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Teenagers

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Original poster

UCAS rejections

45 replies

iwastooearlytobeayummymummy · 09/02/2010 22:37

DD2 is 18 and is predicted to get A and 2 further As in her A levels this summer.She's at a top rated state girls grammar school and got all As and A in her GSCES
She has run the debating club,organised a prom, edited school magazine and had serious work experience on a national tabloid.School gave her a glowing reference on her UCAS form and her personal statement was good enough to get her called for an interview at Oxford
She wants to do an English degree so how come she has been 'rejected ' by 4 of her 5 university choices?At least Oxford interviewed her and whilst disappointed could make sense of the 'well it wasn't for me if they felt i wasn't for them" argument.The offer she has got is from her least favoured choice and she doesn't want to go to there.
She is now making active plans to go to Spain in the autumn and to really learn Spanish but is seriously pissed off that through no fault of her own she has to wait and reapply again this Autumn, with a now genuine concern that she may be inthe same boat this time next year.
Of course going to uni is not the be all and end all, but she has always wanted to go and has always worked hard.
Any other parents out there with similar stories?

OP posts:
Hassled · 09/02/2010 22:46

My theory is that the early application she would have had to do for Oxford would have told the other Unis that she was applying to Oxbridge, and so they might have reasoned that she was likely to get in there - ie that it would have been a wasted offer on their part. And it would have demonstrated to them that University B wasn't her first choice.

The only other thing I can think of that could have gone wrong would have been the references from the school - are you confident they would have been good?

Hassled · 09/02/2010 22:48

Actually, I have to confess that this is DD's theory, not mine. She says that Durham, for example, standardly refuse anyone who they have an inkling might be going for Oxbridge.

gerontius · 09/02/2010 22:53

It's completely not true that Durham do that - when 80% of people will be rejected from Oxbridge, quite a lot of them go to Durham But if every university rejected potential Oxbridgers, that wouldn't work, as they'd be rejecting a large part of their intake.

Hassled · 09/02/2010 22:56

Ha! I said to DD "this may be bollocks" and she said no, it's what the Oxford people told her on her open day thing. But implausible, I agree.

NoahAndTheWhale · 09/02/2010 22:58

Do the universities get to see where else you have applied now? I have this (probably unfounded) feeling that they don't.

gerontius · 09/02/2010 23:06

Nope, they don't see where else you've applied. Hassled, almost everyone I know at Durham was rejected from Oxbridge

Original poster
iwastooearlytobeayummymummy · 09/02/2010 23:08

We thought this may be why she's been turned down too (she didn't apply to durham though)
She did see the school reference and it was very positive but the hard bit now is that she's decided to set her sights lower in terms of where she'll apply next year.My worry is that with a 25% increase in applications this year and uni's being fined if they over offer and accept more students than approved she may be in a vicious cycle.
She is a sensible soul but it hurts to see her crying over this 'rejection' and having to go through all the stress again in the autumn.Also whilst she wants to go to Spain she is aware that her homesickness level may be harder to deal with 1000miles away rather than 2 hours away in the UK.
Also I know there are much bigger issues facing families every day and this is something that will resolve 'for the best' but you never really stop wanting happiness for your babies do you?
Oh to be fretting about the pros and cons of giving her a dummy

OP posts:
saintlydamemrsturnip · 09/02/2010 23:12

If she gets good results she should reapply to Oxford. A surprising number of my fellow students had reapplied (surprised me as it wouldn't have occurred to me!) and been given a place on the second (or even third!) try. If she chooses her College carefully it may well demonstrate determination iyswim.

saintlydamemrsturnip · 09/02/2010 23:14

Also if she can spend a year after A levels doing something related to her subject (for at least some of the time - if she can afford to) then it will really help her application anywhere.

Original poster
iwastooearlytobeayummymummy · 09/02/2010 23:40

Sadly she now thinks all Oxbridge successfuls are twerps, confirmed by the fact her bf has been offered a place at 'her college' He is the original Tim nice but Dim and, yes I have suggested that he should act like a gentleman and give up his place for her

OP posts:
Swedey · 10/02/2010 00:04

Sorry to hear about your DD. I think you can ask for feedback from universities. Different universities use different systems to score the application and perhaps it will be possible to establish where the application was weaker relative to other applicants.

I have a son applying to uni this cycle and I know how stressful it is. What's the uni she doesn't fancy much?

Northernlurker · 10/02/2010 00:10

I was accepted by all the unis I applied for except for Cambridge - and Durham. Certainly at that time the acccepted wisdom was that Durham didn't like picking up oxbridge rejects. Your dd sounds fab - with good results and a year out spent doing enjoyable and interesting things I'm sure she will get settled somewhere next year. Where did she apply to btw?

webwiz · 10/02/2010 09:36

Have her school offered any useful advice? Your daughter is obviously a good candidate and has been very unfortunate to only get one offer. I think the Oxford thing is a red herring because lots of people don't get into Oxford and still manage to go to other universities - indeed Durham wouldn't exist without its Oxbridge rejects (the urban myth that they don't like Oxbridge rejects has been going for 25 years now since both me and dh went after being rejected by Oxford!).

I would be looking for some sort of feedback as to why she wasn't offered a place and keep encouraging her to do as well as possible in the summer in her exams.

Intergalactic · 10/02/2010 09:50

I absolutely disagree about it being the Oxford application that has put other places off - when I applied to uni about 10 years ago (when all unis could see the other ones you'd applied to) I got easier offers based on the fact that most unis would be happy to have an Oxbridge 'reject'. I even got an unconditional offer from Manchester, meaning I could have dropped out of college, taken no A-levels and they still would have had to take me! I asked them about it at the open day ("are you really desperate?!") and they basically said that anyone good enough to apply to Oxbridge, they'd be confident of good results from and happy to have. Alhough my offer from Durham was the same as my Cambridg one, so I couldn't have them as my insurance choice.

I think the most likely explanation is that there is massively increased competition for places at the moment, and that English is a very popular course. Are there other courses she would consider for when she reapplies? FWIW, she sounds like a thoroughly excellent candidate and I'm really surprised at her lack of offers. I don't think she should lower her sights next time.

lazymumofteenagesons · 10/02/2010 11:44

She definitely should not lower her sights next year. DS1s school have a very high success rate with reapplications to oxbridge.
English is very competetive and at the top universities the candidates will have the same predictions/grades as your daughter.

As long as you have seen the reference and that was good then you can forget that. Did her PS perhaps say too much about all the extra curriculum stuff she was doing and not enough passion etc for the subject she wants to study?

Another thread on here suggested that Osbridge only look at your PS at interview stage, not before.Interviewees are selected on the other bits and pre-interview tests. Did she have to do a pre-interview test? I am only asking this to pinpoint whether it was the PS which let her down.

BTW that Durham idea is a myth. They could not thrive without their oxbridge rejects and with Cambridge asking for A*s they may get even more taking them as insurance. That aside DS1 did decide to submit his UCAS application after the oxbridge deadline so that they would know he hadn't applied!

You can ask the universities for feedback on why she was rejected, but alotof this seems to be either based on 'too many high achieving applicants' or 'PS did not show sufficient interest in the subject'

senua · 10/02/2010 11:56

Comiserations to your daughter, OP. Tell her not to take it personally. I'm afraid that English is an oversubscribed subject and there are lots of lovely middle class gels who were headgirl, captain of hockey, got work experience, etc etc who are all as good as your DD. My DD has several friends in the same position as your DD, but for medicine.

Perhaps she may get lucky at clearing?

thelunar66 · 10/02/2010 12:00

DS got rejected for all his choices last year. Then he couldn't find anything in clearing. He is trying again this year, but I have feelings of dread. I feel awful for him

abride · 10/02/2010 12:09

I know of people who've got in to Oxford second time round. What's to lose?

senua · 10/02/2010 12:09

Do you know about Extra

loungelizard · 10/02/2010 12:16

She ought to re-apply next year, including Oxford.

At my DCs'grammar school, they are very successful with Oxbridge applications but every year there are one or two really high flyers who are rejected. They usually re-apply the following year and are successful.

She certainly shouldn't set her sights considerably lower (in terms of universities) if/when she re-applies.

Lilymaid · 10/02/2010 12:25

Sorry to hear about your DD. This seems often to happen with bright students applying for English who apply only to the top universities. If she has still got one university that hasn't rejected her, perhaps she should contact that university directly to explain her situation. I did this back in the dark ages when I'd been rejected by all but one university and I was immediately offered an interview and then a place.
Otherwise, as the others have said, she should consider a gap year, re-apply in the autumn and include at least one slightly lower ranked university in her choices, just in case. I'd be surprised if there were any places either in Extra or in Clearing for any courses that she might be interested in.

Bonsoir · 10/02/2010 12:37

One of my cousins transferred to a better university after his first year at a university that wasn't his number one choice. He decided not to take a gap year but to take up his place, work incredibly hard and to apply for entrance in second year to universities he preferred, on the hunch that universities always lose a few students on the way in the first year.

It worked and he ended up with a First from a and now has an MSc and is doing a PhD in the US, all at very good universities.

blairwaldorf · 10/02/2010 13:09

When your daughter does re apply, she should consider looking at joint honours courses such as English and Philosophy or if her gap year plans work out well, English and Spanish. Universities set aside extra places for joint honours courses and they are often, especially in the case of modern languages, much less over subscribed.
If in her first year she finds she doesn't enjoy the other subject, she will almost certainly be allowed to drop it and graduate with a straight English degree.
On the other hand, she might really enjoy the other option and having another skill, such as a foreign language to degree level will make her more employable when she graduates.

lazymumofteenagesons · 10/02/2010 13:24

OP can you tell us which universities she applied for?

senua · 10/02/2010 13:31

"If in her first year she finds she doesn't enjoy the other subject, she will almost certainly be allowed to drop it and graduate with a straight English degree."

Not sure about this: Universities are wise to this ploy.
Check the details for each specific Uni.