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!

@Tealfish We are waiting for economics. We've only heard from 1 out of 5 so far. Still waiting on Leeds, Bath, UCL and LSE.

Posted on old thread - so here it is again!

Another History student parent here. My son has offers from Exeter, Leeds and UCL (sorry). He is expecting a no from Cambridge and really wants to go to Durham.

Since application he has decided he definitely wants to live away from home and in a small city, which rules out both Leeds and UCL.

I was reasonably confident that he would get a Durham offer eventually with A star predictions, excellent GCSE’s and reference and solid, if a little academic and London centric, personal statement. Then I scan read last years TSR Durham thread and saw a recent Whatdotheyknow request and unfortunately discovered there are a good chunk of A star candidates who don’t get offers. He would take a rejection from Durham far worse than one for Cambridge so 🤞. Exeter as a worst case scenario though is far from the end of the world thankfully.

Have you checked the current offers spreadsheet over on Reddit?

@SeaofTranquility oh no, I didn't know that existed. I'll go and investigate. Thank you.

Students have been entering their offers daily there since 16th October - over 2,000 entries so far across all unis - hopefully you can find the courses and unis you are looking for on there. It at least gives you an idea of the sort of offers they are making and the GCSE and predicted A level grades offer holders have.

My DS has received 4/5 offers but is waiting on a response from Exeter which is his first choice.

He is hoping for a contextual offer as he is care experienced. Today he received an email with a student number and a form to fill in to confirm if he wished to take up the offer of any additional support for care experienced students. But he has not yet had an offer!

Dare we hope that this means an offer is on its way? He'll be over the moon if so.

Can anyone post the Reddit offers spreadsheet link again please, I can’t find it via Google. Thanks

Really will keep my fingers crossed for your ds! t was true at my dcs' school that a good number of three A-star students didn't get offers from ( Durham, St Andrews, Edinburgh and UCL - usually they got offers from one but not always. Some people who had offers from O and C were often rejected by these four or some of them. I think those unis as classic top-five places are under particular pressure to widen participation and look beyond predicted grades at context plus personal statement very carefully. For some reason Bristol, which is also seen as being up there, offered everyone and also often made early offers. But please don't fret too much, Durham also offers late as you know and Cambridge is still in the mix ...

All the best to DC for Cambridge.

And don't apologise that he has an offer at UCL! It's brilliant, perhaps if he turns it down it will come my DS's way, ha ha!

It is hard to know what universities look for sometimes when they decline academically excellent candidates but hopefully that won't be the case for your DS with Durham, hope you get news on that soon!

Here you go:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/103VDt7S19exENVghfjGKsZpgFDImexrBv2fucBAFyaI/htmlview

@Jaxx History is very competitive at Durham sadly even if you make the grades but Archaeology less so because students don't study it at A level so far fewer apply to do it even though it is a much more rounded skills-based degree.

Also, there is a joint Classics and Archaeology degree as well as BA Historical Archaeology. Plus, students at Durham can take up to 2 modules a year in another department so it is possible to do an Archaeology BA and still do several modules in the History Department.

Excellent, friendly Archaeology Dept at Durham - routinely in the top 10 in the world!

Thanks umblicate and Lifeturnsonadime for you good wishes and kind words.

@Mytholmroyd unfortunately he has always ruled out archeology as he literally does not like to get his hands dirty and is useless at finding anything (both related to his autism). Archeological finds, if not the practical bit, is of interest to him and will look into it further if offered one of the courses as an alternative. He did actually talk about a book by a UCL Archeology professor in his personal statement so a redirect could be on the cards particularly as he has applied for Ancient, Medieval and Modern History course and is doing Latin A level.

@JediKnightingale thank you

Understood! Not every archaeologist digs though @Jaxx - you can pretty much study any subject as an archaeologist - just with time depth. I don't dig - am rubbish at it - I work in a lab and am mostly doing biology/chemistry/geochemical/environmental related work. And some archaeologists do almost entirely desk/library based work. Some people are illustrators or largely digital/computer based. Huge variety!

But it's worth considering if he really wants to study at Durham but doesn't get an offer from History.

@Tupperwarelid DD has an offer for Reading but for law, came through just before xmas.

Jumping on as I see there are quite a few History students. DD was rejected for Oxford and is now in her third year at Exeter. It's a great course, with fab tutors, and she is doing really well. She has recently submitted a masters application to Oxford, which is even harder to get into than the undergrad degree, sigh, but will also be very content to stay in Exeter when the inevitable rejection comes through.

Woohoo son's UCL history offer has come through, he's over the moon!

Congrats @lifeturnsonadime that's so excellent, especially considering your DS's background and how he's turned things around. (My YP also has had a difficult school history, also diagnosed with SEN at a comparatively late age and had to take time out for health reasons. So I'm cheering your son - and you! - on)

Brilliant news@lifeturnsonadime, congratulations to him, a nice boost after yesterday.

Awesome news @lifeturnsonadime and couldn’t have come at a better time!!

That’s really great @lifeturnsonadime - counting down now for dc to hear either way. 💐

@lifeturnsonadime brilliant and well deserved! So happy for him 👏!

Thanks all, regarding the timing, I'm not sure it's a coincidence. Bet they've had some withdrawals today after the Oxford decision!

Good luck to those still waiting, they are dripping through!

Posted on old thread by accident.

We're waiting on an offer from Liverpool - biochemistry. Does anyone know how quick they are? We're not exactly panicked as only applied on 22nd December and we've got 3 offers but Liverpool is DD's preference

Brilliant news @lifeturnsonadime !