Booking flight to Oz before uni offers received?

[WhatNoWay]

Hello all! DD1 is doing maths, physics and English Lit A levels, but has applied to do Film studies at uni. Doesn’t want to have anything to do with maths and physics after she does her exams this year. What worries me, is that she wants to go to Australia for a gap year in the autumn, and wants to book a flight right now. So my questions are:

1. She wants to book her flight to Oz now before any (conditional) offers come in which I think puts in jeopardy her further educational plans. What if she doesn’t get an offer from any of her chosen universities? Could it be that she might have to get another A level, more related to film, given that only English Literature is relevant out of the three? Her personal statement isn’t ace IMO. (V good predicted grades though). And there might be other ‘ifs’ I’m not aware of. 2. Suppose she doesn’t get the necessary A level grades, doesn’t get into the Unis of her choice, and goes to Australia. Does it not leave her in limbo while she needs to study again? What are the potential scenarios in case she goes away? She’d have to do resits, right? Which means studying for those A-levels again next year, or perhaps she might need to do a completely different A-level, something essay based, if she totally doesn’t want to do maths and physics again. And all that time she’s in Oz.

Has anyone been in a similar situation with their DC? I’m trying to put some scenarios in front of her so she knows what awaits her if she goes away as her current reaction is ‘I’ll work something out’. She does say she absolutely wants to get a degree and says it’s very important for her, but IMO doesn’t quite realise that going to Oz this autumn ‘no matter what the a levels outcome is’ doesn’t quite fit this narrative.
Thanks a lot in advance!

Book it but not actually go until the autumn?

Depends what sort of uni she wants to go to. Where I work (former poly) she would definitely get a place on Film Studies in clearing with a low tariff but if she’s intent on higher ranking then that’s different.

Not many 18 year olds want to contemplate resits- I messed up my a levels by taking the wrong subjects in the first place, ignored the school who suggested I should start again after the first year and crashed out with only AB (dropped the other two which were Chemistry and Physics). It’s a big regret but I wouldn’t be told!

Is there a huge advantage in booking flights now? Why not wait til May when all/any offers are in?

Hi op. Honestly I think you are worrying unnecessarily.

Presumably the uni courses she has applied to do not specify A level subjects? So there will be no need to take a different A level. I imagine film studies courses at uni can’t specify film A level as not all sixth forms offer it (my DCs’ didn’t). Is that why she didn’t take it? As long as her PS stated that I would imagine all is well. In any case my understanding is that film a level has lots in common with Eng lit in terms of analysis etc.

wrt your concern about offers, do her pages match the typical offers for her chosen courses? In other words, with PGs of (say) AAA, has she applied for courses where typical offers range from AAA to BBB? So she has an optimistic and a safety on there?

I would say for film, which is not a super popular course like vet or economics, she is likely to get 4-5 offers. If she wants her gap year for sure, is she applying for 2025? The worst thing is that she does really badly but even then, clearing is probs a better option than retakes tbh.

PGs not pages!

Agree tho could she wait to see offers (presumably in next month or so) before booking?

Because apparently they’ll be too expensive

Yes, exactly that - book now and go in the autumn. Hoping to save ££ by booking early.

I think her approach is a good one that she will find a solution and you are worrying too much.

It maybe though she could find a flight which could be moved it needed, costs a bit more and maybe you could offer to pay the difference if that's an option. Flight prices can rise considerably closer to the date like double long haul.

Thanks @clary !
Re A Level film:
Yes, her college did offer A level Film but she wasn't sure about it then, then later decided to do Film. Has got drama school and gr8 piano under her belt but interest in film is relatively recent. She did a free day-long course on Film her college offered.

Re PGs:
No, her top choices want AAA whereas her PGs are ABB. The college advised to apply anyway as it's 'marketing' in their opinion and you should apply even with lower PGs. Yes, she applied for 2025.

@AlltheFs Warwick and York are among her choices (priorities). Agree that it'd take a lot of effort to persuade her to do resits - especially if she goes away! The main issue IMO is that should she not get into any good uni for Film Studies she'll end up with a massive debt and not much prospect of a job. And given that she'd be away for a year, chances of her wanting to do another A level to get a higher grade or doing a resit (should she change her mind about maths and physics!) drop significantly.

OK well if York and Warwick (I presume) ask for AAA, she might well not get an offer from either of those with PGs of ABB tbh. Would she be happy with her other choices? What are they and what is their typical offer?

It’s OK IMHO to make one aspirational choice (mate of DS’s applied for a very popular course which offered at AAA+ when his PG was BBB IIRC – he did not receive an offer but was philsophical) but one is enough tbh. Still, assuming her application has now gone in, not much to be done about that. IM (limited obvs) E (sorry) PGs are often overstated esp if sixth form thinks this might gain a uni offer. So I wouldn’t bank on your DD exceeding her PGs tho of course it is always possible.

If I were her I would focus on the courses where she has a good chance of achieving the likely offer. Does she want to go there? If so then happy days. There’s nothing wrong with a degree that is not from York or Warwick. For something like film studies (not sure what career she is looking at – practical?) I would imagine the work exp and skills shown are more important than where you studied tbh.

@clary ’s post just above contains a lot of wisdom.

Writing as a former Russell Group STEM admissions tutor I love to see Maths and Physics A levels. But beyond my bias it is my impression that everyone respects Maths and Physics may be valuable for the technical side of Film Studies. So I think your DD’s choices are good in their own way.

However. In STEM Warwick does not typically make offers to applicants presenting with PGs two grades or even one grade below the standard offer. (Of course if DD qualifies for a contextual offer of ABB that’s great). I am less familiar with York, but the rule of thumb is that the more desirable the program, the less likely such an offer will be made.

Has DD applied to any choices that match her PGs? If so does she find any of them appealing? If she doesn’t get into Warwick or York now, what is her plan? I think it would be a good idea to have one.
What to do about flights will follow.

It is plausible that booking flights soon-ish could be better value. She should ensure she knows how to change her return flight - they are only released 12 months in advance so if she books early, she won't be able to book a return for next year until several more months have passed. That's what my eldest had to do when she went out on a gap year a couple of years ago. The longest you can go on a return ticket is 12 months (to the day).

I agree that she needs to have a couple of back-up plans as to how to manage reapplications for example. If film studies is a relatively new interest then another year might throw up additional ideas and a gap year would allow a post-results application for a course that she isn't yet aware of. As a parent all you can do is be supportive, encourage adequate planning for the gap year itself, and talk about having "what if it all goes wrong?" back up ideas roughly formed "just to reassure me you know what you're doing" if that style works with your personalities!

My eldest was pretty sure of making her offers and had decided firmly against oxbridge reapplication; it could have been slightly nervewracking otherwise that she was not only overseas when her results came out, but actually in covid quarantine in a rural city at the time!!

Good luck to her doing her best with the rest of this year, and to you feeling confident in her judgement :) Hope it all works out.

@poetryandwine thanks a lot - yes, Leeds course she applied for matches her PGs. If she gets them. So all the questions you put out there - what is her plan if not etc, that's what I am asking - and suggesting not to book the flight now but at least wait for the offer. (Given she applied for 2025, does it mean she'll be one of the last to get a reply?) But all the response I'm getting is 'I'll sort something out - I'm going to Oz regardless'. She even mentioned apprenticeship as one of the options if she doesn't get into uni - but apprenticeships in Film are very practical from what I understand and she is interested in the more academic side of film (which I told her). It seems that I just can't get through to her.

Thanks a lot @GrassWillBeGreener , so your DD also went for a gap year before starting uni?

Re flight, mine wants to book it one way as wants to return via SE Asia. She has a little bit of money as her 18 bday present from her grandparents so plans to spend it all on travel next year.

Knowing that your DD’s PGs match the requirements at Leeds helps a lot, OP. Her set of A levels and her grade 8 piano are impressive (I can’t assess the Drama but it certainly won’t hurt). I have no idea how much weight the Film Studies admissions tutors at Leeds will put on the PS, but from your description I am reasonably optimistic that your DD will get an offer.

The only real issue would be if they are planning to raise the A Level offer for next year. That isn’t hugely likely but it is a possibility. Your DD can get a sense of how likely it is by consulting the Complete University Guide to see what proportion of the Y1 students made their offer, and what proportion of applicants were admitted. If it is very competitive and almost all applicants are making the offer, a more stringent one could be coming. Otherwise I would not worry.

Would your DD be happy at Leeds? If so perhaps the best thing would be to buy the ticket and study like mad, so that hopefully she can resolve the situation over the next few months.

I agree that if she ends up without a place whilst travelling, or just prior to committed travels, she can’t do much to improve her lot during the planned gap year. If she isn’t willing to change her travel plans the only realistic options I see are to apply to lower tariff universities from abroad or to take a second gap year to improve her qualifications.

My hope would be for DD to cultivate some enthusiasm for one or two lower tariff universities than Leeds now, to use for Insurance, unless willing to consider a 2026 start.

Yes, my DD had a gap year then went to uni, currently in 2nd year. It did her a lot of good in terms of growing up and learning a bit about "being an adult" without having to keep up with studying at the same time. She also saved some money from the job she had over there. Then last summer her gap year experience helped her land a decently paid internship.

I'd be strongly encouraging your daughter to research her options for earning money while she's away, just "travelling" will probably be great for her and potentially relevant to studying film, but working her way around wherever she goes will make a real difference.

Some of that research may be best done after her exams are finished of course, depending on how quickly she wants to leave. (My DD was tied to a school based job so she went in early July to catch some of their 3rd term).