2026 UCAS - Offers, Rejections and then the exams! (Thread 2)

[EducatingRosemary]

Starting a new thread as our original is almost full…

Original thread

Thank you. I just feel for DS. His exams start in 2 weeks. I don’t even think he’ll be hugely disappointed if he gets rejected, he just wants to know what he can firm. Particularly as accommodation booking has opened for his other choices. It seems so unfair that accommodation bookings open before everyone has had the opportunity to firm. Sigh.

DD has got an offer from KCL! She’s so relieved, it was her favourite.

However, they’ve offered conditional on AAA and she’s predicted AAB. Plus she applied for History and IR but has been offered History only. So things are still up in the air, but at least she’s got options.

Finally!!! LSE offer came in at 8.15pm tonight. He is delighted and I am relieved. Now he just needs the grades 😅

@hanahsaunt @Gazelda well done to both your DC.

Getting the grades is the tough bit now. So many highs and lows and nothing is certain until August! Arhhh I don't remember all this angst when I was doing my A levels.

Great news @hanahsaunt. What subject is that for?

DS is still waiting to hear from them for financial maths. He heard from the other 4 months ago!

@EducatingRosemary We recently went to an OHD at York and looked at campus west accommodation. Loved Halifax, didn’t like James- it looked grotty to me! Alcuin was also nice. Don’t think York will end up being on the list for DD but it’s an amazing uni.

That’s great! Well done to your DS

What subject? We’re still waiting to hear for Politics

@Muchtoomuchtodo and @Holymolyrigmorole he's hoping to do IR & History

what did you decide in the end? Dd also got a no from UCL maths last week. It was her top choice…and our local uni. I am sad she will be leaving but she has chosen Bristol now. And she’s very excited about it, Other option was Bath.

And huge congratulations to all these great offers. What a year and good luck for the home stretch!

Hello @MissCamden, wow looks like we were in exactly the same predicament, UCL was my Dd favourite too and we too are London based.
My daughter has decided to stay in London and move out or 1-2 years, so looking to firm kcl with no insurance as her others (Bristol has the same grades and bath slightly higher.
for her, although she has been predicted 4A stars she feels she will be happiest staying in London so KCL is it. The ohd on Saturday just gone helped and now pondering kcl accommodation.

I pleased to hear your daughter has made her mind up too, Bristol would have pipped it over Bath for my Dd too.
well done and all the best to your Dd

@MissCamden@jkhjmy DS is in a similar situation and he has to choose Bristol or Bath as insurance. He didn't want to study in London so Warwick will be Firm. Just wondered why your YP s chose Bristol? My DS s brother is in Bristol and therefore he is considering Bristol too instead of Bath since Bristol City is a great student city. But I feel that Bath has a better reputation for Maths.

DD chose Bristol over Bath for maths. Even though it was meant to be her insurance (Oxford and Imperial were here other choices)

Personally, I also had the feeling Bath might have the better reputation, but from what I saw, it only edges a few league tables and the gap is small and inconsistent.

What made the difference was fit. Bath felt more structured and a bit school-like, Bristol more like a traditional university with more independence. That suits Dd better. The offer holder day professor at Bristol was also very convincing. Whereas the taster lecture was terrible according to Dd but she says the whole course looks interesting.

Re outcomes, both do very well, I found. Bristol might have a slight edge for London-facing finance / IT careers just due to size and alumni. But in the end it comes down to what the student makes of the opportunity.

So for Dd it was hard to decide which uni is better so in the end she went with which suited her more. She‘s also used to city life and felt at ease in Bristol

Given your DS already likes Bristol and has his brother there, I can see why it appeals. What’s your take?

Any Historians out there? DS is probably going to firm Durham (A star AA offer) but struggling between York or Bristol for insurance (has discounted his 4th offer).

Doesn’t seem that much between them in terms of prestige for History - obviously v different sizes / types of Uni. Bristol is the lower offer (ABB contextual offer) so he’s tending towards that but I like the look of York and the fact it’s a campus Uni. Would be a 3A offer though so not much room for error!

What have your DC applying for History gone for?

@loopylocks My DC is also applying for History has been struggling to decide between Bristol and Exeter as insurance but has now made the decision to insure Exeter and firm Durham. He liked the idea of Bristol as it's a bit more lively with a great music scene but I think a campus University will suit him better. Also didn't like the idea of accommodation being so spread out in Bristol and the news that they are cutting down on the size of the humanities department. Saying that, I still think Bristol seems a great choice so it hasn't been an easy decision and partly influenced by Exeter's lower offer (ABB where Bristol is AAA). I would say that Bristol has a slightly higher prestige than York/Exeter. What are your DC's predicted grades?

I agree, I think Bristol and Bath are close enough for maths ranking that they should just pick the one they think they will be happy at, because they seem quite a different University experience to each other. My DD will put Bristol as her insurance for maths and has really liked it every time we have visited. She didn’t apply to Bath because she didn’t want a campus uni and couldn’t see herself studying at Bath after attending a residential there.

Thanks - agree with all you say about Bristol and prefer the idea of campus set up at York. Incidentally my DC also had an Exeter offer (AAB I think - funny how they are all a bit different!)

He is predicted three A stars - which if all goes perfectly he could get - but realistically it probably won’t!

My Dd had bath, Bristol and KCL after her favourite UCL (based on it being in London and not as intense imperial) was a no and imperial.
Out of the 3 she has gone with KCL. We spent a lot of time pondering over the league tables and what each course offered. In the staying in london spoke to her heart more.

if she had to pick from bath or Bristol it would have been Bristol. At the start Bath was always her favourite even over london, the open day somewhat changed that. She thought shed love to live in the beautifulness of Bath but the campus feel wasn’t for her in the end. I know it’s not the whole picture, we were both very unimpressed with the taster lecture too.
Bristol had the edge, they uni felt more structured, in our option nicer building and the course more in line with her (she enjoys core maths over applied) and Bristol course appears to reflect this more.
both seem very much on equal in terms of league tables so it wher your Ds sees himself happily living for 3 years and which course it offer more of what he enjoys in maths.

in the end my daughter went with KC (balance of pure v applied math in her liking), London over the league tables (although it don’t look bad on the QS tables, so somewhat reassured, yet she would have picked it either way. She has not insured any as Bristol was same grades as kcl and Bath higher. Also we live in London and even though she’ll move out she feels excited to be living in the city yet still be near home.

Good luck, I know how all these decisions, offers/ etc are and feel so big, especially so close to the exams.

My son is history @loopylocks and has firmed UCL. It’s been his favourite throughout although we did take him to Durham as that looked like a good course and he had an offer. DS wasn’t swayed though.

He didn’t like Bristol (went to the open day but DS hated it). He went to Warwick and got an offer but didn’t like it. Was rejected by Oxford after interview. So basically he just had Exeter as his insurance choice. Luckily he liked Exeter! So he’s firmed UCL and insured Exeter 😊

My DC is on his way to the offer holder day at Imperial. Bloody tube strike, I hope he gets there in time.

Sounds very similar then. My DC has offers from Durham, Exeter,Bristol, Warwick and York. Wasn’t that keen on Warwick at the OHD and didn’t get time to visit York but it’s been really tough choosing the insurance choice as he likes both Exeter and Bristol. For him, I think a campus university will be better although Bristol is the closest one to home so I would quite have liked him there selfishly!

I decided to drive my DD, traffic was horrific! It was a fairly gradual start so hopefully he made it in time for the talks :)

Sorry I couldn't manage to write earlier.

@MissCamden thank you and best wishes to your DD. What you said about Bath vs Bristol is interesting. My DS didn't attend the offer holder days for Bath or Bristol unfortunately. In fact, although he visited Bristol he didn't visit the university. He visited Bath a few times since he did a course there. So I think his decision is based on the cities rather than the university or the course.

@bettyjane it is reassuring to hear that your DD chose Bristol after her residential in Bath. My DS s course at Bath uni changed his mind as well I think since uni was on holiday when he was there and it looked empty (-: Best wishes to your DD.

@jkhj thank you and best wishes to your DD in London. What you say about the courses is very interesting. I don't think my DS looked at the course details. I will tell him to check this information.

After another mumsnet member mentioned I checked which Maths courses were showing vacancies on UCAS at the moment and interestingly Bristol and Durham seem to have some places. But I guess it is hard to tell which ones may be in clearance when the time comes. Bath seems to be full though.

My DC loved Imperial, although not sure about the male to female ratio!
DC also got an offer from LSE last week 😀.
However, will probably firm Warwick due to cost…wish he had got Oxford.

He said he got there early....I didn't get much out of him apart from " the buildings are not as nice as Cambridge ".....the Albert Hall and the Natural History museum are right there..FGS.