can numerous emails put a uni off a candidate?

[thelonelyones]

A course DD is applying for has incorrect information in it regarding entry requirements. She has emailed the university a few times about it to seek clarification but the responses are not giving that clarification. I'm worried that our emails may make them decide against DD if we're annoying them?

Can you contact them by phone?

This is a tricky one, OP.

Is DD writing to someone at School/Department level or to the Central Admissions Office? Are

Also, I respect that you don’t want to be outing but are these major errors concerning the qualifications necessary for offers, or something less essential? Are they errors a reader could mentally fix only one way - like many typos, including my own, on MumsNet - or are the more ambiguous?

To be clear, any errors in stated Entry Requirements mean someone screwed up, and my sympathies are entirely with DD. But that wasn’t your question.

Hmmmm. If she’s had answers to her emails it could be that the error is in her perception or misunderstanding?

Admissions requirements are sometimes not an exact science. The required grades are a combination of indication of ability level and prior knowledge required, and a way of managing demand.

It’s hard to give more precise advice without knowing what the specific problem is.

If she's emailing admin team then I wouldn't worry. They will just update her record and move on. If she's emailing a potential course leader/supervisor then it might.

Phone.

Have you double checked it? If it's a genuine error then surely she can't be the only one who has noticed?

Is the info she's asking for absolutely necessary for her to apply?

I have worked in admissions for years. Even if we get annoying emails (and there is nothing to suggest your daughter's emails are annoying) we don't hold that against applicants, so please don't worry about that. If your daughter is not getting a clear answer (and presumably you've looked at the emails and agree the university isn't answering her question) then try to call them. If the university has a central admissions team, they will be the best ones to clarify the entry requirements.

We're in Scotland and its a Scottish university.

The university has standard entry requirments and minimum entry requirements to be achieved by the end of sixth year of school.

The minimum entry requirements are for those who are contextual eligible.

However, the minimum entry requirements for this course are listed in several places and are different across each page.

That's basically the issue - what are they?

We did phone and they keep saying they'll be updated by x, but then x date comes and nothing, then when you ask again, they give you another date...

The type of course she wants to do is only limited to a few universities in Scotland. As it relates to a devolved matter, plus we get free tuition, looking at English universities isn't an option.

Is there any reason why she's not applying regardless? She has 4 other places to try as well.

That’s tricky, OP. I am not very impressed with this degree programme already. DD may wish to look up their recent Student Satisfaction levels.

As she keeps getting the same answer and no action, I see little point in further communication. I know this is frustrating and I feel sure DD is not the only one to have noticed. As a former admissions tutor I also sense the possibility of chaos behind the scenes.

I agree with @Dearover however. Why not simply apply, and let the chips fall where they may?

One aspirational choice is fine, perhaps two.

(Also I think every applicant needs a very safe Insurance choice, ideally with play in 2 grades)

Best wishes to DD

Thanks, yes she has applied already, but is anxious about whether or not she'll get an offer and what kind of offer it could be. I think the clarity could help. The university in question would be her first choice.

This is taking a different tone, OP.

Admissions tutors have a lot of discretion in making offers. The published offers are not legally binding. (Actually I cannot speak for Scotland but knowledge of how some Scottish universities offer strongly suggests that this is true in Scotland also)

Given that DD has applied, her best strategy by far is to sit back and let things play out. I do not believe that admissions tutors would hold these queries against her, and I agree that meaningful inconsistencies in the published admissions standards are wrong. But any attempt to try to restrict academics from exercising their full powers of discretion should be discouraged. If it is not relevant now, it is likely to arise in a more meaningful manner at some point during her degree programme. Here or elsewhere.

I hope that doesn’t sound harsh. Academics generally want the best for YP and your DD may find it helpful to keep this in mind.

If she has already applied, it doesn't really matter what the offer might be in the hypothetical situation that she receives one.

A few years ago my DD was turned down by Edinburgh on her 18th birthday. In her head it was going to be her safe insurance offer, but at that point their published standard and contextual offers became irrelevant.

On further thought, it is starting to sound possible that there is a real
misunderstanding. Could DD be thinking that if she meets published admissions requirements - contextual in her case - she will be made an offer?

It doesn’t work that way. To move away from Scotland, the standard Oxford offer for most degree programmes is AAA. Yet the large majority of applicants with these PGs are rejected. I would wager most who are made offers have at least two Astars predicted.

I know several Edinburgh STEM Schools doing something similar this year.

Of course we know an offer isn't guaranteed, but its hard to know whether she has no chance or not if the grade requirements aren't clear enough!

I used to work in Higher Education, albeit at a different university, and non-academic (not admissions) so I'm not completely clueless.

@poetryandwine Exactly. We were actually in the gardens of the Oxford college which had made DD an offer when Edinburgh said no. She took us to the Turf Tavern and bought her first legal round of drinks to cope with the indignity!

Of course, OP, and that is why I expressed concern above. The discrepancies in published criteria are sloppy at best. The fact they they have not been corrected isn’t a great sign IMO. Hence my suggestion to investigate Student Satisfaction.

Congratulations to DD, @Dearover