Extenuating circumstances & narrowly missed grades - University of Bristol & Leeds

[FairTaupeSwan]

Hi Mumsnet,
I'm transferring to the Liberal Arts course at Bristol & Leeds from a different university after I complete my foundation. I need a 2.1/60% average, however, I'm afraid I may narrowly miss my offer. I'm looking at my grades, and I'm unsure I can pull off the 2.1 I need.

I also submitted an extenuating circumstance form to Bristol, where I had undiagnosed ADHD & dyscalculia throughout most of the academic year and got diagnosed very recently. I claimed I did not have any support, and my grades were affected by this, with letters confirmed by my tutor, my university disability support service, and my private psychologist assessment.

I know it may be different from A Levels, however, has anyone whose DCs go to these two universities made it in when they narrowly missed their offer? It doesn't have to be Liberal Arts, but if your DC missed their offer for a humanities course, please let me know how it worked. It would be even more helpful for me if your DC got let in with missed grades and an extenuating circumstance. Thank you!

You'd be better off talking to admissions in those universities and explain that you have a new disability diagnosis - even if someone here confirms that they were accepted after missing their offer, it doesn't mean that the same would happen for you.

Hi I have, I’m just asking for people’s personal experiences here with narrowly missed grades. I’m aware about that.

Thing is, your admission to either/both of those universities will be treated differently to the standard application through UCAS. So experiences via A Levels & UCAS won't really be relevant. Talk to the universities concerned directly.

Hi, the thing is I’m not talking about my A Level experiences and extenuating circumstances either way are the same for all qualifications. I’ve applied to UCAS and my application is being treated the same as someone from A Levels. This is why I’ve asked for peoples experiences out of curiosity.

It's a very niche request, though. There will be very few people in the country who happened to miss a grade while hoping to move to that specific course, and even fewer of those will be in Mumsnet this week.

Have you tried the Facebook page Wiwikau, which is all about university?

You probably won't like this experience. DN had an offer of BBB or ABC. He got CCC. The uni accepted him anyway. He struggled to keep up, had imposter syndrome as many exceeded their offer, failed all his first year exams and wasn't offered the chance to resit. He's now at a uni where he meets their standard offer in a slightly different subject and is thriving.

I would think carefully about how well supported you are and if you have management strategies in place which will help you get back on track and hit the ground running without your confidence being knocked.

I wouldn’t touch Bristol with a barge pole having worked there. I don’t think you’ll be well supported.

In 2000 Leeds couldn’t offer flex on my grades but that was linked to a mess up with Scottish results that delayed them in knowing what spaces there were on the course so they released me to clearing - which worked well and I had a phone interview and got a place at a highly regarded uni. But it’s quite a specific request and will depend on many factors, I don’t think we can give you much reassurance other than things seem to work out one way or another.

Why sweat it? Just turn up if accepted and get on with it.

I mean, I'm already at a good university where I only need a 40% (pass) to progress, so I admit I'm in a much more stable position than somebody in Y13. I'm just asking for people's experiences because I'm just curious?

Yeah, this happened to my friend who did a semi-competitive (entry requirements were AAA, he got a contextual with BBC), ended up with CCC, and now he's barely scraping through. I'm lucky LA doesn't have any core exams (unless you select modules with them), and I do much better in coursework anyway. Since I'm already at university, I've gained the confidence to do well and despite my poor A Levels I don't have imposter syndrome anymore. I do empathise with your DN as many of my friends are facing his situation right now. Hope everything is well for him now.

No I haven't, thanks for suggesting that FB page :)

Dd dropped a grade. Extenuating circs that were declared and accepted by Bristol.

Rejected by Bristol on results day.

She ended up at her insurance and couldnt be happier

Gosh, daughter was at an open day yesterday! Can you expand on this, if you don’t mind?

If you’re comfortable sharing, what subject was it and how come she declined Bristol in the end?

Medicine

She had them as her firm choice but they rejected her on results day when she dropped an A level grade

could you elaborate please about Bristol uni? My DS is considering it