Missed Durham offer - is it worth calling?

[RightWhoWantsABoiledEgg]

DD had a deferred offer at Durham for English. Offer was AA plus A star in English. Results were AAB, but importantly, she didnt get an A star in English Lit and Durham offer was lost.

There were reasons for this slightly lower performance (although not the B and we may ask for a remark). She was poorly for 2/3 of the exams for one subject (GP visit and medication confirms this) - had an A star for the first paper and As for the ones where she was poorly. Special consideration was meant to be requested, but don’t know if it was done.

More importantly, for English, there was an issue with the biggest mark question on one of the papers. The school does a very unusual combination of books, that very few schools opt for, for the comparative paper. In the exam, the big mark question had no relevant theme to compare the books by. All students were confused and said they’d had to wing it. School never reached out about it. Either the school messed up and missed a theme, or the exam board messed up in failing to ensure a theme that was relevant to this combination was included. An A in these circumstances seems pretty decent.

This is by way of asking if it is worth her calling Durham up to discuss and explain? Will they even entertain excuses and discuss a deferred offer? As the school hasn’t ever addressed the question issue (it is a very high performing grammar school so may not want to appear lacking), should she approach the school first to ascertain if they would support what she is saying about the problem with the question?

She worked so hard and feels like she has failed. She could resit and is considering this, but would Durham even consider her next year as she has failed to meet their standard once already?

Just read that. That's one complicated and convoluted spec!!

I’m not an expert on how they were taught tbh, but assume they were taught in the way you say. The specific question (accounting for half the marks available on the paper) was to compare one of the specified themes across the 2 texts. So, they were probably taught about each book in the way you’ve outlined, then taught to compare how various themes were dealt with and none of the themes were ones they’d covered. She therefore had to use her knowledge of both books to make a comparison on the hoof. She got an A, so she obviously did OK, but she needed an A star for her offer.

It does sound very complicated.

That sounds a bit more like the other exam paper which has things like The Gothic on it. The questions on the texts you name are standard essay questions, albeit very tricky looking to my eye.

I did English Lit A level. Back then, they taught us the book, then we answered a question or two on it. They were challenging, but the amount of extra work that goes into the learning now is incomparable to my experience. I’m sure this is the case across all subjects tbh. I find it amazing when folk try to suggest the learning, effort and exams have got easier!

I couldn't quite work out how the question in the exams would have been framed, but the direction must have been along these lines.

https://www.savemyexams.com/a-level/english-literature/ocr/17/revision-notes/2-drama-and-poetry-pre-1900/a-dolls-house/a-dolls-house-what-to-compare-it-to/

Agreed!

They may be standard questions, but this question did not work for those texts, or at least did not cover any theme comparison they had covered. TBH, she loves this comparison question and she excels at it usually. Results are everything in her school, if they've dropped the ball and grades have suffered, that’s a big deal, as excellent results is how they ‘sell’ the school.

I’ll have to check with DD but I do vaguely remember in her English Lit exam (AQA) there was a question where they had to make comparisons and she said something about how that would have been very hard for some possible combinations of texts. I don’t think it was her combination though.

Selective school?

I ask because OCR tends to be an exam board of choice.

I would suggest they are quite complimentary texts actually. What were the themes they asked about in the question?

I said above, apparently they do compare well, but the comparisons they were asked to make aren’t ones they had covered. All the students felt the same. She managed to make a comparison, she got an A on the paper, but she needed an A star really as the grade boundaries are really tight, so dropping marks isn’t ideal.

Absolutely call. Many moons ago i almost missed out on my uni place. Got all the right grades, but in the wrong order (AAB instead of ABA). I got the B in the subject I wanted to study. Anyway, I heard a woman on the radio say how she rang and persevered and got a place. Everyone told me not to, including my school, who said to leave it to them. But no one was going to fight as hard for my place as I was prepared to. So I faxed them loads of my law essays, found out what their students would cover in the first year and looked up essay titles, read up and submitted essay plans for 1st year degree work. They were so impressed with my initiative and determination. One lecturer decided to fight for my place and placed me on his tutor list. He was the one to call me and tell me he'd found me a place. He was close to tears and so was I. Make a nuisance of yourself, try different routes and get yourself known. You have nothing to lose!

Her eating issues sound very much OCD/anxiety based. With this in mind, I would pull back from expressing any emotion/disappointment re her not getting in to Durham. There are so many other Universities out there which have such good English Literature courses, are small and campus based, but are less prestigious than Durham. It sounds like you and her are attracted to the prestige of the place. One superb university for English Literature is actually The University of East Anglia in Norwich. It's a wonderful relaxed place in a nice small city, but with less of the pressure. Salman Rushdie used to do some of the lectures. As someone who has and still suffers from anxiety with OCD elements, it unfortunately does not get better and is a part of me. She might conquer her eating issues, but it might emerge as something else later on. I would highlight all the other wonderful options that lie ahead for her in life (including not going to Uni if she doesn't want to or need to). She probably senses that you approved of her Uni choice and therefore feels more anxiety. Just give lots of reassurance, reiterate that she has a year to sort this out and that what will be will be.

Bath Uni could be another great option in terms of campus/halls and a small city.

But surely students can't expect to cover every single possible theme in the lead up to exams? (Otherwise they would just be regurgitating prepared answers which surely isn't the point of A Level). Schools take a view on what they are going to cover and they probably cover the most common ones. It sounds like this was one that they hadn't covered, which is unlucky for her, but sounds like she still made a good answer to get an A.

To be clear, we have been 100% supportive of her. We are enormously proud of her and have said this. She just isn’t proud of herself at the moment. Hopefully she will be.

She made her university choices, we supported them. I pushed for smaller universities, as I don’t think she’d flourish in a huge university, but it’s worth mentioning that her first application included a huge, city university. I didn’t think she’d be happy there, but she put it on anyway. The next day, she asked if i thought she should have included Durham in place of the huge one. I told her she knew my thoughts, but it was her choice. She then applied UCAS to change to Durham.

She had a UEA offer. She submitted a portfolio and they reviewed and provided really positive feedback. I was surprised when she chose RHBNC over them, but again, it was her choice. I had heard from local Norwich friends, that the centre was not what it once was, although I don’t know what that change would actually look like.

Also, Scentedjasmin, you are correct that the eating issue is anxiety-based. It emerged out of a dreadful period, where she was bullied at school and a very poor painful family death, that knocked me for six. She’s had counselling from several different sources and none has mentioned OCD. I’m not an expert on this, but can’t say I’ve ever noticed anything that made me think of OCD.

Agree always understood Norwich to be the best for creative writing and eng lit it’s really famous for it. Or Warwick is very good if she likes a campus?

Dd hated Durham when we had a look round. We thought it was lovely but she was put off by the smallness and the wannabe Oxbridge feel plus the public school boy dominance reputation - accept this may be unfair but was our take on it.

I think the first thing is to contact the school and ask:

(1) Did they put in the special circumstances request re. illness?
(2) Is the school submitting an appeal on behalf of all of the English Lit students regarding the question?

If she is applying for deferred entry anyway, honestly, its a gift in this situation.

I would get the school to make clear that she is declining the grades in the subjects she considered that she underperformed in and intends to re-sit. Get the school to request the scripts back for the underperforming papers, she can go through them herself, and then also go through them with a teacher.

The school may also need some quiet feedback that being radical and different rather than picking a tried and tested combination with multiple comparators might not have been their smartest move.

Catopia - thank you so much for this very clear advice.

Except it doesn't do English!

Indeed it doesn’t! When she was looking at possibles, Bath was right up there )because of the JA connection), couldn’t believe there was no lit course there!

You start with the choice of university first then the city I thought. Always thought of Bath as more of a maths / science emphasis.

If I had a quiet Dd who wanted to do creative writing Norwich would be my first suggestion.

OP Durham isn’t that small and so I really wouldn’t be focussing on it because of that. You also need to keep in mind the practicalities of any university which has catered colleges given your daughters eating issues. If she is allocated catered then she will be eating in public for every single meal. Even in halls she will be eating in a kitchen in front of potentially ten other people.

ds had a Durham offer through clearing last year. He ultimately rejected it after we whizzed up to see it. It’s very spread out as a university rather than being a campus and whilst it’s certainly a very pretty city there is a lot of walking involved if you’re allocated a college on the outskirts.

what really decided it for him however was the fact that all of the young tory boys at school had targeted it. Including those who were initially friendly with him but then dropped him like a lead balloon when they found out he is gay.

personally I would think she needs a campus university with some studio accommodation available to enable her to eat comfortably and when she needs to.