Any Ideas - daughter had 4 rejections

Janeyjaz

My eldest daughter has had 4 rejections and no offers from her UCAS selections, she has been identified as being gifted and talented and has got 13 GCSE - mostly A's and A*, she wants to study English and basically I am lost on how to proceed - anyone any ideas?

Gingernutmeg

What courses has she applied for and where? It's often hard to know why you get a rejection but sometimes, it can be that you've applied for a very limited range of courses at a very limited range of universities ... Often the more prestigious universities look for a lot more than academics - has your daughter got much in the way of extra curricular activities, as this can sometimes make a difference. Or, has she applied for very different courses and her personal statement hasn't got the right 'focus'? Or, if she was interviewed, could her nerves have got in the way of a good interview, or could it be that there's some doubt over her desire to take an English course (ie does she really want to study English, or is she thinking about that course because it's her 'best' subject ... that's often picked up on in interviews/personal statements)?

It's difficult to know how to proceed unless you can work out what the problem is/was. I'd suggest a meeting with her university advisor/tutor at school, and ask them what they think the problem could be. She might be able to go through UCAS Extra and get a place, or it might be more sensible to take a year out, work and then reapply.

Voyager2002

Was she interviewed at any of the four universities? If so, see if she can contact the interviewer and request feedback.

The_One_Who

If she doesn't want to take a gap year and reapply for 2009 entry she could try contacting universities through clearing when the exam results are published. I don't know how competitive the course is, but it's worth a shot. She might have to slightly lower her university aspiration though if she wants to take this option.

What universities did she apply to?

CloudRuler

What universities did she apply to?
What are her AS level grades and what are her predicted A level grades?

Her current AS grades and predicted A level grades are more important than her GCSE grades.

Janeyjaz

she wants to study English - she loves it with a passion - best English student in school, was not asked to attend interviews, I think if she had , she would have got a place - but I keep asking myself why should she have to go down clearing or apply for other University courses just to get a place. She was invited to Oxford last year for a visit and did like it but decided not to apply as everyone seemed so posh.

She also runs a music website which has had over a 100,000 hits, and she interviews bands, I thought with tis background she would easily get a place.

Janeyjaz

she applied to Leeds, York, University College, Durham and Manchester

Janeyjaz

Can't remember what her AS grades were, but her predicted grades are AAB & C

CloudRuler

Janeyjaz wrote: »

Can't remember what her AS grades were, but her predicted grades are AAB & C

Presumably you're not including General Studies in that and she has a predicted A for English? Is it English Language or English Lit that she applied for?

Leeds - AAB
Durham - AAA (Single Honours English)
Manchester - AAA-AAB for Lit, ABB for Language
UCL - AAA-AAB

On the basis of her predicted grades she had a good shot at Leeds and Manchester for language. I personally wouldn't have applied to Durham, if your predicted grades don't meet their entry requirements there's very little chance they'll even give you a thought. UCL and Manchester (Lit) she should have had a decent shot at too provided one of her A predictions is not in General Studies.

Depending what she achieved at AS level some unis may be sceptical about her predicted grades. There's also the issue of extra-curricular, does she take part in a lot of extra-curricular activities?

The only thing she can do now is call the unis and ask for feedback, I wouldn't bother calling Durham seeing as her predicted grades most likely ruled her out of that immediately but I see no reason not to call the others. After that she'll have to wait until clearing and see if there are any places of interest left, if not then she will have to take a year out.

Janeyjaz

It is English Literature - and it does not include General Studies , which she already has an A for - her predicted A's are for Language & Lit - B for History and C for French.Anyway she only has Manchester left

CloudRuler

Janeyjaz wrote: »

It is English Literature - and it does not include General Studies , which she already has an A for - her predicted A's are for Language & Lit - B for History and C for French.Anyway she only has Manchester left

I would have thought she'd have an offer for Leeds but a lot of it is sheer luck. I received one offer back from my list, predicted AAAA/B, dropped one which left me with AAA/B and applied to all AAA unis except one. Went to Oxford for an interview but no offer at the end of it. The one I got an offer for was ABB which meant I got a half scholarship for getting higher than the entry requirement.

Why is she doing four subjects instead of the three? If some of the unis are AAA it would have been better to do 3 subjects and make sure she gets 3 A's rather than 4 when she's going to get AABC and put herself out of the running with some of the unis.

How's the extra curricular anyway?