How lenient are Durham with grades?

Hey guys,

Just wondering how lenient Durham are with grades. My offer is AAA. Hopefully I'll get A*AA, but will they accept me if I end up with A*AB or AAB maybe?

The course is geography BSc. Hope someone can help!

Skips :smile:

Reply 1

fw1

6

Original post by CplSkippy

Hey guys,

Just wondering how lenient Durham are with grades. My offer is AAA. Hopefully I'll get A*AA, but will they accept me if I end up with A*AB or AAB maybe?

The course is geography BSc. Hope someone can help!

Skips :smile:

They may accept you if you don't meet your exact offer. I was accepted with A*AB with an AAA offer, but they do consider this as a 'near miss' and not equivalent.
Be warned, Durham are not as lenient as other universities sometimes are and may make you wait a week until they reach a decision on whether they will accept any near misses. All near miss students also get placed back into the college allocation pool, so may end up at a different college. There is information on 'near miss' candidates on their website.
You will be able to find threads from past years from students who were messed about for lengthy periods that narrowly missed offers.
Good luck - I hope you reach your offer and do not need to go through this. All the best!

Reply 2

S2M

22

Original post by CplSkippy

Hey guys,

Just wondering how lenient Durham are with grades. My offer is AAA. Hopefully I'll get A*AA, but will they accept me if I end up with A*AB or AAB maybe?

The course is geography BSc. Hope someone can help!

Skips :smile:

No-one can say with certainty what will happen. You're more likely to be rejected if you get lower than your offer. However if your offer is similar it may be accepted. E.g. Your offer is AAA, but they may also accept A*AB or higher. To find out for sure, the best thing would be to contact the university and ask them.

Reply 3

AlexBakSik

11

Original post by fw1

They may accept you if you don't meet your exact offer. I was accepted with A*AB with an AAA offer, but they do consider this as a 'near miss' and not equivalent.
Be warned, Durham are not as lenient as other universities sometimes are and may make you wait a week until they reach a decision on whether they will accept any near misses. All near miss students also get placed back into the college allocation pool, so may end up at a different college. There is information on 'near miss' candidates on their website.
You will be able to find threads from past years from students who were messed about for lengthy periods that narrowly missed offers.
Good luck - I hope you reach your offer and do not need to go through this. All the best!

Do you mind me asking what course this was for?

Reply 4

fw1

6

Original post by S2M

No-one can say with certainty what will happen. You're more likely to be rejected if you get lower than your offer. However if your offer is similar it may be accepted. E.g. Your offer is AAA, but they may also accept A*AB or higher. To find out for sure, the best thing would be to contact the university and ask them.

I agree that no-one can say with certainty whether you will secure a place if you miss your offer; that clearly depends on many factors. However, you can be absolutely certain that as far as Durham are concerned a student achieving A* A B with an offer of AAA is considered to have 'missed' their offer and there are a whole set of procedures around 'near misses' which are explained on Durham's website.
Many students do go to Durham even though they achieve equivalent grades and I'm sure students probably go every year with lower grades, but Durham operates in its own unique fashion. A quick search will reveal the stresses many students have experienced as 'near misses' in past years.

Reply 5

fw1

6

Original post by AlexBakSik

Do you mind me asking what course this was for?

Politics, but I'm sure you still stand every chance as a 'near miss' across lots of subjects. Good luck - try not to worry. Hopefully you don't need any of this information,

Reply 6

orlagh.brennan

4

Im in the same boat with law, and I am really unsure about how lenient they will be with an A*AA offer - the website doesnt really make it 100% clear, or at least I found that to be the case

Reply 7

WhiteyBread101

21

Original post by CplSkippy

Hey guys,

Just wondering how lenient Durham are with grades. My offer is AAA. Hopefully I'll get A*AA, but will they accept me if I end up with A*AB or AAB maybe?

The course is geography BSc. Hope someone can help!

Skips :smile:

Original post by orlagh.brennan

Im in the same boat with law, and I am really unsure about how lenient they will be with an A*AA offer - the website doesnt really make it 100% clear, or at least I found that to be the case

Durham like to give away every available place they have as soon as possible to near miss candidates, they don't wait until the deadline for remarks. Last year, I was in the position where my offer was A*AA and I got AAB, with one of the As and the B a few UMS off the next grade up. However, because this was in more than one subject, I wasn't considered a 'near miss' so my place was given to someone who was closer to their offer, even before my remarks could come back. If you do miss your offer and remarks come back successfully though, you are offered deferred entry for the next year and a place on the waiting list (as I was) and luckily I got in this year through the waiting list when my remarks came back massively improved

Reply 8

Tortoises172

9

I was rejected with A*A*M1 for an A*AD3 offer last year for history. In my opinion you can't get much of a nearer miss than that (and one of the A*s was in History) so they can be very strict. Having said that, I now hold an unconditional offer to start in October for the same course and I did no retakes. I did have extenuating circumstances relating very specifically to the missed grade however, which I discussed with them and sent in evidence for.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 9

Dalek1099

21

I know a friend who nearly didn't get into Durham University when they had actually met their offer but the exam board had calculated the grades wrong and he told them about it but they said he might have to wait until next year but he did end up getting in eventually but it wasn't until September I think. Thats how strict they are if they were lenient they would have just took him in based on missing one grade, which he actually hadn't missed.

Reply 10

maylam0515

8

Hey! Im applying to do law as well and just wanted to ask you whether they ended up lowering their offer or accepting you even if you didn't achieve the A*AA requirements? Thanks!

How lenient are Durham with grades?

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