For anyone who's applied to Uk unis...you might be interested to know this

[Vvi]

The following only applies to IB students applying to the UK (which is why it doesn't make sense to others). UK My school's college counselor emailed me this website today, http://www.ucas.com/resultsandnextsteps/adjustment/facts . I thought I'd share it here since I've never heard of the scheme, and no one else I've spoken to has either. So it's not that well-known. The process is not the same as Clearing, since that's for students that don't achieve their offers.

Basically it's about applying to other UK universities if you exceed your Conditional Firm offer when you get your IB results. Each year some applicants pass their exams with better results than expected. You can reconsider what and where you want to study with the Adjustment scheme. It's entirely optional, because of course most people are perfectly happy with their place.

An example of exceeding your UCAS offer is this (obviously it can also be something like getting 38 points when you only needed 34):

Offer: 30 points including 5 in Mathematics and 5 in Chemistry

Actual grades: 30 points, including 6 in Mathematics and 5 in Chemistry

The procedure for applying for Adjustment is this:

-Starting from the day that you get your IB results, and from the time that your Conditional Firm choice on Track is changed to "Unconditional Firm", you have five 24 hour periods (so 5 days basically) to register for Adjustment and find an alternative course+get accepted there.

-You need to register for the Adjustment scheme on Track, a separate button will appear for those who have exceeded their offers (those who didn't won't see anything new)

-You need to contact admissions offices at universities and colleges direct to discuss possible vacancies and their entry requirements. There are no Adjustment vacancy lists.

-When you contact a university or college make it clear that you are applying through Adjustment, not Clearing. If they want to consider you they will ask for your Personal ID, so they can view your application.

- If you are offered an alternative place and accept it, you will be giving up your original confirmed place. The new university or college will let UCAS know, and the details will be displayed in the 'choices' section on Track. UCAS will also send you a new Confirmation letter.

-If you don't find an alternative place before your Adjustment period ends, you will remain accepted at your original university or college.

There is no guarantee there will be any vacancies on the course you decide you want to be considered for, and it is very unlikely that the most competitive courses will have any places available. Of course, other applicants may decide to change places and vacancies can change on a daily basis. So I suppose you can call the same university every day and ask if they have vacancies for a particular course. If you get really good IB results and don't find a course you can also decide to reapply for university starting 2010.

I think you're allowed to apply to universities that you were rejected from already. Hopefully this will help someone out, I'm thinking of using the scheme myself if I get higher than what I need. You need to research courses at other universities obviously, and be ready to call lots of places over and over again but it may be worth it.

[laneolaneo1]

Good post. The only issue I see is that IB results are out far earlier than A-Level results, so it seems unlikely they'll just offer a place without first seeing how the others have done.

[Vvi]

Yeah, I'm not sure about that either. The UCAS website didn't say anything about people who are non-A-level students. I might get my counselor to call UCAS and ask them if IB students have to wait until 20th August as well or whether we can apply for Adjustment when we get our results.

[deissi]

Interesting. Wonder whether Cambridge will take me if I get a 45... not!

Is this something new for this year?

[Vvi]

Yes it is new, being phased in for 2009 and 2010 students.

"UCAS will be holding three free events on 8, 13 and 18 May 2009 for advisers from schools and colleges to outline UCAS process changes for 2009 and 2010. The overall aim is to provide a forum for delegates to find out about the new Adjustment period, changes to Route B and Clearing, with the opportunity to ask questions of our Professional Development Team in relation to any issues or concerns you may have".

http://www.ucas.ac.uk/advisers/training/processchanges

Wonder what the changes to Clearing are then (I never understood what Route B courses were anyways, unimportant then )?

From TSR I found another thread on the process, they answer a lot of questions about Oxford, Cambridge, who will have Clearing places, etc. http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=827966

Edited May 6, 2009 by Vvi

[laneolaneo1]

I might get my counselor to call UCAS and ask them if IB students have to wait until 20th August as well or whether we can apply for Adjustment when we get our results.

That would be useful. If you find out do tell us all

[deissi]

Obviously you should take into account that universities themselves will not be very interested in Adjustment before A level results are available; it is only then that they find out how many people have met their offers and how many places will they have open, as the majority of applicants do A levels.

[Abu]

Keep in mind though that once A-Level Results are received, it's basically clearing so I don't see the point of dual Adjustment and Clearing schemes.

[deissi]

Clearing -> relatively bad students

Adjustment -> relatively good students

[Vvi]

Clearing is for students who didn't do well in exams and couldn't achieve their offers, and Adjustment is for those who underestimated their abilities and chose "safe universities" or who had teachers that underestimated their abilities and gave them lower predicteds than they should have been given.

And there is a point to it as universities will of course prefer to accept students that achieved higher grades than those that achieved lower (so Adjustment > Clearing students). Also, previously there was no way to change university after exams (if you achieved your Firm offer, you couldn't decide to decline it and go into Clearing (you had to reapply the following year); Clearing is reserved for those who didn't get their offers.

[laneolaneo1]

UPDATE: This is subject to confirmation, but my college has informed me that the 5-day period for IB-ers applying to Adjustment may begin on the 20th of August along with the A-Level students. This is to ensure IB students are not disadvantaged in the process.

I will confirm a.s.a.p.

[laneolaneo1]

Confirmed. Adjustment valid from 20 August for five days.

[Vvi]

Thanks for that, so all IB students have the same Adjustment time between 20th and 25th August? I guess that's good for us, so we have more time to research universities that might accept you and see what grades/courses there are.

By the way, for anyone who was thinking of calling Cambridge up for Adjustment places, they have said that they will not be using the process because they interview the vast majority of applicants and give them admissions tests, which will be impossible to complete. There is a UCAS video on the process, and about halfway through they interviews some universities about the process and that's what the Cambridge spokesperson said. The link is here http://www.ucas.tv/index.php?id=27 . People should just reapply in 2010.

However, if you applied to Cambridge, were interviewed/did admissions tests and were then rejected, you might have a chance at getting in through Adjustment (although the lady didn't say this, but I'm guessing it would make sense if they're saying no to Adjustment on the basis that people haven't had interviews).

Edited May 22, 2009 by Vvi

[Razz]

Thanks! That's really helpful feature. I haven't heard of it before. I'll be sure to tell my IB Coordinator about it.