University Offers Coming In 23/4 - part 2!

[WombatChocolate]

Following on from the old thread which was getting full….come and share the highs and lows of the journey that is A Levels and UCAS!

Low mock results here too - weirdly though only in his best two subjects for which he is predicted As. For the weaker new subject one he got his predicted grade. Not sure how reliable an indicator they are and he is blithely unconcerned as he says the whole class got low grades 😂

If the results go the same way as last year, that is the unis made high offers which, with the dramatic grade boundary changes left many students at least one or two grades below their offers (even insurance offers), many applicants will be accepted regardless.
Having done a dry run last year with DS, a significant proportion didn’t make offer grades but most got in. One friend was offered ABB from Cardiff for civil engineering and was accepted with BCD.
Universities are very reluctant at the moment to divulge the exact grades they accept v those they offer and advertise.
Statistically this year there will be around 2-3000 candidates who will achieve 3 A levels at A to A* out of nearly 200k who took 3 A levels.
Only 300ish achieved 3 or more A*s in 2023.

DS could have gone through clearing last year and picked up a place at all the unis he has been unsuccessful with this year. He is not too worried since he will be well placed to go through clearing if he wants to having fully explored other courses.
The main thing to remember is that it’s about bums on seats and money. As long as you are close then they will accept your money.

@Angrymum22 is that true only 300 achieved three A stars or more? That will boost my DD! Still not enough for Cambridge though!
@Calmmumnot no no she got her Glasgow offer back in October and Durham in November. She's been away on work experience abroad and is only getting round to booking offer days now. Still waiting on Bath and LSE, but she's been looking at when as she has college and hoping not to miss too many days.

Looks like almost 4k students got three A stars or more last year - that's for England only. Still not many given how many sit A levels!

feweek.co.uk/a-level-results-2023-7-key-trends-in-englands-data/

was anyone at Nottingham offer holder day today? DD came out with a huge smile I think she's found her firm choice.. now minor issue of getting the grades ...

@user15913 The article you linked is a somewhat breathtaking reminder of what a mess 2021's grading was

"The number of students achieving 3 A* grades has dropped by more than half this year – from 8,570 to 3,820.
It’s still above pre-pandemic 2019 – when 2,785 pupils achieved it – but way down on the 12,975 pupils achieving 3 A*s in 2021, when teacher grades were awarded. "

Sorry I mis-posted the figures. The 300 I was referring to was 5 Alevels at A. At DS’s school they all started lower sixth doing 4 or 5 A levels most will drop one subject after the first term but most of the ones who are looking to do engineering or maths take 4 A levels. These are the “computers” and they generally achieve all As.

Only 7.7% of A levels awarded last year were at A. So out of nearly 750k A levels taken 57k were awarded an A in 2023.
Another way of looking at is that 1.3% achieved 3A levels at A* in 2023 a little over 1 in a 100 students.
In 2021 the figure was 4.4% so close to 1 in 20 students achieved 3A*s.
Grades in all countries are likely to drop again this year since last year was aimed to get closer to 2019.
Having trawled through the websites both during clearing last year and the current “typical “ offers. There is a lot of disparity.
I think it is important to be prepared. A lot of DS’s friends had their offers confirmed before they got their grades so there was less panic. But school had drafted in far more staff than usual because they were expecting chaos. Of course they had the results the day before and knew what grades each student had been offered, but had no idea if the grades would be accepted.
There was a huge sense of relief when it was apparent that most had been accepted. Just four or five went through clearing. All were successful.
It was well reported that this was the unlucky year.
We know that DS’s grades would have been one grade higher on all three if he’d taken them in 2022. However, none of the unis he considered have reduced their offers in response to last years grades having increased the grades in 2022 after the chaos in 2021.

Sorry the * keep bolding the text so for A read A star.

I see @Angrymum22. I mean, can't be that many kids that sit five A levels in the first place.
I just don't understand the crazy system of applying with predicted grades. I know it's the system we have and have to accept it, but whoever thought it was a good idea? DD applied after she got her grades (she's doing an Art Foundation course now), which took a huge amount of stress out of the process (though some unis still make you wait for their decision)!

Back from Exeter offer holder day. Think this is now cemented as DD's insurance choice, it's confirmed all her initial impressions from the open day. Still crossing everything that she does get her Oxford grades - the overall verdict on Exeter is that it's "nice" but she plainly didn't feel the wow factor or immediate connection that she's had at Oxford and Edinburgh. Relieved to know that she'd be happy there, but on a practical note, it's such a long way away, and the accommodation, while very smart, seems expensive for the rooms you get, compared with other unis.

Has anyone heard back from Edinburgh or St Andrews yet for history? DD still waiting...

DS2 still waiting on UCL and Warwick for English Lit. Is anyone else? Mini- @Rollergirl11 is I think still the only UCL English lit offer holder on the chat? And that without interview

I wouldn't hold out for lower grade offers for popular courses though. DD1 only missed by one grade in one subject and didn't get into her firm choice course at Cardiff last year. I think it was a double whammy as Welsh students were not affected by the grade politics.

Still waiting for maths/computer science from Warwick, Edinburgh and St Andrews.
I’m really hoping we hear before the end of this month.

I agree, not all unis accepted missed grades last year. My ds missed his CS offer at Loughborough by one grade and didn't get in.

Glasgow offer finally for my boy, yay. Probably not going to take it though but he wanted to see if/what they’d offer him. Just Edinburgh to hear from now…

@Revengeofthepangolins it is not my DD who has the English offer from UCL. IIRC I think it’s @catmomof3 DD who has that. DD does however have an offer from Warwick for English lit.

@TenSheds was it East Park accommodation that you looked at on the offer holder day? We are going to the one on the 23rd. East Park is the accommodation she really wants to get a look round.

We have UCL offer holder day tomorrow (only got a week's notice fyi for anyone waiting for UCL offers), hoping this will be the day DD decides whether or not she wants to live in London 🤞

Still waiting for Warwick...

Good to hear of all the DC making their way towards decisions. I hope DD can choose firm and insurance before we get too close to exams.

Ds rejected from Durham for Economics.

He is a contextual candidate with 3 x A star and 1 A predicted grades including further maths. He was rejected for "your achieved grades are not as strong as other successful candidates" according to their website this is for his GCSEs grades. His grades are 9999998887. It must be one hell of a year. Sigh.

He does have 2 other offers in and he is waiting for 2 more. He is very stoic about the whole thing.

@Rollergirl11 Yes it was, we had the choice of East Park as s/c or a catered option I can't remember. It was a bit of a walk from the main hub with lots of steps, in case that's a consideration. The communal areas were really nice and the setting and views were lovely, as with the whole campus. We were shown a single en-suite which was similar to the ones I remember from uni as being the top rooms, but now students seem to expect more space!
I've seen mixed experiences of the day on WIWIKAU. We found it generally quite well organised and positive. The only downside for us was that they hadn't catered for joint degrees so we had to pick one subject, and went for the one that more resembled a student experience rather than a repeat of the open day intro talks. Hope you enjoy your visit.

Their loss x

@DuvetMeForAWeek, sorry to hear about the Durham rejection. The odds seem to be very tough for Economics. Hope your ds has otger offers he's enthusiastic about.

Wow, sounds like they'd snap your DS's hands off, definitely will be their loss. I hope his other offers come in and the existing ones are places he'd be happy accepting.............

@TooOldForThisNonsense @Lightsabre @TheOnlyMrsW thank you for being so lovely. Yes he only chose unis he was happy to actually go to. He is quite pragmatic so will only imagine himself somewhere if he has an offer from them. It was a bit of a surprise for Durham to reject on his GCSE grades. That was a shocker. He is contextual in part because he attends a state school. He is our second child so we have been through all this before and fortunately, never again