Scottish UCAS applicants 2025 entry

[motheronthedancefloor]

i know there's a HE board but that's dominated by English parents/schools/unis.

I thought I'd start our own thread for Scottish parents of kids applying to UCAS this year. What are your kids applying for? Where are they applying?

I'll start!

DD is applying to primary teaching. Considering Glasgow, Strathclyde, and Stirling. We discussed UWS but its too far away to commute and as she'd be a young 17 (february born), I wouldn't feel comfortable with her so far away. She's academically capable, but in some ways still quite young.

She has BBBCC from S5 (bastard SQA and Higher HIstory). Doing 1 AH and 2 more HIghers this year. Qualifies for a contextual offer.

Personal statement draft all done. Teacher seems happy with it. She has work experience, did the Accerlerate Education challenge I think its called and is accepted onto Top Up. So her statement looks quite good.

What annoys me is that Strathclyde asked for something specific to be included in the personal statement but that's specific to Strathclyde and might not necessarily be accepted by other universities or what they want to see. Plus it doesn't seem to be mentioned on their entry requirements so other applicants may not know this for that particular course.

Also annoys me that they don't use UCAS Tariff points. That would make it so much easier as its not clear if DDs C grades are accepted or not.

DDs school will do the submissions in December. Then I'll probably post here like every day as an anxious mum or rather angry mum - why won't they give my DD a place? lol

Unconditional offer for Aberdeen University arrived today. Got 3 unconditionals before Xmas but this is the course they really want. Great way to start the school year - back in today and Prelims start next week. Be interesting to see if ‘unconditionalitis’ sets in.

Only one offer to come in and that’s St Andrews but they knew that was a long shot and they would have only met their minimum requirement if they had got themselves another A at Higher in S6 - we know from experience that they prefer you to get the grades all in one sitting in S5 (preferably 5 straight As) Hopefully they won’t take another 4 months to get back to us, - they’re notoriously slow. But we loved Aberdeen when we visited and their library was amazing!

Good luck to all those waiting and/or yet to get their applications in!

Ah well done! They don't need to wait for St Andrew's - they can accept Aberdeen UC offer and thats it done.

@Livein2025 my eldest was the same... they loved Aberdeen, and it was their first choice after the open day... as soon as they got an unconditional from them ( they already had three others) they decided not to wait for the last Uni (Edinburgh) and accepted straight away... they are now in second year and loving it...

Thanks Motheronthedancefloor.

That’s so good to hear TalkedTooMuch. We got a great vibe from our visit. Might have to pick your brains about it all.

Feel free!

DD had an offer from Queens, Belfast today.. they are looking for the same as Nottingham: A and B in her English and French Advanced Highers (any way round).

So she's just waiting to hear from Edinburgh and St Andrews ( so they'll be ages) as she already has an unconditional offer from Stirling.

Of course she's now second guessing her course choice... have told her to hang fire till all offers in before she thinks about anything else... not even sure it's possible to change at this stage? ( she's applied for English Lit & French but is now thinking she'd rather do French and International Relations, which I think is only an option at her long shot choice ( St Andrews) and Queens, Belfast)

I think Edinburgh does a joint French and Politics degree where you can specialise by taking IR modules.

Years ago at an open day my DD asked about switching into IR at Edi if you didn't have an IR offer and was told it would be unlikely and very competitive (based on 1st year results). Worth the ask as this was before the EU student were considered international.

Thanks... will pass that info along...

Another offer yesterday, conditions quite high though.

Course is Physics at Heriot Watt.

Looking for an A in Maths H, as well as two other Bs across any of his exams this year
Or
Achieving a B in AH Physics and two other Bs across his other exams.

Not unachievable, but a lot.

Congratulations on the offer, what are his current grades, you'd expect the offer to be lower if he has some good grades already!

His grades aren't great tbf - he was diagnosed with T1 diabetes during his N5 year and then struggled to regulate his blood sugars in his Higher year which led to some days off / concentration dips. He also had his insulin pump fitted the day before his exams started!! So was in and out of hospital before and during exams.

He has:
English: B
Physics: B
Chemistry: C
Maths: C
Computing: D

This year he is resitting Maths and Computing, taking AH Physics and crashing Higher RMPS.

In that case, does your DS not qualify for a contextual offer for any unis he has applied for?

Sounds like he has had a rough time of it due to unforseen circumstances. Wishing your DS loads of luck.

My DS applied to only one uni as he wasn't interested in any others, just the one. He got his (contextual) offer in the last week of term last year before Christmas. He's had a lot going on emotionally and it will be a long term thing which the chosen uni is aware of.

I assumed this WAS the contextual offers tbh

Sorry, I must have misunderstood your earlier post. Your DS is in a similar boat to mine then🤦‍♀️

Everything will work out for these DC who have had extra hurdles to overcome in life.

DD a bit upset as one of her friends got an UC offer for primary ed at Strathclyde and DD still hasn't heard, so she's really nervous.
Trying to reassure DD that her friend already meets the grade requirements, and DD could still get a conditional and the grades this year.
All this waiting, and comparing each other, is really shit isn't it?

My son is already at Glasgow university but he hates it so decided to have a go at applying elsewhere for 2025 he’ll need to get his finger out!

That’s a shame. Has he identified another course he’d like to transfer to or a Uni he wants to go to? Hope he’s getting some advice on next steps. Many people change courses/Uni - sometimes it might involve taking a year out but sometimes not. Good luck!

yes and he had unconditionals last year for the uni he wants to go to now so fingers crossed they give him another chance. I thought he should have gone there in the first place but he thought he was doing the right thing. He’s got excellent grades including 5 As in s5 and and A and B at AH so hopefully he’ll get something else

@ThatsNotMyTeen Great grades- what do t they like about Glasgow Uni?

@ThatsNotMyTeen your DS can probably do a transfer especially with those amazing grades. Something will work out😊

He thinks the teaching is poor and he’s struggling to make friends due to massive class sizes. A lot of people I’ve heard of at Glasgow who are staying at home have struggled to make friend and have really just stayed friends with their high school friends, but not many of his are at Glasgow. Plus a lot of the people he’s met he doesn’t really like, finds them quite standoffish/snobby

Oh that's really sad to hear. What subject is he doing? (one of mine has Glasgow on his list so am keen to get useful info....)

Maths and computing

I went to Glasgow as well and also thought it was shit, which he knows, so was surprised he went there

Just goes to show just because somewhere has the highest entry requirements doesn’t mean it’s always the best for everyone who meets them

What a shame. I hope he finds a better fit.