Getting an offer I can't achieve?

Hi all,

Applied to study Politics next year at Uni of Leicester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Birmingham. I have offers from all but Bham so far.

I'm on a gap year atm but i'm re-sitting some coursework and an exam to achive grades of ABB, so I applied with these predicted grades to the aforementioned institutions.

My offers from Leeds and Newcastle are both subject to me attaining AAB, which I can't physically achieve with the exams i'm re-sitting. Was wondering why they would give me an offer I can't actually get, if they would let me in with ABB anyway, and what I should do next.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all,

Applied to study Politics next year at Uni of Leicester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Birmingham. I have offers from all but Bham so far.

I'm on a gap year atm but i'm re-sitting some coursework and an exam to achive grades of ABB, so I applied with these predicted grades to the aforementioned institutions.

My offers from Leeds and Newcastle are both subject to me attaining AAB, which I can't physically achieve with the exams i'm re-sitting. Was wondering why they would give me an offer I can't actually get, if they would let me in with ABB anyway, and what I should do next.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

universities tend to make standard offers which they publish. You should not have applied if you felt you cannot reach those grades.
Whether they will accept you on a lower grade no one can tell. It will depend on the number of applicants reaching their grades and whether they are able to fill all their places. They wont know that until results are out. The reason people generally suggest you have one aspirational course and three at your grades and one lower as an insurance is to cover most eventualities.

Are those the standard offers? If so, you shouldn't be surprised since those are the offers you should expect to get and they are made available on the website and prospectus. You could email them to explain your situation since there's a chance they might give you some leniency but if those are their standard offers then I wouldn't expect there to be any changes...

Standard for Leeds but not Newcastle. Leeds was my aspirational choice.

Standard for Leeds but not Newcastle. Leeds was my aspirational choice.

I'm looking at Newcastle's Politics prospectus and it says AAA-ABB? So it is a standard offer. Again, email them, but they're completely entitled to stick with those offers.

your comments actually state AAB which I can't physically achieve with the exams I am resitting. Why then apply to Leeds when then their offer is clearly shown as AAB below. It is fine with an aspirational offer you think you can achieve but when you yourself state you cannot achieve it what was the point of applying and you should not be surprised with the offer made;
UCAS code L200
75 places
3 years full-time
6 years part-time
A level: AAB

I was informed by my sixth form they would consider a single grade below their offered grades so it was worth sending in an application anyway since I have nothing to lose by sending one in. I'm surprised because I assumed if they weren't willing to offer one grade lower they would just reject me.[/QUO
They might or might not accept a grade lower on results day but their offer would not change. No one including the university will know that until they see how many of their applicants achieve their grades. They have made you an offer as they often do. It is for you to ensure you resit enough modules to get the desired grades. Universities often make offers where the predicted grades fall short as it is always possible a student might exceed their predicted grades. That is why people choose an aspirational university. Newcastle show a range AAA-ABB. As CLR states the lower grade is usually the contextual offer so you could very well have ended up with AAA