Does Bristol ever let students in with lower than expected grades ? Ds feels hes messed up his A levels

[RedRosesParmaViolets]

Just wondering if they have any latitude ?
Ds was predicted 3 a and feels he messed up a history question which would bring that to a b and messed up his biology paper and does t know the content enough for the second one
His offer was AAA would they accept anything else

Also if he has to retake would somewhere like bristol accept him second time around ?

Bristol are fairly strict - they would probably accept one dropped grade. Two dropped grades is going to be tough but might be possible depending on how competitive his degree course is to get on.

Was the biology AQA? A lot of students found paper 1 difficult so mark schemes and grade boundaries may reflect this and all may not be as bad as it seems.

One of my children is at Bristol and he got above his required grades but he does know several students who got in on lower grades than they needed. I imagine it will depend on the intake year. Also maybe he hasn't done as badly as he thought?

You can search to find what grades were accepted for each course on line- I’m sure someone more current will advise where.
Dd did resits and was accepted - STEM subject.

Unfortunskty not it was ocr

My DGD took her Alevels in’25. Bristols offer was three As, she got ABB, and after her gap year is starting this autumn, philosophy and theology!

Unfortunately he's got no option but to live with the uncertainty. So the only helpful thing you can do really is to help him feel better about that uncertainty.

Instead of trying to reassure him about his grades, which will feed his anxiety, help him understand that you and he will work your way through ANY outcome - the hoped for grades, close grades, far grades. He's got a bright future ahead of him whatever.

(Plus he's no idea how he performed relative to anyone else)

He's really set on Bristol though.
Ive tried to reassure him many times about being forced to take a different path and later on we realise that was our path erc.

My son’s friend didn’t get his expected grades for Bristol, so re-took them and got in for the following year.

My oldest got completely shafted by the government during covid and despite being predicted 3A's and that's what he needed to get into Bristol they actually gave him three Bs. So even though they obviously then went back on that and upped his grades a day or so later it was too late to get on the course he wanted to get on.

Fortunately on the day of the exams my friend suggested we ring the university and see if they had any similar courses available through clearing and so he got on a very similar course which would have needed the same grades but had spaces.

So there is always flexibility I think on the day of the results I would ring the university straight away if he doesn't get the grades he needs and see what they can do they were so helpful with my son.

DD's boyfriend at the time was dead set on aerospace engineering there. His offer was A star A star A and he got A*AA and they turned him down.

He got higher grades than his offer but they turned him down?

@LittleJustice was that Bristol ?

Sorry yes I should have specified it was Bristol he was there for three years had a lovely time it's a great University.

No he got one grade lower

What does he want to study? I know for instance that aerospace engineering is highly competitive and one of my DC's friends didn't get an offer with 3Astars last year but got into Oxford! Other degrees like some humanities are likely to be a bit more flexible. Have you looked at UCAS historical grades? Last year some of the higher ranked universities were more flexible than usual and hopefully that will be the same this year. Bristol is known for offering contextual grades to some very high achieving sixth form colleges. Have you checked that your DC is definitely not on the list for this?

You can look up what the lowest grades thru accepted for each course. Think it was on UCAS or uniguide

@Fabfabfab biology

@Fabfabfab I've just joined UCAS myself to look and I can't see anything about historic grades / I have tried different searches in UCAS

A friend of mine didn't meet the grades for a notoriously highly competitive course at Bristol, but they were still accepted. In this case, they had done exceptionally well at the interview and clearly made an impression. It was a good call, as said friend is now an internationally recognised specialist in their field.

Bristol allowed my son two dropped grades. He needed A , A A and on results day got A , B B (one of the Bs went up to an A on paper review). This was for Maths and Physics in 2024. He didn't end up going though as he also had an overseas offer.

If they have places they will accept him. Universities just want to fill their courses

Grrrrr formatting: A star, A A - got A star, B B

It will depend on subject but we know lots who got in with lower grades last year.
UCAS says AAB most commonly held grade for Biology.