Any 'unexpected' lack of offers from Durham?

Slightly strange question I know.
I'm a student mum. Every year in the paper you read articles of students who tick ALL the boxes ( and some..) and are not made an offer by Oxbridge. Is the situation the same for Durham?
Daughter got 9A*/ A /B
Is predicted either A* x 3 or A A* A* - final preds not out yet
Does lots of extra curric
So she has a strong application - but I don't want to encourage her to feel too confident if Durham has 'history' for not making offers to apparently well qualified candidates.
The typical offer for her course is AAA.
Thanks in advance for any inside info!

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 1

JT_888

Original post by Jgb253

Slightly strange question I know.
I'm a student mum. Every year in the paper you read articles of students who tick ALL the boxes ( and some..) and are not made an offer by Oxbridge. Is the situation the same for Durham?
Daughter got 9A*/ A /B ( further maths - not relevant to her chosen degree) at GCSE
Is predicted either A* x 3 or A A* A* - final preds not out yet
Does lots of extra curric ( inc grade 8 and 6 music /gold DoE/CCF/Model UN...)
Is head girl of the school.
So she has a strong application - but I don't want to encourage her to feel too confident if Durham has 'history' for not making offers to apparently well qualified candidates.
The typical offer for her course is AAA.
Thanks in advance for any inside info!

I would avoid making presumptions about the admissions process for Durham and other respectable institutions from sources you've read. What I can say is that Durham and other respectable institutions will always consider 'strong applications' and if they don't offer your daughter a place it's really their miss. For Durham specifically, this year they weren't as lenient towards prospective students who have just missed out on the grades but obviously that shouldn't be something to put your daughter off from applying to Durham if she really wanted to. Good luck to your daughter for the application process. :smile:

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Reply 2

Reality Check

I love the way you felt the need to 'explain away' the B grade :smile:

Not really sure I agree with the reasoning here. You daughter is going to have to get used to rejection at some point. All well-qualified candidates get rejected from their choices - there's too many well-qualified applicants chasing too few places. That said, you haven't actually said what course she's applying to. If it's competitive, like medicine or law, then yes: she could get rejected. But that's not a reason not to apply! If it's less competitive, then the chances of her being rejected are smaller, but that doesn't change the point I"m trying to make: she needs to be willing to take chances and to deal with the inevitable rejections when they come along.

Reply 3

Vertigo77

I'd say just give it time, I mean it's literally September still so Durham are probably just waiting for more applicants to compare her with. She did amazing, and if she is looking at Oxbridge then she's got the rights grades and extra-curricular activities (just get her to read up about her course and read books on the course e.g. anthropology books for that degree for her interview. I'm sure she'll get her Durham offer but tell her to look at the likes of the London universities as they are equally, If not better than Durham. Good luck!!

Reply 4

squeakysquirrel

Original post by Jgb253

Slightly strange question I know.
I'm a student mum. Every year in the paper you read articles of students who tick ALL the boxes ( and some..) and are not made an offer by Oxbridge. Is the situation the same for Durham?
Daughter got 9A*/ A /B ( further maths - not relevant to her chosen degree) at GCSE
Is predicted either A* x 3 or A A* A* - final preds not out yet
Does lots of extra curric ( inc grade 8 and 6 music /gold DoE/CCF/Model UN...)
Is head girl of the school.
So she has a strong application - but I don't want to encourage her to feel too confident if Durham has 'history' for not making offers to apparently well qualified candidates.
The typical offer for her course is AAA.
Thanks in advance for any inside info!

She has 5 choices. Dont put her off applying because of this history.

My daughter got 7A* 3A and 1B. At A levels she got A*A*A with an A in As biology. Again loads of extra curricular including DoE , grade 6 piano. National champion at her sport. Volunteer, tutoring maths etc. State school pupil. She didn't get an offer to Durham. Not sure why. She did get an interview to Oxford and gti offers to Bristol UCL and Edinburgh. Sometimes it is good to get a rejection though as clever kids can get a bit abovevthemselves.

As long as she makes sensible choices she will be fine.

Reply 5

Jgb253

Wow thanks all - I was expecting to wait days for any response.

Really good points about coping with failure etc Reality Check - and I completely agree ( was a little bit glad when she failed her driving test first time!)

She doesn't want to apply to Oxbridge - and the course is Modern Langs so not massively popular in the scheme of things like law.
Squirrel - it certainly won't put her off applying as it is a very definite first choice and I know she'll be happy in the end wherever she goes - but it's really good to have your example. It will stop me - or her ( not that she's likely to!) - taking anything for granted.