The Student Room Group

Big and Stupid mistake

Hopefully I'll be entering Imperial next year to study physics. I made my Uni applications early in the year (september), and also applied overseas in the US.
I received the replies for my UK unis early in Feb. and immediately (here's the mistake) confirmed Imperial as my firm, rejecting all my other applications.
A couple of months later I get a letter from MIT with an unconditional offer which I could no longer take :frown:

This is a bit of a rant... I'm upset about what happened, but either way I'm really happy to be going to imperial (if edexcel is nice with the grade boundaries, lol)

Conclusion- dont make the same mistake I did and WAIT!!
You couldn't ask Imperial very nicely?

People drop out all the time. :dontknow:
brecken
Hopefully I'll be entering Imperial next year to study physics. I made my Uni applications early in the year (september), and also applied overseas in the US.
I received the replies for my UK unis early in Feb. and immediately (here's the mistake) confirmed Imperial as my firm, rejecting all my other applications.
A couple of months later I get a letter from MIT with an unconditional offer which I could no longer take :frown:

This is a bit of a rant... I'm upset about what happened, but either way I'm really happy to be going to imperial (if edexcel is nice with the grade boundaries, lol)

Conclusion- dont make the same mistake I did and WAIT!!


always choose an insurance!

I feel the same too after Edexcel's exams... SIGH.
Reply 3
brecken
Hopefully I'll be entering Imperial next year to study physics. I made my Uni applications early in the year (september), and also applied overseas in the US.
I received the replies for my UK unis early in Feb. and immediately (here's the mistake) confirmed Imperial as my firm, rejecting all my other applications.



um, you realize you're perfectly free to withdraw from your Imperial offer and take the MIT offer ?
Well Im sure you could have asked Imperial to release you, especially as you could have said you were moving to America and no longer attending any UK institution. Its not like they want people to go who dont want to be there and are going to drop out, and Im sure there would have been plenty of other great applicants that could have taken your place.
Why can't you take MIT's offer? They aren't part of the UCAS system so there's no rules around only accepting one or the other.... so surely its possible to just decline Imperial and accept MIT? (I don't know for certain)
brecken
Hopefully I'll be entering Imperial next year to study physics. I made my Uni applications early in the year (september), and also applied overseas in the US.
I received the replies for my UK unis early in Feb. and immediately (here's the mistake) confirmed Imperial as my firm, rejecting all my other applications.
A couple of months later I get a letter from MIT with an unconditional offer which I could no longer take :frown:

This is a bit of a rant... I'm upset about what happened, but either way I'm really happy to be going to imperial (if edexcel is nice with the grade boundaries, lol)

Conclusion- dont make the same mistake I did and WAIT!!



What you have written makes no sense whatsoever.
You are under no obligation to go to imperial.
MIT has nothing to do with your ucas options.
You are 100% free to choose either.
screenager2004
Why can't you take MIT's offer? They aren't part of the UCAS system so there's no rules around only accepting one or the other.... so surely its possible to just decline Imperial and accept MIT? (I don't know for certain)

you are quite correct.
Reply 8
What people don't seem to realize is that you as an individual don't have a legal obligation to go to the university you've firmed, rather all the UK universities have a legal agreement with UCAS which stops them taking a student who's firmed (and unreleased) at another university. Even if Imperial didn't want to release her, there's nothing they could do about it if she's going to a non-UK university who aren't bound by the UCAS contract.

The reason it's structured in the way it is, is because most people when applying to universities are minors, hence can't be held to a contract anyway.
Reply 9
Sorry there seems to be confusion- when I said I declined all my other offers as soon as I saw Imperial offered me a place, i meant ALL my other offers, including those in the US. See where the stupid mistake is? The letter from MIT was to tell me that if I had not declined beforehand, they would have offered me the unconditional.
Reply 10
brecken
Sorry there seems to be confusion- when I said I declined all my other offers as soon as I saw Imperial offered me a place, i meant ALL my other offers, including those in the US. See where the stupid mistake is? The letter from MIT was to tell me that if I had not declined beforehand, they would have offered me the unconditional.


If you want to go to MIT have you called them, they might be willing to reopen the offer.
Reply 11
ttx
If you want to go to MIT have you called them, they might be willing to reopen the offer.


That would have been a good idea, but after I made the mistake I tried to convince myself that Imperial was a better choice, and I think I convinced myself quite easily; closer to home, not so expensive, etc..
I would be very happy if they accepted me in MIT after Imperial for my masters though.
Besides, where would I find all of you guys if not in the UK?? lol :P
troll. its obvious you can just withdraw your ucas application and go to usa as ucas has nothing to do with mit.
Reply 13
brecken
That would have been a good idea, but after I made the mistake I tried to convince myself that Imperial was a better choice, and I think I convinced myself quite easily; closer to home, not so expensive, etc..
I would be very happy if they accepted me in MIT after Imperial for my masters though.
Besides, where would I find all of you guys if not in the UK?? lol :P

So where exactly is the big and stupid mistake, then?:confused:
If you regret turning down the MIT offer and think you might want to go there after all, just get in touch with them asap, tell them you turned down the offer due to a misunderstanding and beg them to renew your offer. If you have managed to convince yourself that Imperial is the place for you, why do you continue to think of it as a mistake? You had two good offers and you always knew that in such a situation you'd have to decide for one. OK, as things turned out you did so a bit too rashly, perhaps, but that doesn't change anything about the fact that you'd have been forced to make a decision anyway. It wouldn't really have made that much of a difference if you had rejected the MIT offer after some careful consideration, would it?
Reply 14
MIT sent you a letter saying they would have offered you an unconditional, two months after you declined? Somehow, I doubt its as cut and dry as you make it. Either this means they would be willing to reconsider, hence the letter, and there'd be no big mistake at all, or theres something you've not made clear. At any rate, Imperial can and must release you if you ask them to. They don't have to release you to another UCAS choice, but if it was an American university, UCAS would have nothing to do with it anyway.
Reply 15
Lies.
Is that kind of not a weird thing to do from MIT?

What's the point in informing an already withdrawn applicant that he/she would be offered a place if he/she never withdrew AFTER 2 months. It could make people upset etc and they should know better in my opinion.

However, unless the letter had a different purpose, as 0404343m stated.
Universities tend not to send letters out to students who have withdrawn applications to tell them that, had they progressed their application, they would have got in. They don't have time to spend on pointless activities like that.

Latest