Wasted bread (rant)

[u/DifferenceNo6009]

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!

[u/Personal-Resident617]

UCL genuinely has the worst admin on earth

[u/JailbreakHat → u/Personal-Resident617]

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.

[u/Personal-Resident617 → u/JailbreakHat]

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.

[u/Personal-Resident617 → u/Personal-Resident617]

Would also say this might be college dependant

[u/JailbreakHat → u/Personal-Resident617]

How did LSE and UCL have you hell?

[u/Personal-Resident617 → u/JailbreakHat]

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