Why did I get the rejections?

Hi all,
I'm predicted A*A*A in Maths, Economics and Physics respectively. I wrote what I thought was a good personal statement, my school's careers advisor thought so too. Yet I was rejected by Bristol for Mechanical Engineering, they want A*AA. By Durham for General Engineering, they want AAA. And, well I can understand Imperial rejecting me. But what really annoys me is that every time I asked for feedback, I got the same "Many applicants, not enough places blah blah blah". Bristol did offer me the opportunity to apply for Civil, Electronic or Engineering Maths. If the grades listed are lower than the grades actually required, why doesn't it say so? Can anyone shed some light on this or maybe share some personal experiences?

Thanks in advance, K9

Reply 1

claireestelle

22

Original post by pandaK9

Hi all,
I'm predicted A*A*A in Maths, Economics and Physics respectively. I wrote what I thought was a good personal statement, my school's careers advisor thought so too. Yet I was rejected by Bristol for Mechanical Engineering, they want A*AA. By Durham for General Engineering, they want AAA. And, well I can understand Imperial rejecting me. But what really annoys me is that every time I asked for feedback, I got the same "Many applicants, not enough places blah blah blah". Bristol did offer me the opportunity to apply for Civil, Electronic or Engineering Maths. If the grades listed are lower than the grades actually required, why doesn't it say so? Can anyone shed some light on this or maybe share some personal experiences?

Thanks in advance, K9

What were your AS grades?

Reply 2

Han-

9

No personal experience I'm afraid, but do you have other offers? Look on the positive side here.

What were your GCSEs? Maybe that had a part in it. Or maybe your ps was good, but the unis felt it was not as tailored/ appropriate to what they were looking for, compared to other students.

Maybe you could try the Bristol course they offered - if you hate it, you could swap courses once you're in!

Reply 3

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by pandaK9

Hi all,
I'm predicted A*A*A in Maths, Economics and Physics respectively. I wrote what I thought was a good personal statement, my school's careers advisor thought so too. Yet I was rejected by Bristol for Mechanical Engineering, they want A*AA. By Durham for General Engineering, they want AAA. And, well I can understand Imperial rejecting me. But what really annoys me is that every time I asked for feedback, I got the same "Many applicants, not enough places blah blah blah". Bristol did offer me the opportunity to apply for Civil, Electronic or Engineering Maths. If the grades listed are lower than the grades actually required, why doesn't it say so? Can anyone shed some light on this or maybe share some personal experiences?

Thanks in advance, K9

The truth is that there will be many people applying with the same kind of profile that you have, far too many to be offered places. When the applications arrive, they are going to take the best of the crop, and in a subject like engineering where some form of work experience is possible, they may prefer that, or something else you may not have had. The bottom line is that they are looking for tiny, tiny differences to distinguish between a large number of very similar, well-qualified candidates, and you were unlucky.

Reply 4

SlowlorisIncognito

16

Original post by pandaK9

Hi all,
I'm predicted A*A*A in Maths, Economics and Physics respectively. I wrote what I thought was a good personal statement, my school's careers advisor thought so too. Yet I was rejected by Bristol for Mechanical Engineering, they want A*AA. By Durham for General Engineering, they want AAA. And, well I can understand Imperial rejecting me. But what really annoys me is that every time I asked for feedback, I got the same "Many applicants, not enough places blah blah blah". Bristol did offer me the opportunity to apply for Civil, Electronic or Engineering Maths. If the grades listed are lower than the grades actually required, why doesn't it say so? Can anyone shed some light on this or maybe share some personal experiences?

Thanks in advance, K9

I'm sorry to hear about your rejections.

If it was your grades that let you down, universities will usually say. However, they may think your predictions are unrealistically high. If you had a lower performance at AS level or GCSE, this may be part of the problem.

School advisors don't always give the best advice about personal statements, although I would hope a career advisor would be able to spot anything that would be really likely to lead to you being rejected. Equally, it may have been perfectly fine, but other candidates had written something better.

It may be that there was something in your reference that made unis have second thoughts about you.

Bristol do actually offer a lot of detail on how their admissions process works on their website. Perhaps looking at this, if you haven't already, should give you some insight.

I'm not sure there's a huge amount of point trying to second guess the unis, however. They're three popular universities which reject a lot of top applicants every year.

Reply 5

Maker

20

Bristol is a very popular university. Its just a matter of what you have to offer versus better offers from other people.

Reply 6

Kvothe the Arcane

20

For Durham, I suggest emailing for director of studies for more specific feedback. That's what i did for my Natsci rejection after getting the stock reply.

Reply 7

pandaK9

OP

1

Thanks for the quick replies. I got AABB at AS, 4A* 5A 1B at GCSE. I don't think my predictions are unrealistic, my AS revision was quite limited. This year I started at Christmas. I think I am just a "plain" candidate, good grades typical PS etc.
I've got offers to Nottingham (unconditional) and Cardiff tho, so it should be alright. I may take a gap year do further maths/A* in Physics/work experience and reapply, seeing as I'm not really rushing to get started. Or I thought about rejecting my offers and putting down another choice through Extra. What do you think?

Reply 8

alow

19

Original post by pandaK9

Thanks for the quick replies. I got AABB at AS, 4A* 5A 1B at GCSE. I don't think my predictions are unrealistic, my AS revision was quite limited. This year I started at Christmas. I think I am just a "plain" candidate, good grades typical PS etc.
I've got offers to Nottingham (unconditional) and Cardiff tho, so it should be alright. I may take a gap year do further maths/A* in Physics/work experience and reapply, seeing as I'm not really rushing to get started. Or I thought about rejecting my offers and putting down another choice through Extra. What do you think?

I'd say it was the grades. The courses you applied for will have an excess of applicants with AAAA at AS, who are much more likely to achieve their predicted grades.

Reply 9

pandaK9

OP

1

Original post by alow

I'd say it was the grades. The courses you applied for will have an excess of applicants with AAAA at AS, who are much more likely to achieve their predicted grades.

I should say that I come from a school, which does not certificate AS's until you have finished A2's. The universities don't get to see my AS grades. Pretty vital piece of info I missed out there, sorry.

Reply 10

woodburn_97

1

Hi I got AAAB (B in physics) at AS level a few years ago. I didn't get the offers I'd hoped for in year 13, so worked hard at A-level to get better than my predicted grades. I took a gap year and applied for Year in Industry (its paid and if you can secure a good placement very valuable), I would recommend inquiring ASAP to get the best placement. My placement has been rewarding so far. I have managed to get into a good university through this approach. Just some advice.

Reply 11

pandaK9

OP

1

Original post by woodburn_97

Hi I got AAAB (B in physics) at AS level a few years ago. I didn't get the offers I'd hoped for in year 13, so worked hard at A-level to get better than my predicted grades. I took a gap year and applied for Year in Industry (its paid and if you can secure a good placement very valuable), I would recommend inquiring ASAP to get the best placement. My placement has been rewarding so far. I have managed to get into a good university through this approach. Just some advice.

I have been thinking about doing a gap year. Whatever the case I'm aiming for an A* in Maths and Physics and at least an A in economics. That way if I do a gap year I wont have to worry about retaking, although I may do further maths as I said. I have heard about the YINI scheme and may decide to give it a go. Although I am thinking of applying to Southampton through ucas extra, for mech eng. From what I've heard/read they have a very good course.

Reply 12

SlowlorisIncognito

16

Original post by pandaK9

Thanks for the quick replies. I got AABB at AS, 4A* 5A 1B at GCSE. I don't think my predictions are unrealistic, my AS revision was quite limited. This year I started at Christmas. I think I am just a "plain" candidate, good grades typical PS etc.
I've got offers to Nottingham (unconditional) and Cardiff tho, so it should be alright. I may take a gap year do further maths/A* in Physics/work experience and reapply, seeing as I'm not really rushing to get started. Or I thought about rejecting my offers and putting down another choice through Extra. What do you think?

Have you seen any unis in Extra you would prefer to Nottingham/Cardiff? Before rejecting your offers, it would be worth emailing the unis to make sure they still have spaces, as sometimes unis don't withdraw from Extra even if they don't have places available anymore.

Taking a gap year and reapplying could be a good choice- you could even make the decision on or just after results day, once you know that you have the grades that the universities are looking for.

I know you said the uni doesn't see your AS grades, but by "realistic" I meant statistically realistic- the uni won't know you didn't revise properly for AS levels unless your teachers mentioned this (which would be a major red flag for some unis).

Reply 13

swanseajack1

19

my concern is that taking a gap year wont necessarily get you offers from these universities next year. They are extremely popular and they might just feel there are other better candidates. It is for you to decide but you do really think about this.

Reply 14

pandaK9

OP

1

Original post by SlowlorisIncognito

Have you seen any unis in Extra you would prefer to Nottingham/Cardiff? Before rejecting your offers, it would be worth emailing the unis to make sure they still have spaces, as sometimes unis don't withdraw from Extra even if they don't have places available anymore.Taking a gap year and reapplying could be a good choice- you could even make the decision on or just after results day, once you know that you have the grades that the universities are looking for.I know you said the uni doesn't see your AS grades, but by "realistic" I meant statistically realistic- the uni won't know you didn't revise properly for AS levels unless your teachers mentioned this (which would be a major red flag for some unis).

I understand, shame about not working. I know that not working was not mentioned by teachers etc. Well I have emailed Southampton asking if they have places and what the likelihood of them making me an offer is. They responded today saying they do have places and that with my grades there is a strong chance of an offer. I'm yet to decide if they're better than Cardiff or Nottingham, just because a league table says so. A gap year may be a good idea, but I won't take this decision now. I'll at least wait for my results.

Original post by swanseajack1

my concern is that taking a gap year wont necessarily get you offers from these universities next year. They are extremely popular and they might just feel there are other better candidates. It is for you to decide but you do really think about this.

I'm hoping that adding further maths to my repertoire will help. Also I will be doing volunteering, working and whatever else I can do to help me with my application.

Thanks for the advice. I've sort of calmed down.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

Science_help

6

Original post by pandaK9

Thanks for the quick replies. I got AABB at AS, 4A* 5A 1B at GCSE. I don't think my predictions are unrealistic, my AS revision was quite limited. This year I started at Christmas. I think I am just a "plain" candidate, good grades typical PS etc.
I've got offers to Nottingham (unconditional) and Cardiff tho, so it should be alright. I may take a gap year do further maths/A* in Physics/work experience and reapply, seeing as I'm not really rushing to get started. Or I thought about rejecting my offers and putting down another choice through Extra. What do you think?

omg, you got an unconditional from Nottingham , wow , that would be a dream come true for me. what course did you apply for, and do you ahev to make it firm to get the offer ?

Reply 16

pandaK9

OP

1

Original post by Science_help

omg, you got an unconditional from Nottingham , wow , that would be a dream come true for me. what course did you apply for, and do you ahev to make it firm to get the offer ?