Is it worth contacting uni if miss the grade?

If I don’t get the grades for a conditional offer and Miss by one grade is it worth calling them up to see if they will take me? Do you think they will already have made the decision when they send their decision to ucas?

Reply 1

econhelp525

19

The university will consider you even if you narrowly miss your offer, but if you get rejected even then, there is no point in contacting them. They would have already seen if they can accommodate you, but if its a rejection, it's a rejection. The course wouldn't have a space for you. And that's just in a normal year (also for 2020 before the algorithm u-turn).

This year, there's no point whatsoever.

no harm in asking

OP

Can you go into clearing to get the same course you applied for ? They may lower the grade?

Reply 4

thegalaxy

13

Original post by Cal29

Can you go into clearing to get the same course you applied for ? They may lower the grade?

No. If they were going to lower the grades needed for the course you applied for, they would have done that before rejecting you at the firm/insurance stage.

Reply 5

Cal29

OP

3

Original post by econhelp525

The university will consider you even if you narrowly miss your offer, but if you get rejected even then, there is no point in contacting them. They would have already seen if they can accommodate you, but if its a rejection, it's a rejection. The course wouldn't have a space for you. And that's just in a normal year (also for 2020 before the algorithm u-turn).

This year, there's no point whatsoever.

The course I’m applying for is currently available in clearing today so I’m hoping if I just miss the conditional offer they will accept me… do you think the course being in clearing today is positive?

Reply 6

TomTC73

1

My cousin didn't get the grade she wanted (im only in year 11 going on 12 so im not too sure on the specifics) so she contacted the uni and they figured something out. It wasn't her first choice but she's still doing very well in uni atm

Reply 7

econhelp525

19

Original post by Cal29

The course I’m applying for is currently available in clearing today so I’m hoping if I just miss the conditional offer they will accept me… do you think the course being in clearing today is positive?

Generally the clearing open now is for international and IB students. It doesn't give an indication if they have spaces or not.

I remember Bath University advertising clearing spaces in Economics before results day but on results day itself, the university wasn't in clearing for anything.

Your university will do the best that it can to accommodate you, even if you narrowly miss your grades. But this year its very hard for the universities. If you are given a rejection, they simply will not be able to accommodate you for that course.

Reply 8

Cal29

OP

3

Original post by econhelp525

Generally the clearing open now is for international and IB students. It doesn't give an indication if they have spaces or not.

I remember Bath University advertising clearing spaces in Economics before results day but on results day itself, the university wasn't in clearing for anything.

Your university will do the best that it can to accommodate you, even if you narrowly miss your grades. But this year its very hard for the universities. If you are given a rejection, they simply will not be able to accommodate you for that course.

Why is it harder this year? Do you think more students will be trying to go to uni? Everyone I know is deferring a year due to Covid and going next year… I would have thought there would be less students this year?

Reply 9

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

The only reasons to ring your firm choice on results day are:
- because no decision is showing on Track (in which case you’re asking if they have all the information they need to make a decision and when they’ll let you know)
- because you’ve been rejected and are appealing your results
- because you met your offer but were rejected by mistake (v rare but does occasionally happen)
- because you were rejected but would like to be considered for a non-obvious alternative course (ideally one that is in clearing, they’ll already have considered you for the obvious alternatives)
- because you have a changed course offer showing on Track and you want to speak to the course staff or students to find out more before making a decision

Reply 10

thegalaxy

13

Original post by Cal29

Why is it harder this year? Do you think more students will be trying to go to uni? Everyone I know is deferring a year due to Covid and going next year… I would have thought there would be less students this year?

Because unis know this year that A-level results will be super super high and so more people will meet their offers, leading to less places in clearing. Last year they thought the algorithm would lead to the usual number of people meeting their offers, and we all know how that turned out...

Why are the people you know deferring because of Covid this year...? This time last year there was a lot of hype about lots more students deferring but in fact I don't think there was a significant difference (in fact, it might have been even less than a 'normal' year)

Reply 11

Satori Tendō

19

I think it's worth contacting anything and anyone. The most that will happen is that they'll say no.
Personally for me, I changed my mind about a University all together and called up a course at another one that wasn't even in clearing and got it.

Reply 12

Cal29

OP

3

Original post by thegalaxy

Because unis know this year that A-level results will be super super high and so more people will meet their offers, leading to less places in clearing. Last year they thought the algorithm would lead to the usual number of people meeting their offers, and we all know how that turned out...

Why are the people you know deferring because of Covid this year...? This time last year there was a lot of hype about lots more students deferring but in fact I don't think there was a significant difference (in fact, it might have been even less than a 'normal' year)

They are all deferring in case the Autumn term we go into lockdown again.. majority of my friends are deferring until next year as the cost of fees and going to uni isn’t worth it if the year is disrupted again….

Not sure I agree that results will be super high as external moderation this year has made teacher assessment more cautious about the results they will give, with the threat all grades will be lowered if the sample from 2/3 subjects isn’t accurate .. we will see on Tuesday..

Reply 13

econhelp525

19

Original post by Cal29

They are all deferring in case the Autumn term we go into lockdown again.. majority of my friends are deferring until next year as the cost of fees and going to uni isn’t worth it if the year is disrupted again….

Not sure I agree that results will be super high as external moderation this year has made teacher assessment more cautious about the results they will give, with the threat all grades will be lowered if the sample from 2/3 subjects isn’t accurate .. we will see on Tuesday..

Nope, not true. Universities already have the grades, and decisions have already been made, and Vice-Chancellors from Russell Group universities have spoken to newspapers about the absurd amount of people comfortably reaching their offers. They talked about B grades turning into A and A* grades. The most common grade for this year is AAB. AAB would usually qualify a university to be 'high-tariff'. There's no debate here. The grades are massively inflated, and the moderation is not the same as last year, there isn't an algorithm to ensure national standards.

The majority of your friends isn't a representative sample. It's reported that a lot more students will get their first choice university.

Reply 14

Cote1

20

In 2019 my friend did not meet her firm or her insurance which therefore became her firm (Exeter). She then got into Exeter via clearing. This year is different obviously as there will be a lot less places going spare.

This whole ****ing year has been ****ing crazy.

Reply 15

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

There’s still a lot of very good universities with vacancies in a lot of very good courses.

Clearing can mean making some compromises on university or course choice if you’re not willing to take a gap year - but just because a university isn’t fashionable or a course didn’t occur to you as an option 9 months ago doesn’t mean that you can’t find a brilliant new choice of university or course.

There’s some amazing places and courses available in clearing if you have an open mind and don’t fixate on the popular options.

Reply 16

BrainDrain

18

Original post by thegalaxy

Because unis know this year that A-level results will be super super high and so more people will meet their offers, leading to less places in clearing. Last year they thought the algorithm would lead to the usual number of people meeting their offers, and we all know how that turned out...

Why are the people you know deferring because of Covid this year...? This time last year there was a lot of hype about lots more students deferring but in fact I don't think there was a significant difference (in fact, it might have been even less than a 'normal' year)

I'm not sure why you think A-Level grades will be super high this year, this must be the most chaotic year in educational history with the average student missing out on an estimated 30% of the normal years teaching, with much done online giving the opportunity to cheat at will.
If grades are higher this year with all that's gone on something is seriously wrong, I think they will be down somewhat with universities encouraged to give extra help to bring students up to scratch.

Reply 17

thegalaxy

13

Original post by BrainDrain

I'm not sure why you think A-Level grades will be super high this year, this must be the most chaotic year in educational history with the average student missing out on an estimated 30% of the normal years teaching, with much done online giving the opportunity to cheat at will.
If grades are higher this year with all that's gone on something is seriously wrong, I think they will be down somewhat with universities encouraged to give extra help to bring students up to scratch.

Not denying it's been a crazy year. I've just finished my first year of uni with a grand total of 4 hours in person teaching the whole year. Which is more than a lot of people I know.

Have a look at econhelp's post above, and this on the news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-58106929. I don't agree with instances of cheating being more than normal... from what I've heard there hasn't been a significant increase in the cases of cheating at my uni with online assessments.

Reply 18

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by thegalaxy

Not denying it's been a crazy year. I've just finished my first year of uni with a grand total of 4 hours in person teaching the whole year. Which is more than a lot of people I know.

Have a look at econhelp's post above, and this on the news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-58106929. I don't agree with instances of cheating being more than normal... from what I've heard there hasn't been a significant increase in the cases of cheating at my uni with online assessments.

Please don’t buy into the clickbait articles based on rumours and hearsay (the TES, BBC, Guardian and daily mail do this every year).

JCQ will be releasing the national trend stats tomorrow - that’s the first anyone outside the JCQ will have the FULL national picture. All the comments so far are from attention seekers with no data (the numpty from Buckingham who’s after some free advertising for their private university the weekend before results) or attention seekers with partial data.

Reply 19

BrainDrain

18

Original post by thegalaxy

Not denying it's been a crazy year. I've just finished my first year of uni with a grand total of 4 hours in person teaching the whole year. Which is more than a lot of people I know.

Have a look at econhelp's post above, and this on the news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-58106929. I don't agree with instances of cheating being more than normal... from what I've heard there hasn't been a significant increase in the cases of cheating at my uni with online assessments.

Thank you for the link to the article..i hadn't seen it before, it does indeed seem to be a crazy year if this is correct, maybe we have found a recipe for success in future years by not providing as much tuition to obtain higher grades, maybe a few experts in each subject could set online courses for everyone so we won't need face to face tuition anymore.

Teachers are in a tight spot having earlier been asked to predict each students grades for uni applications, so students have applied to unis which would suit these grades....fast forward to the end of year and now teachers are having to assess what grades these same students are likely to have got. Records show teachers predictions are usually only about 16% correct so who knows what might happen.

Crikey mate ... you only had 4 hours face to face tuition, this is not what it's meant to be like, plus the thousands of pounds in accommodation costs many have paid for and never used, this must seriously feel like rip off time.

Sorry guys to go off thread with the above.......I think anyone missing grades slightly will probably be ok but wait for an official rejection which will only come after you have been considered fully before looking for alternatives.

Is it worth contacting uni if miss the grade?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you