctly your dd had a lower thank expected offer from Exeter. If this was due to contextual reasons (possibly school rather than individual related) then she won’t get a further reduction for EPQ. Check with them though - there have been errors. In my son’s original offer it said he would only get the reduction if he made Exeter his firm choice which they later amended/corrected). Didn’t apply to Lancaster so can’t offer any view for them.

I have been shocked at how much bad advice seems to be given out by some schools. My son’s school has been excellent - but even they insisted he included all 5 choices when he submitted. I think it was so they wouldn’t have to chase students to add choices later.

The problem with the bad or just incorrect advice is that students assume they must know what they are talking about. My DD will give more weight to what her (supposed) Oxbridge expert says than me, even if some of it has been opposite to what Oxbridge themselves have said (writing the PS specifically for the unique Cambridge course, rather than for the other degrees and then using the supplementary form if needed, for example). Currently she is doing timed essays in preparation for her written assessment, which he marks. She says he is never encouraging and often contradicts himself. She is becoming quite down about it.
Assessment is college specific and she's been told the date but nothing else - not the time or how it will be done, she asked admissions if it would be at school or at home and they said they will invigilate it themselves but no details.
But she has been shortlisted for an interview for the Turing work experience in Portugal with her Art Foundation course! Very excited though it has absolutely nothing to do with her degree, but a fantastic experience if she gets chosen.

Rollerergirl11, is this a SW London school by any chance? If so, I sympathise!

@Rollergirl11 we had similar from Lancaster too yesterday but was a letter from the head of admissions. Also made reference to her personal statement.
It was a really nice touch to receive.
Seems like they are definitely on the charm offensive!

@Jaxx yes she did receive a low offer. I mean it suits DD that they haven’t referenced her EPQ as then there’s no pressure to achieve the grade. But I think she should probably contact them to check.

@Chocolatewolf no it’s not. Sorry if you’re experiencing the same; it’s incredibly frustrating!

@sambamyty yes it was really lovely. And it has obviously worked because DD is now keen to go to the offer holder day whereas before she wasn’t fussed. We couldn’t make it to the open day in the end as DD wasn’t able to get the time off work so she put it down without having visited. It’s her 5th choice and was meant to be her potential insurance if she didn’t get any of the others but her Exeter offer is so low that it’s actually lower than Lancaster so has pretty much made the Lancaster offer obsolete.

My dd has a couple of offers so far, but the one she really wants is Leeds. A number of her friends heard back from Leeds a while ago. I am reassuring her that she shouldn't compare because different departments may do things differently, but am I right? ie can you have Leeds Maths making offers much faster than Leeds English?

She did hear back that she is eligible for the Access to Leeds scheme, but I don't know if that makes any difference to the speed of offers.

I know it's still early, but she got two offers within hours of applying so it seems like ages!

@Ketzele DS has an offer from Leeds already but it is higher than the two other offers. I think you may be right about the contextual offer.

@Ketzele definitely can vary according to department. Not unusual to get a few offers fast and then a long wait.

@Ketzele it's definitely different between department and sometimes courses within that department for Leeds.......it's DD's first choice (when her flipping application finally goes in!) and I was talking to the admissions person for her course on open day. It's the school for earth and environment, and whilst for DD's course (Geology) they'll issue offers as the applications come in, the earth/environmental science courses are waiting until all applications are in, then offering all at once.
@Rollergirl11 Lancaster's campus is lovely, I thought it was great at open day but DD wants a city setting rather than campus

Thanks all!

Dd submitted her form last Tuesday and has had one offer so far from Reading.
Waiting patiently for Lancaster as it's the place she really wants to go to.

DS went live last week with 4 out of 5 choices. Offers already from Glasgow and Lancaster, on hold from Bristol and acknowledgement only from Warwick. This is as expected really as G and L were insurance choices so grades needed are a bit below predicted, the other 2 are more borderline so expect to wait a while for those.

What subject for a Lancaster please?

It was for Maths Operational Research Statistics and Economics (MORSE)

Thanks Mumski45
Daughter has just received an offer for Geography with year abroad from Lancaster. She's absolutely thrilled!