Starting Y13 (y12 support thread contd) - number 3

[Littleham]

Thread continued folks...

Offers are what the universities make to the applicants. Usually conditional on grades achieved. None, some or all of your 5 choices may make you offers.

Firm and insurances acceptances are what the applicant eventually does in response to the offers.
www.ucas.com/how-it-all-works/undergraduate/tracking-your-application/replying-your-offers

I'll give it a try bluebellz!

1. Your dc applies to five universities
2. All five can give out offers (or dc can be really unlucky and receive none).
3. Once dc's have the last decision, they are given a deadline by which they have to choose their two favourites (Firm and Insurance). They make this choice (not universities, who never get to see where else your dc applied).
4. Most people choose a university with higher grades as their FIRM and a lower offer as INSURANCE as a kind of back up. If they get no offers at all they get a second chance in march to apply to different universities who still have places - a process called EXTRA.
5. On results day the Firm and Insurance universities get your dc's grade automatically and your dc logs into track to see if their place has turned UNCONDITIONAL.
6. If they have just missed the grades, the Firm choice sometimes takes them anyway. If like my dd1 last year, the Firm choice rejects them, your dc has to sweat it out while the Insurance university considers them (again this is done automatically & in the case of my dd1 she was told at 5pm on results day that she had a place).
7. If Firm and Insurance both reject dc because of missed grades on results day, then they go into clearing (your dc needs to prepare ahead for this just in case).
8. If your dc get better grades than expected, then they go into a different process called Adjustment, where universities can look at your dc's grades and make them an offer.

Hope that helps!

Thanks all for your good wishes, love the friendliness and support on here!

Circular, hang in there, you've got a tough time ahead, but exciting too! Hope it all goes really well for your DD.

Well done to all with offers, and best of luck to all sending off applications!

Thanks all.

Littleham that's a really helpful summary of how it works.

If anime elsealso has CUKAS in the mix, your DC can hold CUKAS offer alongside UCAS, but once accepting an unconditional from one, the others are cancelled.

CUKAS works slightly differently in that you get guaranteed or reserve offers, conditional or unconditional.
You can only hold one guaranteed CIKAS offer. If given a reserve offer, that can be first choice, with guaranteed as second choice.

As mist CUKAS conditions are likely to be just 2 A2 passes, must be quite difficult to miss with decent AS grades. Am I correct in thinking that the minimum UMS for an A at AS (80%) is enough to get an E (40%) overall even if zero scored at A2. Or am I missing something?

IMO the reasons for different offer for same course are -

1. Contextual - some universities give out lower offers to schools that are in the bottom 40% of results.

2. Strategic offers - in the same way we are all maneuvering, so are the universities. I reckon they want to attract / repel certain candidates, hence examples like Exeter this year.

But this is only my opinion and there may be something I'm missing.

Am I correct in thinking that the minimum UMS for an A at AS (80%) is enough to get an E (40%) overall even if zero scored at A

Yes :)

the one thing I cant get my head round is a student can be given a different offer gradewise to another student applying for exactly rhe same course

Because context is important. A kid from Tiffin or some other top of the tables school has been set up from y7 (or earlier) to get better grades than a kid who had no choice of school and has spent 7 years at somewhere that Needs Improvement.

They'll also look at predicted grades, and I expect there is also an element of "well, we really want child X who looks amazing, so offer them AAA, whereas we do like the look of child Y but we're not quite convinced they're up to it so let's offer them A*AA and see if they can prove they're worthy".

Exeter has always made insanely high offers for some subjects. This is (partly) because even when it wasn't in the Russell Group, it was a disproportionately popular university. I say always - my knowledge only goes back to the 90s. Since then.

Mumslife similar situation here.
DD's GCSE school is in the lower 40% for A levels. Current school still a comp, but more selective in 6th form and gets ~ 60% A* to B at A level.
Also first generation to go to Uni.

I didn't realise that if the student isn't accepted by their Firm, they have to wait and see if they are offered a place by their Insurance - I thought they just automatically went to their Insurance if they didn't make their Firm! Eeek - that's stressful

Depends Horsemad. Sometimes, the Insurance accepts them before Firm turns unconditional or rejects (which must be reassuring). Once Firm accepts them, the Insurance choice disappears I believe.

In my dd1's case it was the other way round - Firms rejected and small wait for Insurance to update to unconditional.

2 yrs ago ds1's track showed 2 unconditionals from both firm and insurance before he'd even been into school to find out his grades.

Depends on the grades I assume? Surely if you miss your grade for your firm but satisfy your insurance, you're in? They don't make another decision after that?

I think there's a market for a MN Guide to UCAS for parents!

Well Ds's Ucas was finally sent off by his college yesterday and he received an offer from Bath today (AAA)

Well done to your DS, Waiting. And well done to Bath for responding so quickly.

Yay Waiting ! What does he want to do?

Wow - No Waitingaround there then.

lttleham
He wants to do Comp Science Atlas

If you miss your firm grades but get your insurance, they accept you automatically in just the same way (site may take a while to update). It is binding all round. That was what we were told anyway. I think the wait for Track to update can be nerve wracking anyway though.

Yep - it was a wait for track to update, made nerve wracking by not being able to get through on the telephone. As you say lalsy, if they meet the grades for Insurance it is binding.

Littleham I feel the whole UCAS process has gone into my head so much easier from your write up. Its like those dummies style guide, but for UCAS, thank you. Your so articulate. Mumslife when your ds gets her first offer think she will get less nervous. The personal statement is a pain my dd did about 6 copies and ended up having to jigasaw together bits from all 6 into 1. Ataio I think your write up on the context to which uni apply their offers is very true. A friend of mine has kids at a all boys school in Merseyside and the head have told the boys that Oxbridge have a kind of fixed standard number of GCSE A* and AS grades for their school since they are one the best schools in the area. So they only let the top 3% in the 6th form apply there. This is in context of Oxbridge don't know about the other competitive uni though.

Congrats to your DS Waitingaround

Bath was where they had remote controlled 'mood' lighting and fancy electric blinds in the accomm