Deferral screw up- any admissions experts?

[GrapeNerve]

DD got a place at her first choice uni, confirmed on Thursday.

She has been worrying about the money side and emailed them to ask if she could defer- she didn't receive a response. She and I had a chat that evening and I reassured her that the money was ok (which it is) so she emailed again on Friday to say that she didn't want to defer after all so please ignore the request. She accepted her accommodation offer and paid the deposit.

Then today she received an email saying her place has been deferred, and it's changed on UCAS as well- they must have read the first email but not the second.

We've sent another email explaining all this and asking them to put her back to this year. There is no manned phone line (we've checked this) and the live chat doesn't open until tomorrow morning.

DD is really panicking that she has lost her place for this year. Can anyone reassure us as I don't think she's going to sleep tonight!

Yes it is, although it was in clearing (it is no longer in clearing)

Oh Dear, I am not an expert but it sounds like she deferred on Thursday and so perhaps her place for 2023 was offered to someone through clearing.
There may not be a space now, hopefully I am wrong

Shit.

This is terrible. I wonder whether we can argue that she withdrew the deferral request before it was accepted.

I really doubt it, sorry. It was accepted, in the sense that they withdrew the offer and offered the place to someone else.

Thanks everyone for these replies.

If anyone has experience in admissions and can think of anything we could do, please let me know.

Have you tried ringing the Schhol/Department directly? Ask to speak to an admin person in the teaching office.

Admissions don't usually work super fast, so I'd be willing to bet that they haven't yet offered her place to anyone else. I think you can sort this out.

They're not going to withdraw the offer from the student who was offered her place, just because she changed her mind the next day.
With all the will in the world, this won't happen.
How can she go from asking to defer to being distraught that she now has to in such a short timescale?

I disagree, I think they will have offered it quickly (they want people signed up) but I think it's possible that other students will defer / go elsewhere/ change their mind in the next few weeks so places might become available.

I think you need to speak to a person. Can your daughter ring the main switchboard and ask for admissions / student helpdesk (or whatever it's called there) or ask for the academic department and speak to an administrator there.

Or if it's not too far away, turn up in person. There are always students turning up at this time of year with queries.

Fair point @iamtryinghq but the list may not be that long.

It's worth a try (no pun intended).

I'd suggest talking to the department directly if at all possible, rather than wait.

Or if it's not too far away, turn up in person. There are always students turning up at this time of year with queries.

And they're often disappointed to find that the person they need to speak to isn't on campus.

Phone first.

Speak to the department directly. Admissions will be working to a quota. I would be trying to get the Head of Department/Head of School.

Can you find their email or their PA’s email online? Do they have a LinkedIn profile you can message or send a connect message?
Is there a departmental phone number?

I would be trying all of the above.

Contact the Uni directly however you can. If there's another place available I'm sure they'll have someone else change their mind or drop out etc. Otherwise she can spend a year working and saving money and feel even more financially stable when she starts next year.

Going against the grain here to say this isn't as disastrous as others are making out. I don't believe your daughter will lose her place this year, if you have evidence of the email correspondence on Thursday/Friday, evidence of how it wasn't actioned until Monday, as well deposits paid.

Who did she send the emails to? Find the email address of the Head of Admissions and email directly. Marking as urgent and explaining the situation. As well as Heads of School/Dept. Speaking on the phone would be preferable, and the sooner the better. But I would email as many as you can this evening so it is at least on someone's radar.

Knowing which University it is would help. But I would be very shocked if your daughter loses her place. This is an unfortunate situation, however the University admissions team should have a set up which doesn't allow for processes to be actioned without all correspondence thoroughly checked and up to date.

Sorry can’t offer any practical advise but keeping everything crossed you can sort it out. Reading your post I was thinking this is exactly the sort of mess my DD would get herself into (before handing it over to me to stress about and try and sort out!)
You have my complete sympathy hope it all works out