A hope in hell?!

We have pretty identical GCSEs and both qualify for contextual offers - only difference is that I managed to get my teachers to predict me A* A* A*. I've applied to Durham and my teachers are pretty confident that I'll get an offer! If you could get your teachers to predict you A*AA I think you'd have a really good chance.
Make sure your personal statement is perfect and make sure to put forward any information that may contextualise your grades! ie. My chronic illness helps me to access lower offers!

Thank you! My school are very cautious about over predicting because they said they value their reputation. They have quite a high proportion accepted to Oxford and Cambridge. My predictions were originally bbc at the end or year 12 so they have already increased them to be fair. There’s no way I’d be able to achieve A*AA.

Well, I personally don't think I'm going to achieve A*A*A*, but my school predicted me this because they understand I'm an aspirational applicant and even though my course entry requirement is only AAA, these predictions will just push my application to the top!
I'm really sorry your school isn't willing to do this, but maybe if you speak to your tutor or whoever is managing you application, they might be able to understand your situation and help you out on a more individual basis.
Well done on boosting your grades, and you still have December mocks, assumedly, to lock in and do even better. Good luck 🙂

Good luck to you too. We don’t have December mocks our only year 13 mocks are after applications close so my predicted grades won’t change. My school is very against over inflation and have repeatedly complained about other schools doing it too much so you get an idea of their stance. As it stands of course my predicted grades do meet the contextual offer(slightly over even?) so it’s not that I’m too worried about I’m just cautious that they say that when it comes down to a pool of similar ranked candidates they will use GCSE grades to aid their decision and mine are not the best, well the 5 and 4s certainly aren’t ((

You think? My maths is 6

If it makes you feel any better about your GCSEs, I applied to Edinburgh which is arguably more competitive than durham, and my UCAS tutor told me directly that I should absolutely get an offer from them.
I'm saying this because my GCSEs were 9,8,7,7,7,6,6-5,5,5 - not much better than yours. I'd say not to worry too much about your GCSEs as there isn't really anything you can do about it now.
Contextual offers exist for a reason!

Well then you meet all the requirements if you are contextual eligible. No one knows what weighting they put on your GCSE results, so it is not worth worrying about. The only way to give yourself no chance is to not apply.

Thanks, and you’re right, no point worrying. What is a UCAS tutor btw? Is that at your school or have you used an independent?