The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

MPs to probe unconditional offers from universities

Scroll to see replies

Original post by nexttime
How?! A school can't just unilaterally ban certain graduation options from its students!
Although I don't go as far as PQ, schools can do more to make students aware of why many universities offer unconditionals. No they cannot ban anything of the sort. But teachers are often the people who find themselves giving advice on which offers to firm.
Original post by CoolCavy
Well I personally didn't slack off revision. Was given an unconditional cos I did well at the interview and then got AAA*. There is this annoying stigma that everyone who gets unconditional just coasts the rest of the year. It was also my favourite uni in the first place. I got unconditional from another uni but that wouldn't have made me want to go there since I didn't like it. Most of the pressure to slack off or whatever comes from other students 'oh you have an unconditional you don't even need to be here' 'why are you stressed' etc etc


Any advice on how you did it? Also, which uni and courses were those? :smile:
Possibly. I can't say with certainty, but I had BBC after A-Levels and the uni I applied to required ABB. It was weird that I got an unconditional offer from that uni while another I applied to requiring BBC gave me a conditional offer. I'm still skeptical of the offer from the ABB uni, but It's weird.
Original post by 999tigger
Ambivalent. Its a competitive market. Some analysis on whether unconditional candidates perform significantly worse might be interesting. If they do then there might be some cause for concern. They still form a relatively small % (an increase of 17x from a small base can be misleading) of offers though and I expect many of them are ignored. If candidates perform poorly then the overall rep of the uni will eventually decline..

Imo there ought to be some compulsory education for sixth formers about choosing unis and the pitfalls of student debt etc..


Might be a problem if you start a course, drop out because you can't finish it, get stuck with the nominal debt (which won't even start to be repaid until you begin earning above a certain amount anyway...) ... but I suspect this is why they want to look into it further.
Reply 84
Avatar for Doones
Doones
21
Original post by Paranoid_Glitch
Possibly. I can't say with certainty, but I had BBC after A-Levels and the uni I applied to required ABB. It was weird that I got an unconditional offer from that uni while another I applied to requiring BBC gave me a conditional offer. I'm still skeptical of the offer from the ABB uni, but It's weird.


It's simply because the ABB university has a marketing strategy to "encourage" applicants into picking them instead of their competitors.
Original post by Doonesbury
It's simply because the ABB university has a marketing strategy to "encourage" applicants into picking them instead of their competitors.
I wish I knew that. There were so many more ABB unis I'd like to have applied to.
Reply 86
Avatar for Doones
Doones
21
Original post by Paranoid_Glitch
I wish I knew that. There were so many more ABB unis I'd like to have applied to.


The strategy may be particular to this specific university though. By no means all ABB universities do this. And it's a strategy to benefit the university, not the student.

Which university is it?
Original post by TCA2b
Might be a problem if you start a course, drop out because you can't finish it, get stuck with the nominal debt (which won't even start to be repaid until you begin earning above a certain amount anyway...) ... but I suspect this is why they want to look into it further.


As ive pointed out previously some data on outcomes is worth doing but I doubt the results of a BBB person are going to be significantly different. They arent offering places to people who would be drop out potentials but a lot of the time for people who are above and thats the way to give them a nudge, Its a bribe/ incentive.
Original post by 999tigger
As ive pointed out previously some data on outcomes is worth doing but I doubt the results of a BBB person are going to be significantly different. They arent offering places to people who would be drop out potentials but a lot of the time for people who are above and thats the way to give them a nudge, Its a bribe/ incentive.


Well they're probably doing it to obtain that data.
Original post by TCA2b
Well they're probably doing it to obtain that data.


Not with a select committee. It would require some actual data collection and analysis, which would take longer. They just ask some questions, but if they feel theres an issue then they could recommend its looked into.
If they do it after an interview or something then it's clear they really like you, and that's fair enough. Any other ones I've seen have been blatant bribery to try to get students to go to unis that they would've otherwise not rated highly.

That unconditional if firmed malarky is scummy imo. My friend got one of those and seriously considering firming it even though he thought it was a worse uni than his other choices. It's designed just to try and get dudes who aren't so confident to disregard unis they actually like.
Original post by Doonesbury
The strategy may be particular to this specific university though. By no means all ABB universities do this. And it's a strategy to benefit the university, not the student.

Which university is it?


TBF it's mutually beneficial.
Reply 92
Avatar for Doones
Doones
21
Original post by 999tigger
TBF it's mutually beneficial.


Not on average. You saw PQs post.
Original post by Doonesbury
Not on average. You saw PQs post.


Not on average is an insufficient argument. Some students will benefit. there is also the fact that if some students slack, then thats the responsibility of the student and isnt down to the uni.
Original post by CoolCavy
Well I personally didn't slack off revision. Was given an unconditional cos I did well at the interview and then got AAA*. There is this annoying stigma that everyone who gets unconditional just coasts the rest of the year. It was also my favourite uni in the first place. I got unconditional from another uni but that wouldn't have made me want to go there since I didn't like it. Most of the pressure to slack off or whatever comes from other students 'oh you have an unconditional you don't even need to be here' 'why are you stressed' etc etc


I commend you for not slacking off on revision. Back when I applied for university, unconditional offers were virtually unheard of though until grades were confirmed. It's clear that universities are simply using them as a cash cow now that they've been turned into a marketplace.
I think they you should be allowed to give unconditionals just not unconditionals if firmed.
(edited 6 years ago)
It's quite an effective tool lower ranked unis can use to win over risk-averse applicants from better universities. I suppose my gripe with it is that it's probably not a great thing for social mobility. Applicants from a working class background who have the work ethic and abilities to succeed at some of the best universities are probably more likely to be swayed by an unconditional offer from a lower-ranked university (they need certainty about what comes next, can't afford a year out to reapply, getting into any university is an achievement given their background etc). At the very least sixth forms should be telling people not to immediately opt for an unconditional.
The majority of politicians, especially the tories were educated at Oxbridge universities, however considering Oxbridge very rarely hand out unconditional offers, perhaps the number of unconditionals recieved has increased. Therefore, it is ironically hypocriticaly since the competition for these universities have significantly increased.
Theresa May, David Cameron, Jeremy Hunt, Boris Johnson and a plethora of other MPs who were educated at Oxbridge, would undoubtedly never have stood a chance in today's competition; neither of them would be accepted by admissions tutors.
Reply 98
Avatar for Doones
Doones
21
Original post by Science99999
Theresa May, David Cameron, Jeremy Hunt, Boris Johnson and a plethora of other MPs who were educated at Oxbridge, would undoubtedly never have stood a chance in today's competition; neither of them would be accepted by admissions tutors.


How do you know? Those 4 were academically strong.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Arguably, the government has created this by causing funding issues in higher education. Some universities have chosen to deal with this by trying to get as many students as possible- and locking students into "unconditional if firmed" offers is one way of doing this. I do agree it can be manipulative, especially if it encourages a student to accept a place they otherwise wouldn't have. I don't think it's the unis fault if the student stops working as hard at A-level though!

Of course it's a form of bribery, but while universities are free market and rely on league table places to help recruit students, some universities are going to follow unethical policies in order to try and recruit as many of the best students as possible.

Since the removal of student quotas and the changes in tuition fees, arguably university admissions have changed hugely. The answer is possibly to fund universities properly!

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you