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

Then why not say C? Others have asked for BBC so why not say BBC rather than BBpass

Same, he didn’t apply to St A but Ed and all his other choices eventually gave him an UC and Glasgow needed a B at AH. He had 5 As from s5. Tbh I think the Summer school might have been better for him - if he’d done that he might not be starting from scratch at Strathclyde this year! 😂😭

The summer school is part of their Widening Participation offering (as far as I know) and is designed to help with the adjustment to university

I'm sure that's what I read

@Livein2025 exactly how I feel about Glasgow. It feels like they are doing widening participation because they 'have' to, not because they 'want' to, so they are putting extra hurdles in place. Its DDs second choice, because its local, but she feels its 'too posh' and she can't be arsed with top up when she'd rather just concentrate on studying for her main subjects.

Do unis have a date by which they try to get all offers out by? I know there is a formal ucas deadline something like mid May, but is there a push to get all offers out before that? We are only waiting for one from Edinburgh which he’s not particularly fussed about but wants all offers in before he decides.

It varies from university to university. Some universities will say 'by the end of March', others will go by the UCAS deadline. I've heard Edinburgh can be May.

Edinburgh was start of April for my son last year

DD got rejected from Primary Ed at Strathclyde. Not even a conditional. Just outright rejected. She's upset as it was her first choice.
She has a conditional from Glasgow but wasn't as keen on going there. I really wanted her to have the joint honours option that Strathclyde offers as a back up.
We are still waiting for 3 offers - 2 at Stirling (but they are so competitive and hardly any spaces, something like just 20 spaces, so we aren't hopeful) and an education course at Strathclyde that isn't teaching and was asking for higher grades so again we aren't sure.
I'm really worried and upset for DD, I honestly thought she'd get at least a conditional as she nearly had the grades, had relevant work experience, strong personal statement and met the contextual requirements.
Sorry, this is me just off loading really. 😥

@motheronthedancefloor sorry to hear about your DD. That must be disappointing. Is it for an undergraduate degree or PGCE (or whatever it’s called now).

Oh that must be disappointing - hard luck to DD. But can I send her an encouraging message to say that the Glasgow Primary Ed course is run by a fabulous team (I know a couple of them) and I'm sure they will look after her well - they also have just been chosen as the host for ScotGov's new Centre for Teaching Excellence so there may be interesting new opportunities coming from that.

I thought SClyde was going to be the location of the new centre?
My concern with the Glasgow course is that if she were to decide teaching wasn't for her or something, she'd be stuck with it, hence the appeal of SClyde.

undergraduate level
If they were going by UCAS point she'd have gotten in but none of the courses she applied to are doing UCAS points (UWS is too far away from us and she's not keen to live away from home as a young carer and only 17)

Nope, Glasgow: https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_1137179_en.html
Her Adviser of Studies or Programme Administrator should be able to help work out whether a transfer would be possible. There's usually some way to do it.

Ah that’s a shame @motheronthedancefloor . Would she be interested in a gap year and applying next year? Or maybe an UG degree in something else and then PGDE?

Thanks @ThatsNotMyTeen we're going to wait for the other 3 courses then see what she wants to do. She has her heart set on teaching but it was really only Strathclyde she wanted to go to, even though she applied to others. She has friends going to Strathclyde. She is wating to hear from another course at Strathclyde (not teaching) and two primary courses elsewhere. Lots of teaching offers are out this week if online forums are to be believed so heres hoping.

DH and I agree that a 'plan B' could be that she accepts another offer that may come in, but if she's not 100% about it, she could keep an eye on what is available via clearing, and if she finds something she fancies more, especially at Strathclyde, she could switch to doing that, then the PGCE.

She's had the shittiest of weeks for several reasons and I still feel so bad for her. I hope and pray her school bully doesn't get into that course cause if she found out that this girl did and she didn't, she'd be even more upset. I know that sounds daft but you know what teenage girls can be like.

I am really sorry to hear that your daughter hasn’t been given a place @motheronthedancefloor My only advice is to look at another course then a PGDE. I think you’re right to have been interested in a joint honours course as this gives her options should she decide it’s not the right course for her.

Doing a degree like History then PGDE would be a good option.

DS is doing this type of route (not history though).

Don't worry things always work themselves out.

DS isn't following the usual path after school but aiming for the same end result. He has health issues which means he is unlikely to do the course he applied for initially via UCAS.

As I have said before on this and other threads, clearing is an option too not to be snubbed.

I got a degree by looking through newspapers clearing pages years ago! See how things work out. Stay positive.

@motheronthedancefloor Strathclyde's loss.

Thank you @Vettrianofan and others, all of you have been very kind. I admit I also feel a bit frustrated with DD as she's so stubborn and despite my trying to caution her to keep her options open with her UCAS choices, and warning on the teaching jobs situation, that's what she has her heart set on and I was afraid of something like this. But as you say, there are other options, whether that's teaching courses elsewhere, a PGDE or clearing.

I have been a teacher for longer than I care to remember @motheronthedancefloor and the job situation has always been cyclical. However this feels quite different and for many newly qualified teachers it has been bleak for a number of years now. We need massive investment to break the cycle but I can’t see that happening soon. I did a history degree then the PGCE as it was then. It was a good back up option.

The bully got an offer 😥

Probably as well that she won’t be on the same course.

Hi, we are still waiting for StA, it’s frustrating because they have had the application for over 5 months. I know they always take a long time but I know of one girl who was offered a place in the same subject in November.

Also is anyone starting to apply for funding? We have no idea how to go about it. We live in Scotland but daughter’s first and second choice (if StA don’t offer) are Scottish and English unis. It’s all so opaque on the SAAS. A flow diagram on the website to get you to what you need to apply for would be really useful.

I think SAAS opens for funding applications in April.

Still waiting on offers here and recent circumstances mean we really need to know what they are (too outing to explain), so I'm really impatient now.

Also not heard from St A, but she got an unconditional from Herriot Watt so she’s thrilled.

she wants to accept it so she can apply for
halls.

I agree about the funding website. Clear as mud