DD might not make her uni offers for modern languages!

[Tennisnut1971]

DD has five offers for modern languages and is sitting her A-levels this year. When she applied in October, she was predicted ABB so she selected unis accordingly (Birmingham AAB, Newcastle ABB, Nottingham ABB, Leicester ABB and Swansea - which was BBB but the offer, when it came, is actually ABB!). So she is now fretting because, in her mocks earlier this month, she got BCC. She hopes to push that up to ABB but thinks BBB might be more realistic. She now doesn’t know which to firm and insure (Birmingham is now out of the question as AAB) so do any of the above unis take dropped grades? Otherwise, we’ll be in Clearing in August which, I imagine, will be super stressful! TIA

A few years ago one of dd friends got into Swansea with lower grades than those. There isca database which shows actual accepted grades.

Mocks used to be marked very, very hard. Is that not the case anymore?

Most of those are likely to take her on lower grades. Nottingham and Birmingham may be a bit tougher but they probably will drop a grade, the others 2

Leicester are pretty generous through clearing - although I don’t know if this is the case for every course. My dc is there (through clearing) which is how I know!

If those are her predicted grades, that's what the teachers are reasonably confident that she's going to get.

Where does she want to go?

She likes all five universities and can’t decide between them 😱 - other than knocking off Birmingham now as it is the highest offer.

Before she discounts it, she needs to speak to the teachers.

Yes agree with @Monstermunchy my DD went to Leics on clearing with BCC on a course that is listed online as offering ABB IIRC.

So that might be a good safety. Also it's a great uni and highly underrated IMHO.

MFL courses anecdotally are getting tougher for unis to fill so there may be some flex - at least more than there would be for economics or CS.

Is it worth getting a tutor to boost the main subject to an A? What is she taking?

Agree - highly underrated - my dc is absolutely thriving there

Ignoring the grade offer for a moment, which would be her preferred firm and insurance? If she were to pick those and meet her insurance, what’s the deal with accommodation for insurance places? There’s nothing wrong with an aspirational firm if she’s be happy and comfortable with her insurance.

Also as someone else mentioned, it’s important to know how the moms were marked - was it harsh? Was it an actual paper on all content, or a school-made paper just covering content so far?

To knowledge, MFL degrees aren’t particularly oversubscribed, so are likely to have more room to be flexible, especially where grades are B+

DD dropped 2 grades from her MFL firm choice offer and they still let her in this Sept just gone!. (I think she may have been an exception though) - this is for a different uni to your list. I agree that some languages are not very competitive so it might be worth taking a punt.

If you look at Discover Uni you can see the stats for actual points achieved which can be very interesting and may help with your decision as well?

Good luck!

DD was predicted ABB but got BBC. Liverpool still accepted her but she chose to go to Nottingham for MFL via clearing and loves it there.

Don’t fret Op :) I completely fucked up my mocks and did a lot better in my actual exams. I think this is common.

I also did MFL (at Leeds) and specifically asked the head of department at the open day if they would give me a place with lower grades. He said what they mostly care about is the grade in the actual subject I want to study. So your DD should focus on the actual MFL subjects as a priority if she is struggling.

The number of students sitting MFL A levels is now very low, so MFL degree courses have a relatively small pool to pick from (unless it is for a language ab initio). Also moving up a grade in each subject between mocks and the actual A level exams is quite achievable if she works hard. I’d say she has a good chance at most of those unis.

This is exactly what I was going to post re getting graded up and about unis needing MFL students so of all courses more likely to accept with dropped grades.

If she really wants Birmingham, I'd keep it in there and go for a very realistic insurance. She may well find she gets Birmingham though, especially if her school mark hard on mocks, and if she ends up going through Clearing, that's not the worst thing in the world either.

Also - she may well find she gets a couple of unis coming through to her offering to drop her grades if she Firms them. DS is doing MFL (at Birmingham) and Cardiff dropped to BBB if he firmed and Warwick straight offered him BBB from the go get, both well below their standard offer. I'd tell her to hold tight until nearing the point where she has to confirm Firm and Insurance and see if any of the unis blink first.