Despondent niece

Some great advice on here, you can't protect them from the hard knocks life dishes out. She will have no problem getting a good place through clearing with those grades. In my daughter's day some of the school teachers were really helpful with the kids who didn't get their first choice, maybe things are different now.

I will add my two daughters who both went through uni and work in professions earn half what their brother earns who went to work at 16 and didn't want to know about further education

Wise words from monica .

DD hadn't bothered to apply for any university but when her results were better than she expected ( A, B and C) she went through clearing, found herself a place and over twenty years later is still working at the same university and is a recognised authority in her field. Basically she's been along it up as she goes along.

How sad that anyone would feel a failure with those grades. She should search clearing for a course and university of her choice.
I know a student who was rejected on her grades, but got on the same course, same University through clearing! ? How strange?

My granddaughter was disappointed she ONLY got 2A*s and a C. She can't get into her first choice university but has been accepted by her second choice. We are all immensely proud of her and think she's done brilliantly. I'm sure she'll get over her disappointment and have a great time at uni.

honestly Blair with his target of 50% of all students getting into university was the biggest mistake for decades.Its not the be all and end all ...in fact there are thousands of people with degrees doing jobs they could easily have done WITHOUT an extra 3 or 4 years of education.I personally know 2 young men with good degrees who are managing a chip shop and a bar!!!What a waste of time and money.Of course the reluctance of many young folk to start at the bottom and WORK their way up doesn't help.My neighbours son has not one or two but THREE stints at uni behind him each ending in a different degree...he still doesn't know "what he wants to do" god help us all....how did we ever manage back in the day ?

I think that what I feel so cross about is that she feels a failure with such good results , there is so much hype and pressure on young people . Yes she will get somewhere I know and all will sort itself out , she is very young- only just 17, so possibly a year out maybe is an option .
Thanks

I am sorry, it is foolish beyond belief to consider yourself a failure just because you got ABB instead of what?

One of the key skills you need to develop when you move from the protection of home and school to the big wide world of further education and work, is a sense of proportion, followed by learning to be flexible. Throughout her life, again and again this girl will find things do not turn out the way she hoped and she will have to learn to adjust and chop and change.

There are hundreds of courses in a wide variety of subjects in Russell Group universities that will be only too happy to accept someone with ABB, but she must be flexible. Perhaps Maths is clearly over subscribed at York, but may well not be in other top universities. Alternatively she could do maths and something else or something else and maths. or she could just think of another subject that interests her, not perhaps ecology but there are such a huge range of to choose from.

She needs to snap out of her grief ASAP and get looking, numbers applying to university are down this year. Get out there show that she can cope with the realities of life
There are lots of universities and courses waiting to snap up students with qualifications like hers.

Unfortunately how ever many good luck stories you give her it won't make up for her disappointment only time will do that
I do think it's bad when they change the stepping stones I have grandkids waiting for olevel or whatever it's called now results and this is the first year they have upped the tests to a harder level a maths tutor we know told us that the maths is considerable harder this year.... How unfair is that

She will be fine - there will be somewhere for her with those grades and I am sure that she will do well. She needs to get on the case with clearing now.

She could still get into a good uni with those results. My youngest DD had to go through clearing as she didn't get the grades for the uni she wanted. She ended up going to Sheffield and had the best time, got her masters, met her bf, and now has an excellent job.

The top universities are the top universities because they can pick from the best results. If they took those with lower results they probably wouldn't be the top universities for long. I sorry that your niece is disappointed but your thinking isn't quite logical.

Ohh please tell her it's not the end of her dream, she will be very welcomed at a different University. Far better to be where you are wanted/ suited etc than to hold on to a dream that sadly won't now come true. My sons did brilliantly by not going where they first thought they would go. Life takes unexpected twists & turns & sometimes we can't see until later that something's, sometimes are just meant to be. Wishing her good luck & an optimistic outlook