Cambridge bring in tests

[solimum]

Right, Manchester does have a good reputation for sure, will drop that into the conversation with dd1 as well!

Also mention that the chances of spotting Prof Brian Cox in passing are quite high... And that the Vice Chancellor is a very distinguished female biological scientist!

[Proud_Dad]

Also mention that the chances of spotting Prof Brian Cox in passing are quite high... And that the Vice Chancellor is a very distinguished female biological scientist!

Does he still do lectures for undergraduates? I read somewhere that Manchester had the highest entrance requirements for any physics course (including Oxbridge) and this was thought to be partly due to the Prof Cox effect.

[shootmenow]

Oxford offers tend to be lower than other top RG universities. AAAfor humanities and A*AA for sciences because they have tested and interviewed candidates before making offers. They would actually like their offer holders to come. Cambridge has always had slightly higher offers but this might change with testing . DD's Ox offer is her lowest.
I learned a good lesson on Open Days at one uni that wanted A*A*A for English. It was all hype. There was no correllation between offer level, the quality and depth of the course or the quality of current students. Indeed, it was the least impressive. However, if you search UniStats for top English course by grades, this was what came up.They also told us (sotto voce) that they usually accept candidates who miss their offers.
I know Manchester has a fantastic reputation for Physics (and many other subjects) but don't assume that the highest grades equals the best quality. Or, that the standard offer grades are written in stone. DS's friends who missed their Manchester offers last year got in anyway.

[solimum]

The "official" offer grades are really a marketing tool - the unis all want to appear at least as good as their competitors and so "prices" tend to cluster . However (outside Oxbridge and the most over-subscribed courses elsewhere) they fully expect not to have enough candidates who have achieved their offers to fill the places and to pick up many of those who have "missed" by a grade (or even more) - often this happens automatically on results day anyway through UCAS. But presumably they have in some way put those all given the same offer into an order of preference and fill up along the list until all places are taken.

Somewhere there are statistics about ACTUAL grade averages on entry which would give a better indication of the cohort

Incidentally when DD attended an interview day in Manchester (Deceptively sunny Oct half term, with many other Oxbridge and medicine-putting-biochem-as-my-backup hopefuls) they were keen to explain that if Manchester were put as first choice they would guarantee a place with one missed grade: however if using Manchester as an insurance place (for Oxford, say) there was no such guarantee. This was (help!) 4 years ago. Offers were based on predicted grades if they decided (after a short interview) to make one, so though DD's was AAA others might have been offered AAB for the same course.

Certainly Prof Cox was still regularly teaching an undergraduate course a couple of years ago - he used to be in the lecture theatre after DD's! Not sure if he still has time...

[Guest55]

Unis get the results the weekend before students do so get the opportunity to review 'near-misses'. They have to fill places or they get fined ...