The Student Room Group

foundation year ucas mess

It's a long story but essentially I failed A-levels big time and enrolled on a foundation year because a lot of issues during sixth form were at home. Luckily a lot of those problems went away but I wanted to go somewhere prestigious for Y1 so I had this really stupid idea of not really attending the foundation year but instead retaking A-levels whilst I lived away and applying for degrees on UCAS for next cycle. Anyways cos it's a science subject I didn't have the money for practical endorsement so because of poor planning and ADHD that plan fell through. (I got offers and UCL Imperial etc through predicted grades from a private tutor but theyre all useless to me now obvs).

Anyways I changed my ucas form from predicted a levels to my foudnation year (which I hadnt been attending) and im waiting for a response from KCL from ucas extra after having declined all my A-level offers.

Problem is because I wasn't attending my foundation year much my grades are sorta fcked (70 percent in some modules, 30 in others). I've been told I can resit these modules in august so worst case scenario i stay at the current uni I never planned to go to, but i still wanna go somewhere highly ranked so im waiting for kcl

problem is my transcript, what are my chances of getting into kcl or other rg unis through clearing now? I'm so stressed why am i like this?

Reply 1

Stick at the university you are currently at. Commit to it and do the very best you can. There will be a great many positives about it that you are not currently noticing. Any more faffing will not do your CV any favours now, which will be harder to explain when applying for future jobs than your choice of Uni.
Perhaps aiming to do well enough to do a masters at a more prestigious uni is a more positive focus?
Original post by George123645
It's a long story but essentially I failed A-levels big time and enrolled on a foundation year because a lot of issues during sixth form were at home. Luckily a lot of those problems went away but I wanted to go somewhere prestigious for Y1 so I had this really stupid idea of not really attending the foundation year but instead retaking A-levels whilst I lived away and applying for degrees on UCAS for next cycle. Anyways cos it's a science subject I didn't have the money for practical endorsement so because of poor planning and ADHD that plan fell through. (I got offers and UCL Imperial etc through predicted grades from a private tutor but theyre all useless to me now obvs).

Anyways I changed my ucas form from predicted a levels to my foudnation year (which I hadnt been attending) and im waiting for a response from KCL from ucas extra after having declined all my A-level offers.

Problem is because I wasn't attending my foundation year much my grades are sorta fcked (70 percent in some modules, 30 in others). I've been told I can resit these modules in august so worst case scenario i stay at the current uni I never planned to go to, but i still wanna go somewhere highly ranked so im waiting for kcl

problem is my transcript, what are my chances of getting into kcl or other rg unis through clearing now? I'm so stressed why am i like this?

A good example of why we continually tell people not to retake AL's whilst studying elsewhere, you are just going to end up half-arsing two things.

Accepting another uni's FY is sketchy at best, with inconsistent grades and (presumably) an iffy reference due to your attendence then it's going to be very, very difficult.

As above, is there actually anything wrong with your current uni aside of it not being presitigious enough for your liking?

Reply 3

Original post by Admit-One
A good example of why we continually tell people not to retake AL's whilst studying elsewhere, you are just going to end up half-arsing two things.
Accepting another uni's FY is sketchy at best, with inconsistent grades and (presumably) an iffy reference due to your attendence then it's going to be very, very difficult.
As above, is there actually anything wrong with your current uni aside of it not being presitigious enough for your liking?

I guess not, but wouldnt it be more difficult to do a masters somewhere really good if i dont even go to an RG?

Reply 4

Original post by Admit-One
A good example of why we continually tell people not to retake AL's whilst studying elsewhere, you are just going to end up half-arsing two things.
Accepting another uni's FY is sketchy at best, with inconsistent grades and (presumably) an iffy reference due to your attendence then it's going to be very, very difficult.
As above, is there actually anything wrong with your current uni aside of it not being presitigious enough for your liking?

If they make me an offer of say 60% in all modules, do you think I could transfer by retaking modules in august? I also have a doctors note to say that i also couldnt attend some module exams due to medical reasons which may work in my favour.

Reply 5

Original post by george123645
I guess not, but wouldnt it be more difficult to do a masters somewhere really good if i dont even go to an RG?

No. You are over inflating the real value of a Russell Group degree. Demonstrating that you have been really very successful at a course is far more important. And that is down to the quality of graduate level you get.
(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 6

Original post by George123645
If they make me an offer of say 60% in all modules, do you think I could transfer by retaking modules in august? I also have a doctors note to say that i also couldnt attend some module exams due to medical reasons which may work in my favour.

Only the admission team at KCL can answer this.
Original post by George123645
I guess not, but wouldnt it be more difficult to do a masters somewhere really good if i dont even go to an RG?


Not really. Masters admissions are broadly less competitive than undergrad just because it's higher fees and lower numbers of applicants.

I work in postgrad admissions and we accept non-RG degrees all the time. Attending a decent uni may be a small boost, but that's any decent uni for the subject area, not just RG.

Reply 8

Original post by Admit-One
Not really. Masters admissions are broadly less competitive than undergrad just because it's higher fees and lower numbers of applicants.
I work in postgrad admissions and we accept non-RG degrees all the time. Attending a decent uni may be a small boost, but that's any decent uni for the subject area, not just RG.

I guess for a long time it's just made me quite depressed that I didn't end up where I want to and now I've had to settle for second-best,.. Perhaps I'm being petty about the whole and I should just be grateful for having a uni education at all, but some part of me just feels like I've failed
I got all 9s at GCSE and attended a private school on full scholarship for sixth form, for personal/health reasons I'm here now and I just still can't believe I didn't get into somewhere prestigious, it's the first big failure of my life n I feel sorta dumb cos of it.
It sort of feels like I'm still experiencing the consequences of mistakes made by an old version of myself, I wish I could start again but I rlly shouldn't take a gap year n just suck up my degree n get it done with. Still depressing as petty/pretentious as it is tho ig

Reply 9

Original post by George123645
I guess for a long time it's just made me quite depressed that I didn't end up where I want to and now I've had to settle for second-best,.. Perhaps I'm being petty about the whole and I should just be grateful for having a uni education at all, but some part of me just feels like I've failed
I got all 9s at GCSE and attended a private school on full scholarship for sixth form, for personal/health reasons I'm here now and I just still can't believe I didn't get into somewhere prestigious, it's the first big failure of my life n I feel sorta dumb cos of it.
It sort of feels like I'm still experiencing the consequences of mistakes made by an old version of myself, I wish I could start again but I rlly shouldn't take a gap year n just suck up my degree n get it done with. Still depressing as petty/pretentious as it is tho ig

I can understand that it is difficult to adjust to 'second best'. I guess trying to spin into a positive is the way forward. It is what it is, a product of what happened. But it doesn't make you a failure. Failure is giving up, success is doing the best with where you are and making a path for the furure.

Reply 10

Original post by George123645
It's a long story but essentially I failed A-levels big time and enrolled on a foundation year because a lot of issues during sixth form were at home. Luckily a lot of those problems went away but I wanted to go somewhere prestigious for Y1 so I had this really stupid idea of not really attending the foundation year but instead retaking A-levels whilst I lived away and applying for degrees on UCAS for next cycle. Anyways cos it's a science subject I didn't have the money for practical endorsement so because of poor planning and ADHD that plan fell through. (I got offers and UCL Imperial etc through predicted grades from a private tutor but theyre all useless to me now obvs).
Anyways I changed my ucas form from predicted a levels to my foudnation year (which I hadnt been attending) and im waiting for a response from KCL from ucas extra after having declined all my A-level offers.
Problem is because I wasn't attending my foundation year much my grades are sorta fcked (70 percent in some modules, 30 in others). I've been told I can resit these modules in august so worst case scenario i stay at the current uni I never planned to go to, but i still wanna go somewhere highly ranked so im waiting for kcl
problem is my transcript, what are my chances of getting into kcl or other rg unis through clearing now? I'm so stressed why am i like this?

what r u doing ur foundation year in ? and what uni is it ? and did u get 3us (i'm on the same boat)

Reply 11

Original post by alzhusss16
what r u doing ur foundation year in ? and what uni is it ? and did u get 3us (i'm on the same boat)

city uni of london, didnt get 3 us got DDC for personal health reasons

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