Budehaven Doing Well in the Race for University Places

Applying for university is fraught for students, teachers and, indeed, parents. My own year 13 daughter is out there with the rest applying for places with universities offering increasingly competitive grades. Thankfully, she has 4 offers so, while breathing a sigh of relief, the pressure is now on to maintain momentum and get the grades!

This year has been a busy time generally for university applications. 73 Budehaven  Sixth Form students have applied to university through the admissions system, UCAS, and many exciting offers have been made.  The application process begins in September and runs through until mid January. Students who are applying to study Law or Medicine,  must send their forms off before October 15th, as must students applying to Oxford and  Cambridge. They then wait for the different universities and colleges to study the applications and decide whether they will be given an interview. This may lead to what is known as a Conditional Offer, that is, they have a place on the condition that they obtain specified grades,  for example, 3 A*s. Competition is fierce for places at the top universities. In the last two years we have seen students leave Budehaven to attend not only the top British universities but also the leading institutions in USA, Paris and other European cities. Below is a selection of some of the many offers that our current Year 13 are working hard to achieve in the summer. 

Rhys Dore has achieved exceptionally well, having been already given a conditional offer at Oxford University (Worcester College) to read Medicine. He also has offers at University College London and Manchester University. Elliott Ball has received an invitation for an interview at Imperial College, London to read Medicine. Patrick Zhang has been given an interview at Barts Hospital and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry as well as the Peninsula Medical School to read Medicine. 

After three days of intensive interviews, Louise Kerr was delighted to discover that she has been offered a place at Selwyn College, Cambridge to read Geography.  Emma Thomas has offers at the Universities of Exeter, Kent and the University of the West of  England  to read English Literature. Drew Bennett has received many offers to read French and Arabic including one from Exeter University.

A number of our students have offers to pursue Science based degrees.  Dan Shaharudin has applied to study Liberal Arts and Sciences at University College, Utrecht in the Netherlands, whilst Jess Quinn Dobbins has received offers from Portsmouth, Kingston and West London to read Forensic Science.  Derek Piper will be venturing to Aberystwyth University to read Computer Science and Jim Morgan has been offered a place to follow a MEng degree in Mechanical Engineering at Southampton University. Furthermore, Jo Weghofer has been offered a place at Bangor University to read Marine Biology. Heather Burt Fulcher has received an offer from Kings College, London, to read Biochemistry.

It is notoriously difficult to gain places for Law degrees.  However, Tom Perring has been offered a conditional place at Kings College, London and Lillie Latter at The University of Exeter.  

Among the Year 13 students, it is good to see that there are a number of budding future teachers. Hannah Cunningham, Lauren Miller and Matthew Whitefield have all experienced rigorous interviews and have been offered places respectively at Plymouth University, St Mary's London, and Brighton University.

Lisa Crook has been offered a place at Falmouth or Plymouth to study Art on a Foundation course. These courses are in high demand and Lisa had to produce an exceptional portfolio to stand a chance of being offered a place.

An offer gives an added focus to the very heavy workload which students face throughout their time in the Sixth Form at Budehaven. It also provides an incentive for both students and their teachers to achieve, and a vital step to the world of higher education. We all look forward to August!