Feeling really stressed out waiting for uni offers. DS is predicted A*A*A, has applied for courses with economics. He's had disappointing news today with a rejection from the LSE. Their entry requirement is AAA which is below his predictions, he bagged top grades at GCSE, the school said his personal statement was very good so the only thing I can think of is that it was his low grade at Additional Maths that cost him a place.

Is it common that universities reject applications when predicted grades are higher than the minimum entry requirement? He's getting really worried about Warwick (A*AA) now. We've also heard that Warwick takes forever with economics offers so it may be a very long wait!

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It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)

Sorry to hear that news - I suspect that LSE just have a huge number of applicants with high grades and can imagine it might be a bit of a lottery as to whether you get an offer.

Hope he hears from elsewhere soon - presume he has been on thestudentoom ? where people all keep up to date when offers come out etc.

Thank you, hermanmunster. Yes, I do hope something else comes soon to cheer him up. He's avoiding TSR at the moment, feeling too anxious about the whole thing so it's me scrolling through the threads looking for evidence of something happening! From what I have seen, only a handful of people have reported receiving economics offers from Warwick so I'm just quietly hoping that no news is good news... Warwick is DS's preferred option and last year they had a higher acceptance rate than LSE so maybe he'll be lucky. Fingers crossed!

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It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)

I know the feeling - the years that DC were applying I found loads of parents on there (some from here! ) - must say the youngsters were quite tolerant of us. Good luck with the Warwick application will KFC

This is a very hard time. Our household is going through it for the third year in a row and the unis are their own masters on this.

dd1 had to wait until April for one of her choices after getting an offer from them very really early on the previous year. She ended up missing all the offer days.

It was very odd as she was applying with her A level grades the second time around rather than the ones the schools predicted for her.

dd2 applied a couple of days before the deadline the same year and had four offers and interview within a few days.

One of the offers was from the Uni that dd1 was still waiting for even though her application went in early October.

I hope Warwick comes through for you soon. Every student we know there is really happy there. We know a student who dropped out of Oxford to go there and was delighted with it.

If things don't work out he can always take a gap year and apply with his grades and even retake his Further Maths for a Higher Grade.

Both my dds made very very last minute decisions not to go to their first choice offer, one was so late we had to stump up for room costs and at one point it looked like it might be tutition costs at well (managed to get out of it after writing pleading emails)

They both picked up a a lot of practical experience very applicable to their degree and were able to apply with their grades . dd1 one got 5 offers and dd2 has two so far including her first choice. They also enjoyed visiting all their friends at the weekend at their unis all year.

Fingers crossed for good news soon and do let us know if it comes through. DG

Sorry about LSE PurpleDuck. My anecdotal experience of this (same course) is now 4 years old but at DD's school most people were not offered LSE, including one who was offered at Cambridge, and several of these were predicted and got 4A*s (old system do not panic!) The timing of Warwick offers appeared completely random but all were offered. Do not worry about the Add maths grade, what is done is done, good luck and I'm sure things will get better soon It is a horrible period where some DC seem to have a crop of offers before Christmas and others are still waiting in February, but in my experience the timing of the uni responses bore little relation to whether they were offer or regrets. Good luck!

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mad?

So far I've been only quietly stalking on TSR Thank you, I do hope it will come through

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It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)

Thank you, Daogroupie, and yes, this is not the best of times... I'd love Warwick to come through. DS really liked the campus and both my husband and I spent a year there. I wish I could say to them 'we need that place to keep the tradition going!'

DS is a bit funny when it comes to the idea of a gap year. Last year he kept saying he wasn't ready for uni at all (he is a summer-born) and would like to put it off for a bit, yesterday when I said to him he could take a gap year if need be, he said 'no'. I think it's because he hasn't planned for a gap year and has realised that when all his friends go off to uni, he will be left on his own and feeling isolated while they are making new friends wherever they are.

Somehow, he needs to put this all out of his mind and focus on revision - mocks coming up in February - but it's not going to be very easy. I'm bracing myself for proper sullen teenage moods, which will necessitate significant amounts of chocolate for me to cope...

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It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)

Thank you, mad?. In a way, this wait is worse than when we did 11+. With those, everyone got their offers at the same time and now it's exactly like you said - some are bagging one offer after another, others keep waiting... We'll just have to suck it up, I suppose.

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It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)

Remember that the general deadline for UCAS isn't until 15th January, so a lot of people haven't submitted yet - some universities deal with applications in batches, so they may not make early decisions, or they decide to wait to see what general calibre comes through. If the early applications are particularly strong, then other universiteis (like LSE) make decisions as they come through - but each university looks for different things.

It may well be worth reminding him (in a good moment) that whilst his friends may all be planning on going this year, it is highly likely that some of them may find they are not going this year (due to not getting grades etc) and will take a gap year - others decide to defer to allow them to gain more experience/money, so he is very unlikely to be the only one not going this year.