Reapplication

(edited 8 months ago)

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Hi guys hope your all well. I got my place to do physics at Durham when I got my results so very happy, but I am thinking of reapplying for 2024 entry and doing a gap year to try and get into Oxford/London unis/St Andrews where I was unsuccessful last year.

I got A*A*A*A* at A Level (maths, physics, chem, further maths) and 99999999999 at GCSE (albeit in 2021 where I think it was a bit skewed, and I've heard most unis don't care if you got an 8 or 9). But is this basically all irrelevant until I do the PAT test? (atleast for Oxford), and is it stupid to turn down my offer at Durham which I am happy with... I am worried that when I reapply to Durham they might realise I turned them down this year and not give me a second chance, which would suck.

Other than Oxford (and the PAT test), what makes you think you might have a better shot at "London unis/St Andrews" next time around, given that your grades literally couldn't be any better? What will be different?

Reply 2

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by billyadamson

Well I dont know, but my predicted grades were the same as what I actually got and they still were not enough to get into St Andrews last year, for example, so I don't really know. The only thing that is different is that I actually have my grades rather than them just being predicted, which I would hope is more valuable to a university, but maybe it is not.

Hello,

The grades being official will automatically get you unconditional offers to universities that don't require further interviews. This is due to you having actual grades, rather than predicted grades, which would lend you the regular conditional offers.

The only other reason I can see universities rejecting you would be personal statement related. With that said, I think you will be perfectly fine with any university you choose with the grades you have gotten. The actual grades will be more valuable to a university than people with predicted, so long as you apply before the initial UCAS deadlines.

Hope this helps,
Dom

Reply 3

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by billyadamson

I agree with you that someone with 4xA* achieved should have more "value" than someone with 4xA* predicted. So you absolutely have that going for you.

What confuses me a little is that you didn't get an offer from many (most?) of your target unis with those predicted grades, and 11x9 at GCSE. So who did?! Whoever got offers can't have exceeded your grades (unless they were all gap year applicants, who had 4xA* achieved vs. your 4xA* predicted - which seems unlikely).

So they must have had some "X" factor which your application didn't. Perhaps they were all international students (£££), or perhaps your personal statement or school reference was weak. Whatever it was, I'm not sure that just rolling the dice and trying again next year would be the approach I'd take.

You have an excellent (well, faultless!) set of grades and you have a place at an excellent university. If you think you can ignore the nagging "what if" thoughts which are clearly bothering you right now, I'd stick with Durham. (And I certainly wouldn't be as confident as @Lancaster Student Ambassador that your grades "will automatically get you unconditional offers to universities that don't require further interview".)