First time Uni application

My son goes to a "good" school and messed his AS levels up by smply not working hard enough. He now has his head down and is working hard but the best the school will predict is BBB ( his AS levels were BBDD).

All the courses he is applying for are BBB or BBC, and none are at Russell Group Unis. He is applying for Biomedicine/ Medical Sciences.

As I have never done this before I am trying not to be over anxious about this but does anyone with a sensible PS come away with no offers ?

I suppose I am worried as the Universoties can now offer unlimited places to people with ABB predictions and I am worried that they will take up all the space !

Can anyone give me some comfort !

Reply 1

chickenman

15

No comfort. His grades are not good enough against someone with an AAB.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2

HarryJames

11

If the universities entry requirements are BBB or BBC it's unlikely that people who are aiming for ABB or AAB will have applied to the university as anything more than an insurance. If his predicted grades meet the entry requirements or are slightly lower and his personal statement and reference are well done he should be fine, it's highly unlikely he'll get no offers and even in that instance he could go through UCAS extra or clearing. I hope that clarifies slightly and alleviates some of your worry

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 3

nulli tertius

21

Original post by Kazzyv

My son goes to a "good" school and messed his AS levels up by smply not working hard enough. He now has his head down and is working hard but the best the school will predict is BBB ( his AS levels were BBDD).

All the courses he is applying for are BBB or BBC, and none are at Russell Group Unis. He is applying for Biomedicine/ Medical Sciences.

As I have never done this before I am trying not to be over anxious about this but does anyone with a sensible PS come away with no offers ?

I suppose I am worried as the Universoties can now offer unlimited places to people with ABB predictions and I am worried that they will take up all the space !

Can anyone give me some comfort !

Here are some statistics for the proportion receiving offers for each course.

http://university.which.co.uk/search/course?c[academic_years__and__some][]=2014&c[lower_points_bound]=280&c[page]=2&c[q]=biomedical+science&c[sort_fact]=relevance&c[upper_points_bound]=320&commit=Apply+changes&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Remember that some applicants will be applying with grades well below the asking figures. Apparently up to a third of applicants do not meet the stated minimum grades for the university courses they apply for.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 4

Holmstock

14

"...I suppose I am worried as the Universities can now offer unlimited places to people with ABB predictions and I am worried that they will take up all the space !

Can anyone give me some comfort !"

Universities can take unlimited numbers of applicants with ABB achieved (predictions are usually not determinant for most courses) - but I suppose that this may mean for popular courses that the universities may have all the candidates they want by the time the results are out in August.

If your son is now working significantly harder than last year then his results may well be higher than his predicted BBB. If so, then he may be able to apply more securely in Autumn 2014 with achieved grades for entrance in Sept 2015. Not everyone wants to do this, but it helps to have plan A, B, C etc to hand!

Reply 5

Holmstock

14

Original post by Kazzyv

My son goes to a "good" school and messed his AS levels up by smply not working hard enough. He now has his head down and is working hard but the best the school will predict is BBB ( his AS levels were BBDD).

All the courses he is applying for are BBB or BBC, and none are at Russell Group Unis. He is applying for Biomedicine/ Medical Sciences.

As I have never done this before I am trying not to be over anxious about this but does anyone with a sensible PS come away with no offers ?

I suppose I am worried as the Universoties can now offer unlimited places to people with ABB predictions and I am worried that they will take up all the space !

Can anyone give me some comfort !

AS can be quite a jump from GCSE, but by the time a student has two years' study under their belt, they have a better grasp of the concepts and can dramatically improve their overall result by retaking some AS papers. Has your son talked to his school about retaking any of his AS modules? (He would need to strike a balance - retaking all the modules next June is likely to distract from work on his A2 papers, but there are several A2 papers that bring together different aspects of a subject, sometimes including some AS material).

Reply 6

returnmigrant

21

If you/he are convinced he can achieve better than his predictions, then why doesnt he wait until he has known A2 grades and apply next year?

He doesn't have to go to Uni straight from school, and applying with known grades avoids all the poor AS/poor predictions scenario - and would mean he could spend this year really concentrating on his A2s to get the best possible results without all the distractions of a UCAS application.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 7

HarryJames

11

Original post by returnmigrant

If you/he are convinced he can achieve better than his predictions, then why doesnt he wait until he has known A2 grades and apply next year?

He doesn't have to go to Uni straight from school, and applying with known grades avoids all the poor AS/poor predictions scenario - and would mean he could spend this year really concentrating on his A2s to get the best possible results without all the distractions of a UCAS application.

I'd hardly say the ucas application is a distraction you can finish it in a couple of hours

Reply 8

returnmigrant

21

Original post by HarryJames

I'd hardly say the ucas application is a distraction you can finish it in a couple of hours

Stick around. The stress levels and panic will go through the roof here on TSR around March and then again around June. It isnt just about writing the application, its also all the 'what ifs' or 'I made the wrong decision' or 'I've only got one offer' etc that really cranks up the stress.

Reply 9

littlesmurfette

10

I assume he is only eighteen?

There is plenty of time. If he is really knuckling down there is no reason why he can't surpass his predicted grades. Obviously you can't get around the obstacle that universities are LIKELY to offer their places to those with higher grades- but not necessarily. I can only talk from experience of courses that I and my friends have experience but some courses do not consider "excellent grades" as the ultimate decider- for example, if a student with As across the board applied to do teaching but did not have any relevant experience a university is more likely to go for the student who has relevant experience as long as their arm but with lesser grades. I do not know how Biomedical sciences work in all honesty- all i'm try to say to you is that grades aren't always the most important thing in the world. As for the universities he is applying too- he is an adult, it is his decision, not yours.

If he doesn't make the cut then he can always resit and/or apply for next year. He still has a good probable 60 years left on his life- holding things back a year isn't the end of the world. I didn't go to university until I was 22.

Reply 10

HarryJames

11

Original post by returnmigrant

Stick around. The stress levels and panic will go through the roof here on TSR around March and then again around June. It isnt just about writing the application, its also all the 'what ifs' or 'I made the wrong decision' or 'I've only got one offer' etc that really cranks up the stress.

Yeah that's true actually a lot of people do get quite stressy about it. I was always quite good with mine, I knew I made the right choices when I sent it and knew that from then on it was out of my hands

Reply 11

Kazzyv

OP

Hi just to update the thread - panic over - son has just had first offer. All very happy here

First time Uni application

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you