Hi all,
essentiallly Bristol is far too generous with contextual offers, nearly every state school is eligible for them and its very easy to get one from bristol. I agree with contextual offers but only when they are handed out to people who actually need them. Bristol is either being too generous or is misrepresenting its academic standards and contextual offers are now a mere recruitment tactic, I believe 40% of the students there got in on one. I doubt the majority of those people actually deserve one. This generous approach undermines the competiveness and reputation of the uni, which explains why it has a far worse rep than it did 10/20 years ago. I am a current Bristol student and I think my degree is worthless when theres many people on my course with grades far far worse than mine. I chose bristol on perceived academic standards and reputation particularly in my subject (law). I massively regret coming here as a result of this policy and wish i had chosen any of my other choices that value alevel grades.
Do not get me wrong again I am happy with contextual offers when theyre given to those who need them. But when theyre handed out as often as they are at bristol it makes you think whats the point in achieving the standard offer. I would actually recommend people not to attend bristol now if you only get the standard offer. Also why does bristol feel the need to be as generous as they are? there are unis out there like durham that are far far worse in social mobility but they are not half as generous, bristol is not even an elite university to feel the need to be as generous as they are with grades, it doesnt make any sense to me and i hate the fact i chose to come here. Also before someone says oh but they perform just as well as those without. I do not care grades are not just about handling the course, but also to do with academic prestige, most people with AAA at Bristol or UCL etc could probably do fine at oxford.