If your DC is going to their insurance choice how are they/you feeling?

[easterb]

My DS missed his firm offer by one grade and the Uni refused to flex (quite a surprise). We tried a grade review but nothing changed. So he’s going to his insurance and it’s all feeling a bit stressful. He seems a little bit flat about it all. I’ve suggested a year out to regroup but he doesn’t want to do that.

Still doesn’t know about accommodation (expecting it will not be great!) and finding the whole thing requires a bit of a mental gymnastics. Obviously there’s the disappointment with missing the grade and the firm offer. But it’s also the fact that he’s now going to a bigger city based Uni (non campus) whereas he thought he was going to a small collegiate Uni. The course is also slightly different. And it starts 3 weeks earlier than we had planned for.

Not sure what I’m asking really other than how are you / they feeling?

Does he like his insurance choice ? Mine was happy to go to either first choice or insurance as she liked both unis. A lot of students forget about their first choice once they start uni and enjoy themselves but for others they only want that one uni and prefer to take a year out and try again or regroup and find something they like more calmly . It’s such a chaotic period , they do their results and everything after seems to happen so quick ! Mine got into her first choice seems a little bit scared now it’s becoming real.

DS is going to his insurance. He missed a grade in one subject but got higher in another and they didn't accept him. He kind of expected it as it was an aspirational choice that is known for being pretty inflexible.

However he really liked his insurance, probably a bit more than his firm. But the pace of getting your head round it, sorting accommodation (he is still waiting to see what he is allocated) and moving out all happens at once and it can feel a bit overwhelming.

I think he is feeling pretty nervous about the whole thing!

How long did it take for grade review? We are still waiting. DS was 2 marks off .. he isn’t keen on second choice

DC got insurance and actually thought it was the better fit for them so worked out for the best. Was disappointed with grades but got on with it and has now graduated. Was lucky to sort accommodation on results day, but did start about a month earlier than the firm choice would have done, so was a bit of a rush to get everything sorted

My DC is going to their insurance choice. They're surprisingly excited and invested in getting everything ready, given how upset they were when we opened their results.

They were hoping to go to Cambridge and had been aiming for that pretty much from the start of secondary school. They missed two subjects, so there's no hope of going now, even though one is in for a review of marking due to being 2 marks away from an A*. There were a lots of tears on Thursday morning and they're still disappointed with the grades, even though they're feeling positive about going to their insurance choice.

They're now headed to York, which they loved at Open Day. It's also an integrated masters course, so they're excited about that. I think it helped that the offer email on results day also had accommodation details in, so they know which college they'll be living in. They also know two people who will be on the same course, or in the same department.

We've been buying things for their room and finding things in the house to take. They've found their college and some societies on social media and they're planning which Freshers events to book tickets for. Plus they've bought new tickets for a band they like, for a Leeds gig and put their original London tickets up for sale.

I'm really please and proud of how resilient and positive they're being. Hopefully it should help them settle in and make the most of their first term.

Op, was it Durham? Heard of loads this year who didn’t exactly meet their offer and were turned away, even when getting the A stars in the relevant subjects…but got a B instead of A* AA? Think it’s their equivalent of using Step to control numbers - they can be v rigid in numbers meeting the criteria are high and cull even those with higher overall points but in years with more flex, can take near misses or points equivalents esp if the A star is in the relevant subject.

It’s tough if they were keen on a certain type of uni or if they were already an Oxbridge defect and now a Durham reject and their next option feels ‘lower’ - whatever that means.

I think what you do next depends. If someone has missed out on Oxbridge, their firm high tier uni and now has a mid tier that feels beneath them (in the nicest way) and they really did just miss out on the higher unis, it might be worth reapplying. It’s hard to say - must adjust pretty quickly, esp if they know the firm was a stretch and v aspirational. But others really don’t feel that (whether they’re right is another matter) and sometimes they should have another go applying.

It’s so hard to know isn’t it. In most cases I think it’s best to try to move on. Applying with grades in hand, which aren’t tip top and lower than they applied with when had predicted might not relate in the offers they had before. But you never know how clearing might differ next time. A lot depends on which uni and which course.

We had the above for Bath, one grade miss, no flexibility. Luckily DS also really liked his insurance at Loughborough, perhaps more so, but was just worried about the sporty thing as he doenst really do much competitive sport. Luckily (if that's the word) quite a few friends also missed Bath/Durham by 1 grade and have picked up Loughborough as insurance/clearing so I think he's fine with it and quite excited. But he did like it a lot to start with and both campus unis which he wanted, I suppose.

My experience with older child and friends is they all pretty much had a great time wherever they ended up whether first choice, insurance or clearance and I can tell you from about 4000 open days/offer holder days that pretty much all unis are great fun and have way nicer faculities than in my day : ) so I feel like it generally all works out for the best. Out of all my older child's friends I think only one really didn't like the insurance place an left and went somewhere else the second year, so scores of kids across school, sports teams, friends etc. were all happy at their insurance places.

Clearing not clearance

We put it in on results day and got it back to today (2 papers, same subject).

Yes it was Durham. DS got 3 As - missed A star by 4 marks in one subject (the one he was due to study at Durham) and by a few marks in another. He actually got A stars on his exam papers in both subjects but unfortunately his coursework just pulled it down to an A in both cases. He’s good at exams but it wasn’t enough! Durham weren’t interested in any of that - it was just a blanket no (they were actually quite curt with him on the day when he phoned them which did not impress me!)

His insurance is Bristol. Great Uni but different proposition and he just doesn’t seem to have got his head around it all. Everything’s moving so fast and I feel like he feels a bit bounced into it. I’d be happy for him to defer or withdraw and take a year out and regroup. If he withdrew he could reapply and I’m sure he’d still get some good offers and they’d be unconditional as grades would be in hand. I rather that than start and drop out because he doesn’t feel it’s right for him.

Difficult to know what to do. Not how I had thought or hoped things would be at this important life moment!

DD is going to her insurance choice but they are both local unis as she didn’t want to live out so we don’t have accommodation to worry about. Although she preferrred the campus of her firm choice they changed the course and made it more generalised whereas insurance is still running her specific course so she feels it’s worked out well.

Why are dc putting down insurance choices they don’t like? Why did they think they might never go there. Any advice I’ve ever seen is make sure you like the insurance! My DD had to take insurance and loved it.

If DS wanted a smaller campus why choose a big city uni for insurance? There are other campus universities!

DS missed first choice and going to insurance. Missed by one grade, In for a remark but he has now accepted what happened and is ok. Thursday was absolutely awful though and not helped my his grandmothers absolutely awful reaction and horrible criticism of us/him etc.
He has luckily got the same course which is an integrated masters and acredeted with actually possibly better links to industry at the uni he is going to so it will be fine. Both universities were campus based in smallish nice city's so not really very different. Lots of positives of where he is going.
But god the disappointment has been hard when he really thought he would just get the grades.
But resilience is important and this is how to learn it!

One of my dc went to his insurance offer. It was a city university rather than a campus university.

I never really knew how ds felt about it, because he disappeared into his bedroom, did the admin necessary, and came out that evening determined to make the best of it and have a good time.

He had no choice of accommodation, but was put with all of the insurance/clearing students in the oldest halls. Which were 5min walk from his faculty in one direction, and 5 min walk from the SU in the other direction.

Ds loved his time at university. He did well (but not too well - ds has mastered the art of doing enough to do well but not so much that he has to sacrifice fun), became President of a society, graduated with an Integrated Masters, and now has an excellent job. He has no regrets about going to his insurance choice university.

Bristol is a really fun uni, he will be fine once he gets there and will meet lots of dc who missed their Oxbridge and Durham offers.

DS missed Cambridge and went to Warwick. He had to do STEP for Cambridge and it was always a strong possibility he would miss the offer so he wasn't too disappointed. He's very happy at Warwick.

@448teatime DD went to Bristol and met hardly anyone who didn’t get Oxford after exam results. Except her. Many never got an offer. They didn’t have to overcome disappointment though. I think DD was secretly relieved!

My DC is going to their insurance of Bristol. Missed his firm at Warwick by 3 marks (although we’re waiting for results of remark). What I find really hard is that they did brilliantly, 2 A stars and 2 A but feels like we’ve not celebrated their amazing results due to not getting firm choice. They are feeling good about Bristol as great uni and great course and integrated masters so 4 years in that city will be really fun. They’re just disappointed not to have got the grade after the effort put in. Having read lots of posts though I feel reassured that they will forget all about Warwick as soon as they start at Bristol. Like other posts though, we are a week earlier than anticipated with moving so lots to think about.

They are amazing results - more fool Warwick for not taking him (and good luck with the review). I do know what you mean about not feeling as if you’ve been able to celebrate.

I find that the Bristol accommodation for insurance offer holders not being resolved yet is quite stressful. Think it will feel better / more real once that is sorted!

@easterb It’s got to be better than 2010! DD was invited to a “meet other insurance students with no hall place, make a few friends over coffee, and get house hunting” session by the university accommodations office. From
memory this was early September and we were on holiday abroad so she could not go. A hall place was found thank God but I sincerely hope none of you experience this stress.

It’s been a pretty stressful week so it’s nice to find this thread! DD missed her firm. I think she was ok about that in terms of missing out on the uni but she was absolutely gutted about her results. Two were expected (and pretty good but not amazing) but one was way below. It really has knocked her confidence and it’s made it harder to get her focus on sorting everything for her insurance choice. We also have the horrible uncertainty about accommodation. Once we know that, I think she’ll finally get excited.

That's interesting, @WombatChocolate. My DC got rejected with those grades (Astar, Astar, B) when he needed AstarAA. One of his friends was accepted on AstarAA, with the Astar in another subject. I would have thought they would prefer to take someone with an Astar in the main subject when the average grade was the same as the PG. In any case, he quite quickly moved on and is now really looking forward to going to Warwick instead.

@easterb like you, we also found Durham rather curt on the phone. After accepting Warwick, DC had a phone call within the hour from the Head of department asking if he had any questions and that made such a big difference to a stressful morning and made us feel that Warwick is likely to be a fantastic alternative.

DD got her insurance choice 2 years ago, had a gap year and traveled and started there last year. She is absolutely loving it, and really feels that she's in the right place,.on the right course with the right people. Just to add, she didn't even attend an open day, so it was pretty much sight unseen at the point of accepting the offer.

This happened to my DS - a lot of his friends were going to his firm. However, turned out to be a really good thing for him as the course suits him and he is very happy

@Truetoselfand @snoopydoopydoits so nice to hear these stories of happy endings at insurance Unis - thank you!