Even Top Engineering University Applicants must have a Plan B

EDT works with 30,000 school pupils annually to encourage them into science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects and careers and is concerned that, because of the bulge in applications due to next year’s fee rises, thousands of students who are pinning their hopes on a university place from the Autumn will be disappointed and suddenly find themselves without a viable alternative plan and with little time to develop one.

EDT Chief Executive, Gordon Mizner says, “Informed sources estimate that as much as a third of this years applicants for university may be disappointed and it is likely that a good proportion of these will be very able students who, in any other year, would have had no problem securing a place. It is likely that this year the top universities will not be forgiving of students who fail to achieve their offers by small margins. It is possible that a student’s second choice university will not have the capacity to take on additional students, having already filled their places with students who have chosen them first. In this situation even a student that has achieved AAB against an AAA offer may struggle to secure a university place for the coming year.”

Mizner says that students and their parents must think through their options for this eventuality:

“These students will suddenly find themselves with an unplanned year on their hands and with the prospect of much higher fees for their future university career when they reapply the following year. They will therefore want to enter paid employment that is relevant to their degrees and future career prospects. Such opportunities are not easily available, take some seeking out, and will disappear quickly. The wise students will spend time between finishing their ‘A’ levels and receiving their results exploring exactly what their options are so they can swing their Plan B into action in the event of missing their target grades.”

Mizner points to his own charity’s “The Year in Industry” programme as the type of “Plan B” option that will be in great demand. The programme places post ‘A’ Level students going on to STEM subjects at university in paid working gap years with leading science, engineering and technology companies such as Rolls Royce, Eon and Shell. Demand for places for next year has held up well but the charity is extending its deadline to allow students to apply for places once ‘A’ level results are known.

“We will want to be filling these places quickly once results are known and the students who have researched the programme, drafted their applications and prepared their references will be in pole position to grasp the opportunity. In the context of the numbers of students expected to miss out on university this year, places on the Year in Industry are limited but will provide a really valuable option for those who have properly prepared their “Plan B”. These students will quickly throw off their disappointment about university and find that their alternative is positively enhancing their future career prospects.”