UCAS this year

soolin

No 2 son is hopefully going to uni this Septemeber, however it is very likely he will completely miss one of his grades. He wanted a particular course and we haven't aimed very high A level wise and even his tutor thinks he could end up without his grades.

Two years ago when number 1 son went to uni we were able to log in to UCAS at 1 minute past midnight on the results day and it showed that he had his place, this year apparently they are snowed under and nothing will show online until at least Saturday. So, tyring to understand how this is going to work DS gets his results from school on Thursday this week, if he has the grades we assume he gets his uni place, if , as is likely, he doesn't get his grades do we hit clearing or what?

DS is refusing to talk about it so I need to know what I can do to help him if we need to, and I don't understand the system.

I have also heard from other sources that UNI courses are massively oversubscibed this year, does anyone know if this is the case? The newspapers appear to suggest the opposite saying that due to the credit crunch many young people may have to defer uni as their parents can no longer support them. If it is over subscibed then of course my DS has less chance of getting in if he does drop a grade or two, if the unis struggle to fill their posts then he stands a better chance.

As you can tell I'm in full panic mode here!

pandora205

Last year the UCAS site was giving outcomes from about 7 am. I know cos my daughter and I logged on at 6.30 am. I did find a way to get the page continually refreshing without having to keep pressing on the keyboad (from The Student Room I think) but can't remember how just now.

Is there a good reason your son is likely to miss the grade? It might be worth him calling the uni and speaking to the tutor if he doesn't get the place. My daughter didn't get her grades but was offered her place. As she'd been ill during the year we had submitted a letter and medical records (directly to the uni - we didn't think about doing it to the exam boards until it was too late).

This is all assuming your son really really wants his place at uni. Some times young people feel pressurised to go, and get caught up in the application/interview cycle earlier in the year without really reflecting.

PS After all the anxiety last year my daughter decided to take a gap year and has since declined her place at uni. She's now qualified as a ski instructor instead (she was going to do broadcast journalism).

Helix

You should be able to get on UCAS at around 6-8am on Thursday, I did last year (it was a bit slow at the beginning but if you were patient with it you could get on). The Midnight thing that happened a few years back was a glitch they had it wasn't meant to happen but since then rumours go around each year that it will go up at midnight.

If you get on UCAS and it still says Conditional next to his firm offer then it either means they haven't yet updated the site or he didn't meet the grades and they are waiting for him to phone them. If it says unconditional then obviously he has got in. If it says unsucessful or whatever the equivalent is then I guess it is worth a try phoning the university to see if they will accept him with lower grades but I think if you get that status then they have already made their minds up.

If he doesn't get in then it will be a case of going through clearing. If you get a copy of The Independent (I think - its one of the broadsheets anyway) then they will have a list of all the courses that are avaliable through clearing. You should also be able to find a list of the courses in clearing on the UCAS site. Then its a case of phoning the universities up and asking them. You will probably find what happens is when you get through they will just take your details down which then get passed onto the admissions tutor for that course who will ring you back.

tehone

Do you also have an insurance offer - will you make the grades for that?

UCAS info : http://www.ucas.com/clearing/adviser.html and http://www.ucas.com/clearing/facts.html might be of use

soolin

tehone wrote: »

Do you also have an insurance offer - will you make the grades for that?

UCAS info : http://www.ucas.com/clearing/adviser.html and http://www.ucas.com/clearing/facts.html might be of use

He has no insurance offer as his course is an odd 'old fashioned' one and only the top level unis (which he couldn't aspire to as they all wanted A's across the board) run it and a couple of the lower league unis one of whom has made a conditional offer.

I tried talking to him today and he says if he doesn't get his uni then he'll get a full time job for a year and maybe take a new A level in the evenings and try that way.

We called UCAS and they are quite insistent that this year there will be no tracking and offers available online until Saturday, obviously I will still keep trying.

I think what will make it hard is that 1st son got into his uni of choice despite dropping two grades purely because it was the first year of charges so the number of people applying was low.

horrorhag

phone up the uni he has applied for on thrusday and they will tell you if he has got a place if ucas isnt working. if not he will have to go through clearing....however....if he has only applied to one university he will have to pay the £10 sign up fee with ucas to apply for clearing.

On a side note. if someone has applied for a couse and meets the grade requirements the university is obligated to honer that course even if it fills up

Oldernotwiser

Do get your son to do this all for himself; universities don't like talking to parents when the applicant is available. I know that you're concerned about your son but the use of the word "we" (and occasionally even "I") throughout your posts sounds as if you're too involved. I know you're only tring to help but helping doesn't mean doing everything for him.

bestpud

I must admit I am getting the feeling you are more concerned about this than your son is.

Thinking of my cousin now, who wanted to go to uni but also missed the grades, my aunt didn't need to get involved at all - he got onto ucas, and the unis, and dealt with the lot!

Maybe your son really isn't that keen on uni and a year out will give him some thinking time? Sometimes it is better not to rush straight in from school anyway.

Probably not what you want to hear, but take a deep breath and let him get on with it! Just let him know you are there if he wants to mull his options over and step back.

soolin

He's burying his head in the sand a bit, he has planned the whole of the next 3 years, he's even chosen his accomodation at the uni and given in his notice for his current part time job at home. I just wanted to be in a position so that if it does go wrong tomorrow I have all the telephone numbers and advice sheets to hand for him, obvbiously he will make all his own calls.

I have just spoken to him and he can't even collect his results until 11 from the school, but he suggested I got the number of the uni for him and that he calls them as soon as they open at 8.30 to see if they can tell him if he has a place.If they say he has not got in then he can try their own clearing department while I go off and buy a broadsheet newspaper for him to look through which courses are available.

I know I take too much of a role in what my sons do, but I know my sons and this one panics and will just go back to bed and fret unless I have all the info to hand and can just hand it over to him.
Hopefully we are worrying for nothing and he'll get his results and the uni he wants. he worked his socks off all last year having recovered from a huge set back previously (he was attacked by a gang and ended up in hospital and still needs some cosmetic dentistry work)..

Parisian

Soolin, totally understand your predicament....

Buy the Independent in the morning....
Once you have the grades on the Thursday, call the uni to check what has happened.....
If he is not accepted, enter clearing (check in advance the procedures for this).... many students will be in this position and def won't be leaving it until Sat.

Best of luck

Parisian

Oops typed this message earlier in the day, then left desk and only just posted it now.... and then saw your reply above! Oooopsss