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Rejected due to low grades but then going through adjustments after getting A levels

Hi,

I wanted to ask what would be the best thing to do in my situation. I am currently in A2 and i got an A for politics (this is non-linear subject but I will be redoing both exams to get/close to 100 UMS making my A* prediction for more possible, 92 UMS for unit 1 and 75 UMS for paper 2), B for English literature (which was an internal exam) and a D for History.

I really needed an A*AA and if i received a grade up for all my subjects that would have been possible but because of the D at AS for history, which doesn't count, I can't get a high prediction (even though this grade is not a reflection of my true capabilities).

I originally wanted to apply to: UCL, LSE, KCL, QMUL and City as my back up but have had to revise this since to: UCL? KCL, QMUL, SOAS and City. I get a special consideration from KCL so my offer should say something like I have an offer if i get the A*AA even if my grades are a bit off.

My problem is I really want to go to UCL to study law (forgot to mention) but I know if my predicted grades were A*AB (MAX) I would still get rejected and I have spoken to admissions about this. So I wanted to know if I should apply, get rejected and then when I get my results (providing I get A*AA or above) go through adjustments or if i shouldn't apply and just go through adjustments.

if there are any other suggestions on what to do, please let me know because I can't stop stressing about it.
Reply 1
Avatar for scpfcib
scpfcib
12
Apply to a uni youd be willing to go to but is maybe AAA or AAB (Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Nottingham) so you can get an offer to fall back on it. Mention the fact that you ****ed up on your statement and say that you will be able to push your grade with without sounding really arrogant and if you do get good grades then see if you can get into the higher universities, if not the ones I mentioned are definitely good enough. Also, i read that UCL accepts 150/1500 students, so dont expect that youll be accepted
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 2
Avatar for t_student98
t_student98
OP
7
Original post by scpfcib
Apply to a uni youd be willing to go to but is maybe AAA or AAB (Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Nottingham) so you can get an offer to fall back on it. Mention the fact that you ****ed up on your statement and say that you will be able to push your grade with without sounding really arrogant and if you do get good grades then see if you can get into the higher universities, if not the ones I mentioned are definitely good enough. Also, i read that UCL accepts 150/1500 students, so dont expect that youll be accepted


Oh yeah I will definitely get rejected by UCL when I apply but wanted to know if it was better to have applied so they have all my info and then go through adjustments or just pick another more realistic uni and then go through adjustments if I get the grade. So applying to another uni would be better. I wanted to stay in London so might have to look at ones different to the ones you suggested but thank you.

If mocks go well my predicted grades are looking to be A*(politics, confirmed) A (english, based on mocks and coursework) B (history, already impressed with cw, mocks have a big impact now)
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 3
Avatar for scpfcib
scpfcib
12
Original post by t_student98
Oh yeah I will definitely get rejected by UCL when I apply but wanted to know if it was better to have applied so they have all my info and then go through adjustments or just pick another more realistic uni and then go through adjustments if I get the grade. So applying to another uni would be better. I wanted to stay in London so might have to look at ones different to the ones you suggested but thank you.

If mocks go well my predicted grades are looking to be A*(politics, confirmed) A (english, based on mocks and coursework) B (history, already impressed with cw, mocks have a big impact now)


To be honest I dont think knowing that you applied previously would help- maybe even worsen your chances. Another thing, you seem like you know what youre doing in terms of history and had a bit of a blip, I think if you put in a LOT of work from now to when you submit your offers and hand your teacher lots of essays of a good quality that suggest you will get a high grade then have a meeting with them telling them your situation and that youd be willing to work really hard and that it is possible, they should predict an A or even A* or you really push it
Reply 4
Avatar for t_student98
t_student98
OP
7
Original post by scpfcib
To be honest I dont think knowing that you applied previously would help- maybe even worsen your chances. Another thing, you seem like you know what youre doing in terms of history and had a bit of a blip, I think if you put in a LOT of work from now to when you submit your offers and hand your teacher lots of essays of a good quality that suggest you will get a high grade then have a meeting with them telling them your situation and that youd be willing to work really hard and that it is possible, they should predict an A or even A* or you really push it


That is what I am trying to do right now, my problem is the teacher in charge or who will be making the final decision on my predicted grades is my coursework teacher who I see once a week and was on maternity leave last year. It's frustrating because she doesn't know how I did last year as my main teacher has left the school. I do have my other teacher from last year so I'm hoping if is smash my mocks they'll boost it up. Also when my coursework teacher read the first part of my coursework she did question the D at AS and told me that I need to get better at exams because my writing is actually really good so planning to use the mocks as evidence that I can do it under timed conditions too.
Reply 5
Avatar for scpfcib
scpfcib
12
Original post by t_student98
That is what I am trying to do right now, my problem is the teacher in charge or who will be making the final decision on my predicted grades is my coursework teacher who I see once a week and was on maternity leave last year. It's frustrating because she doesn't know how I did last year as my main teacher has left the school. I do have my other teacher from last year so I'm hoping if is smash my mocks they'll boost it up. Also when my coursework teacher read the first part of my coursework she did question the D at AS and told me that I need to get better at exams because my writing is actually really good so planning to use the mocks as evidence that I can do it under timed conditions too.


In that case, you should urgently arrange a meeting/after school/email her telling her your situation, asking her to mark some extra work you are going to do and tell her you are willing to work really hard to smash the grade. If you arrange the meeting and work really hard untill right before the beginning of December (good time to submit ucas application), she should be able to push your predicted grade up
Reply 6
Avatar for t_student98
t_student98
OP
7
Original post by scpfcib
In that case, you should urgently arrange a meeting/after school/email her telling her your situation, asking her to mark some extra work you are going to do and tell her you are willing to work really hard to smash the grade. If you arrange the meeting and work really hard untill right before the beginning of December (good time to submit ucas application), she should be able to push your predicted grade up


Yeah I've already told my parents I might have to hold a meeting because before all the coursework I asked her about predicted grades and all she did was ask what I got for AS and then say that she won't predict me higher than a C. Doing it really frustrating because she wasn't even willing to listen. After that I told my parents that if she wasn't willing to change it (with evidence that I could do better) then they would have to come in.
Agree with above have a formal meeting.

If they dont agree to change it then I think your unis are unrealistic.

Your expectation of adjustment is unrealistic as they are unlikely to have space anyway.

They tend not to look favourably n people they have already considered for that cycle.

Imo get the grades and if needs be apply the following year after a gap.
Reply 8
Avatar for t_student98
t_student98
OP
7
Original post by 999tigger
Agree with above have a formal meeting.

If they dont agree to change it then I think your unis are unrealistic.

Your expectation of adjustment is unrealistic as they are unlikely to have space anyway.

They tend not to look favourably n people they have already considered for that cycle.

Imo get the grades and if needs be apply the following year after a gap.


Yeah I agree too if I don't get the grades I'll change my uni's and possibly take a gap year with my actual grades. I just don't want to take a year out but if I did need to I would. The reason why I don't want to take a gap year is because I changed all my A-Levels after the first year of AS so I've kind of taken a year off.
Original post by t_student98
Yeah I agree too if I don't get the grades I'll change my uni's and possibly take a gap year with my actual grades. I just don't want to take a year out but if I did need to I would. The reason why I don't want to take a gap year is because I changed all my A-Levels after the first year of AS so I've kind of taken a year off.


Its not a race. The alternative is not making it at all.
On the current predicteds then I think your unis are too ambitious.
Depending on what the meeting then you should consider changing accordingly.
Maybe you can do some extra credits to get her to change her mind, but theres a limit to how much they will reconsider if they feel they are being strong armed?
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by 999tigger
Its not a race. The alternative is not making it at all.
On the current predicteds then I think your unis are too ambitious.
Depending on what the meeting then you should consider changing accordingly.
Maybe you can do some extra credits to get her to change her mind, but theres a limit to how much they will reconsider if they feel they are being strong armed?


Yeah that's true, I think I'll see how my mocks go this week and what the response is before I do anything
I forgot to ask- are you doing edexcel politics?
Original post by scpfcib
I forgot to ask- are you doing edexcel politics?


Yeah edexcel politics
Original post by t_student98
Yeah edexcel politics


Youre not doing units 3D and 4D by any chance?
Original post by t_student98
My problem is I really want to go to UCL to study law (forgot to mention) but I know if my predicted grades were A*AB (MAX) I would still get rejected and I have spoken to admissions about this. So I wanted to know if I should apply, get rejected and then when I get my results (providing I get A*AA or above) go through adjustments or if i shouldn't apply and just go through adjustments.

if there are any other suggestions on what to do, please let me know because I can't stop stressing about it.
Even if you had the predicted grades UCL expect that doesn't guarantee you an offer. You need to be rather less fixated about which uni you want to go to. I would also urge you to consider why you want to do a law degree particularly - there are far too many law graduates out there, even from good unis,with no prospect of a training contract. If you genuinely want to study law for its own sake, fine, but if you think this is a guaranteed path to a lucrative career, think again.

If you apply to UCL with the predicted grades you expect and you are rejected, this would not prevent you from approaching them in Adjustment provided you have exceeded whatever your firm offer happens to be. You may or may not be successful in that case, but having been rejected originally would not be an issue. However, just to be absolutely clear, if you have not met and exceeded your firm offer you are not eligible for Adjustment in any case. So, A*A*B would not make you eligible if your firm offer was A*AA.. You also cannot go through Adjustment unless you are holding a firm offer; if you are not holding any offers you have to go through Clearing (and UCL Law is very unlikely to have Clearing places).

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