What are my rights on Results Day?

Hey everyone,

So I'm just in the midst of creating a comprehensive plan for myself for the big day... I'm just curious as to what rights are and what obligations my firm and insurance choices have in relation to whether or not they will enrol me under various circumstances.

I have three different scenarios to consider:

1.) For argument's sake, let's say that initially, my results show that I have not satisfied the conditions of my offer for my firm choice. I log onto UCAS and find that my offer from my firm choice is still conditional.
I then request a remark and communicate this to them.
Let's say that the outcome of the remark arrives before August 31st and means that I have now successfully satisfied the conditions of my offer.
Is my firm then obliged to accept me, regardless of whether or not they want to (say, for example, if they're reluctant because they've hit their quota of students to take on)?
You d have to have put a priority remark through (as the normal service takes too long) and communicated this to the university and they will consider waiting to see if you ve gotten the grades but theres absolutely no guarantee a university will wait for this.
(I do have a cousin who was one UMS off got a priority remark,got the grades with the remarks and got into oxford for econ so it does happen).



2.) I've been declined by my firm choice, but I request a remark anyway, the outcome of which means that I've successfully met the conditions of my offer - is my firm bound to accept me, or is it simply at their own discretion? Heck, would I even have a chance of getting in, or is it simply game over?
At their discretion, they don't get your UMS marks so they wont know how far of your are, you can try contacting them if you were say 1 or 2 ums off but otherwise it s not too hopeful.
3.) I've missed the conditions of my offer. Are my firm or insurance choices actually obliged to hold my place for me until the equal consideration deadline of 31st August?
Nope, its all at their discretion i m afraid.

Also, is there anything else worth knowing about? Any common misconceptions that universities might seek to exploit, for example? I've heard stories of people being given misinformation by universities on results day for the purpose of avoiding fines for taking on too many students, or simply where the information wasn't accurate.

Thank you very much! That was extremely helpful! I'm curious as to whether the lifting of caps means that universities will be more willing to take people on. My firm choice especially (UEA), seemed to be very keen to take on as many people as possible, even if they've slightly missed the grades.

To loosely quote the lecturer who spoke to us all on one of the applicant days (I believe he was one of the admissions directors for my faculty), "Every single one of you in this room are bright and capable students that we have carefully selected, otherwise we wouldn't have given you an offer. We want people who want to be here. We want to take as many of you as we possibly can, so if things didn't go quite as well as you'd hoped - give us a call on the day and we'll make the magic happen."
The sceptic inside me believes that he was just saying that to encourage us to firm the university and boost their numbers... but I suppose it gives me a little bit of optimism nonetheless.

Glad to have helped For many universities they ll probably will take as many students as is possible but obviously theres practical restrictions, staffing and facilities but it's good to be optimistic sometimes in life i was an utter pessimist prior to results day and i d say be positive but prepared is the best plan of attack for result day:P

That's the bit I'm really worried about. Last year they missed out on 13 marks in my English A2 paper (I was allowed to take AS English a year early when I was in year 11, so finished the course last year). I'd been graded a low D initally, but when it was remarked, it came back as a high B. As a result, my C grade went up to a B overall for English A level. Now I've re-done my coursework and sat the exam again to boost it up to an A in order to meet my offer requirements.
I simply cannot afford for something like that to happen this year, given everything that is at stake. I was disgusted that they could get it that wrong, and I sincerely hope whoever was responsible was struck off from marking. I've not been left with much faith in the marking system... but all I can do is hope that it is done right.

Thank you very much! That was extremely helpful! I'm curious as to whether the lifting of caps means that universities will be more willing to take people on. My firm choice especially (UEA), seemed to be very keen to take on as many people as possible, even if they've slightly missed the grades.

To loosely quote the lecturer who spoke to us all on one of the applicant days (I believe he was one of the admissions directors for my faculty), "Every single one of you in this room are bright and capable students that we have carefully selected, otherwise we wouldn't have given you an offer. We want people who want to be here. We want to take as many of you as we possibly can, so if things didn't go quite as well as you'd hoped - give us a call on the day and we'll make the magic happen."
The sceptic inside me believes that he was just saying that to encourage us to firm the university and boost their numbers... but I suppose it gives me a little bit of optimism nonetheless.

That's a strange phrase for him to use. Unis get your results the weekend before you do, so they will already have decided whether to accept you with slightly reduced grades (i.e. 'make the magic happen' before you even discover your grades.

I'm basically bracing myself for disappointment and that I might end up at my insurance (Kent), but secretly hoping and praying that I get into my firm. That way, I'm prepared for the worst, but it'll make it that much better if I do succeed! I want to go to my firm choice more than anything, and I've done the very best that I possibly could... now it's up to the examiners to give me the correct results.

That's the bit I'm really worried about. Last year they missed out on 13 marks in my English A2 paper (I was allowed to take AS English a year early when I was in year 11, so finished the course last year). I'd been graded a low D initally, but when it was remarked, it came back as a high B. As a result, my C grade went up to a B overall for English A level. Now I've re-done my coursework and sat the exam again to boost it up to an A in order to meet my offer requirements.
I simply cannot afford for something like that to happen this year, given everything that is at stake. I was disgusted that they could get it that wrong, and I sincerely hope whoever was responsible was struck off from marking. I've not been left with much faith in the marking system... but all I can do is hope that it is done right.

That's a strange phrase for him to use. Unis get your results the weekend before you do, so they will already have decided whether to accept you with slightly reduced grades (i.e. 'make the magic happen' before you even discover your grades.

Wouldn't happen.
Honest mistakes happen all the time and you're not *that* important.

So I'm just in the midst of creating a comprehensive plan for myself for the big day... I'm just curious as to what rights are and what obligations my firm and insurance choices have in relation to whether or not they will enrol me under various circumstances.

I originally assumed that, as long as you could make your offer by 31 August, the university was required to accept you, but it doesn't seem quite as clear cut as that. I've seen people get their re-mark back on 31 August and be let in (or the re-mark come back unchanged but then still be let in), but I've also seen someone get their priority re-mark back 3 days after results day and be told there was no space left for him that year and he'd have to take a gap year. He took the gap year, had a great time travelling, came back and re-sat some exams in the summer, improved from ABB to AAA and went somewhere else.

Indeed so. Sounds like an attempt at plugging the university in a rather unconvincing way.

They do like telling applicants that they're special. I remember the inauguration speech for Digital Arts at my uni - "Give yourselves a pat on the back as we were very, very selective this year and only took on the best".

I come to realise now, that this is utter bull****, after witnessing what people in my year are submitting.

It's teacherese. I've used it myself, although sparingly and not to the older ones. It's the 'make the magic happen' I'm a bit unsure about. As ageshallnot says, the decisions are taken before the applicants know their results, so to imply that simply phoning them up will change things doesn't sit well with how things actually work out on results day normally.

Sounds like that they've taken people that they look the like off, regardless of grades, and that the offers are arbitrary.

Sounds like that they've taken people that they look the like off, regardless of grades, and that the offers are arbitrary.

The OP asks "What are my rights on result day."
I assume the OP is a realist hoping for the best and fearing the worst.
For many of us results day starts at 00.01 when STEP results are due. By the time A level results emerge some rights will already have been well excercised. Many eyes will be red. Many nerves will be raw. A few glasses will have been raised. Some in hope, more in sorrow. The general consensus is that STEP was tougher than usual. I am trying to prepare myself for disappointing results whilst hoping for a miracle. For some a poor result at midnight means that they will have already missed their offers no matter what A level results they get. For others they will know that they need incredibly good A level results. I don't think there is any right of appeal for STEP, but I'm often wrong.

So one answer to the OP is that you have the right to know that you are not alone. Whatever you get there will be many others in the same boat. You have the right to cry and fill a bath with tears. But please, if you get the results you want, please don't gloat.

You have the right to hope that if your results are poorer than you expected then that may be the same across the board. In which case you might still be accepted. Keep one eye open and fingers crossed.

Appeals? Yes you can appeal but the percentage of appeals which are successful has always been very low. The press say that 45k marks were changed last year. The press doesn't say how many grade boundaries were changed.

Finally, if you don't make your offer you have the right and opportunity to think afresh about the direction you want to travel. There are many paths to choose. Fulfilment can be found in many ways and many places.

So, for example (correct me if I'm wrong), if I fail to get into my firm choice, I'm obligated to enrol on the course at my insurance choice if I've been accepted? From what I understand, once I accept a firm and insurance offer, it constitutes a legally binding contract, so unless I were to request that the university releases me (and they agree to do so), I wouldn't be able to go into clearing or re-apply next year to try to get into my firm if I get rejected?