How many students are put off applying for courses that require grades beyond their wildest dreams, only to discover on results day that their wildest dreams were not so wild after all?
My views on the UCAS system have been influenced by my daughter’s experience. When considering her undergraduate application she lacked confidence and underestimated her final A level grades. She felt she was ‘overqualified’ for the course she accepted and dropped out before the end of the first term in order to reapply for course that required the high A level grades she had achieved. The application process was much easier the second time around, and had she stayed and seen her first course through she would not be at the academic level she is now.