‘Especially large group’ of A-level students won’t achieve top grades

Tens of thousands of A-Level students are expected to miss their university offers this year as 80,000 fewer top grades are awarded. “That happens every year but this year it’s going to be an especially large group.” Number of advance offers lower than usual University sources said that students who miss their required grades could have a strong chance of still being accepted by their first-choice university because many institutions have been cautious about handing out the usual number of offers in advance after grade inflation meant they were oversubscribed last year. Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said that students are “acutely aware that the top degree courses are still the passports to higher earnings and more fruitful lives”, with the level of competition creating “the hardest admissions round in living memory for many applicants”. He said that universities have “taken into account that this year’s applicants will probably have a lower proportion of top grades than the last two years with the return of exams following the pandemic’s disruption”. However non-Russell group universities such as Buckingham have a lot to offer … It’s definitely worth looking widely at the other alternatives if you don’t get your first choice.” A Department for Education spokesman said: “Last year did not see a high number of deferrals compared to previous years and UK students take up the vast majority of places on university undergraduate courses compared to international students, so it is not right to suggest that these factors have caused a squeeze on places.