Any interest in a non-Oxbridge/ non-RG parents chat?

[SockFluffInTheBath]

There are lots of threads about applying to Oxbridge and other ‘top’ unis, anyone interested in a thread for those of us with DC looking elsewhere? Not trying to be divisive, but there’s no ‘drop in centre’ thread for other unis, and I thought it might be good to have a space to chat sometimes.

[Title edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

Ha, just came back to say an offer came in last thing from Cardiff! I’ll get my coat 😂

@SockFluffInTheBath that's good news. One down 4 to go. Just submitted our last 2 Keele and uni of Nottingham as she loved Nottingham at the weekend when we went to NTU. No idea where she will choose though as we do have York and Lancaster too. I may need to leave too!

I think the thread's really about having positive attitudes to non-RGs and not thinking that they're inherently inferior or a step down.

So stick around if your kid's going to Cardiff instead of Aber or Bangor. I'm sure you're not about to tell the rest of us how too many (of other people's) kids are going to university these days. Or employers know which the good universities are.

Definitely not going to say it has to be RG, I say that as the mother of a very happy and employed on a graduate scheme LJMU graduate

@HPFA absolutely. DD’s only gone for those because not many places do the course. When I started this thread she had her heart set on a different course at Aber, and I’d still absolutely be happy for her to go there. DS is at UEA and it’s the perfect place for him, I think it’s a shame so many schools and parents, and by extension DC, write off the ‘others’ without a second thought.

I think the thread's really about having positive attitudes to non-RGs and not thinking that they're inherently inferior or a step down.

Yes, I agree but I think it's also about the fact that for many subjects, Oxbridge and RG aren't the best places. I thought RG was mostly about research anyway, teaching seems to be a lower priority.

As I've said my DD really really wants to do linguistics at Lancaster. It tends to come just below Oxbridge in rankings for the subject and actually above them for research in the subject. Assuming that rankings matter to people, which on MN they seem to. She loved it on the open day, felt completely at home there, (as opposed to Warwick which she hated). She also loved Bangor and is putting it as her insurance. Ironically, with a reduced offer from Lancaster if she makes it her firm both unis are asking for the same grades albeit Bangor is a points tariff rather than set grades.

On MN Oxbridge/Imperial/UCL etc seem to be a really big deal but in real life I don't know anyone who thinks some one is cleverer just because they went to Oxbridge etc. If anything the whole Benedict Cumberbatch/Eddie Redmayne thing means that most people think that Oxbridge is still for posh rich people.

Assuming that rankings matter to people, which on MN they seem to

That's because the posters it matters to all live in London and are greedy lawyers/bankers/financiers and assume that everyone's DC wants to work in a magic circle/big four firm.

It is beyond their comprehension that our DC want to study STEM subjects or other humanities subjects and that not all of them want to live in London.

DD will, hopefully, end up working for the NHS, which isn't exactly glamorous, nor will she get a six figure salary. Oh, and she really dislikes London.

My son is still set on Aber and has applied for the scholarship exams, which he will sit at school on 7th February. He’s only doing them for the potential unconditional offer, which worries me.

He hasn’t heard from Bristol, the 5th and only one not to make an offer. I’m encouraging him to withdraw so that he can firm Aber. He has absolutely no interest in Bristol and only put it down because his school told him to apply for five.

If he isn't interested in Bristol at all then withdrawing is a good idea. DD had already set her heart on Newcastle and waited and waited for Manchester to reply. As she didn't like Manchester at all she just withdrew and accepted Newcastle.

So for anyone that cares, we did manage to get DS predicted D amended to a C. It's still in no way 'aspirational' given that he got a B in the previous round of mocks which were full previous papers - but we're both tired of battling. So he is now on predicted grades of BCC. He got a rejection from Uni of Manchester before the grade had even been amended, but frankly he is already asking himself why he put it down - it was unrealistic and a wasted option.

He has had offers from NTU (which we both LOVED), MMU and Uni of Liverpool so is feeling relieved to have something. So even if his last one is a rejection - he can at least complete his firm and insurance choices. Based on my experience of clearing with DD, we are compiling a little list of 'first places to call' if we end up in clearing, that so far, includes Trent and UEA.

Glad you got it changed! We loved NTU & it's definitely my DSs first choice.

Second offer came in today from Swansea, happy DD to have a choice of 2 now, but both are BBC for firm or BBB for insurance 🙈

I have a question....

When DD was in clearing a couple of years ago, she got offers from a few places that were quite far below their published grades. For example, UEA (who were looking for AAB) made her an offer with her BCD and MMU published ABB but offered as well.

My question is, do those drops only happen in clearing once they have sifted through people in clearing with higher grades, or would they prioritise someone who put them as firm or insurance and drop that low for them immediately - without them having to go into clearing? I know people do get offers from their first choice or insurance despite not quite hitting the grades, but I've not heard of such a drop apart from in clearing.

I guess the question I'm asking is if DS didn't get an offer from one of his two, is it worth calling them in clearing or would they have offered if they were going to...

Someone who posted last year had a DD with an offer of around AAB from York and got in with BBC.

Apparently they had a friend who wanted but didn't apply to York because the school wouldn't predict high enough grades and then actually did better than BBC. The friend was pretty annoyed at the system apparently.

Personally I think the entire system is a bit of a joke. When DD did early clearing last year (with grades in hand) I tried to persuade her to put in a couple of more aspirational choices but she was convinced she'd be rejected because the unis I was suggesting officially wanted higher grades than she had. When full clearing opened on the 18th those unis I suggested were publishing offers quite a bit below what she had.

I suppose there are good reasons why all applications can't be done post grades but it's always felt like that would be a better system.

Thanks @HPFA. So did the York offer came off the back of their UCAS first choice and insurance? Or was it through clearing? That's the bit I am trying to understand....

So, if DS was asked for - say ABB but got BBC - might he get a rejection but then later down the line, when clearing has been ongoing and they are just looking to get the last few bums on seats, could someone else get in via clearing with BBC - or even lower? Or would they call DS first and say, we're lowering the boundary and make an offer?

OR do they offer people who selected them with the lowest grades that they are prepared to accept that year. So if DS got BBC and they decided they were going to drop to from ABB to BBB, he wouldn't get the offer but no one else lower than BBB would either - even in clearing?

That's really rubbish about the York story - it's a pretty flawed system.

From what I remember it was their firm offer. The poster was surprised but delighted. I guess it's still traceable on a thread somewhere - maybe the A Level results thread that appears every year?

To be honest when I saw places like Notts and Liverpool putting out courses at BCC and CCC I assumed that they would operate a sort of auction where they'd just take the applicants with the highest grades. So they wouldn't actually end up with many students at CCC. The fact the offers stayed up for days suggests that wasn't the case and they genuinely were prepared to accept these grades.

I've certainly seem some very bitter comments on social media from academics at non RGs who think that some unis are just using the RG brand to cram bums on seats at the expense of the sector as a whole.

Thanks for clarifying.

It really is a bit of a shit show isn't it. There has to be a better and more transparent way than this. It's so stressful for everyone.

I think it's like a game where the students don't know the rules because it varies from Uni to Uni. My DD has an offer from Lancaster, the official requirement is AAB but she has been offered ABB if she makes them her firm. The same course was in clearing last year requiring BBB.

But I suspect that her subject (Linguistics with MFL) isn't overly popular, it's probably a lot less likely for Maths/Economics/Business/Psychology etc at a more popular university.

OR do they offer people who selected them with the lowest grades that they are prepared to accept that year. So if DS got BBC and they decided they were going to drop to from ABB to BBB, he wouldn't get the offer but no one else lower than BBB would either - even in clearing?

I vaguely followed clearing last year and I don't remember clearing grades changing mid way through. I would assume (but I think you need Poetry's advice really) that they would take the person with the BBC before putting the course into clearing maybe at BBB because Unis prefer to avoid clearing if they can. But (and it's a huge but) that's assuming that it's not a super popular subject at a super popular Uni!

Could there potentially be an issue that if a course that asks for AAB then goes into clearing and accepts students with BBC, the students with the lower grades might struggle academically?

Could there potentially be an issue that if a course that asks for AAB then goes into clearing and accepts students with BBC, the students with the lower grades might struggle academically?

I think that's quite likely in something like Maths or Physics but possibly less likely in the arts or humanities. I know for some of the courses DD looked at they required a B at A-level in a language (not necessarily the language she wanted to study) but I don't know how strict they would have been if they needed bums on seats.

I think for some things, yes

But DS wants to do History. He is decent at it and really enjoys it. He always does really well with coursework and projects - less well under intense exam conditions.

Given that most Universities do not really have formal exams as part of a history degree, he might very well do as well with his B at A Level as someone with with A*

Maths - with formal exams, not so much.

I think most universities do have formal exams for history.

but in any event a significant number of the kids who come out with those lower grades will actually have been predicted higher grades but had a bad exam. Universities picking up kids in clearing look at their UCAS applications to see their predictions as well as their actual achieved grades.

I am an example. I ended up (over 30 years ago) with AABE. Guess which subject went disastrously on the day. DS is predicted AAA but just had mock results back of ABD - again a bad exam. He completely missed a whole question by mistake

Ds has had an offer from UEA, who ask for ABB for his course - he achieved BBC last year.

I agree that there's more of an issue with Maths/Sciences where there might be some missing knowledge/lack of understanding of topics that are essential foundations for the degree course.

I'm not at all concerned that ds wouldn't cope. He's a very slow processor and even with extra time he only got through 75% of his A Level papers. In the questions he answered he scored very highly - he would have got A stars if he'd completed the whole paper to the same standard in each subject. He came out of every exam very frustrated, because he knew he could have answered the other questions too. There are lots of reasons why kids get Bs, Cs and even Ds and they're often nothing to do with ability - poor exam technique, anxiety, poor working memory, a bad day/illness etc.

I'm trying to get to the bottom of how the courses he's been offered are assessed - it's not that easy to work out from the uni websites!

DD1 has her tutor meeting today about her offers. Apparently she's not allowed to firm or insure until she's discussed this and they've had an 'assembly on finance'. The whole removal of nursing at cardiff is a bit of a curve ball for her, as that WAS her insurance - so I think she's going Swansea/Notts. Notts is a lower offer now, as all her English unis have now had contextuals added as apparently we live in a deprived postcode - but it all seems a bit random.