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Psychology at UoB

fleuxrshel

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post

by fleuxrshel

hi all! i am currently in y13 studying sociology, criminology, english literature and psychology and predicted all b’s. whilst i know b’s aren’t horrible, i’m still slightly upset considering that most unis i am applying to are asking for AAB. my 1st choice is UoB (university of birmingham) and they also ask for AAB but with the contextual offer i would be asked ABB. despite this, i’m clearly still one under what they’ve asked for. previously, i had thought with a well written personal statement i could potentially be given a contextual offer but a member of the academic staff had said that i most likely would only get in through clearing which has really been hard to handle because this university is one i’d wanted to get into very much since it’s convenient and a really good university but i think i have a low chance now. can anyone give any guidance whether i’d be given an offer or not? they also don’t really take the 4th a level into consideration either as they only consider the top 3 grades so :/

You say, "i had thought with a well written personal statement i could potentially be given a contextual offer". That's not how contextual offers work. They are not impacted by your personal statement.

Generally speaking, you receive a contextual offer if you meet whatever contextual criteria a particular university uses (they all vary). This may includes things like eligibility for free school meals, living in a deprived area, attending a school with low progression to university stats, having been in care etc.

Birmingham's contextual criteria are extremely simple:
"Eligibility for the contextual offer is based on two criteria: having been in receipt of Free School Meals in the last 6 years, or having spent time in local authority care (and you have documented this on your UCAS form)." (source)

If you don't meet those criteria, you won't get a contextual offer.

Reply 2

fleuxrshel

Original post

by DataVenia

You say, "i had thought with a well written personal statement i could potentially be given a contextual offer". That's not how contextual offers work. They are not impacted by your personal statement.
Generally speaking, you receive a contextual offer if you meet whatever contextual criteria a particular university uses (they all vary). This may includes things like eligibility for free school meals, living in a deprived area, attending a school with low progression to university stats, having been in care etc.
Birmingham's contextual criteria are extremely simple:
"Eligibility for the contextual offer is based on two criteria: having been in receipt of Free School Meals in the last 6 years, or having spent time in local authority care (and you have documented this on your UCAS form)." (source)
If you don't meet those criteria, you won't get a contextual offer.

Sorry i think i worded this really poorly. i meant i thought with a well written personal statement and a contextual offer i could be given a place! apologies. Also, the A2B scheme isn’t based on just those 2 things as many people within my school have been offered these and didn’t have fsm. on the application you need 3 things which could be a poor area for home and school and anything else! :smile:

Reply 3

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post

by fleuxrshel

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "the A2B scheme". If you follow the link above, you will find details of the different types of offers which you may receive from Birmingham.

One is their Pathways to Birmingham programme (which may be what you're referring to). As they write on that page, "The Pathways to Birmingham offer is typically two grades below the standard offer."

Then there is the Realising Opportunities programme, Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) offers, and Elite Dual Career Athlete Pathway (EDCAP) offers. Note that Birmingham do not consider these as "contextual offers", for which I provided their eligibility criteria in the post above.

So, if we assume that you're actually talking about their Pathways to Birmingham programme, then such an offer would typically be two grades below the standard offer - i.e. BBB for Psychology (as you have a science subject). That would therefore give you as good a chance as any other applicant who has predicted grades which just exceed the offer grades. :smile:

You might like to take a look at the "Historical entry grades data" section of the UCAS page for Psychology at Birmingham (here). It shows that in recent years, they've made offers to 4 in 5 applicants and have accepted candidates with grades as low as BBB (likely through Clearing or one of the above schemes). Do keep in mind that UCAS exclude the top and bottom 5% of candidates when compiling these numbers, and don't differentiate between applicants who are contextual or applying via one of the above schemes. The data is therefore only a guideline as to what might be a reasonable expectation.

Reply 4

fleuxrshel

ah ok so i checked the pathways to birmingham programmes and the a2b scheme comes under one of their programmes (access to birmingham) so this only offers one grade reduction. Would that be good enough for a BBBB student? also thank you!! :smile: