Do I have a chance?

So i've applied for university at Glasgow, Aberdeen, Strathclyde, Edinburgh and Dundee for Law (either Scots Law or Dual qualifying both English and Scottish Law). My predicted grades at the moment of sending off my UCAS application are B C D I believe. However, these are just due to mental health and recently I have been working towards an A for all subjects however, we have not yet had a progress review to show this just yet. Oh and I'm taking an Extended Project Qualification. Anyways, I honestly believe I will most definitely get the target grades for these universities, although that will not be displayed until my actual A-Levels. Considering my good grades at GCSE and brief mention of mental health in my UCAS application, will these universities still give me an offer? I heard they base their responses purely off our predicted grades at this current time and it honestly scares me as I know that is most certainly not my potential. Does anyone, who is currently at university or specifically one of these have any advice? possible situations they themselves have found to receive contextual offers in?

So i've applied for university at Glasgow, Aberdeen, Strathclyde, Edinburgh and Dundee for Law (either Scots Law or Dual qualifying both English and Scottish Law). My predicted grades at the moment of sending off my UCAS application are B C D I believe. However, these are just due to mental health and recently I have been working towards an A for all subjects however, we have not yet had a progress review to show this just yet. Oh and I'm taking an Extended Project Qualification. Anyways, I honestly believe I will most definitely get the target grades for these universities, although that will not be displayed until my actual A-Levels. Considering my good grades at GCSE and brief mention of mental health in my UCAS application, will these universities still give me an offer? I heard they base their responses purely off our predicted grades at this current time and it honestly scares me as I know that is most certainly not my potential. Does anyone, who is currently at university or specifically one of these have any advice? possible situations they themselves have found to receive contextual offers in?

Hey there @cigaretteash
Our faculties make admissions decisions based on individual's potential to succeed in the degree course, and we'll take your full application in to consideration. I can't guarantee that you will definitely be made an offer, but I can say that we won't be looking solely at your predicted grades and we'll read the Personal Statement and the Reference and make an offer where we can.

My main advice is try not to panic! You've done your best and it's out of your control now - there's nothing further you can do other than keep your head down and study well to bump your grades up Treat every piece of coursework and hand-in like it contributes towards your grade and get yourself in a good working mindset. Little by little things will feel more manageable.

Would you like to pop me a PM over and we can chat in more detail? You can send me your UCAS ID if you'd like and I can have a look at your application

- Caitlin
Official University of Strathclyde Rep

Is this really realistic advice for the candidate? How many non-contextual offers for law has Strathclyde made based on a predicted BCD?

I also have a problem with your offering to personally review this candidate's UCAS application (even going so far as to ask for his UCAS ID). Will you be offering this personal service to every candidate who has applied? It's important to be even-handed and totally transparent about applications, and offering to review an application via PM based on a post on TSR really isn't OK.

Do you work in Admissions, or are you a student rep?

Hello @Reality Check Thanks for your message! I'm a staff member at the university.

The reason I'd asked for the UCAS ID (and this was totally optional) was so I could see the full application and offer some reassurance based on this. It wouldn't impact the decison on their application at all and I didn't offer to review it. No changes would be able to be made at this stage to the application anyway. I would absolutely have a quick check of anyone's UCAS ID if it offers some reassurance. Applying to university is stressful and if I'm able to help in any way- even if it's just to say I can see their application and that my colleagues will be making a decision in due course.

My role here is solely to offer any form of guidance I can. Sometimes I feel it's easier to speak to applicants one-to-one rather than in a public forum.

- Caitlin
Official University of Strathclyde Rep

So i've applied for university at Glasgow, Aberdeen, Strathclyde, Edinburgh and Dundee for Law (either Scots Law or Dual qualifying both English and Scottish Law). My predicted grades at the moment of sending off my UCAS application are B C D I believe. However, these are just due to mental health and recently I have been working towards an A for all subjects however, we have not yet had a progress review to show this just yet. Oh and I'm taking an Extended Project Qualification. Anyways, I honestly believe I will most definitely get the target grades for these universities, although that will not be displayed until my actual A-Levels. Considering my good grades at GCSE and brief mention of mental health in my UCAS application, will these universities still give me an offer? I heard they base their responses purely off our predicted grades at this current time and it honestly scares me as I know that is most certainly not my potential. Does anyone, who is currently at university or specifically one of these have any advice? possible situations they themselves have found to receive contextual offers in?

Realistically, you're not going to get an offer from these universities for law at a BCD prediction - MH or no MH. It's just not going to happen.

If you're confident of getting the grades you'd need, then you'd be best off declining any offers you receive from other universities this year and reapplying with achieved, rather than predicted grades.

You don't get contextual offers due to mental health issues - they're for socioeconomic disadvantage.

So far I’ve managed to hear back from Dundee actually! They’ve given me a conditional offer of ABB, which I’m pretty certain I’m capable of.
I knew the predicted grades looked pretty bad however I also khi new they were not an accurate reflection of my capabilities. I suppose I just posted this into curiosity of how much they take predicted grades into account. As I have a pretty great personal statement, have an EPQ running, have a short law course I’m taking in the weekend in London which was pretty pricey- and our year was greatly affected by COVID. I do understand your point though, quite literally a ‘reality check’. I am considering clearing (if I get high grades in the finals) for Edinburgh or Glasgow

that's so great to hear! I have a similar problem by the way. I had pretty bad AS results of ABD due to some personal issues but I got a decent predicted grade. I am also wondering whether how significant is the results compared to personal statement and reference letter. May I know whether you mentioned about the reasons behind your predicted grades on your personal statement and the reference letter by the teachers?

I don’t think so. I mentioned about mental health being an issue when filling in personal details in the UCAS form, but no mention of it in my personal statement. There was a brief mention of it in my reference but very minimum, mainly because my headteacher isn’t very fond of me or believing that I was anything other than “lazy” during that time

And did you apply as a contextual application or a standard application?