Negotiating university offers?

Swansea for example gave me an offer and then sent me an email saying that they decided that if another uni has given me a better offer they would match it if i rang them.

I thought unless you have been given an email or something saying that they are open for negotiation as they want you on their course, it isn't normally done. It depends on the uni i guess?

Swansea for example gave me an offer and then sent me an email saying that they decided that if another uni has given me a better offer they would match it if i rang them. However, i dont think i would do that if they hadn't sent me that email and i haven't actually done this despite getting much lower offers elsewhere.

I dont believe that i deserve to have a lower grade offer (ignoring contextual here as they are entirely valid) than someone else just because i asked them. I think I should work for my grades and actually earn my spot if that makes sense.

I think it was also due to the fact i applied to German and International relations, a not very popular course so they probably want the course to actually run so i dont think that normally happens either.

Just put your favourite one down. Its a good idea to have an insurance anyway and you should work towards your firm so that you are prepared for uni and a great way of motivating you to do that if your firm has higher entry requirements. If you miss your offer by a grade a lot of unis do let you in anyway with some persuasion but dont rely on this.

I think honestly some unis would be offended, especially if the offer is an average/ good offer as it is. They cannot give lower offers unless they have good reason to do so or its in clearing. Otherwise it would just be a free for all?

I guess you could try??? i would prepare a good argument beforehand as they might just think your doing this because you don't think you'll meet the offer. Maybe look up what they normally offer for your course in clearing and go from there don't be cheeky as you do need to be capable of doing your degree and the uni does want to keep its reputation.

UCAS will be interested to hear about this - its against their code-of-practice.

that's cheeky of them and further shows they are desperate for students

Yeahhh. I dont think i am going to choose them anyway. I feel like its mostly my course.

I dont know anyone else who applied from my school (i live in Cornwall not Wales so no ones heard of it as everyone just applies to the closest unis like bath and exeter). I feel like maybe i could've aimed a bit 'higher' but my GCSE grades are kinda bad due to militating circumstance and i dont have an A level in German.

This course wasn't offered everywhere and swansea is fairly decent in both politics and languages. All of the uni offers i have received have been idk kinda 'desperate' tbh. Like i got replies form 3 of them 4 days after i applied. One was no joke the day after i applied. So i actually don't think its just Swansea but i have no idea as like I dont know other peoples experiences with the uni. But my predicted grades are ABB and i got offered much lower at other unis than my predicted when they didn't have to.

I guess if they can't get enough students the course can't run? But yeah i would hope they know whats like allowed. I am not ringing them up anyway bc currently i prefer my other choices atm and im still waiting on Cardiff and Bath.

well i dont think they said a guarantee they just said try to see what they'd offer. I cant remember the exact wording but it 100% started w like if another uni gives you a better offer...I would assume they would know the UCAS rules and i think they probably worded it accordingly. They just claimed i was such an amazing student basically and that due to current times they were willing to be flexible and that i would have to sit an interview if i missed my grades but not to worry or something

If they could be flexible they could have just initially offered a lower offer.

This sounds like tactical offering to try and fill up their cohort of students, a bit of game playing.

UCAS will be interested to hear about this - its against their code-of-practice.

No one quoted the OP . This thread title sounded like an absolute gem.

The absolute cheek.

I was just thinking the same.

These kinds of requests always cause a chuckle with admissions teams.

The OP originally just asked if they could negotiate with unis if they rang them to get them a lower offer because they really want to go their 1st choice uni and they thought they should be able to because another uni gave them a lower offer (which was implied to be their insurance as it was not their 1st choice). Idk why they've now edited their own post.

Thank you, I think I got the gist from the replies. I imagine they were a bit embarrassed given the responses.

idk ive been scrolling around on TSR and released that there are multiple threads about this so maybe it isn't actually that unusual?
I dont think they had anything to be embarrassed about i was just unsure on whether you could/it was a good idea or not maybe i should've come across better.