How flexible are universities if your grades miss the offer slightly?

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Are universities really strict with the entry requirements for degree courses if you don't quite get your predicted grades?
If the entry requirements were ABB and you got A*BC would they make allowances or would they just say no?
Or does it vary?

DD was offered ABB but subject specific
She got ABB but not in the right subjects if you see what I mean . A couple of days after results day (obviously when things had shaken down with acceptances) she got offered her prefers place and was delighted . So things do change

dSorry not sure about different results

It depends on the popularity of the course. Hugely oversubsctibed then no leeway. Not full, let anyone in…

Son needed 3XA and got A*AB it was a firm No. Thanks to a remark he got the required grade and got in.

If you look on UCAS you can see what grades have been accepted. If you go on to the specific UCAS page for a course and uni and scroll down you'll see the data on maximum and minimum grades accepted at confirmation.
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Varies massively and no one can really say because unis don’t even know at this point what we’ll be accepting.

A big part of it is what degree you’re doing and what you dropped the grade in

I am an academic and we are lowering our standards to get more students 😬

You may get some idea from the unis that publish their clearing offers early.

If the ABB course is being offered at BCC you can be fairly confident that A*BC will be fine.

If you are willing to post subject and uni then you will get more specific experience/guidance.

Yep, this.

It’ll vary between courses and even year on year. I’m an academic and we over offer every year, nearly double the amount of offers than places on the course. We bank on some people not having us as first choice and then others not getting their results.

So on A level results day if 99% of people got their predicted grades and you were one of a small number who didn’t then even if you’d only missed it by one grade the chances are we wouldn’t have you because we need to lose you. but if over 50% of people missed their grades then we’d take a fair proportion of them,

As others say, it very much depends on uni and course and other things too.

I mean econ at LSE – unlikely. But, say, MFL at York – yes probably, based on recent years. It has certainly become more of a thing from my limited observation.

yes if you will say what course we may be able to advise more meaningfully.

It really depends if it’s an oversubscribed or a recruiting university. If it’s a top RG they will generally not allow for a dropped grade as they’ll have made more offers than they can accommodate.

Depends on subject and uni, still. Russell Group includes southampton, exeter, birmingham, sheffield etc - all were in clearing with at least one grade drop for some subjects last year.

I’ve known people get into Oxford with dropped grades.

Well my DD didn’t. I’ve heard it’s vanishingly rare and has to be seen as not just about the grade - it will be other test results and extenuating circumstances. A bums on seats uni and course will let dc in but other unis won’t.

It’s vanishingly rare at which uni tho? It really varies.

I would say, yes, it is very rare to get into LSE or Imperial or Oxford with a drop in grades. Tho not impossible as per a PP.

But if your uni of choice is maybe a lower-level RG (thinking Cardiff, Liverpool, Southampton, Newcastle – all good unis) or (maybe and) you are doing a less popular subject (so not economics or vet med) then yes, it is increasingly common for a student to be accepted with lower grades.

From the uni PoV it makes sense – if the student needed AAB and gained AAC or ABB, they still have ability and have worked hard, and most of all they are keen on this uni better to take that student than offer the course in clearing and get someone less committed.

I remember a boy in my class and I applied for the same course, we needed 300 points which for me was ABC and him BBB, I got my grades after a summer of stressing and he got CCC and got in anyway. I was livid!

(I’m going back 20+ years though so of no use to you whatsoever, but clearly still need to get it off my chest ha!)

Also if the entry requirements for physics, say, are ABB and the student gets A* B C with the first two grades as her maths and physics results, then a C in her third subject is probably less of an issue.

I agree with this - check previous grades accepted on UCAS. Most courses will let some people in who miss their grades.

@clary Sorry not clear - Oxford.

Ahem - ds’s RG Physics offer: ABB. Achieved: BCC (Cs in Maths and Physics) - still got in

Last year DCs friends got into Oxford, Durham, Bristol, Edinburgh and various others with dropped grades.

Can I ask how your DS is getting on? I'm thinking long term here. My DS is predicted his highest grade in physics. His teachers say he's good at it but he doesn't want to take it further because he says it will just be too difficult. I can't really advise with my e grade in physics GCSE!