Predicted vs targeted grades and college applications

[swingofthings]

DD is about to apply to colleges. Her first choice is very popular school and as an out of area applicant, I would think it is essential she puts everything in her favour in the application.

The issue is in regards to her predicted grades. These are stated as As for all subjects except for Science subjects where they are classed as Bs. However, her targeted grades are A* for all three subjects.

I understand that this discrepancy comes from the fact that predicted grades are based on a number of socio-cultural factors in addition to grades going all the way back to SATS results. DD didn't do science SATs, so as such, the school didn't have anything to benchmark her against and so used the average of 4B (at least that's what I've been led to believe), hence the overall B predicted grades.

Obviously this is not reflective of her actual achievements and so would like to indicate that her predicted grades are As rather than Bs on the application form, however, I do not know whether this would be considered to be fraudulent. I have emailed her current school and they have spoken to DD about it, but they seemed confused as to why her predicted grades were set as a B (they agreed it should be an A) and just said they would speak to her teachers.

My issue is that the deadline for application to that school is coming up and therefore was planning to apply this week-end, and I very much doubt that this matter will be resolved by the school by end of today. What should she do?

Does the application form actually ask for her predicted grades?

The forms my dd filled in didn't ask for predicted grades. They got those in the reference from the school.

You need to look at the admission criteria for the school, and as the pp said look at what they actually ask for. They shouldn't be making offers based on predicted grades - it's not like a university application. Offers should be regardless of predictions (will be subject to achieving certain grades though).

Does the application form actually ask for her predicted grades?
The form says predicted/achieved. I assume achieved is for GCSEs taken in year 10.

If offers are regardless of predictions, why even ask for them? I've checked the admission criteria, and all it says is C in Maths and B in two sciences, but I know that it is a very popular college (Oftsed outstanding, achieving very highly), so I doubt they accept all applications that meet the above criteria.

I have to say that I am a bit confused about admission criteria for colleges as opposed to primary/secondary schools and Uni. As likely in this case, what happens if they have more demand meeting the criteria set than they have space they can offer? Do they then prioritise on the basis of locality and/or actual grades? There is nothing I can read on their admission criteria to that regards.

There should be tie-breaker information on there same as a secondary application... Phone them up? Sixth forms typically make more offers than there are places though as kids tend to apply to more than one.

The colleges dd applied to just wanted predicted grades to make sure applicants were applying for suitable courses (i.e. not applying for Maths and Further Maths A Levels with C grade predictions). There didn't form part of the offer process at all, other than the published minimum grade requirements.

We are at the same stage OP and need to include predicted (and achieved grades) on the application form.
If the college says that a grade B is required then a grade B prediction should be fine (don't think it will make any difference if the prediction is changed to A or A*).
Of the colleges we are looking at (these are not all for the same college) here are some of the tiebreakers; attendance at specific (named) secondary school / whether your child has siblings currently in Y12 at the sixth form (or attended in past few years), time application was submitted and distance of home to sixth form. (Similar to secondary admissions there are also categories for SEN, looked after children and there may also be faith criteria). I don't think that a state funded sixth form would be able to use actual grades achieved as a tie-breaker but a fee paying school may be able to do so.

The website states: *The College is open to all applicants who are able to cope with and benefit from a course of study that we offer. If we cannot offer anything suitable, we will tell you.

Is this saying in essence that will take everyone who applies? There is no mention of tie-breaker on the page. (I've tried to call but got the 'we are busy in this period of time, leave message!).

Just read their Q&A and it does specify that they don't give places on results, however they prioritise those applying before end of November and interview all those pupils... I guess that's how the selection is made :) It explains why I have been told that top achieving pupils always seem to always get in!

So matter resolved, thanks!

I am at the same stage and have been reading several prospectuses - two of them said that they interview everyone but the interview has no bearing on the offer of a place.

Whoops, posted too soon. I was going to say that I assumed in my case that the reason behind interviewing everyone was to check whether the courses they'd selected were right for them and what they wanted to do next.

I have no idea on the predicted grades question - as yet we've not got as far as filling in a form (it's a job for this weekend).

I read that business about 'The College is open to all applicants ...' to mean that if they think you aren't suitable, they will tell you and won't take your application further.

They must have a certain number of places available. They can't possibly take everyone who applies if too many apply. As pp said, colleges usually make more offers than they have places, because some will fail to get the grades they need and others will choose to go elsewhere.

They can't possibly take everyone who applies if too many apply.

Absolutely, so if they don't have a published tie-breaker, it has to be done through another mean, and that has to be via the interview.

I can't imagine there isn't a similar attitude towards choosing a college as there is with choosing secondary schools and top achieving colleges getting many more applications that those not doing so well ending up with some students being turned down.