Exam Appeals

OP

really? oh excellent!

Reply 3

come on - a bit of optimism. Just think, your 20+% there now. (You HAVE finished your investigations/ dissertations , haven't you? I have.... almost)

Reply 4

musicbloke

17

they're not obliged to take you. I had a friend who had an offer and missed his grades, appealed and got it changed but by that point they made him defer for a year.

MB

Reply 5

OP

platinumki

come on - a bit of optimism. Just think, your 20+% there now. (You HAVE finished your investigations/ dissertations , haven't you? I have.... almost)

Well my dissertation is almost done; just needs some polishing up, and my German folio needs a little bit more attention - but the exams!!!

Platinumki, are you doing AH english? We're doing the media studies section; i know b*gger all! Give me two questions of Shakespeare anyday, but how can it make sense that an analysis of a Prada advert is equally weighted against an analysis of King Lear??!
Aah, the SQA!

Reply 6

Ah, I'm doing creative writing. It seems by far the easiest option. Exam? Or no exam? Funnily enough, I went for no exam. :biggrin:

What did you do your dissertation on?

Reply 7

RxB

1

I think in quite a lot of cases people in this situation are asked to defer. I know a couple of people in that situation (and nobody who's been rejected post-appeal)

Reply 8

OP

platinumki

Ah, I'm doing creative writing. It seems by far the easiest option. Exam? Or no exam? Funnily enough, I went for no exam. :biggrin:

What did you do your dissertation on?

"The portrayal of adultery in 19thC. European lit." - exciting! What about you?
I was going to do the creative writing element, but then I thought (a) I cant be bothered, and (b) I'm not particularly creative.
So are you doing 4 adv. highers then? That must be a hell of a lot of work. I was doing 4, but gave up history when I got my AAA offer.

Re: being asked to defer.
Would you have to pay the 3000 pounds tuition fees, or the 1150 pounds? Why would they do that; does it not mean you take up place two yearsin a row?

Reply 9

magicalsausage

WhatFreshHell?

"The portrayal of adultery in 19thC. European lit." - exciting! What about you?
I was going to do the creative writing element, but then I thought (a) I cant be bothered, and (b) I'm not particularly creative.
So are you doing 4 adv. highers then? That must be a hell of a lot of work. I was doing 4, but gave up history when I got my AAA offer.

Re: being asked to defer.
Would you have to pay the 3000 pounds tuition fees, or the 1150 pounds? Why would they do that; does it not mean you take up place two yearsin a row?

So I'm the only one doing the old Textual Analysis? Even though it's not exactly a barrel of laughs I think it will be by far the most useful for studying English at Uni. My dissertation are pretty much finished now which is quite a load off my mind, for English was about the presentation of characters in relation to the colonial experience (Rhys - Wide Sargasso Sea, Achebe - Things Fall Apart, Conrad - Heart of Darkness) and in History was "Why did the feudal class itself end feudal power in Meiji Japan?" - much more interesting than it sounds.

Reply 10

I HATE HEART OF DARKNESS.

Sorry, had to get that off my chest.

English: A comparative study of the literary techniques employed by Elizabeth Gaskell to challenge the dominant ideologies of gender and class, of her time, with particularly reference to "Mary Barton," "Ruth" and "North and South"

Chemistry: A Comparative Analysis of the Lipid Content of Specialist Feline Foodstuffs

Biology: Investigation into the Vitamin C Content of Organic and Non-Organic Produce

Physics: Investigation into the Accuracy if Methods of Dermination of the Wavelength of Light

I'm doing four advanced highers.... hmmmm.... no I'm not sure why. I am the only person at my school who needs ANY for the courses they have applied to. hoho, what fun.

And I still haven't started unit 3 physics.

And I still haven't started poetry. At all.

Oh, I'm mad. That's what it is.

Aye, well, it's OK - I'll get into Edinburgh :p:

Reply 11

Ticki

8

WhatFreshHell?

Re: being asked to defer.
Would you have to pay the 3000 pounds tuition fees, or the 1150 pounds? Why would they do that; does it not mean you take up place two yearsin a row?

Because offers are normally finalised during the week following A-level results day, any student who successfully appeals against their grades outside of this deadline has met the offer, however they will probably find that their place for that year has been delegated to someone in the summer pool. Obviously colleges can sometimes be more flexible if there are few people in the summer pool, but the final decision will depend on how much accommodation is available. If they've nowhere to house you, you'll have to defer if you still want to go to Oxford. I'm not sure what the top-up fees situation would be though.

Reply 12

musicbloke

17

Ticki

Because offers are normally finalised during the week following A-level results day, any student who successfully appeals against their grades outside of this deadline has met the offer, however they will probably find that their place for that year has been delegated to someone in the summer pool. Obviously colleges can sometimes be more flexible if there are few people in the summer pool, but the final decision will depend on how much accommodation is available. If they've nowhere to house you, you'll have to defer if you still want to go to Oxford. I'm not sure what the top-up fees situation would be though.

I think that if you deferred you'd have a pretty good case in demanding that the exam board that f**ked up pays the extra. If a legal case sounds to expensive you can always go to the press - the grauniad are always looking out for stories on the problems of PPP.

MB

Reply 13

OP

But the summer pool thing wouldn't apply to me, would it, because I'm an Oxford Arts candidate. They don't do the "Open Offer" thing for Modern Languages, so they don't have a list of people ready to take my place.

I spoke to my head of year today and she said that if it goes badly and I get AAB (it could go worse, the language listenings this year are really difficult!), then she'd write and they'd appeal straight away.

I checked the UCAS website and they said conditions of an offer must be met by August 31st 2005. If I get my results on August 12th, I could write to them and let them know to hold off until I get the result of my appeal.
Hopefully.

I really should just do some more revision...

Reply 14

musicbloke

17

WhatFreshHell?

But the summer pool thing wouldn't apply to me, would it, because I'm an Oxford Arts candidate. They don't do the "Open Offer" thing for Modern Languages, so they don't have a list of people ready to take my place.

I spoke to my head of year today and she said that if it goes badly and I get AAB (it could go worse, the language listenings this year are really difficult!), then she'd write and they'd appeal straight away.

I checked the UCAS website and they said conditions of an offer must be met by August 31st 2005. If I get my results on August 12th, I could write to them and let them know to hold off until I get the result of my appeal.
Hopefully.

I really should just do some more revision...

That's not how it works. Before you go to pick up your results you should put the numbers of the admissions tutors for your firm and insurancce into your phone. When you pick up your results if you have missed the grades the you (yes, you, not your teacher) have to phone the admissions tutor and find out if they'll make you an offer. If they say no then I think that's the end of what you can do. They will have already decided by results day.

MB

Reply 15

Ticki

8

A number of people in the year above me missed their grades for Oxford and the admissions tutors wouldn't even consider their cases on results day. One of them did appeal successfully but this took quite a while to go through, by which I mean it was later than 31st August. During that time he'd taken a place at Bristol and decided it wasn't worth dropping out and going to Oxford the following year. As Jacob and I have already said, if you miss your results it's extremely unlikely that Oxbridge (or any other university for that matter) will have the room to take you that year, but if your appeal is successful and you're prepared to wait a year they are obliged to take you the following year. As Jacob has indicated, someone else should foot the bill for this.

Reply 16

Hoofbeat

14

Ticki

but if you're prepared to wait a year they are obliged to take you the following year

just to clarify....they're only obliged to take you if your appeal is successful

Reply 17

OP

Let me clarify, if I appeal to AAA I would get a place for deferred entry, without having to go through the admissions process all over again?

Thanks for the info!

Reply 18