Universities getting results before we do?

Okay, so you get your results at the same time as the universities.
You find out that you've missed your offer by one grade.

You then have to wait an entire week to find out if the university has accepted you because they need time to balance their numbers and sort everything out as they didn't have any grades to work with in advance. During this week period you can quite literally do nothing other than twiddle your thumbs and count down the days until the university is able to communicate this to you.

I'd imagine that would be much worse than having a few extra days to wait to find out your grades and your university place at the same time!

Thanks! You too!

English Lang, at uni of manchester you?

I done a lot better than expected (except for English, which keeps annoying me because it's normally my best subject) and I had more than enough for uni

Yeah, it was definitely the lack of control and the feeling of being in 'limbo' regarding my future that done me in

Bath Spa. Just 3 A2s,actually, but since my results were quite bad in my last year exam and I dont really think i can do very well this year...

In some cases depending on the uni's admission policy you actually (indirectly) find out whether you've gotten in or not before results day. Some of my friends who went to uni last year got emails from their uni's 2 days before results day basically saying something along the lines of 'congratulations and welcome' and giving them enrollment instructions. Obviously it's dependent on uni/course/department etc but it has happened in some cases. I kinda hope it happens to me as the suspense of waiting until next thursday is doing my head in!

That will have been a mistake and shouldn't happen. See post 16 in this thread by oxymoronic

Yeah but you forget... if you miss your offer it is very rare that you will be accepted. That is why the offer is in place. So it only will have an effect on a very small minority. Must be horrible to miss your offer but i still think we have the right to see them at the same time universities do. Even if we're told we then need to wait for our offer to finalise etc. But i'll agree to disagree

That's completely untrue. Significant numbers of people who miss their offer by 1 grade will still be accepted (quite often before results day) and a hefty chunk of people who miss by two grades get accepted. All you have to do to verify this is compare the tariff points accepted (listed on unistats/league tables) to the published offers - in some subjects/unis the difference is as much as 50/60 points (once you remove AS tariff points).

Offers are a marketing tool and a way for a university to position themselves as much as they're "the minimum required to do the course".

I've always been told it's extremely rare, because how can you accept someone who misses the offer and not another person who misses it by 1 mark less than that other person. The Ucas website also says it's rare and in fact i think one of the articles on here says that too...

May i ask why you disagree that we have the right to see the results we have worked for at the same time as the universities and ucas?
Other than the universities needing more time... they could still have the week after this saturday, but i just think it'd be a good idea for us to know when they do.

Where exactly does it say that?

And as for how decisions are made on marginal applicants - it varies - often a course will accept all students who've dropped a grade while another course might look at individual module marks or another might use information from the PS/reference/interview to distinguish between applicants who've missed an offer.

I really don't understand why you think it's rare - if you were a university would you rather take a student who applied and picked you as their firm choice with slightly lower grades OR take your chances to fill a place in clearing (where the applicants could have similaraly low grades and haven't shown any earlier commitment to your university).


I disagree because I've seen year after year the heartbreak and stress of hundreds of students who've missed their offer grades slightly and who've had to wait a day or two to find out if their firm/insurance university will still take them.

And I've also seen people on TSR wait a week for a decision (when they missed their offer grades by 1 UMS) only to get rejected into Clearing a week later than everyone else and with most of the places taken up.

If universities and applicants get the grades all at the same time then it ADDS far more stress onto applicants (above the extra 5 days wait) - and on top of that it ADDS edditional UNFAIRNESS into the system as students who get kept hanging on miss out on suitable places in Clearing.

In an ideal world then every applicant wouldn't apply at all to university until AFTER they've completed their qualifications and got their results - but the exam board, the schools AND the universities all need to compromise on timescales for that to happen and the coalition have made it clear that it isn't something they're interested in persuing (5 years ago there was a plan in place to move to post qualification application by 2015 but that plan has been scrapped).

Or are you suggesting that results come out and NOONE gets their track status changed/clearing stays shut for a week after results - because that's a decent compromise but again would involve a lot of change from universities and exam boards - not something either type of organisation are particularly good at embracing

You make good points i can see why they do it now, which was my original question and purpose for starting this thread.
But i still think we are entitled to have them at the same time as the university, if not sooner. Just because they are our qualifications and we've earnt them and had to wait all summer for them to be marked a couple of times.

I know we don't get them until Thursday, but they get them before right?

The universities got the results yesterday (the 9th)

They get them the Saturday before results day.

I know we don't get them until Thursday, but they get them before right?

I went to a university pre induction day back in June, they told me when universities are given results, so yes, it was yesterday... unless of course they lied?

I know we don't get them until Thursday, but they get them before right?

I hate not knowing when other people know, I wish the unis would just send out the confirmations straight away rather than waiting for results - which ultimately don't matter to me if i get in.