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.

Completely agree. DS had a friend last year who received early pre Christmas contextual offers for Durham, Exeter and Edinburgh long before anyone else in their school.

Parents - both GPs were a little put out by this as they thought it implied something about their son, so queried it.

Turns out their lovely big detached house in the countryside shared a postcode that also included one of the biggest housing estates in East Belfast, which had a low % of children attending university

If you want to know more, uni websites have lots of detail on their contextual criteria if you dig around and often even have handy links to allow you to easily look up polar or acorn stats

Thanks for the insights into contextual offers. I’ve dug around a bit and appears York made the offer on our postcode. We live on a new build estate in a south east commuter town - most kids go to uni in our area (one of our neighbours DC is at Oxbridge). BUT we apparently share a postcode with a lower achieving housing estate which makes DS eligible for contextual - only at York though as the other places he’s applied require the lowest quintile and we are second from lowest.

Had no idea this was a thing! Feels a bit ‘wrong’ somehow - as if we are cheating the system. But it’s out of our hands so will roll with it I guess.

My son just received an offer from UCL for History! Standard AAA as expected.

I wonder if it had anything to do with him signing up for UCL History open event webinar in January yesterday. This was in response to the second invite he has been sent. The first one was a couple of weeks ago, but it was for the next day and he couldn’t attend.

Congrats! How nice to get a UCL offer before Christmas

Thank you - certainly wasn’t expecting a track email at 16:35 on the last working day before Christmas!

DD just received a letter from Lancaster (she's already be offered a place) referencing her application and saying how pleased they are that DD has applied for the course etc and mentioning a couple of things from her personal statement.

She was rather bemused that they highlighted that it was great that she played a certain sport and she could continue with this at Lancaster, outlining opportunities available to her. Only thing is, she did play that sport, and did mention it in her personal statement, but a catastrophic injury during a match means that she is no longer able to play. This was also mentioned, as it was relevant as to why she can no longer play most sports. The injury and resulting fallout has been mentioned by her school in mitigating circumstances, as well as by DD under disabilities etc.

I know that the letter is just a tick box exercise, but surely care should be taken with these things. It was allegedly sent by a senior lecturer and admissions tutor in the department to which she has applied. 😞😞😞

Chocolatta gosh that’s poor. It smacks of someone being told to send ‘personal’letters out and having 2 mins to quickly scan PS. Was it her first choice?

@Chocolatta That is a bit rubbish. I don't know how I'd feel about getting something like that, but I expect it has little bearing on the course or the experience of attending.

My DS is finally happy as he has received an offer from UCL.
I am not so happy as I am worried about how much everything will cost to study and live in London 😬

spacechimp79

This was accommodation cost slide at ucl open day 2023

@spacechimp79

I did a price comparison of accommodation at UCL, Birmingham and Warwick the other day - looking at self catered shared bathroom. The cheapest at UCL (9m^2 room) was more expensive than the most expensive at either of the other two. I don't think the extra maintenance loan gets anywhere near the difference. Luckily DD was a bit put off to discover that the UCL course she applied for is 95% international students, according to the uni guide.

Per week!!

How the heck are ordinary kids supposed to study in London?

spacechimp DD was looking at UCL at one point then thankfully didn't apply, I was v glad because of the costs.......they're ridiculous

Yes my DD didn’t apply despite liking it. DD will only get minimum loan.

@Dixiechickonhols thanks for that slide as we never made it to the open day.
I have tried to put him off @stoneysongs and @TheOnlyMrsW by talking about the high percentage of international students and the fact that he will need to get a term time job and still have a worse standard of living than if he went to Sheffield or Leeds but unfortunately he cannot be deterred.
I believe it's the second and third year costs that are the most hideous too, as they end up living miles away so not only have expensive rent but also have to factor expensive transport costs.

This is why after a year of halls my DD will commute from Kent. She will get maximum loan but even that won't cover the rent so much cheaper to just get the train. 1st year she should be ok as she has savings but knows if she can't get a store transfer she will have to look for another job.

Her friend is currently at UCL and all he got was a £500 accommodation bursary and his room is £230 a week, that won't even cover a month's rent. It's insane.

@spacechimp79 why would a "high percentage of international students" put him off?

Well it didn't but obviously they are less likely to have the same money worries, often speak a different language and tend to mix less and hang around with the other international students from their own country.

Agree @spacechimp79 It's a different university "experience" so it depends what you're looking for.

One of the universities we looked at was extremely high in ethnic minorities which in itself is no issue but a high percentage commute into university and go home at the end of the day, and choose there because their family or friends go there so the students tend to have established friend groups. I know someone whose son went there and said it was very hard to make friends and the social side was very different. I've also read these experiences on Reddit and Student Room.

Just seen the messages about UCL accommodation costs, Dd is applying there for postgrad. Might see if she can change her choices! £300 a week. Bloody hell. She’s also applying for Cambridge which will be cheaper and I think Bath which is probably in the middle.

I'm the first to complain about accommodation costs in London.
I have 2 in London and both only wanted to go there. They were brought up in a quiet town.
One has mostly white British, fairly rich but with part-time job, friends
The other is at Lse and loves the international vibes. Has friends from all over the world (handy if you need to stay somewhere when travelling).
Year 2 and 3 they walked mostly (45min) or use those Santander bikes. Students from London can use libraries from other London unis, so eg DC at Lse would study at UCL and KCLs library as nearer.
Both managed to find jobs earning up to £25/hour.

But London is not for Dç3, would not like it.

@CornishGem1975 does it begin with a W ?

Can you go to offer holder day?
Mine wants a city and was keen on London (we are northern) but slides like that prompted some very sensible conversations.
I was as blunt as pointing out the fancy coffee she was holding (that I’d bought her) wouldn’t be part of day to day London life for financial reasons.
She’s currently holding offers from Belfast and Glasgow with two to hear from.
Belfast in contrast is £140 a week en-suite.

@Wronginformation what jobs did they find as students at £25/hour? That's more than I've ever earned!