Explaining GCSE grades on UCAS?

[Dandelionsordaffodils]

DD is about to take her GCSEs. She is very able and will want to go to university but has had a terrible year with mental health problems. School are refusing to allow her to drop 2 (optional) subjects. She isn't revising these and is focusing on the other 8 subjects.

Is there somewhere on UCAS where she will be able to explain her GCSE results. Therapist has suggested just writing her name and then leaving for these 2 subjects but would the resulting Us be a problem when applying to university? She's tempted to not turn up instead. She will have to attend the sixth form because there are no other local options so I'm trying not to fall out with the school too much.

Rather than worry about UCAS I’d be escalating your complaint to have her removed from them through the schools complaint process? Given it’s related to a health need.

She might still need to go to classes but they can withdraw her from the exams. They might ask you to pay for the exam fees

The place for this on UCAS is in their reference.

Is she planning to stay on or go elsewhere for sixth form? Get a paper trail now then show that to whoever writes her reference next year.

What are the subjects she is dropping? Would she be able to scrape a grade without revising?

They won't withdraw her from them because they know she is very clever and believe she is capable of passing. There probably is a chance of her passing without any work.

I wanted her withdrawn to try and take some pressure off her but the school have not been at all understanding (massive understatement).

Hang on - school won't let her withdraw because they have confidence she'll do ok, but you are going to tell her either not to show up or to write her name and leave this getting a deliberately failing grade?!?! This is insane.

You need to talk to the school again. They may say she's a smart kid and has been sitting in the lessons and writes well so that alone should get her an ok mark. In which case you need to seriously consider that and talk to your daughter about how she feels about it.

BUT I suspect if you nevertheless say to the school that her mental health is so fragile that you and her therapist are advising her to deliberately fail and that's what will happen if they don't let her withdraw, and they believe you mean it, they will let her drop them as it looks awful for their results to have fails too.

Hi, OP -

Writing as a former admissions tutor, I can tell you that even many excellent universities pretty much ignore GCSEs in any event. I am in STEM, in a School ranked just below the top COWI tier, and we do.

To be sure, a few do not - Oxford in particular. The letter of reference should address any anomalies concerning your DD’s GCSE results. I expect various universities will react variously, but this issue alone should not prevent DD from attaining a place in an excellent degree programme, if that is what she wants.

Sadly I do believe that when an applicant is nearing their competitive threshold, whether to mention of health problems should be considered carefully. It is of course illegal and unethical to take them into account. However universities are increasingly stretched for resources. Recruiting a star student is one thing; admitting someone to a very competitive programme whose predicted grades barely meet the offer and who is known to have significant health problems that may affect their studies is another. I have been hearing this phrased as a concern that the university cannot meet the applicant’s needs and there is some truth to this; but it is insidious and wrong IMO.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not convinced that walking out or not turning up is the best course of action, hence the thread.

The belief that DD will pass is based on year 10 results - there is no year 11 work in these 2 subjects. Maybe I should get her to attempt some past papers and see what grade she gets, although that is taking time away from the other subjects.

I second what others have said - the teacher’s reference is the best place to mention any extenuating circumstances.

It should possibly also be addressed in whatever replaces the personal statement. I don't think they've decided exactly what that will look like yet, but there will be a series of questions, and one area to be covered is
"Extenuating circumstances – Is there anything that the universities and colleges need to know about, to help them put your achievements and experiences so far into context?"

(I suspect some kids who have worked through mental health issues in year 10/11 are probably a safer than average bet for the universities.)

This is utterly ridiculous.
Theres hardly a single university that will care that she has 8 GCSE’s instead of 10.
If you and especially she are certain that she doesn’t want to study for or sit these 2 subjects you can certainly insist that the school withdraws her.
Tell them if they refuse she won’t be doing any work and will not turn up or write nothing on the paper and that it’s therefore in everyone’s best interests that she is withdrawn immediately rather than getting 2 x fails

This is silly (on the school's part)
You need to talk to them and make sure she is withdrawn from the exams and just sits the 8 she is studying for.

DS2 was struggling with 10 GCSES due to SpLD issues etc so we got him to drop one which was learning-heavy (History). He went on to get very good results in the others (majority 8/9 level) and then A*AA in sixth form before securing a place in a good university.