Starting Y13 (y12 support thread contd)

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Well, I filled up the other one, so here's a nice new one to get us through dropping subjects, Uni open days, personal statement writing, and UCAS applications

Plenty of and and (nicely-intentioned) s available!

League tables are a dangerous thing! When you look at the detail they give very odd results.

Will be interesting to see whether my dd gets the same (from History department). If she does, I think she might just cross it off the list. Universities need to be careful about playing games, as they risk being rejected completely.

Yes, I did wonder if it has to do with the school dd goes to. She is at a grammar school that is regularly in the top 20 nationally if not in the top 10.

What you have to remember is that the whole stupid system encourages strategic choices. So students are choosing five options and are hoping for a range of grades.

At the same time, universities look at the successes / mistakes they made the previous year and adjust accordingly. So the real question is, what are the admissions tutors trying to achieve this year. It could be that they need more state school applicants, or it could be that loads of Oxbridge candidates insured them last year & it messed up their plans. Perhaps they are saying either firm us or ditch us. Who knows?

Sorry Mrs B misread your earlier post, and replied thinking they;d offered AAA, so at the top end of their stated boundary. But to offer AA*A, really does defy belief. Ignore my previous speculation, they are clearly just bonkers!

mumslife it isn't completely unachievable as she is predicted 3As so if, say Durham, were to give her an offer of AAA then Exeter may think she would put them as her firm and Durham as her insurance. However, that would not happen as she much prefers Durham! Fingers-crossed she gets an offer from them now and it is sensible!

That's a stupid offer MrsBartlet I'm sure it feels like a waste of a choice. The Exeter website still has A*AA - AAB as typical offers for English so very naughty to go higher.

DS hasn't heard anything yet (I've just forced him to check track ) but on a more positive note he passed his driving theory test today so thats out of the way and he can get back to reading the huge piles of books littering his bedroom.

Well done to your ds webwiz. I have been nagging dd about putting in for her theory test and she has now said she wants to leave it until after any potential Cambridge interview so that she can use all her spare time preparing. To be fair she has a lot of catching up to do after being ill.

DS is ready to book his practical test so his theory test has been holding him up. I just need to nag about his essays for Cambridge now - he has an email about it apparently but he hasn't shared the detail with me. Is your DD feeling better now MrsBartlet?

MrsBartlet - Same thing seems to be happening with other subjects! AAA offers. Just type Exeter into student room.

I just think that it is really wrong to advertise the grades lower in the prospectus and then arbitrarily put them up.

webwiz I am concerned that dd is going to be in the same position as your ds with her lack of theory holding up her practical test. I can see us ending up paying out for driving lessons to keep up the driving practise whilst she gets caught up! She is a little better - thanks but not quite there. I do think a lot of her problems are anxiety related and whilst I am not denying that she has been ill, she does make things worse for herself.

Littleham I looked at the student room last night and saw that other subjects had give out AAA offers as well and it would seem that that is their "typical offer" despite what they say on their website. I feel quite annoyed about it as dh and I had to book 2 days off work and a hotel to go to the Exeter open day with dd as we thought it would be a good insurance place for her. We wouldn't have bothered if we had known that their offer was going to be higher than her top choices likely offers.

At least dd has an AAA offer from York (which she really liked when she saw it at the weekend and was already becoming a serious contender to Exeter). She is still waiting to hear from Warwick as well and they say their standard offer is AAA.

I just rang Exeter admissions to ask why they have gone mad. Apparently they are giving these offers out (particularly for English and economics, but possibly for other subjects). The lady I spoke to said it is to 'encourage students to work hard and get their predictions', so they seem to be aimed at people with very high predictions. Fabulous - so your dc has worked really hard & complete plonkers come along and set the bar higher! My dd may as well cruised last year and got a lower offer.

She did say that there may be some leeway if they miss the A A A offer on results day. I explained that this was sharp practice & that they were shooting themselves in the foot, as people would respond by ditching Exeter. Have asked for it to be reported back to senior management as a matter of urgency.

Is there an organisation you can report universities to for false advertising?

That exactly corroborates what they told dd - very annoying.

Well done littleham for having the balls and being blunt and to the point to get them to explain the method to their madness! I'm so glad my dad didn't apply to Exeter it was on her shortlist and one she may add to her 5th choice at a later date she has so far filled out 4. But after this fiasco think is not worth the risk and waste a choice. Think Exeter are trying to hype themselves up as a class leading uni joining the ranks of lse, imperial, Durham and rather a bit silly asking more than Oxbridge.

Umm meant to say dd not dad!

Just doing UCAS here. Have put in choices but just orders them alphabetically. At what point do you put your firm and insurance choice?

You can wait until all the choices have replied with offers or rejections. Once the last of the five has replied, a little notice appears on your UCAS page with a personalised deadline for choosing your Firm and Insurance.

My dd1 didn't hear back from Durham until the end of April last year, so she didn't have to choose until May!

at Exeter's offer! Bizarre.

If you are waiting on a reply from the 5 originally chosen, can you withdraw the application and firm from offers already received?

From one of the 5 originally chosen I should have typed.

Yes, you can do that. Quite a lot of people did with Durham last year because they were sick of waiting.

Thanks Littleham, that's handy to know.

Popping in - dd did this last year [waves at Littleham - well done for taking bull by horns]. This sounds daft, and scary, about Exeter (already worrying about my year 11 ds). I wonder what UCAS attitude is to universities routinely making offers outside the range they quote on the UCAS website? It makes a bit of a nonsense of their system and of trying to encourage dc to research and make sensible choices.

dd did English and other essay subjects (with no coursework) and was predicted AAA but felt very wary about applying anywhere with an A* as standard because such a lot then rides on two days in June - including in many cases your accommodation guarantee.

Good luck to you all.

Will keep you company lalsy (hello again), as I also have a year 11 dd (don't even want to think about the A Level changes mixed up with university offers in 2017).