Rejecting insurance offer and retaking - any experience of this?

[OnlyHereForTheChristmasBoard]

As the title says: has anyone's DC gone down the route of rejecting their insurance offer, not going through clearing and doing fast-track retakes instead? How did it go for your DC?

I am encouraging DS to focus on the here and now, but he does love a Plan B and he's talking seriously about doing retakes if he doesn't get into his firm choice. He's predicted A*AB and his firm offer is AAB, insurance BBB. Barring disaster, I can't see him missing the grades for both, but DS increasingly feels that the course at his insurance choice wouldn't be right for him,. The admissions team at his firm choice uni are very upfront about having some flexibility for near misses and have also said they have no issue with retakes.

I do genuinely think DS could cope with staying home for another year and studying independently as he very self-motivated and organised, but I guess the concern is that it's more pressure with no guarantee of a better outcome at the end of it....

What do you mean by fast-track retakes? There is only one A level sitting per year. Not all unis like resits, preferring them to be taken in one go unless there are particular circumstances, so he may want to check his plan B works for that particular uni. Has he already firmed and insured? What is the degree subject? How might he feel if his friends all go to uni in the autumn and he is left in limbo,

@LIZS - yes, he has already firmed and insured, subject is computer science, so it's competitive. DS spoke to an admissions officer at his firm choice university and they told him that they have no issues with retakes, but I do appreciate we'd have to check again before proceeding with anything.

DS is less bothered than most about being out of sync with his friends: he left his school and went to a 6th form miles away after his school pulled 2 out of the 3 A Levels he wanted to do at the last minute, so he's kind of become accustomed to things being less than ideal socially.

@OnlyHereForTheChristmasBoard

He might be able to get a computer science course at a university he likes in clearing. Unless he is dead set on just one university.
My DS is considering doing computer science at university and I was looking at the employability of different degrees the other day. I think the Computer Science degree at Surrey University has much higher employability rates than some higher ranked universities. Their standard offer is ABB.
Given that I've read that many computer science graduates are struggling to get their first job, I think that employability really matters and also courses that have the option for a year in industry.

I like the sound of DS, in that he isn’t afraid to go after what he wants or bothered if it takes him along the road less travelled.

Obviously he needs to keep thinking about this, and to have email confirmation that his Firm choice will accept any necessary resits. However if he gets this confirmation he will have the chance to choose an Insurance option he feels more enthusiasm for, which is another advantage.

Starting a degree programme one isn’t enthusiastic about is undesirable and can have far reaching consequences. I think that with the necessary reassurances this plan sounds good. Let’s hope it isn’t necessary!

I personally think retakes are a bad idea for the reasons stated above and also the fact that it is hard to go it alone, expensive potentially if tutoring is needed and if he is hanging about the house all year he will be bored and lonely and possibly broke. He is far far better to focus now on getting the grade he needs.

Agree with @schopenhauer the best plan is to pull out the stops now!

Thank you, everyone. I am definitely wary of any catastrophising tendencies or self-fulfilling prophecies, and I am not talking about all of this with DS right now. We have agreed to focus on the process right now and shelve any consideration of Plans B or C until his exams are done as hopefully they won't be needed!

DS is very focused on getting the grades he needs and working very hard. He's the one doing all the research on employability, tbh, and definitely wants a year in industry as part of his degree. I guess he just likes to have some idea of a backup plan in case things don't work out, he's that kind of boy.

@poetryandwine - thanks, you get it! :)

My DS had tunnel vision around the uni and the course he wanted... But he didn't get in! He could have gone to his 2nd choice, but realised that he really didn't want to go there, so went to a completely different uni that he got in to through clearing - and honestly it's the best thing he could have done. (He was far less upset than I'd expected and dealt with it all very maturely).

Don't underestimate clearing, there will be loads of options available. Obviously the ideal situation is that your DC gets the required marks, but if that doesn't happen there are loads of other choices, and the school will be very helpful. Good luck!

One of my DD’s friends did this as she missed the grade she needed for dentistry so she decided to stay at school. I hope it all works out for her but at the moment she’s really unhappy. Some of her friends have gone to university and others have started real jobs and she’s just at school on her own. When my dd came home at Easter she was going to a party thrown by one of the girls who has gone to university but nearby and this other girl ‘wasn’t allowed’ to go which my dd was completely bewildered by because her life has totally changed since this time last year.

So if he does do it, I would be putting some effort into helping him maintain his friendships with his cohort.

Just to add that clearing can be a brilliant third option. There’s a tendency to think that going through clearing is a disaster because many students don’t end up there through choice (but some do including because they’ve changed their minds about their choices or using it to trade up if they do better than expected). But my elder DD who sat A levels in 2023 had loads of friends go through clearing and end up on terrific courses at great unis. Clearing opens in early July; more courses go into it in the run-up to results day. Younger DD and i used it to plan last year. She didn’t need clearing in the end but it was reassuring to see what great courses were in there.

@OnlyHereForTheChristmasBoard I don't know which board your son is taking his A levels through, but I do know that the Cambridge board does have retakes in October/ November each year.

When I took my A levels my insurance was happy to accept me despite having dropped 2 marks in one of the 3 subjects (not the study subject). But I didn't want to take the insurance course any longer at all, which I had started to deem a bit "Mickey Mouse", instead I wanted to take a traditionally really solid academic course at one of the then top 3 universities. So I did retake the exam and reapplied to a whole new set of places. I got the grade and got into to my 1st choice. It worked out and I'm really glad I went through that to get there.

I have to say though, there are pros and cons when doing this. Obviously you go to the place you want to attend and study the subject you're committed to. But taking an extra year sometimes can have its toll on you socially, in terms of confidence etc. If your son is resilient and has still got friends around who he can see, then he will be in a good position to reconfigure it.

We visited Surrey and were really impressed. Lecturers much more interested in the students than any of the RGs we visited. Also the older students could get paid work helping the younger students. They didn't seem to have a big uptake of Year in Industry though (a couple of years ago) which I was surprised at.

DS ended up getting a degree apprenticeship which I would really recommend as well, although of course they aren't nearly enough of them.