Should the uni admissions system change?

Their is a huge benefit to applying after grades have been released for both universities and students.
But their is a very tight window to turn it around.

But overall I do think capping the amount of uni's you can apply to helps. & the nationalised examinations and application procedure do make for a very level playing field.

Changes I would like to see:
- 1 exam board
- GPA grading (not tiers) (I would like to see this at high school & university level).
- No exam resits

I personally think a system could work where A-levels are split into 4 exams January & June year 12 & 13. That way students would have 50% of grades banked before year 13 (which would help with narrowing the list of unis to apply to) and unis could wait till after the January year 13 grades for offers meaning 75% of grades are sorted when offers get distributed and its pretty clear where a student is likely to land.

Also the GPA system means overall and subject performances can be seen exactly where a student has performed and thus a student has one narrow miss doesn't pull down a full qualification.

This system is very similar to what happens in Wales and occurred in England before Gove decided he wanted to get rid of AS level in England to go back years to how A levels were in his days.

I dont see the need to change the Admissions Procedure. To do this would mean bringing exams forward or putting the start of start of university backwards. The vast majority of applicants get offers from most of their choices. Those who get rejected would be unlikely to get in anyway and can use extra, adjustment or clearing. Certainly the use of modular exams as you suggest would help better inform students and universities.

Their is a huge benefit to applying after grades have been released for both universities and students.
But their is a very tight window to turn it around.

But overall I do think capping the amount of uni's you can apply to helps. & the nationalised examinations and application procedure do make for a very level playing field.

Changes I would like to see:
- 1 exam board
- GPA grading (not tiers) (I would like to see this at high school & university level).
- No exam resits

I personally think a system could work where A-levels are split into 4 exams January & June year 12 & 13. That way students would have 50% of grades banked before year 13 (which would help with narrowing the list of unis to apply to) and unis could wait till after the January year 13 grades for offers meaning 75% of grades are sorted when offers get distributed and its pretty clear where a student is likely to land.

Also the GPA system means overall and subject performances can be seen exactly where a student has performed and thus a student has one narrow miss doesn't pull down a full qualification.

I think the current system is flawed and it should be that students apply once they have their grades, as quite often students with lower predicted grades get better final grades but they miss out on opportunities to go to good universities. On the other hand we could have a student with good predicted but doesn't quite achieve the same on his exams, but is still offered a place. This system is flawed and isn't exactly fair, nor does it promote equal opportunities.

1. Post-qualification applications: Applications are submitted AFTER exam results (around July), with offers and decisions being made before courses start in October.

• Pros: You don’t have to apply until you have your results
• Cons: Potentially you’ll have a very short window (2-3 months) to apply for uni and get ready (including student finance, accommodation etc); Risk that a shorter time window means that Unis will only be able to look at your grades and not the rest of your profile.

Would you rather revisit the way applications are made – do you think these models work? Or have you got a better idea?

Plus it will break poor old SFE (they pretty much manage to pay everyone who applies between February and end June on time at the moment - if everyone is applying for finance in July and August then it's going to cause chaos). Although maybe the government will "fix" that problem by scrapping student loans and making students apply for universal credit instead

- GPA grading (not tiers) (I would like to see this at high school & university level).

I think we should start standardised computer based testing on multiple choice for all courses (The reason I say multiple choice is because marking is infinitely cheaper and much easier on a large scale, which is what they do in India China US etc) . So Medicine already have this (UCAT for those who don't know as well as BMAT but the essay bit is still there). So for example lets take Maths as a course, simple maths A level questions very harsh timing, and yh that's all. Make it hard enough to see a large enough spread of students to differentiate them. Economics - Do multiple choice tests, there's an abundance of questions from the last 100 years or something crazy, just use those. Computer science - Use maths tests
Engineering and physics - maths and physics mix. Bio chem do the same. LAW - LSAT is already there, hence why their process is so efficient.

History - 1 essay test that unis can see, no computer marking. word limit 30 min time frame.
Subjects that are remaining but these are the minority anyway - do something like the SAT or TSA, as it shows thinking skills altogether.
Arts subjects - send portfolio etc to uni

another proposal for uni choices is a preference system like the old days. Lets say u want to go to oxbridge, durham Warwick Manchester York. Now u would put a number of preference as to which uni u want to go. Unis now have a list of student as preference 1 , 2 , 3 4, 5. this means that students apply to courses they actually like rather than taking up space as a safety or just filing up the space. I have offers from all 5 unis and I know I wouldve never gone to 3 of them as I was confident that ill get into my top 2 choices. My friends have applied for same course at same uni and have been rejected when they actually wanted to go to that uni. Essentially this system will ensure that unis offer to people who want to go to that uni. And it will also make students more precautious of their choosing rather than just filling in unis for the sake of it. My friend applied for compsci at 5 top unis, rejected from 4, same goes for med engineering this year. I think a preference system will allocate spaces fairly.

A big problem I find with the system is as a mature student or even one that has taken a year or two out, they don't have guidance tutors to help them with the application process and for mature students even more lack of funding/support to help with personal statements.

Take me for example I went straight to college after school in part as I was bullied, in past as I got a grant and at school would of got nothing, at college I got a free bus pass and fares were expensive.

I then took a few years out to just be a young person, got a job, went on nights out and not rush myself but when it came to a PS I felt I could no longer write one, I had the qualifications and intelligence to study but was very rusty and began to forget parts of my school education.

So I had to compete with people who had education fresh in their minds, various methods of support and sometimes even preference as they wanted younger students (yes I had that bias even when I applied for certain college courses) To me if someone is say in their mid 20's and has a interview after being out of education for years, more should be done to see the positives in what they did say even if the interview itself was much worse than someone still at school who has education fresh in their mind and who has recieved coaching/support. I say that sort of things not just for education but in the workplace, someone who may come from a poorer background and with less opportunities may only achieve a certain level of lifestyle/work but someone else may have a better background, and worked in "better" jobs but barely gone above what they started at in life if at all, that would make the 1st person seem they can go above whats expected of them - sorry little side story.

I think it would be great if it was normal to take a gap year before going to university and govt facilitated jobs in community service, in health, food banks, outdoor things like path building in national parks, military, big company sponsorships (which used to be common for engineering), classroom assistant jobs, so a bit like National Service. People could apply to university from their gap year. It would mean people were not rushed into a degree which might not be the right subject for them, but could get their results and some world experience before deciding what they really wanted to do next.

My interpretation of that, correct me if I'm wrong, is that they are saying that predicted grades might actually be slightly better for under-represented groups (mainly because state schools are far more lax with the predictions they make, I suspect), therefore they are "fair"?

Seems a very interesting definition of fair doesn't it?! My understanding is that predicted grades are horribly inaccurate. That alone makes them 'unfair', and is sufficient to make every effort to get rid of them!


So solve the time problem by bringing back national service basically