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A-level results day

how important is it to actually be available on the day the results come out?

Cambridge is my firm offer, and i was thinking that if i didn't make it i would go into the summer pool and try my luck.

as Cambridge get our results a few days before us, there really isn't much i could do to help or hinder the process. it's unlikely i'd be able to affect anything by phoning the college.

Also there is virtually no chance of me missing my insurance offer.

So... do i need to be here?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Camford

why not? just for the excitement of getting results. I was there to collect mine, but it didn't actually make any difference. I met my offer.

Reply 2

Mr.Dunc

the reason is because i've been invited to go sailing for 2 weeks around france!

which i'd much rather do than spend the time in England, even if would get to open my own results.

Reply 3

priya

can u get access to a telephone for that day? that way you can sort out any problems if they arise, very quickly

Reply 4

musicbloke

I phoned up when I got my results (I missed a grade) and they sid they'd take me. I don't know what would have happenned if I hadn't phoned.

MB

Reply 5

Ticki

You should really make sure that you have access to a phone, even if you're not in England. My best mate was in Australia at the time and in absolute agony waiting for someone to let her know how she'd done. She made her offer so it wasn't a big problem but it did add to her (already high) stress levels. If you miss the offer it's always worth phoning just in case, and as soon as possible.

Reply 6

Mr.Dunc

ok well i'll have access to a phone, i'll just have to make sure i'm not floating 30 miles off of the french coast!

musicboy, if you don't mind me asking, what was your offer and how much did you miss it by?

Reply 7

Ticki

Are you the second Duncan on the Sidney forums?

I think Jacob's offer was AAA and he got AAB, or the offer was AAB and he got ABB. Not sure though.

Reply 8

musicbloke

Ticki

Are you the second Duncan on the Sidney forums?

I think Jacob's offer was AAA and he got AAB, or the offer was AAB and he got ABB. Not sure though.

My offer was AAA and I got AABB

MB

Reply 9

Ticki

Ah ha! I thought you'd done 4 A-levels but couldn't figure out how that was reflected in your offer. I think they made a sensible decision, given that AABB is surely harder than AAA.

Reply 10

Talya

Mr.Dunc

ok well i'll have access to a phone, i'll just have to make sure i'm not floating 30 miles off of the french coast!

Check with your college about getting your results. Some colleges will NOT give out results over the phone, so you will have to give someone a piece of paper saying 'I hereby declare so-and-so may collect my results for me, signed you' and then the person who collected can phone and tell you. I know my school don't give out results on the phone.

Reply 11

Do you have to ring them if you meet your offer?

Reply 12

Talya

Wise Man

Do you have to ring them if you meet your offer?

No.

I think I am right in saying if you meet the offer they gave you, they are legally bound to accept you.

Reply 13

grumballcake

Here's my standard advice for Results day (perhaps it should go in an FAQ at some point). You need to understand that you'll be nervous and under stress on that day no matter how confident you think you are. The time to prepare is now - when you're still interested and in a vaguely work frame of mind. This will save you a lot of stress on the day.

What you need to do is to write an action plan of what you'll do on results day based upon the possible outcomes. There are four categories:

a) You've done much better than expected. [indent]Think about deferring a year and re-applying to a better uni next year. Note: this will upset the uni you have an offer for, so don't expect they'll make you another offer. You might be able to negotiate your way into a better uni by making a few phone calls, so identify those universities now and get the phone numbers of the admissions section. then you might be able to get in early and nick a place, if there are any. Decent universities will not advertise any of those places so you need to call quickly. It is not guaranteed that your first choice uni will release you to the new one, but they're unlikely to foce you to go to them - especially as you might as well drop out & take a gap year anyway. If you do get another place be courteous and ask permission to change - it is not a right and strictly speaking, you're breaking a contract. How happy would you be if they could decide to break their contract with you?[/indent]b) You've hit your grades. [indent]Well done. Contact the accommodation office if you need to(you probably don't, unless you're intending to go into private accommodation). Otherwise, go and celebrate.[/indent]c) You've missed your offer, but hit your insurance offer. [indent]Call the admissions office at first choice and try to negotiate your way in. If not, call the insurance uni admissions office. Then call their accomodation department immediately. You will not get accommodation by right, so you've got to beat everyone else to it.

[/indent]d) You've missed even your insurance offer and they won't take you. [indent]See if any of the other unis you considered would have you - call them in turn. Don't wait for Clearing, call the admissions office direct. they may not advertise a place via Clearing because they know they'll get a few people calling anyway.

[/indent]On the action plan, look up all the phone numbers (from web sites etc) you'll need and put them on the sheet. Make sure you have the admissions office (and accommodation office) direct line, not a switchboard.

That's it. Now put that sheet in a safe place and forget about it until August.

On results day, if you've got any case but b) you'll have thinking to do. It's not a good idea to be having to find things out when you're in a panic, which is why you do it now. The hour you save on results day could be the difference between getting in to somewhere you like, or not.

Reply 14

Helenia

Wise Man

Do you have to ring them if you meet your offer?

No, they'll post you stuff that will arrive a couple of days after results day.

Reply 15

_Ellie

I'm glad I read this - hurrah that you only need to call if you don't make it.

Someone want to explain the summer pool to me?..

xxx Ellie.

Reply 16

grumballcake

_Ellie

Someone want to explain the summer pool to me?..

If you miss your offer, then the college can still decide to give you a place. If they can't because they're full, but they think you were a strong candidate, then they can put you into the Summer pool to give you a chance elsewhere.

"The Pool is intended for applicants worthy of places at Cambridge who have narrowly failed to meet the conditions of their offer and for whom there are no places available at the College they applied to." [...]

"With the exception of applicants for Mathematics (with Computer Science/Physics), all applicants who have achieved three A grades (excluding General Studies) at A-level, who do not meet your conditions, should be pooled, for example if they have failed to meet other College requirements, such as STEP/AEA grades. Some applicants may well meet the criteria required for admission at another College. Colleges not setting offers involving STEP/AEA are encouraged to look at these applicants before deciding whether to lower offers to preference applicants."

However, only a few colleges will have any spaces at all and the college doesn't get extra funding if it goes over its target numbers, so there's no guarantee of getting a place. Note however, that if you were offered AAA but got AAB, someone who was offered AAAA but got AAAB might be chosen ahead of you even if they applied to a different college. So you may not get a yes/no decision on results day, as the tutors may wish to consider the summer pool first.

A college may choose to interview a candidate in the pool, but they limit the number of times you have to be interviewed abd if there are two colleges interested, they'll do it on the same day.

The advice is simple: do not miss your offer grades. They aren't a guideline, they're a requirement. So few top candidates do miss these days, with the availability of retakes, that the chance of acceptance by another route is very low. You might get in again if you reapply next year (I know a candidate who missed his grades at Oxford and went around again), but there's no guarantee of that.

Reply 17

FromTheSouth

grumballcake, thank you very much for your guidance on this issue.

I have an offer based on the International Baccalaureate, I am required 38 points in the overall score (out of 45) and I am required 776 in high level Maths, Economics and Physics (we take 6 subjects at the IB, the maximum score in each is 7 and there are 3 additional points for some written work).

I am sure that I will get more than 38 points in the overall score-- I expect around 42-44-- but the 776 requirement on the specific subjects I am not so sure about.

Do you think that exceding one part of the offer may compensate a miss in another?

Another day praying to meet the offer

Take care

FromTheSouth

Reply 18

grumballcake

FromTheSouth

Do you think that exceding one part of the offer may compensate a miss in another?

It may do, but it's up to the admissions tutor for your college. The way the Summer pool works, a tutor can put someone in the pool until Saturday lunchtime and still has first choice on that candidate. After that, any college can take that person from the pool and make them an offer. Basically, it lets a college go fishing for better candidates without necessarily losing their own. Once they've filled their allowance/quota of students, they stop taking candidates from the pool. It's a bit more complicated with medics who miss their offers because there is a government quota that Cambridge has to meet. So each college must have a minimum number of medics and they may need to bump other near-misses to meet this.

Sadly, if you've missed your offer, you may have to wait a few days before you know. However, still call on results day to discuss with the tutor - you might be able to persuade them to keep you. I've posted an action list above for UK students (and others through UCAS) on A-level results day. I don't know when IB results come out.

Reply 19

Ticki

The decision won't be made until A-level results day anyway because their ability to take you if you've missed your offer won't be known until the other results come out. My friend missed his offer by a point and had an agonising wait that summer. Fingers crossed for you!