To be honest, it’s better to delay the year and use the rest of yr13 working hard and thinking g about what to study and doing some of the spring Open Days, so by September he’s ready to apply for something he really wants and with grades in hand, then to make a hugely expensive mistake.
Some students are mature and organised. By this point in yr12 they are thinking about next steps and planning their spring Open Days. Others are still in GCSE mode and haven’t grasped that yr12 is when most of the visits and key work that determines predicted grades happen. They haven’t actually found a subject they want to do and babe t grasped it costs £60k to go to uni and live away. Sometimes it’s all new to parents too and somehow yr12 has passed by without them realising the timescales either.
Going to uni, just because it’s the obvious next step and maybe what some friends are doing, is no longer the automatic auto-pilot thing to do. Those £60k of loans will triple across his lifetime whilst it’s paid off due to interest. When you look at it like that, making a rush decision in November or December about what to do and where to go, just to ‘catch up’ doesn’t make sense.
Some students take the year and work in their part-time job and apply then. Often they realise their part time job is t what they want to do for life and they then think carefully about what and where etc and apply with greater maturity. Some never actually go…they get into their job or find something g else to do or make local friends who also aren’t going to uni. For some, it’s a shame that they do t go and for others it’s probably not a loss.
All this said, every year some students apply well after the Jan early consideration deadline, even in July, Augustand September as UCAS does not close. The fact he hasn’t applied yet isn’t a problem. Not being exactly sure where to go is t a dealbreaker either as he can visit one or two anytime (no need for 9pen Day) and if he gets offers go to an Offer holder day in the spring. What is a problem is having no idea what to study. It could suddenly come upon him with a passion between now and August. And it’s possible to apply and go in Sept 2024. But if he isn’t actually interested in studying and has no specific plan, it’s too expensive to just ‘have a go’.
Time for a serious chat….is he going to do some research and get focused, or decide he’s not applying this year. The fact that many people have ent their UCAS now and are getting offers makes it seem closer and more real and will probably help focus his mind. A lot depends on what his peers are doing. If they are focused and getting offers and planning to move away, that will focus his mind. But if his friends have no real plans it can feel harder and a bigger leap.
What does he think he will achieve by going to uni?