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Really don't genuinely get this - UCAS - Uni rejections.....

Hi folks, would really appreciate any advice you have on this baffling situation..

A friend of mine is just about to complete an Access Course in Health Sciences with a view to doing Physiotherapy. They have achieved something like 57 Level 3 Distinctions, 4 Merits and 1 Pass, all at Level 3. Out of the 16 students in their class, they are in the top 2. They will achieve a Distinction overall so it will appear.

Friend applied to 5 uni's and got rejections from them all. They even got rejected through the UCAS Extra route. To say they are disillusioned and defeated is a massive understatement. Their work has been exceptional with glowing references from their tutors.

Several other students on friend's Access course, who also want to do Physio, HAVE been offered either an interview or a conditional offer. Furthermore, out of these several students, 6 of them had no prior experience (in physio or social care capacity). My friend had no experience either, although has an extremely strong background in Athletics for 10 years.

Their Personal Statement was looked at by their personal tutor and given the 'ok' so to speak, I also looked over it and all appeared extremely well written/presented.Even at the UCAS Extra stage, when the opportunity to restructure the PS was an option (which friend did), this was looked at and changed by a Physio graduate.

Therefore................

Why do you think they haven't been successful at getting on ANY Physio courses despite being an excellent candidate on paper, achieving the desired grades?? If you are going to say lack of experience, then why did my friend's several other friends on their access course get offered interviews/places with NO experience either? AND, most of them had mostly Merits!

I genuinely feel gutted, upset and frustrated for my friend who has worked so hard and no University is willing to give them a chance.

Your advice would be really appreciated - thank you :smile:
From my experience universities are looking at how well an applicant has researched and shown dedication to their degree (this is especially important with any health care course). This is why they ask for work experience or at least for the applicant to show sound knowledge of what the career entails and course requires of them personally. Physiotherapy is a very diverse subject however over 70% of physiotherapy work in the Uk is based with the elderly from falls, stroke rehabilitation, cancer and parkinson's disease. And a large amount of university placements and modules will focus on this, not simply muscular skeletal injuries. You have stated how your friend has a strong athletic background, therefore by focusing on this the universities may have felt that they have disregarded what is such a strong element of the profession. Therefore I would suggest they spend the next 12 months trying to gather as much experience as possible throughout the full breadth of the profession to give a more balanced statement next year.
Good Luck!
Original post by ScouseEmma28
Hi folks, would really appreciate any advice you have on this baffling situation..

A friend of mine is just about to complete an Access Course in Health Sciences with a view to doing Physiotherapy. They have achieved something like 57 Level 3 Distinctions, 4 Merits and 1 Pass, all at Level 3. Out of the 16 students in their class, they are in the top 2. They will achieve a Distinction overall so it will appear.

Friend applied to 5 uni's and got rejections from them all. They even got rejected through the UCAS Extra route. To say they are disillusioned and defeated is a massive understatement. Their work has been exceptional with glowing references from their tutors.

Several other students on friend's Access course, who also want to do Physio, HAVE been offered either an interview or a conditional offer. Furthermore, out of these several students, 6 of them had no prior experience (in physio or social care capacity). My friend had no experience either, although has an extremely strong background in Athletics for 10 years.

Their Personal Statement was looked at by their personal tutor and given the 'ok' so to speak, I also looked over it and all appeared extremely well written/presented.Even at the UCAS Extra stage, when the opportunity to restructure the PS was an option (which friend did), this was looked at and changed by a Physio graduate.

Therefore................

Why do you think they haven't been successful at getting on ANY Physio courses despite being an excellent candidate on paper, achieving the desired grades?? If you are going to say lack of experience, then why did my friend's several other friends on their access course get offered interviews/places with NO experience either? AND, most of them had mostly Merits!

I genuinely feel gutted, upset and frustrated for my friend who has worked so hard and no University is willing to give them a chance.

Your advice would be really appreciated - thank you :smile:


It could be the universities they applied to. Universities look at applications on a holistic view - perhaps these other people has better GCSE grades or something.

A lot of universities have a cap on the amount of mature students they will take on (for example QMUL only take on 10 people for their LLB Law degree which has an intake of 300+).

I would have thought your 'friend' would have asked the universities this question in the first instance....
It could be anything from GCSE grades to the lack of true work experience. Or perhaps the personal statement wasn't actually that good. Or maybe it was any number of other things.

Get your friend to call or email and ask for feedback as to why they were turned down. Physio is very competitive, so they might recommend getting some work experience. If nothing else, it will help strengthen the application if they choose to apply again. Disregard everyone else and the fact they had no work experience. Their applications were obviously superior or better suited to the universities they applied to.

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