The Student Room Group

KCL/York/Cardiff chances

Hi!
I just submitted my UCAS application applying for Exeter, Royal Holloway, King's, Cardiff and York.
I sent off my application on Monday this week and currently have offers from Exeter and Royal Holloway (contextual). I have predicted ABC in Maths, Bio and Chem A-levels respectively.
I am classified under the contextual offers section due to being a young carer. I've also had surgeries (total ACL reconstruction and meniscus repair) since GCSEs. I have complications with continuous MRI scans and consultant/physiotherapy sessions during my A-level time, which includes a third surgery that was due to go ahead. Still, we chose to postpone this because of my mocks. Now I have pain and other complications, such as a cyst in my knee, and so I believe these are extenuating circumstances as well.
What are the chances I'd get offers from York and Cardiff for Biomedical Sciences and Kings for anatomy, developmental and human biology, which is a bit of a push, but I have 2 secure offers well within grade range, so why not???
My teachers were strict about grades, with me having to work hard, missing content, and catching up and not predicting me higher than i got- so I believe with surgery out of the way soon (Just had pre-surgery scans on Sunday so should be confirmed when and if i have other options (though surgery was mainly suggested by the consultant)) and hard work i'd definitely be able to secure higher grades.
Please let me know your thoughts and any other tips from people in similar situations!

Reply 1

York dont seem to list being a young carer under their contextual offers scheme so it might be worth contacting them before you apply or applying and making sure you state your circumstances on your application. If you got a contextual offer this would be BBB and could be lowered to BBC if you complete their MOOC as stated on their website. It would be an aspirational choice but its worth having one or two of these to motivate you.
For Cardiff they do consider being a young carer for a contextual offer and your offer is likely to be ABB (they state the lower end of the grade range which is AAB-ABB). ABB would be an aspirational choice for you but it’s still worth going for if you think you can push the C up to a B by your final exams.
For KCL you should be elegible for a contextual offer due to your caring responsibilities and this offer would be AAC, another aspirational choice but I would still say its worth it incase you get an offer from all 3 of these aspirational choices and your grades on results day are aren’t in a convenient configuration (eg: if you actually got AAC you’d meet the KCL offer but not Cardiff for example even though the ucas points are the same!)
Another thing i wanted to mention is about current support given the pain youre in around mocks. Do you currently have any support in exams such as rest breaks to accommodate the pain you are in? Depending on if you think your issues will persist to your a levels it might be worth talking to your school about exams access arrangements to help you if you think you might struggle to cope without them.
Hope this helps 🙂

Reply 2

Original post
by DerDracologe
York dont seem to list being a young carer under their contextual offers scheme so it might be worth contacting them before you apply or applying and making sure you state your circumstances on your application. If you got a contextual offer this would be BBB and could be lowered to BBC if you complete their MOOC as stated on their website. It would be an aspirational choice but its worth having one or two of these to motivate you.
For Cardiff they do consider being a young carer for a contextual offer and your offer is likely to be ABB (they state the lower end of the grade range which is AAB-ABB). ABB would be an aspirational choice for you but it’s still worth going for if you think you can push the C up to a B by your final exams.
For KCL you should be elegible for a contextual offer due to your caring responsibilities and this offer would be AAC, another aspirational choice but I would still say its worth it incase you get an offer from all 3 of these aspirational choices and your grades on results day are aren’t in a convenient configuration (eg: if you actually got AAC you’d meet the KCL offer but not Cardiff for example even though the ucas points are the same!)
Another thing i wanted to mention is about current support given the pain youre in around mocks. Do you currently have any support in exams such as rest breaks to accommodate the pain you are in? Depending on if you think your issues will persist to your a levels it might be worth talking to your school about exams access arrangements to help you if you think you might struggle to cope without them.
Hope this helps 🙂

Thanks so much! This helps a lot and im waiting to hear back from all 3. For both York and Cardiff they state contextual offers can be up to 2 grades lower than what they ask for and i meet that with ABC which is why i think i have a slight chance. I haven't currently talked to my school about exams access arrangements but my mother has explained the situation to them and they said they'll put a meeting in January. 😃



(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 3

Original post
by user676
Thanks so much! This helps a lot and im waiting to hear back from all 3. For both York and Cardiff they state contextual offers can be up to 2 grades lower than what they ask for and i meet that with ABC which is why i think i have a slight chance. I haven't currently talked to my school about exams access arrangements but my mother has explained the situation to them and they said they'll put a meeting in January. 😃


York reduce their offer to BBB if they give you a contextual offer (they dont have caring responsibilities or illness listed but they still may give you one 🤞). So if you apply to York your offer will either be along the lines of:
Non-contextual: AAB or ABB if you complete our online course
Contextual: BBB or BBC if you complete our online course
Cardiff exclude biomed from their general contextual offer scheme and state that your offer will be at the lower end of the advertised ucas points range. As the range for biomed is AAB-ABB your offer is likely to be no lower than ABB.
A few ABB choices are absolutely fine for grades at ABC, if you get an offer it’ll be something you can work for!
Best of luck for your meeting in January! Let me know if you need any help with navigating exam access arrangements, i have a lot of knowledge in that area so should be able to answer any questions 🙂

Reply 4

Just checked their website and I'm able to get a contextual offer from York due to my postcode!
Thanks so much for your help- it is greatly appreciated.

Reply 5

Original post
by user676
Just checked their website and I'm able to get a contextual offer from York due to my postcode!
Thanks so much for your help- it is greatly appreciated.

Thats great! Best of luck with your studies 🙂

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