Missed offer by one mark!

Did you two always know that you wanted to study in the UK (hence the a-levels) or do many students all over Europe study a-levels instead of/in addition to your own country's diploma scheme?

Sorry to not do that in Spanish, but it's been way too long (hopefully I'll take language classes next year at LSE).

I guess it also depends on how competitive/full your course is and on how you have performed in terms of grades compared to other A-Level students.

Good luck, don't give up! However, I think you should also think of a 'Plan B' if you have not already done so. With your grades you can get into a very good university e.g. SOAS, King's and so on.

Hello. Straight from the horses mouth: My friend was a postgraduate, and somehow wrangled a meeting from them under the pretenses he was "stressed" out during his final exams and was "psychologically" unable to complete them at the high level required, due to familial responsibilities and issues. Because he made this clear after the submission of marks/exams etc., LSE quickly turned down his request for a meeting and told him that the decision stood (rejection). He did then have numerous letters written by family, friends, school staff as well as his school counsellor which clearly documented why he missed his offer and how, under normal occurences, he would have easily kept up his offer conditions. He was, as he says, in the same position missing his offer by less than 5% and they allowed him to write a challenge exam for the course pre-requisites (because of the emotional time he encountered) and then admitted him again conditionally and he was on academic 'probation' for the first 3 months of his postgrad program. Again, some details are fuzzy, some seem genuine and others a bit hoaxy, like I said, continue to fight. I'm not sure how much of his story is real and how much is fabrication or sensationalism, so best thing to do is email him directly: [email protected] (His Business E-mail)

Best of luck, and please post on here when he replies to you. I believe he's usually pretty good with emails.

I hope everything works out!

Splendid. I'll write him soemthing soon I suppose.

Thanks for the email address, as well as your support : )

whats the difference in being 1 mark off or 50 marks off? you didnt get the grades and it is only fair that someone else who did should have the opportunity.

your dad sounds like a geezer kitsune

I completely disagree. 1 UMS mark should not make the difference between an A and a B. I know you have to draw the line somewhere, but it just seems a little bizarre that someone with 479 points can be classed in the same grade (B) as someone with 425 points, and yet have a completely different grade to the person who has gained only 1 UMS point more and therefore gets their A!! 1 mark certainly shouldn't mean being rejected by your first choice.

what's a geezer???

What you write is completely justified as well, but I guess the world doesn't work in the same way. At the end of the day, I have indeed got an AAC, even if I am only one mark off.

All I can do is hope for the best, and see if I can get a one-mark improvement in Physics.

Or as rjkara says, think of this whole incident as something that wasn't meant to be.

It's just an idiosyncratic British expression. The word 'geezer' is simply slang for 'guy' and it probably implies someone who is tough, masculine and rough.

Do you have a back up plan? Are you going to go through clearing or do to your insurance choice?

It means old and eccentric in the US at least.

You didn't do well enough and LSE is right to reject you. They have to draw the line somewhere.

But as previously stated, 1 mark is about 0.2%, that's hardly 'not doing well enough', especially as it could easily be a clerical error!

This is true - my Business teacher was an examiner and she taught us to mark exams to understand what examiners are looking for. There are no specific rules for most subjects, and their marks are based, for a large part, on the examiner's general perception of the quality of the answer. One examiner may give an answer 30% fewer marks than another, and still be able to justify the mark. Their marks are checked to see that in general they are not being too harsh or too nice, but if a superior checked an exam and gave it 10% more marks than the examiner the marking would be deemed reasonable. One mark is nothing.