University of Bath, Durham, Exeter

[Mommypa]

Anyone received any offers from these Universities for 2025? Heard some applicants are receiving already

My DC has had an offer from Bath for a Stem subject. Still waiting for Durham, which is often late with offers.

Exeter offer quite quickly for some subjects, (4 days for economics last week)
what subject are you waiting for?

thank you. Accounting and finance

So only Bath is on my DD's list from those three. It is the one place she has heard least from - just the initial acknowledgment letter back in Sept. She has offers from York, Bristol and has had some queries / requests from Edinburgh and Oxford. Still waiting to hear if O wants to interview her. Edinburgh has sent a few "we are still considering you, sorry for the delay" type messages.

DC applied to Bath and Durham for Computer science and had a message from both saying they wouldn't be sending out offers until after January.

Wow that's quick. Interesting, may I ask what the stats were (i.e. GCSE profile and predictions)?

DC got an Exeter offer a few weeks ago- not for Economics. The offer came a couple of weeks after UCAS form submitted I think.

@soupsetpleasehelp , it was economics and finance and it was a strong set of GCSEs (all 8 and above) and predicted grades above the offer of Astar AA.

Of those on your list, DD had an offer from Exeter. Also offers from Edinburgh and York. Interview for Oxford. Absolutely nothing from Durham! This is for English & History.

Snap. Offer through after 4 days exactly. 50/50 8s/9s - predictions of A*AA.

Exeter states that it ‘tiers’ applicants. Top tier is 3 x A star. 2nd tier 2 x A star. And so on. They state they offer to top tiers first.

They know they won’t have enough 3 x A star applicants who also go onto accept their offer. So they have to over offer and offer quickly to the top tiers. Each year a slightly different number and quality of applicants appear. With more marginal candidates, they will wait until the deadline at the end of Jan, so they can see the overall field and then decide if to offer or not. Even more competitive places are doing the same, but often sitting on applicants with 2 or 3 x A star. They aren’t just waiting to see the full field but to see what the pattern is looking like as people start to firm, insure and reject. They can start to see if they can make further offers or just stop. But this isn’t until much later in the cycle.

Waiting on Bath and Durham for biochemistry here.

Thanks helpful and I've read that too.

My DC didn't have 3 A stars but still got an offer. I do wonder - but maybe wrong - whether this is because their A-levels were 2 x stem and another tough and what they used to call, 'facilitating' subject.

Hadn't expected an offer as not in the 1st or even 2nd tier with Astar AA! Maybe all 8/9s at GCSE helped too (after all, they're achieved rather than predictions). Who knows!

I’d actually think most grades above the standard offer get a pretty quick offer at Exeter.
It gets a lot of applicants and is very popular because as well as being a lively campus with good courses, its offer level means lots apply who have higher grades and might put it as insurance, plus it’s the right level and also aspirational for lots too. It gets lots of applicants ….but it has to significantly over offer as each of those applicants will be holding other offers and Exeter won’t be top choice for all. They are known to often take students who miss their offer by a grade or even two as well. It’s very hard for unis to ‘get it right’ when they can’t tell how many will firm and insure and how many miss their offer grades.

I think mid range/good RG unis will offer to most who have the standard offer grades as predicted or achieved. It’s just some get offers sooner than others. At this level, they prob won’t offer to applicants with less than the standard offer, although come results day, they may well take a no of their offer holders who achieve less. Less competitive unis may well offer to people with predictions below the standard offer….and in reality the advertised standard offer means very little.

Tyey all want to give the impression of being highly selective and turning lots away, but in reality, it’s a buyers market for most courses and most unis.

There aren’t that many courses at that many unis who can afford not to offer to students who exceed the standard offer grades. Perhaps it’s certain very popular courses like Econ, Computing, Psych, some Maths and some Stem and especially those courses at places like the top London Unis, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Durham, Warwick, and possibly one or two others for some of their courses???

The difficulty is that when a 3 x A star or 2 A star and A candidate apply to that list for something like Econ, they may well find they only get 2 offers. Most will get a couple but perhaps not the one they really want. But they have to accept that’s the way it is. But fortunately for most applicants for most courses it’s not like this.

Heard from Exeter, not heard from Durham. Engineering.

Only applied to Bath from your list, and they said they would only offer after the January deadline has passed.
We have had offers from the other 4 we applied to, all in the first week.

DD just had an offer from Durham for chemistry. We were surprised because we thought Durham would be the last one we would hear from, but it was her first offer.

Had an offer from Exeter on Thursday, around 10 days after applying. Not applied to other two.

OP Accounting and Finance has a very high number of international applicants for both Exeter and Durham, so there may be some delay in offers being made whilst they wait to see what this year's split is between home and international applicants.

FWIW my DS does this course at Exeter - he applied 2 years ago and was predicted AAA - Exeters standard offer at the time, whilst Durhams was AAB. He did get an offer from Exeter, but not from Durham. Exeter's course was them in Clearing for UK students for ABB, whilst Durhams was in Clearing for international applicants only

Exeter have since dropped their standard offer to AAB.

He loves it in Exeter btw - small, safe city but with plenty still to occupy students

Last year DD got a Durham offer in November and Bath not until March (didn't apply to Exeter)! Grades in hand well above requirements (and a popular course but not on the same level as Computer Science or Psychology). So I think it also differs by department. She chose Durham and is happy there.

DD applied to Bath for Politics and IR. Got an offer late October, it is her first choice so she is really pleased.

Do has an offer from Durham for maths, and waiting for Bath. Tbh I'd rather he didn't go to Durham due to accommodation problems in recent years, but he wants to go so I have to sit back and pray.

Durham private housing problems have largely passed since the Covid bulge years have passed through. Many sign up for houses early, but there are still plenty available for next year and in July/Aug, there was property available for the autumn. It doesn’t seem to be that there is a shortage of actual accommodation. Much of it is quite expensive but there is a range and some stay in College or return for the 3rd year.

The Durham College allocation system can be a bit annoying. People stank their college choices before the spring and then get provisional allocations. Lots get their top choices but lots don’t too. The advice is to decide if you want catered or non-catered and rank accordingly and not to get too attached to the idea if any college. After results, re-allocations happen and some get moved from one place to another which unsettles some. But again, knowing that people tend to love wherever they end up helps. Being too rigid about it all doesn’t help. Separate to the college allocation system is the need to complete an emailed form saying you want college accommodation. It’s vital to meet this deadline, as otherwise accommodation is t guaranteed. This year, a number if students didn’t fill this in and were left without accommodation as term approached. This was stressful for them, but they had failed to meet the deadlines which was well advertised. I guess universities have to have some cut-offs and way to control numbers.

But the point is, Durham housing doesn’t seem to be the difficulty it was two or three years ago. I was a bit worried about it with my DS, but it’s actually been fine. Everything is online so seeing what’s available isn’t that tricky. Bath halls, I understand is very difficult for anyone who is insurance or Clearing. And I understand private accommodation is scarce there and expensive. With Durham, you can fill in college preferences as an insurance candidate.

Often I think parents stress more about it all than students do. They just seem to get on with it and adapt to the system and processes on the ground where they are.

Just to reassure - DC is yr1 at Durham; no shortage of private housing at all for yr2. Lots do sign up early but there is still accom for 24/25 ! I agree the college allocation system is a bit odd but they all seem happy with where they end up.

DS has just received a Durham offer for an MEng -AAB
He wants to live at home so only applied to NE universities, he'd sort of decided to firm Newcastle but now thinks he'll go to a Durham offer holder day & see what the department is like. He didn't bother going to the open day as he didn't think he'd get an offer.