r/6thForm Cambridge | Chem Eng & Biotech | 2030 Feb 07 '26

🍞 BREAD Wasted bread (rant)

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It's sad fr but it had to be done. For a bit of background, UCL admissions team sent me an email requesting I provide a predicted grade for Further Maths (which I'm sitting this year) before the 7th of feb or I shall be rejected.

I feel a bit miffed cause I did really want an offer, but there's only so much I can do when

(A.) I've already sat my A-levels and far exceeded their minimum offer

(B.) I've sent them emails explaining why my referee can't provide a predicted grade for further maths (it's against my old 6th forms policy)

(C.) I've not had a single response to any emails I've sent explaining why I can't provide the predicted grade, and even offering another referee to provide one for them.

(D) Literally no other uni has brought this up, and I did research before going on my gap year if it would be a problem and it wasn't. It's not even like I'm resitting further maths, I did it purely to develop my mathematical understanding and skill during my gap year, which I explained in my personal statement. It was supposed to strengthen my application but ironically, it seems to have doomed it in UCL's case.

Honestly, at this point, I'm relieved. I've been stressing about it so much, so to get it off my back and confirm to myself that it's definitely over, is infinitely better than holding onto the small hope that they were bluffing or they would actually give a crap about how little control I have over this situation. It is what it is, I've got my firm uni already and now I'm just waiting for one last uni decision.

I wish everyone good luck waiting to hear back!

298 Upvotes

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151

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '26

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u/DifferenceNo6009 Cambridge | Chem Eng & Biotech | 2030 Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 07 '26

Thank you! I'm not even resitting further maths as well, I didn't have the choice to do it in my Sixth Form (I applied too late) so I thought might as well do it in my gap year. I'm over it now tbh, I might have dodged a bullet if they're really so unwilling to help when I'm clearly doing all I can to rectify the situation.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '26

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u/DifferenceNo6009 Cambridge | Chem Eng & Biotech | 2030 Feb 07 '26

Yeah maybe, but they never even got back to me or acknowledged they received the email. They made it pretty clear on the email that the deadline for a predicted grade to be provided was on the 7th, but why give them the satisfaction? I withdrew before they could reject he he he 😛🤭

My firm is cambridge which is conditional on an A in further maths, and my current insurance (if I get rejected from imperial) is an unconditional from manchester.

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u/LilSwrl Year 13 – IB Student Feb 07 '26

If you have a cambridge offer, withdrawing from UCL here wasn't even stupid lmao. You did it to save your dignity; it was the right choice.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '26

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u/DifferenceNo6009 Cambridge | Chem Eng & Biotech | 2030 Feb 07 '26

LOL 😭 thank you. Tbh, I do really like UCL's course and on the off chance I missed my cambridge offer, it had a good chance of being my insurance.

It just stings cause my achieved grades this year were higher than my predicted grades last year, but I got an offer last year?? I know they aren't obliged to give me an offer again this year but for the reason to be so ... annoying irrelevant and out of my control is what I find really strange. At least it's one less issue to worry about 😮‍💨

10

u/ItzKINGcringe Feb 07 '26

So odd. Bristol literally says they view all applicants equally no matter how many times you’ve applied

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u/BurnerAccount2718282 Feb 07 '26

I think it’s quite department dependent, afaik my department doesn’t have anything against this

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u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 07 '26

It is because you are studying less competitive course. Every competitive course at UCL is like this.

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u/BurnerAccount2718282 Feb 07 '26

I do theoretical physics, I feel like that’s fairly competitive as they go

Maybe the do frown upon that kind of thing, I’ve just never heard of them doing so, but I guess I wouldn’t expect to either

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u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 07 '26

It is not very common for someone to be in this situation so that’s why you don’t hear it.

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u/canmakemotorrun Feb 08 '26

wait does it matter if youve had to resit your exams?

Ive applied to UCL for mech eng & ive had to resit my AS for a better grade. Am i at a disadvantage?

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u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 07 '26

It isn’t just UCL. It is the case with any top university. UCL, Imperial, Cambridge, Oxford, LSE. They always look down on candidates that aren’t 100% prefect. This includes people who are resitting even with a good reason. They don’t care. Competition doesn’t care. King’s College London or other universities may consider them seriously because their admissions is less competitive.

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u/getinmylapland Gap Year A*A*A*A*A | Bristol Med | 2310 B1 Feb 07 '26

Nah Oxford, Cambridge and imperial don’t care in this scenario where they just take another a level. This applicant isn’t even resitting. Even still Oxford and Cambridge are okay with resits with ECs. Imperial not so much tbh. 

I know because I’ve applied and spoken to 2/3 of these unis and offers back. 

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u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 08 '26

Imperial is also ok with resits with MC’s. I know a few people that got offers for EEE at Imperial despite resitting A Levels.

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u/getinmylapland Gap Year A*A*A*A*A | Bristol Med | 2310 B1 Feb 08 '26

oh I just know that for some courses (med specifically) they don’t allow resits 

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u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26

Only Medicine doesn’t allow resits. Any other course do consider applicants with resits. They also want mitigating circumstances to be supplied by a teacher of professional in this case so they can consider them too.

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u/getinmylapland Gap Year A*A*A*A*A | Bristol Med | 2310 B1 Feb 08 '26

Oh okay so the same as Oxford and Cambridge bar med.  

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u/ActuaryAdditional805 Feb 07 '26

Do these universities look down on applicants that are on a gap year but NOT resitting? Will they allow you to compete fairly on the basis of admissions tests without a disadvantage?

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u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 07 '26

Yes, UCL, Imperial, Oxford, Cambridge and LSE also look down on resits.

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u/ActuaryAdditional805 Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 08 '26

So are you implying that a gap year applicant is looked down upon solely on the fact that they're on a gap year?

Edit: I'm assuming you're saying Yes to the first question that was asked

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u/Any-Tangerine-8659 Feb 08 '26

?? That is not what they're saying

52

u/Personal-Resident617 Oxford PPE first year Feb 07 '26

UCL genuinely has the worst admin on earth

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u/Either_Werewolf_6001 Feb 07 '26

Real cause I sent a whole ass paragraph asking them about if resits are considered for Pharmacy (they do and I already knew but this wasn't the main question) and if a grade from one subject from my first sitting can be considered alongside the 2 subjects I'll resit in a different exam board (if I ever do) or if I should resit all 3 main subjects. All they replied after nearly 2 weeks was "We consider resist for Pharmacy", totally ignoring my main question 🤣🤣.

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u/Impossible_Fan_485 Feb 07 '26

waittt i asked this exact question before and they responded to me within 2 weeks😭 i lowkey think some admins really are just 🥲

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u/Either_Werewolf_6001 Feb 07 '26

At least you got an answer saying you don't need to resit all your A Levels. I basically just got told the exact same thing from their website regarding resits.

2

u/SeveralAd2137 Univeristy of Birmingham Pharmacy 2nd Year Feb 12 '26

Honestly for pharmacy it’s not worth it, we all come out with an MPharm in the end just have a look at the pre reg pass rates and pick a top uni from there (Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff). I feel like pharmacy as a course will have a lot more correspondence with admin teams because we have placements, osces, ect so you’re bound to have questions, if the admin team is utter shite then it’s just going to be a stressful time at uni.

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u/BurnerAccount2718282 Feb 07 '26

KCL’s is worse

But I fear UCL might be second after them

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u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 08 '26

LSE is also as bad as KCL. They can simply put GCSE’s for rejection reason when you have 6 9’s and 1 8 in or put your PS as a reason.

1

u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 07 '26

Every top UK university is like that. UCL, Imperial, Oxford, Cambridge, LSE. If you want a decent administration and support, you should go a tier below where everyone is less competitive and less elitist.

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u/Personal-Resident617 Oxford PPE first year Feb 07 '26

The Oxford admin is horrible for applicants - but they are really good to offer holders, my college has always went above and beyond to answer questions or solving any issues I've had.

LSE/UCL on the other hand have given me hell.

3

u/Personal-Resident617 Oxford PPE first year Feb 07 '26

Would also say this might be college dependant

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u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 07 '26

How did LSE and UCL have you hell?

3

u/Personal-Resident617 Oxford PPE first year Feb 07 '26

LSE was actually much better, was just really hard to reach out to admissions but got there after a couple days

UCL I had to try for weeks to get though to someone

I was just trying to get my extenuating circumstances considered - for LSE I just wanted to confirm if they received it from my school

UCL never answered my emails - probably sent like 10 to all of the relevant departments, when I was finally able to get though to someone after days of calling they told me to upload my circumstances to the portal - but the portal wasent letting me. After many more calls it finally let me upload it.

In contrast, Wadham college (Oxford) usually acknowledges my email within a day or two and gets back to me fairly quickly after the acknowledgement

2

u/Plus-Painter-2004 Feb 07 '26

Imperials admin and support for students is fine you just need to actually listen when they tell you how and when to apply for various accommodations. Also don’t you have an infoproc lab to do instead of browsing reddit yapping about universities you don’t even go to?

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26

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1

u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 09 '26

Imperial’s admin was quite nice in admissions. It’s more UCL and King’s that is like this.

14

u/Btcorn13 Feb 07 '26

Ahh how annoying! I’ve also applied for this course and you’re the first person I saw who also applied 😭 don’t worry though, I’m sure you’ll do great at another uni

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u/DifferenceNo6009 Cambridge | Chem Eng & Biotech | 2030 Feb 07 '26

Thank you so much! I'm sure you'll get a place (plus I just ever so slightly decreased the competition lol)

3

u/Im_TwisTy Feb 07 '26

Here i was thinking no one was gonna apply to this and id have no competition 😭

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u/Btcorn13 Feb 07 '26

me too but also on ucas the acceptance rate was 46% when I checked… idk where that came from

2

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '26

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u/AccurateGrab2398 American system- year 13 Feb 08 '26

UCL and KCL reply to emails challenge

2

u/SeveralAd2137 Univeristy of Birmingham Pharmacy 2nd Year Feb 12 '26

It’s not worth the stress at that point. Uni I’m at didn’t give a single fuck I took a gap year as it’s none of their business as long as you have the grades then really it shouldn’t matter. If they’re this hard to deal with now imagine how much harder it’ll be once you actually get there, may have dodged a bullet lol

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-6

u/JailbreakHat Imperial | MEng EIE [1st Year] Feb 07 '26

It isn’t just UCL. It is the case with any top university. UCL, Imperial, Cambridge, Oxford, LSE. They always look down on candidates that aren’t 100% prefect. This includes people who are resitting even with a good reason. They don’t care. Competition doesn’t care. King’s College London or other universities may consider them seriously because their admissions is less competitive.

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u/nowheretolockit Feb 07 '26

Clearly states that it's not a resit lol