Missed Out on Uni Place – Advice on Resits, Gap Year & Moving Forward

[RainWarning]

Hi everyone, I’m hoping for some advice or perspective as we’re a bit lost at the moment.

My DS received his A-Level results, A, A, and B in History (A in their EPQ). Unfortunately, he missed his offer to study Law at a great university by one grade. Understandably, he’s devastated as this was a course and university he’d worked hard for.

He decided not to go through clearing for Law, and with his current grades, he wouldn't get into other universities like Warwick, Nottingham etc as they all need AAA. His original backup plan was to take a gap year and reapply for History, but with a B in History, that doesn’t seem viable for competitive courses either.

So now he’s taking a year out, but his confidence and motivation have taken a big knock, and we’re struggling to figure out the best next steps. Options we’ve considered:

Resitting History to try for an A and reapply for Law
Retake the LNAT - again no guarantee of sucess and don't find out your scores until after you've applied...
Taking a new A Level (though this would be as a private candidate, with little teaching support and we have no idea about the issue of predicted grades).
Looking into alternative courses he could access with his current grades.

One concern is the uncertainty and pressure of resits and whether universities would consider a new A-Level taken in one year. Another concern is whether it’s better to move forward with the grades he has and explore different subjects/courses that interest him, even if it's not Law.

We’re also trying to make the most of the gap year. He has been offered part-time work 2 days a week, remote by a relative but this won't get him out of the house. I'd like to encourage him to volunteer too but he’s feeling so low right now that it’s hard to help him see this year positively. Also if he wants Law he should probably be trying to get some Law related work experience.

If anyone has experience with resits, reapplying, or making the most of a gap year after disappointment, I’d really appreciate your insights. Has anyone's DC, or themselves, been in a similar situation and come out the other side?

Thank you in advance — any advice or ideas would be very welcome.

@HPFA Who is the employer though? What line of work? The DS here isn’t looking at French. If Law is an ambition he needs to think about law work experience and a job too.

Your son has achieved AAB rather than AAA. True he has missed his first choice. But why is he taking a part-time working from home job and you are worried that going forward he might not leave the house? Why do young people not accept they might drop a grade? Why the fixation on one uni, one pathway? You hear it so often on here...my son/daughters 'dream' course or uni..and then we wonder why they don't cope when things turn out not quite as they expect. He got great grades but might just not be quite as good at history as he thought. He needs a new plan - a productive gap year or clearing.

This is bad advice. It fails to take into account that law is a snobby profession. It's very difficult to obtain a training contract or pupillage and many employers will take university choice into account.

Having said that, it all depends on what his long-term career aspirations are. If he just wanted to go into conveyancing or personal injury then he could study anywhere. If he wants to go to a magic circle firm then he'd be best off IMO finding another non-law course he can study with the AAB and then doing the conversion. It's more money to do the conversion and adds an extra year, but students who go down that route generally are seen as more well rounded and have better prospects of obtaining a training contract/pupillage.

I wouldn't want to work in a magic circle firm myself though, and the people I know who have worked in those places have been stressed and unhappy.

I got ABB FWIW and went down the conversion route after studying a science degree. I had no intention of converting to law when I started my degree though, but I know lots of people who have studied other subjects like English or History with the intention of eventually converting.

Just to add, I manage a team of 8 lawyers and I think only 2 of them actually studied Law at university, so the conversion route is definitely worth considering.

I also understand that some employers are offering new legal apprenticeships which involved IIRC 6 years of study and work to get to qualification, but I don't know enough about them tbh as they are so new and I don't know how people who qualify through that route will be perceived by employers.

The OP specifically asked for examples of kids who had been through the disappointment and come out the other side in a better position.

Do another degree and then do a year’s conversion course of law is what he wants to do. Unless things have changed that was a completely acceptable route.

Gently, he does seem to be cutting his nose off to spite his face by not even properly engaging with clearing as an option when he doesn't even have a viable alternative plan.

The competitive universities are going to prefer candidates who got their grades at their first attempt, together. I am just not sure that doing a resit or rushing through a random extra A level on its own is going to help.

He got amazing grades and as his parent I think you need to be giving him a push to get this in perspective and take responsibility for his response. Such amazing grades shouldn't be knocking his confidence to this extent. It's one thing to take a few days to feel the disappointment, it's quite another to mope and start self-sabotaging. If he won't do clearing, he should be able to show he has a well-researched viable alternative. Since he doesn't, he should swallow his pride and look at clearing properly.

@HPFA Yes but one of the goals you state (French) isn’t open to the DS here. So great your DD will get it and has the huge advantage of a EU passport but is she converting to law?

@RainWarning My DD is a barrister (yawn from those who know my posts!). She missed her first choice university too. So she did take her insurance. She did an academic MFL degree (4 years) and converted to law. Did the Barristers course and 7 years later qualified as a barrister.

As others have said, area of law matters and where matters. Some solicitor jobs pay £35,000 post qualification and others £130,000. The bar varies between you paying for the privilege of working (baby barrister criminal bar) to very high earnings very quickly at the commercial bar. So there’s a sliding scale of law!

Regarding the apprenticeship route - as rare as hens teeth. You would need to be stellar to get one. Many were used for older employees to gain solicitor qualifications but this route is being withdrawn by the government. Many law grads become paralegals and hopefully get training from employers. Many law grads get nothing. If doing the conversion route a very strong academic subject from a top tier university is pretty much vital.

The only issue with the conversion course is that it's another £12-15k, but if he's lucky he could potentially get a training contract after completing his undergrad degree where the employer will pay for the fees of that and SQE prep course.

I did a science undergrad degree but most of the people I know who converted did things like History, English, History of Art, Politics, languages etc. so there's a wide range of course he could choose from if he goes down that route.

They’re such great results though it’s a shame for him to be feeling down!

If he still wants to study law I would look for courses that will accept AAB, there must be plenty of choice. Either through clearing or applying for next year.
Also he could look for courses that are not law but have a lot of law content which might allow him to transfer onto a law degree for second year

Resits seem like a waste of time when he has such good grades already.

If he does decide on a gap year I would spend up until Christmas working then do some travelling then get another job over the summer, may as well have some fun while he’s young!

How far off an A was he, my son had his Gov Pol remarked last year and went up enough marks to get the A he needed. Is that a possibility?

What are you defining as "it" here exactly?

Clearing, or a specific university?

"ancient history" is the study of History, just a specific era. Usually when people study "Ancient" History there are optional modules that reach beyond that definition, so if somewhere has "Ancient History" available thru clearing, then that means it is relevant to the kid's interest and this thread.

I don't know if a lecture on law and working in law if relevant though. I think probably not.

If he wants to be a lawyer another option is studying another subject at Uni then a Law conversion. You need to get a minimum of a 2:1 in any degree. Whatever degree you do the competition for a training contract or pupillage is so competitive and the outcome is dependent on so many other factors than AL grades

I really appreciate the range of responses to my original post. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply. It's been helpful to hear different perspectives including the "just get on with it" ones! Even if they're hard to hear they've helped me take a step back.

Clearing has been suggested quite a bit, and I understand why, but at the moment DS isn’t ready. He was two marks off an A, so we had both History papers reviewed. He gained one mark from the first paper so incredibly close. The wait for the outcome dragged things out and I think it's made it harder for him to start processing it all as he thought the second paper had a chance of going up a mark too.

There are lots of excellent universities and courses where students do amazingly with a wide range of grades. This isn’t about one route being better than another, just the reality of the specific offers he was aiming for. Law was something he had hoped to pursue as a career, even knowing how competitive it is, especially when it comes to securing a training contract.

Like many people I was the first in my family to go to university, back in the days when it was free. (If only I'd understood what a gift that was.) It felt very different then and with the cost now we’re cautious about him going just for the sake of it. It needs to be a course he wants to do at a place he genuinely wants to be.

Thank you to everyone who suggested considering a Law conversion course, it’s definitely something he can consider. I know he needs to put this behind him, and I’ll encourage him to stay positive and focus on what’s next.

The lawyers I know, and I know many (DH included) who are very successful, didn’t study Law at Uni. infact many law companies think it is better to have a more rounded academic education. Think of studying something to give you a wider view on the world, they will have to do the professional exams anyway.

With his grades, even if his first choice wouldn’t take him, it was a mistake for him not to at least investigate and phone up his other options through clearing. Some of those AAA would have accepted his AAB.

My advice at this point would be to resit his A level and get some relevant work experience under his belt over the next year, even if not paid work. A resit alone will be looked on less favourably.

He had great results, just not perfect, but needs to develop a more resourceful mind set.

My Dd was in exactly the same situation, AAB when she needed AAA for law at Manchester. She accepted Manchester Met and has never looked back. She graduated with a 2:1 and found a post as a paralegal with a fantastic firm, with a view to a training contract when she feels ready. She recently applied for a specialist team with the same firm, everyone was so supportive and she started her new role this week. Manchester Met instead of Manchester has made not a jot of difference.

Law conversion courses are very expensive and there are no student loans available for them. Much better to study law as an undergraduate if you think you might want to be a lawyer.

Law based work is going to be hard to find as a gap year role unless he finds a junior role wanting maternity leave cover.

He may be best finding seasonal shop work till January or so to combine with the remote role. I'm told working in a pub is good for developing client care skills so this is also worth a look.

Worth him learning to drive if he hasn't already.

My daughter absolutely loved Lancaster and she’s done really well in her career so far.

Can’t offer a positive story - at least not yet @RainWarning- but here in solidarity as in exactly the same situation. Grades missed & waiting for remarks (with tutors advising DD was under marked). She got a clearing place at a decent uni - but just couldn’t get on board with it. And the last thing I wanted to do was send her off when she wasn’t fully signed up - I think there would have been a high chance of her dropping out (there were accommodation issues too).

At least with a year off there is time to get her head around the grades she’s got and make a considered decision about retakes/whether to stay focussed on her dream uni/look for experience that will help her application.

No easy answer OP but at least with time hopefully our DCs will have time to make a plan they’re happy with.

It’s a tricky one! He may get the grade next year if he resits but may not. If he isn’t ready to go and I think he’s missed the clearing boat now then best plan a great year off. One resit doesn’t cost much and is worth a punt. One of my children went through similar and resat whilst doing first year uni but only went up by one grade. What he did do was call (pester) universities and has managed to get into a great uni. He needs to get onto unis and see if they will accept him next year!

We need to teach our DC not to hyper focus on one goal. Have a plan B. Be resilient.

This

You/ ge may well be pleasantly surprised at what he could get through clearing