Universities for Mitigating Circumstances

Yes, I know. 5% for the death of a parent or sibling in the immediate period prior to the exam. I don't think universities will take it upon themselves to add more to the allowance by exam boards because they somehow think the boards don't make enough of an allowance. The figures are very carefully worked out. They may make allowance or they may not, but given that even as serious a situation as the death of a parent only carries a tiny number of marks, it's clear that anything less is not really going to be considered an adequate reason to drop from A to E. I'm afraid that mitigating circumstances are not the magic wand people hope and would like them to be. Universities still require evidence that the applicant has the capacity to achieve at a level which will not make them struggle on the course. In this case a drop from AAAA to BEDC is a drop of ten grades. That is too much to be given an allowance for, and OP would be much better off applying with achieved grades.

I am aware mitigating circumstances aren't a magic wand and would never want someone to think they are but I just wanted to make sure people weren't put off telling universities about mitigating circumstances because they also told the exam board. I agree that such a significant drop is too much to allow but in some cases it may only be 1 grade and the exam board giving up to 5% extra wouldn't necessarily help, whereas universities might be more lenient if it was only 1 grade.


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Such mitigating circumstances as need to be notified to the university should be put in the reference, where they would carry some weight. The teachers writing that reference would make the appropriate comments in support of such circumstances. It is up to the universities to decide what consideration they are going to give to them. Putting such circumstances into a PS is a waste of characters, looks like an excuse and detracts from the purpose of a PS, which is to make a positive statement of interest in, and suitability for, a course to be undertaken in the future, not an apology for the problems of the past.

I didn't mean people should put it in their personal statement, not sure how that came across. I mean make sure that it's in a reference and if relevant ask your school/college to send medical evidence to your universities so they can see you aren't making it up.


Posted from TSR Mobile