Next year's uni applicants severely disadvantaged

[solangecham]

Big problems for 2021 university applicants - Anyone realise that with this year's A level results regrading, next year's student applicants for universities will be badly disadvantaged? Percentage of top grades (A and A stars) this year have gone up by almost half from 25.5% to 37% compared to normal trend and universities have to honour all offers. Next year, this is what applicants will face:

• Lower number of spaces as students defer from this year to next, which is being encouraged by overstretched universities (sometimes with money) especially Russell Group ones. Durham offering £2000 to defer.
• Lower number of spaces anyway as over-stretched universities are likely to compensate numbers downwards from this years bumper intake.
• Higher number of applications from foreign students than would be normal since many have taken this year off, who moreover are the preferred intake for unis since they pay higher fees.
• Unfair competition from this year’s students deferring applications because of inflated grades awarded this year.
• For yr 2021 students who would like to defer to 2022, they will face unfair competition from the year below who have received inflated GCSE results.
• All this after a four month disruption to schooling from Covid in their formative first year of A levels.

We have to wake up to this and make sure next year's students are being looked after. They matter too.

I've read the rest of your post now Aragog.

I'm sorry your dd has had a truly awful time, and I utterly empathise, particularly your family's losses.

I do get the rest. One of mine graduated this year. Online. Watching telly with her parents. No mortar boars in the air to celebrate three year of hard work. No meal. No holiday or festival. It is awful for youngsters. Really.

DD's predicted grades for UCAS were updated in January, following mocks and coursework.

Her cags were lower than these mainly as they didn't take into account nea and coursework as it was incomplete, not fully marked and not moderated (wasn't due in til after Easter) - in one subject this was 60% of the final grade. Subjects with nea have struggled under the cag system in many schools.

Some of the friends had much much lower. Her school were very strict with cags - too strict in some cases. I know of at least one parent who want to appeal but they are looking into if that is even possible now that triple lock was removed.

Dd is much more chilled than her parents. She's moved in. Her insurance is actually a higher ranked university for her course and needed higher grades. They moved her to unconditional in the strength of her application and work experience reference. She's happy and settled now, and excited about her course - thank you.

I just wanted to highlight that the media info of all these inflated grades aren't all they seem, and for many kids their grades are as expected or lower, not inflated at all.

And to please please stop pulling down these kids - and at 18y coming out of school they are not really fully grown adults no matter what they thing - and belittling their achievements. It's every single year and this year is even worse.

I will support year 12s getting as much support and concessions as possible, as I do believe they have been overlooked and currently will be disadvantaged unfairly. But if we want that support to continue into next summer than people have to stop pulling down this year's cohort too - most would have much preferred to have done their exams and at least lower grades that way would have been their own doing!

I agree and think this will affect students for years to come. And I’ve said this to my DTs who are going into year 12 this year. They need to 110% from the start if they want Uni places.

‘Mickey Mouse’ is just plain nasty. Year 11 and year 13 kids have not had an easy time of it at all.

@Aragog put it better than I ever could.

@Aragog great post and so good to hear your DD is happy and settled

I have a y11 dc but also family members and godchildren in years 10 and 12, and will absolutely be doing what I can (petition signing, MP emailing etc) to help make voices heard to ensure that next year’s cohort have as fair a deal as possible. But yes yes yes to “stop pulling down this year’s cohort.”

After all, this time next year the naysayers will be back, won’t they, and cheerfully sneering at the exams taken by the 2021 cohort (“Oof, well they all just took Mickey Mouse exams, didn’t they, results not worth the paper they’re written on! Bet they handed out answer sheets with the exam papers to make sure they all passed, heh, heh, heh!” Etc etc etc). Won’t be nice for that cohort to read, but you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll happen.

Regardless of what year groups we have DC in let’s try and support all of them without pulling down any of their efforts.

I also think one should try not to extrapolate what the impact will be for next years students quite yet when;

We don't know how many students are actually taking up offers of deferment

We don't know how many international applications will be made and granted visas

We don't know how many of our own Home students will apply .

We dont yet know, for this year, how many places have actually been filled across the WHOLE University sector (yes did you know there are Universities outside of the RG!?).

We don't know how Covid will affect this academic year's exams.

In short calm down. Universities are trying to sort the crap made by the govt at the moment and then this coming year's cohort will be considered. There is absolutely no use in being horrifically dramatic based on anecdotal evidence .

I feel sorry for all the gcse and a level students, its been tough all round. I agree the biggest impact is on those with one year left of a level studies. I have signed the petition thats going round, not sure it will do any good though...

@GetUpAgain what’s the petition wanting to happen? Are you able to link please?

My year 12 will be going into year 13 on two days a week face to face. Those at the the college down the road are going back full time. The local grammar school are already back in cracking on with GCSE work. DS2 has at least two weeks to wait at his school

And Ofqual just merrily say none of this matters, it doesn't matter you've lost 1/5th of face to face teaching and we're barely reducing the exam content.

My ds goes back next week Wed to Fri, then has two weeks remote before going back for another week. He might be full time in college from the beginning of October. Or not.