Missing the grades for university offers

Sometimes they’ll accept you. I got into Bristol in 2015 with exactly that situation - AAA offer, I got A*AB, and they accepted me. But that was a while ago now and there’s other stuff like COVID going on. Whether that works for or against you, I couldn’t speculate. Also like the other folks say - it depends on the course and the uni.

Your chances of getting in with A*AB don’t really matter. Rather than trying to exactly finesse your grades to hit that, just do the absolute best you can. That way even if you don’t get in, you can say to yourself, ’’well, I did the absolute best I could.’’

Totally depends on how lenient the uni is and the course numbers, as well as what type of course it is.

I needed AAA for a course that included maths, and because I got a B in maths they said no because it was quite a heavy requirement for the course. So it could also depend on which subject you don’t do as expected in.

That being said, my insurance offer was also AAA and they accepted me because they seemed to have lower application numbers and my other grades ‘made up’ for the shortfall.

It’s always worth phoning you the uni’s clearance line on results day too (or whenever it opens) if you don’t get it but still want to go. I’ve known a few people who even though they initially said no, the clearance people allowed them to still attend.

Thank you for your reply, I hadn’t thought of it like that in terms of just doing the best I can 😌 Did you anticipate that you may not do as well in a subject than you’d hoped for; and if so how did you plan ahead for what to do the next year if you missed out on your firm/insurance?

We can't really give a better answer than "it depends on how many spaces they have".

I was pretty sure I’d hit AAA but I also applied to a different uni that gave me an ABB offer if I remember correctly, and I had that one as my insurance. So I was set up

I know you’re not meant to pick unis based on reputation etc but if you hadn’t got into Bristol would you have considered reapplying and retaking the year to meet their offer rather than going to your insurance? Or do you think that if I got into my insurance choice (which is not as renowned as the firm) it will be ok? I don’t know wether to settle for it but then feel disadvantaged later in life if say students from a ‘better’ uni are more employable, though I don’t know if this is actually the case!

Hello, thanks for responding! If a uni has given out the offers then aren’t the spaces there to be filled, even if the people being offered don’t achieve the grades? Or do they rely on people not meeting them in order for there not to be too many people on the course? Also, do you know who would be prioritised, people who put a uni as their firm choice and missed the grades or someone who put the uni as their insurance and got the grades? Thankyou

If Bristol hadn’t let me in, I’d happily have gone to Surrey, which was my insurance. It’s not as prestigious but it seemed like a great, vigorous, up-and-coming kind of place when I visited for their open day. I don’t think going there would have disadvantaged me. But that’s just my personal opinion of the universities I chose - you might be considering different ones and my opinion is no more important than anyone’s to be honest.

They over-offer (usually by quite a lot) because not everyone will pick them as firm or insurance, some will pick them as insurance and get their firm, some will miss the offer, some will decide to take a gap year, and so on. Tl;dr there's a lot of people that for one reason or another don't take up the place/offer given.

Someone who put the university as insurance and got the grades is automatically guaranteed a place, so they're not really "prioritised" in the sense that you'd never compete with them. Generally the better grades you have (ie. the fewer grades you've missed by), the better position you're in, though they might consider any number of other parts of your application as tiebreakers. (they might go back to your PS, etc.)

Thank you, it’s nice to hear someone else’s insight rather than just wondering these thing in my head 😊

If you’re worried then talk to your firm choice and ask what they normally do for your course where applicants miss the exact offer conditions like this. They’ll be able to explain whether they usually have some flexibility and whether performance in specific subjects will be important to that decision. You can also ask them what their opinion is on someone resitting and reapplying after missing their firm offer.

The last few years my uni have been saying that if you firm them, then they will still accept you if you drop a grade but I cant say this is the same for other unis or whether they are doing it this year as all the open days have been virtual so haven't worked one to know