Panicking a LOT - Any luck in appealing for me?

In 2022 I applied to Glasgow for their Politics course and got a conditional offer of AAB.
The same year I completed my A-levels and got A*, A*, B, A* in Politics, Economics, Maths and EPQ (Politics Based) Respectively and decided to take a gap year (as I needed to make some money to go to university) and re-apply to Glasgow using a slightly updated version of my personal statement.
I sent my 2023 application in December and only got a response back in May - Over five months!! - , being a rejection, even though I got higher grades in my A-levels than my the offer I was accepted for last year.
The reasoning for the rejection other than it being "high competition" (Which I find incredibly dubious) seems to be that I did not talk enough about what I was going to be doing academically during my gap year.
Given the fact that I both have ADHD which makes planning such things immensely challenging for me (Though I have managed to do a fair bit since I sent off my application) as well as the fact that I when I sent my application off, I was dealing with some pretty severe family troubles weighing on my mind, do you think there is any chance at all for the Glasgow admissions team to be able to do anything at all? And if not, what is the best plan of action for me as I am panicking a lot.

Reply 1

mike23mike

Confused why last year you did not ask to defer entry. Most unis will agree since you had been selected for entry to 2022 and achieved (more than achieved) the grades needed.

Each year the competition for places will vary. Being brutal, an International student is worth more to Glasgow than a student from England. In Scotland, the Scottish Government allocate a set number of places for each course since the Scottish Government still pays for courses - Scottish students pay only a few hundred quid. However, Scottish universities are then allowed to recruit students from UK and International students. They can charge UK students the usual £9250 but can charge International students over double that amount. Thus, its in the interests of Scottish unis to fill their courses with International students. Hence why so many Americans come to Glasgow and Edinburgh to study vet science - £26k a year is still cheaper than the usual Vet course fees of $60k a year.

Thus, you are not competing against other Brits but against the fat fees an International student brings in.

It's the same for UK unis, they can only charge Brits £9250k a year but charge International students double that.