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Uni Advice

Hey guys,

I really need some genuine advice on which universities I should apply for due to my odd circumstances. Here are my grades and their context:

My Original Secondary and Sixth Form:
GCSE 2011: A*AAABBBBBBC
AS Level 2012: C

Distance Learning Courses:
AS 2013: UUUX

My New College:
AS 2014: AAAA (93% UMS average)

None of these courses are resits or repeats. I'm 19 turning 20 this year on October 28th. I'm incredibly happy with my achievements this year and hope to apply to university. But I have no idea where I should be aiming, my current grades suggest perhaps applying some of the top unis yet my past obviously isn't so kind.

Here's the extract of what I hope to put into my Extenuating Circumstances Forms or boil it down into my personal statement or give to my referee.

I come from a single parent family and live with my mum. She was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis shortly after my birth. As I got older my caring responsibilities increased due to the progression of the disease and its debilitating effect on her condition. In the year of 2011 her health significantly deteriorated to the extent that it incurred a detrimental effect on my GCSE examinations and lead me to leave Myton Sixth Form early in 2012, compounded by a shoulder operation of hers. This allowed me to be closer at hand and aid her as much as I could. Following this I decided to continue my higher education through distance learning programs with the NEC. However, when I attempted to take my examinations in 2013 it was clear my mum could not cope with the levels of spasms, *******ity and MS fatigue she experienced whilst I was away, thus I was forced to return during the middle of my exams. I continued in this role until my mum met her partner, who now lives with us, which enabled me to attend Warwickshire College and study for my current A-Levels.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Reply 1

bluebeetle

You have good GCSEs and great AS grades, considering the extenuating circumstances I doubt that unis would hold your distance learning grades against you as you've proven that you can improve given the opportunity. Since the courses aren't resits or repeats, it's even better. Universities often say they want three A-levels done over two years, so if you continue three of your subjects to A2 you meet that criteria.
In terms of where to apply, those grades can get you considered by the vast majority of unis. If might be an idea to email/phone each one you want to apply to before sending off though, just to make sure they don't mind. I'm pretty sure you don't even have to declare U grades though.

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Reply 2

Origami Bullets

You need to get your referee to include the details about your caring responsibilities in the reference - it shouldn't go into your PS.

However, having a fairly compelling set of mitigating circumstances combined with excellent new AS grades means that you shouldn't have a problem. You will have to declare your old AS grades, but even Russell Group unis will be happy to accept that there were clearly good reasons for your underachievement at AS, and you've improved enormously since then.

Good luck!

Reply 3

ageshallnot

OP, try posting an edited version of that in the 'Ask an admissions tutor' thread in the Cambridge forum. Include your AS subjects, UMS and the course(s) to which you want to apply, and ask whether you would be competitive. You might be pleasantly surprised.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4

SlowlorisIncognito

Universities generally have a good understanding of caring responsibilities, and how these can affect young people, so I'm sure they'll be understanding about you circumstances.

Ideally, the bulk of the extenuating circumstances should be kept out of your personal statement, as the purpose of this is to talk about why you want to study the course as well as your personal qualities and skills. They should be discussed on your reference and any additional forms you're asked to fill out should probably be done alongside your referee. However, it may be difficult for your referee to discuss parts of your education that they weren't involved with, e.g. your distance learning AS grades. For this reason, it might be a good idea to think of anyone who can give you supporting evidence e.g. a GP, social worker, etc.

It would be a good idea to arrange a meeting to talk through all of this with your referee when you return to college.