Contextualised Offers

[caringcarer]

I'm not sure what to advise my foster child to do. He went to visit Worcestershire University and was advised as he lives in foster care, he would get a contextualised offer for the Sports Coaching and Management course with integrated Masters. He came home and told us about this. I suggested He send a follow up email to make sure he had got it right. He got an email reply confirming if he clicked the has lived in care button he'd get a contextualised offer. He has been in care since he was 5 years old and his biological mother took a drugs overdose 2 weeks before his GCSE exams. He's just got his offer and it's the standard offer, it's not contextualised at all. He definitely clicked the box on UCAS to say he'd been in care. I know this because he has got contextualised offers from other universities. He's very down because Worcestershire University was his preferred choice. He has asked me what he should do. I'm so upset for him because I don't think they should have emailed him this it's not the case. I'm not sure if they could have just missed that he's been in care. Do you think he should email the admissions tutor to politely query it, as he was specifically told at their open day, and got email confirmation he would definitely get a contextualised offer if he applied for their course, or do you think he should just leave it and go to one of his other offers? I don't know what to suggest to him to do. Has anyone else had experience of contextualised offers? Do you think it would be considered rude to send a reply to the email stating the offer made to him is the standard offer?

What offer did he get?

Yeh what offer did he get from UoW and is it achievable for him?

Definitely email them. It is possible a further contextual offer will follow in a couple of days though. But it's perfectly fine to email - and very common.

I would encourage him to politely email the admissions tutor asking a) if this is a contextual offer and b) if not, what changed from what he was previously told. Good for him to have the practice in advocating for himself through appropriate channels (with you supporting him).

Call and speak to admissions, and explain that he meets the criteria for a contextual offer, but hasn't received one. I'm sure it'll be fine. Good luck!

He got offer of 112 UCAS points which is DMM. That is a standard offer on their website. He's doing the BTEC National Extended Diploma in Sport Development and Coaching. He is predicted MMM which is 96 points. That is one grade lower which it states on their website they make a contextualised offer of 1-2 grades lower than standard offer and living in care is one of the examples given.

It’ll just be a mistake - he can pop them an email and it’ll be easily sorted, no big drama. Good lesson for him in how to address this sort of thing.

In that case, I would get him to email them.
I hope he gets what he wants 🙏🏻

I think he'll get the MMM. Each unit has 3 huge assignments. He did get a D for one assignment but has got M for all of his other ones. I've told him to focus more on the other 2 assignments in the same unit he got the D in the first assignment in hope he can get 2 more. It's difficult because he generally has 2 or 3 assignments on the go at once and he's also doing the Core Cricket Coach separately outside of college and is part way through. This will qualify him to lead cricket courses as the main coach and I think he thinks he can get some holiday work with this, plus he is wanting to do cricket coaching and management course. So he needs to prep for that and he's doing it all day each Sunday until the 2nd week of April.

Good luck. Hope it all turns out well for him and you sound lovely. I have massive respect for foster carers.

@caringcarer

Hi, my adopted son is at Worcester, he had a contextualised offer. He also had 96 points.
We spoke directly to the admissions tutor for the course he wanted to do.

He's in his second year and is very happy there.
I'd give them a call and query it.
Good luck

My foster son could even have met your adopted son because he spent a day there about 6-7 weeks ago and played a cricket match against some of the current students there. He said he liked it because everyone was friendly there.

Definitely give them a call on the admissions team or email them and politely point out you were expecting an contextual offer as in care. DD had one offer which had ignored contextual criteria and she phoned and they were very apologetic and kind and altered it same day. That was a missed ticked box.

I think I'll tell him to politely email admissions tutor and stating he'd received an email stating he'd get a contextualised offer but has received the standard offer and he's been in care since he was 5. I'll ask to see it before he sends it to make sure it's polite. I just wish they did not tell him this if they were not going to give it to him. He's got another contextualised offer for 96 points from Nottingham Trent but I know he'd set his heart on Worcestershire. He's got 3 more offers still to hear back from. He's gone to bed early and was very quiet. I'm hoping he'll feel a bit better about it tomorrow. I don't want to tell him it's probably a mistake, just in case it's not.

http://worcester.ac.uk/study/find-a-course/how-to-apply/contextual-offers.aspx#:~:text=If%20candidates%20meet%20certain%20eligibility,below%20the%20published%20entry%20requirements.

So he definitely falls under the "may be eligible" is he also the first in his family to go to uni? If so that puts him under another contextual category.

Did he get to read over his teacher statement about him on his UCAS form? Have they mentioned anything about the circumstances surrounding his GCSEs and impact of his biological Mother's actions? It is usually phrased as a positive look how well he did considering what he was going through. Both my children got to read their teacher's comments, Ds2 was allowed to take a photo of it.

I would definitely email them to ask for clarification on the offer. Best of luck to him.

Hopefully will be sorted out quickly and revised down but even if it doesn't it looks like from this on UCAS they often take with significantly lower grades (this also excludes bottom 5%) and takes to DDD at A level. Do make sure the university is aware of all special circumstances in advance of exam results and if anything happens close to his exams this time (hopefully not) get the school's exams office to apply for special consideration. I'm sorry its so stressful a process and hope he feels better soon. Good he has you to look after him.

https://digital.ucas.com/coursedisplay/courses/b6bc81b2-c80c-b84a-4b87-9d93183fec52?academicYearId=2025&backUrl=https:%2F%2Fwww.ucas.com%2Fexplore%2Fsearch%2Fcourses%3FrefinementList%255Bscheme%255D%255B0%255D%3DUndergraduate%26refinementList%255Buniversity%255D%255B0%255D%3DUniversity%2520of%2520Worcester&courseOptionId=adadd03d-5542-4396-8edc-235ae541bb12

My DD for a different reason should have had a contextual but it didn't show on ucas. She emailed admissions, took a few weeks but now been updated to reflect the contextual offer.

Hi, OP -

I hope I am not too late joining in.

I am a former admissions tutor and I agree with those who suggest that this is most likely a mistake. I also agree that the best strategy is for your foster son to email.

I think it’s best to send a reply to the email confirming the contextual offer, explaining politely what happened and asking for clarification. He can recap that he’s been in care since age 5 and any other contextual factors he meets. It wouldn’t hurt to express that he’s loved what he’s seen of Worcestershire and if he gets an offer in line with his PGs he will Firm it.

This way the eventual, decision-making recipient, who may be a completely different person, will have the full story. Hopefully it will be quick and easy.

Best wishes to you and your son

PS Make sure the Reply contains the original message!

Hope he hears back soon.

DS emailed back to the original email he received stating he would be offered a contextualised offer. He restated he has been in the care system since he was 5 and he is the first person in his family to apply for uni as his parents never went nor his siblings. He said he'd been offered the standard offer and was disappointed by this. He got a reply back stating it was an oversight and he will be made a contextualised offer. 5 hours later his points offer had been changed on UCAS from 112 points to 104 points. Both these points would mean FS had to get DMM. He would need an offer of 96 points to go from DMM (112) to MMM. I told him to email back again stating this. Now awaiting response. In the meanwhile he's got a contextualised offer of MMM from Nottingham Trent and MMM University College Birmingham where unbelievably they are offering him a £5k cost of living bursary and a £800 a year bursary because he's been in the care system. Now he says his heart wants Worcestershire but his head tells him University College Birmingham. He'll have to wait to see if the contextualised offer from Worcestershire gets adjusted to MMM or not then decide. I've told him not to let it all distract him.

Does he have anything else points wise which could bring his score up to 104? Have a look what counts but things like music grades – I mean he may well not have those but quite a few things can count if a uni is accepting UCAS points.

That bursary is a great offer from University College Birmingham. I would say that Nottingham Trent has a better rep in general tho and from knowledge of those I know who have gone there, offers a great uni experience, so that would also be a great choice.

He does have First Aid in the Workplace, Paediatric First Aid, Risk Assessment in the Workplace and Mental Health in children. Each one is 8 points each as level 3 courses but Worcester only accepts points from 3 courses so won't count. He did them so he can lead Cricket courses.

I bet it's just that 8 points is the difference between grades for A levels, and someone correcting it by hand has just subtracted the 8 points by default. If it needs to be more because of the way BTec grades work then he might just need to point this out to them politely. He might feel awkward but it's absolutely the right thing to do.

Also as per PP, has he checked whether the cricket qualification gives UCAS points? He might get the extra 8 from that anyway. I would lay money it's just not adjusted for the BTEC properly though.

@caringcarer

The financial offer from Birmingham is amazing and very tempting.
Birmingham would such a different experience from Worcester though. All the money won't make up for being miserable in a big city.
But he may of course find city living very attractive.