It's simple market forces. If you have more students who are qualified for a university that has a limited and constant number of places, more of those students are going to miss out. UKGov should be worrying less about this and more about the fact the top universities - commonly called The Russel Group, which is kind of the UK equivalent to the Ivy League in the US - are now running their own admission exams because they simply don't see A-levels no matter what grade as sufficient qualification any more.

Jon

I would not apply for any uni unless it was one of the top universities. The problem is that top employers restrict their choice to those from the best universities.

I would now recommend anyone doing via the Open University - get a job and study part time

At the end you will have both experience and a degree and hopefully no debts

And probably a lot cheaper as well. It also shows determination. Doing both at once.

Yeah but what about all the sex with firm 18-21 year olds?

There's no rule that says you must go straight to university from school or college.

Perhaps the kids who are going to "fail" to get a place this time round can apply next year, or the year after. They can spend the year getting some real world experience, maybe even a job so they can save some dosh for their educamacation. They may have even worked out which degree course would be most useful for them, and perhaps even get sponsorship from their employer (if they have one).

Lesson one of applying to uni through UCAS: Make your second choice a uni that will accept lower grades than your first one. That way, if you slip up slightly, you're still guaranteed a place.

And nowadays Oxbridge is an additional choice as well. I had to complete my application assuming I would be going to my second choice, which buggers you for accomodation and SLC stuff.

+1, seriously, you'd be nuts to put all AAA courses as your only choices.

Lesson two of applying to uni through UCAS: If your preferred university is your lowest offer, make it your first and only choice and just don't f*** up.

I'd still put my second choice uni as my second choice, regardless of the offer they've given (if first choice was the lowest offer) - they may be short of numbers and more open to barterring.

There is always with yourself

In the same vein - one reason I did go to Uni (OK it was a POly back then) was for the fun element

Having said that I got a full grant (as did most people back in those days) so came out without any debts

True but it seems to be what's being encouraged which is totally wrong, and hence why many can't get into University at the moment.

What riled me yesterday was hearing some whinging little git complaining that he couldn't do Medicine at his choice of Uni because he only got a B in Chemistry when they required an A. The little arse complained that wasn't 'fair' and they should let him do it....

It's not supposed to be frakin' fair, you're either good enough or you aren't, we can't all win.

FFS, why does everything have to be equal and fair, why does everyone have to go to Uni and study pointless degrees that bring the whole value of a degree down to that that you can buy off the internet?

That's a sure fire way to stunt the evolution of our species even more that it is being, if that's possible.

He wasn't good enough; someone else was.

It was equal and fair - he was just too dumb.